Updates

The doctor's appointment went well yesterday, our little guy has gained 4 oz, to put him at 6 lb 10 oz. He takes food like a champ now, except he likes to spit it back up after Adam feeds him. I'm not sure why, Adam doesn't do anything differently than I do, but he spits up after Adam feeds. Yesterday and today were a little rough for us. Yesterday we went through about 8 outfits because of him spitting up so much or him blowing out his diapers. He doesn't fit in the newborn diapers very well, and the preemie diapers don't absorb as well, so it's been rough. Today, Ares puked in Adam's shoe. He was pretty disgusted, but I couldn't hold the laughter in. Unfortunately, Adam has been getting pretty frustrated with the entire process, plus Ballpark kept getting on his nerves yesterday too. That's pretty rough on me because he's the patient one, but it's amazing, I'm actually becoming pretty patient.
After the doctor's appt yesterday we went to Sears because they're going out of business and we bought a smaller bath tub to bathe Ares in, along with a bathrobe for Adam (he's growing up so fast) and a beautiful 22 piece king sized designer comforter for only $70. We were pretty psyched. We got back to the house, and my mom had stopped by and left us a wonderful chicken dinner with salad and potatoes (and of course, Oreo's for dessert, YUM!). It was SO nice to not have to make dinner (not that I have made dinner much, Adam has been cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner so much that today all we had was leftovers from the past few days). We took about a half mile walk in the beautiful weather today. I couldn't have made it much farther, but it was so nice to get out. Adam also rode his bike to Target to get us some Starbucks for the AM. It was the first time in months that I've had caffeine like that, again, YUM!
We are very happy with our little guy. We still cannot believe that he is ours!

SLEEP!!!

It is not my goal to post something every day, but I woke up so excited today...
Ares nearly slept through the whole night! We went to bed really late. We watched Saturday Night Live. We don't normally watch that, however Ares had been awake since 11, and he was so much fun to have awake we decided to keep him up as long as he would allow. So finally at about 1:30, we went to bed. He slept until 6am! Then, after a feeding and a changing, he slept again until 9am, when I woke him up to feed him. We are so well rested! I hope this trend will continue!

Where does the time go?

Adam and I have realized that we spend a majority of the day doing a whole lot of nothing. I was questioning why we have so many TV programs on Tivo that haven't been watched. I guess with feeding, pumping, burping, changing diapers, washing dishes and laundry.... Laundry... there's something to talk about... Funny story. I have learned many things in my 5 days of being a mom. The first, being that today, I picked a booger out of Ares' nose. No big deal, but to me, that just screams "mom". hehe. The funny story is that I've learned that one should not let a baby sleep for more than 3.5 hours at a time (If only that was at night, and not during the day). I woke up Ares so that he can be fed, and next thing I know, my hand is wet. The back of his sleeper outfit is soaked through. Not only that, but I'm wearing a pair of athletic swooshie pants, and it went through his sleeper, through my pants, and ended up dripping down my leg and soaked my sock. The couch was wet, the FLOOR even got baptised. HA! There had to have been a gallon of liquid coming out of this creature's little bladder.

Tonight is going to be a bad night. He has slept all day, because he was up all night last night. We went through three sleepers, three swaddle blankets, two bibs and three burp cloths, oh, and a sheet--- all in one night. We learned that we didn't have enough sleeper outfits in new born sizes (and some of his newborn sizes are WAY too big) so we went to the two local resale shops to buy some baby clothes, and got a couple of premie outfits for the next week or so.

Yesterday we had lots of visitors, it was great! Great grandma and grandpa Schmidt came to visit. Ares pretty much slept the entire time. Almost, both he and Ballpark managed to pee on grandma in the hour that she was here. I felt awful! Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt (my parents) also visited for the first time since we left the hospital. They brought over Steak 'n Shake (my favorite) and we watched the Cav's game. It was really nice, but we were really tired when we finally got to bed. Thank goodness for Ares sleeping from 6:30am-10am. It was amazing!

Adam wants to end the post saying "I love my boy".... enough said, I have to agree with him. He's a keeper.

Doctor Doctor!

Today was Ares' first doctor appointment. It is now I realize that no one will every be able to pronounce his name. Rather than "Aries" people are calling him "Air-iss". I guess no one reads mythology. Ah well. We learned today that he is 6lbs and 6oz right now. Still a little guy. At least he's eating more now, that should increase his weight, although the doctor wants to see him again on Monday just to make sure.

Ballpark's reaction to Ares

Many have wondered what Ballpark will be like once we have our little one home. Ballpark, probably one of the most spoiled dogs in north east Ohio has been VERY good. He is very concerned about the baby. It doesn't matter who has the baby, Ballpark is at their feet or sitting next to them to make sure the baby is OK. If Ares cries, then Ballpark is there, immediately to make sure everything is OK. If he cries and we don't go see him immediately, then Ballpark makes sure we know Ares is crying. I think if Ballpark was a human, he would be a very big help. lol

These pictures are all from the first few hours of Ares being home.

Happy Birthday!

I'm assuming that everyone has heard the wonderful news already, IT'S A BOY!! While we are feeling overwhelmed at the moment, the two of us are so excited about our new addition, it's difficult to put into words. We went to a post partum parenting class this morning, there were 4 couples in the group, and I learned how incredibly lucky I was with Ares Kristopher William Miller:

At 2am early Monday morning, I woke up to find that I had lost my plug. (Sorry, if TMI). Instantly, I began getting contractions every 2 to 8 minutes. Often, when one loses t heir plug, they still have a few more days/weeks before they give birth, and contractions usually start at half hour increments, so I thought this was false labor and decided to research on the computer. The contractions were extremely regular and about 4 minutes apart, so I decided to take a shower (to shave) just in case this was the real deal. Adam woke up, and when he learned what was going on, got into game plan and took the dog out, packed the rest of the car and made me call the on call doctor. It took a while for me to get a call back, so he tried again, and a doctor was on the line quickly. I explained the situation, and when she learned that I was past due, she said get to the hospital, I'll let them know you're coming. Adam and I drove through AM rush hour to get to the hospital in record time (anyone who knows Adam wouldn't be surprised here) and got checked in around 8:30. We had called our families on the ride in, so by now I think everyone knew it was time. I was 2cm when we got there, 4 cm about two hours later, and then it was time for the epidural. That was scary as Ares' and my blood pressure dropped to very low numbers (mine is already low to begin with). All of a sudden, there were 4 nurses, a few anesthesiologists and they were yelling down the hall for a house doctor. Adam and my mom were already asked to leave before they started the epidural, and I was pretty freaked out. After about 15 (it was probably 10, but felt like forever) minutes, they broke my water so they could get another monitor on the baby and I was about 7/8cm dilated. Tons of people were there by now, my in-laws, grandma walters, aunt cindy/cassaundra, my mom, and of course, Adam. Quickly (around 4, I think), I was at 10cm and ready to start pushing. Of course, Ares was facing the wrong direction, (couldn't make it too easy) so he was switched, then the doctor's shift was over, and the doctor on call was.... MINE! YAY! He came in, said he'll get dressed and before I knew it, we had a little boy! I knew it! I just knew it was a boy!!! Monday, March 23, 2009 5:48PM 7 lbs even and 20.5". We were so overwhelmed, of course the tears were flowing. I wasn't able to see him for almost 15 minutes because he had a lot of ucky fluid in his lungs, but when I finally got to hold him it was amazing. Adam left to tell everyone, and by then my dad, Justice and Katie had come up.
Again, we couldn't be happier with our little Ares Kristopher William Miller. He's so adorable, he looks like Adam, in fact, he looks so much like Adam that it's hard to determine if he's even mine!

Eviction Notice!!

I have sent out an eviction notice to the baby. While it has been a good tenant, it's overstayed it's welcome. It's time to get out. I believe that it is time to take away his/her security deposit (perhaps threaten to take away college tuition) and time to make things uncomfortable for them. I am thinking hot and spicy foods, lots of walking among some other things will make the baby no longer want to sit in my belly. Of course, the Oreo milkshake I plan on having tonight might just entice him/her to stay a little bit longer, so perhaps I'll drink that first. I have nothing more to say, other than GET OUT!

What's really depressing, is that today I turn 40 weeks. The baby should have come by now, and each week, I check babycenter.com to read about what I should expect this week (physically and mentally etc) and today when I went to check is says "Wow, you've done it! Congratulations on your new born!" grrrrr don't just assume....
0 days left... I'm soon going to have to start counting UP!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I usually love this day.... except now I have nothing green to wear, nothing fits! hehehe Adam was a sweetie and made me pancakes today! He's so creative and I love him so much!

I had my doctor's appointment today. First, my doctor was on vacation, so I saw one of the partners in the office. He checked the baby's heartbeat first. As he was doing that, he felt a contraction in my belly. I didn't feel it at all, but it made me excited that I might be close. He checked the heartbeat and didn't like what he heard, so he wanted me to be put on some machine that prints and measures the baby's HB after the appointment. He then checked me to see if I was dilated. Well, turns out that there is no way that this baby is coming any time soon. In fact, he said that my doctor will not want to see me in two days, and to not make another appointment until next Tuesday. Quite depressing. Anyhow, after being hooked up to a monitor for 40 minutes, the baby's HB is fine, it must have been the position I was laying in when he took the original HB that made it extremely slow.... Anyhow, no baby, not any time soon at least. I still think the 26th will be the day, but who knows. I'm still going to count down

2 days to go!

A semi-successful weekend

So no baby news, unfortunately. However, this weekend was quite a great weekend. Friday night we went out to Mavis Winkles for Justice's birthday. It was SOO busy there, but we got Justice as our server. We had the greatest fish and chips meals. Ironically, a restaurant as nice as that one had a 2 for 1 deal, so all 4 of us got that. It was excellent! We didn't see too much of Justice, but he made a LOT of money that night! Saturday, Adam, my dad, Uncle Kyle and Uncle Terry all worked on the basement. It's amazing how much got done with 4 guys. Mom, Aunt Diane and I went shopping =) (of course, two of our shopping trips were to the Home Depot). Adam went for a bike ride when they were finished with the basement while I took a nap, and then we went to BW3's for dinner and then Target afterwards.

On Sunday, the weather was amazing! Adam went for a bike ride while I read and took a nap (see a theme here?) and then we took the puppy to the dog park. After the dog park, Adam went to buy the materials to do two oil changes (while I took a nap) and then he changed the Del Sol and Jeep's oil while Ballpark and I sat in the sun and relaxed. Then we (mostly Adam) cleaned the garage out. It didn't take too long, we cleaned it earlier this winter when we had a nice day out, but it was nice to just stay outside for a longer period of time.

No pictures of a "real" baby, so here's a recent picture of our current "baby". My mom bought him this new shirt, and I absolutely love Ballpark in a collar, lol. He's so adorable. This shirt says he's a part of the cat hater club "grin".

The preggo picture is me last week. (Week 38 1/2). I have heard that this website can do slideshows, I"ll try and figure that out.

Supposedly 4 more days to go, but I think it'll be closer to 14

It's almost here.... (the weekend, that is)

Less than a week to go... supposedly. I'm about to the point where the days are going VERY slowly. Work is not keeping me busy enough and I have time to sit here and plan plan plan. (Not a good thing, I over plan). I feel like I'm still light years away from anything exciting happening (other than today being my brother's birthday and going out to dinner, of course, Mom, Dad, Adam and I are the ones eating, and Justice is serving us, but I bet he'll get a big fat tip). I have another DR appt on Tuesday, and then probably another one on Thurs or Fri. This past Tuesday, the doc said that I wasn't even close to going into labor. I might actually give birth to a toddler. If that is the case, I just hope this toddler will sleep through the night.
I plan on doing some shopping (more like returning) this weekend, and perhaps some scrapbooking while Adam is working on my parents' basement, - if I have energy. I hope I do, if not, I'll grab a cupcake and that sugar rush should keep me moving for a short time. The cupcakes were a gift from Adam (compliments of Giant Eagle) because I transcribed some of his homework for him. I type faster, so I volunteered... or he bribed me with a cupcake, I can't remember which. Either way, I had a cupcake yesterday. Odd, that I never liked cupcakes before... I guess that's a craving. Lucky for me to have such a good husband. Thanks to that and Chipotle giving us one free burrito this week, it was a great culinary week!!
I REALLY hope my next posting has a lot of baby pictures in it!!! Fingers crossed!

Teamwork

So we found my mom's old Singer sewing machine so that I could make two valances for the baby's room. The sewing machine worked perfectly, so I quickly got to work and "sewed" the material. I then quickly got to work UNsewing the material with a seam ripper so that Adam can sew it up properly. What a great hubby I have!

A good weekend

**Hello to Grandma and Jim! Miss you, hope we can see you sometime soon! We'll be sure to send lots of pictures once the babe comes! **
Adam and I played hookie on Friday from work. It was planned, in fact, Adam's manager was the one who chose the day. I gave Adam a handful of days to choose from and March 6th was the winner. I wanted to have a day that the two of us spent together, without having to feel guilty about not doing something else. We went to a few stores together, went to Tlaquepaque for my FAVORITE Mexican cuisine, the seafood enchilada, YUM! So much better than the place we went to for Valentines day! Then Adam and I saw Watchmen the movie. I thought it was awful, but Adam liked it, although he says he wouldn't go see it again. It was the first movie we had gone to in probably 2 years though!
On Saturday, we drove to Pittsburgh to celebrate Paul's birthday. Cristal threw him a surprise party. We were so lucky in that the weather was perfect, about 75 degrees. I actually wore Capri's, a short sleeved top and sandals, it was SO nice to wear something other than my typical maternity clothes that I'm really sick of! It was a lot of driving.... roughly 3 hours each way, but Adam bought me a large milkshake on the way there, so that kept me occupied and I took a nap on the way home (surprise). My belly is freakin' huge and there is no end in sight! lol

A trend....

At least I'm not due for another couple of weeks. This past week has been the week of things breaking. First, Adam's brakes went out on his Jeep. YAY. Then he calls me saying that the actual price is "a few hundred dollars more than the estimate" I guess it was the worst case scenario, where both the brake lines AND calipers (??) needed replaced. At least when he was driving on the highway and the brakes went out on him, he didn't get into an accident! Lucky that it is a manual transmission so he could downshift and use the E-brake to stop. Of course, macho man wouldn't let me pick him up to keep him safe... imagine if I would have said my brakes were going out... if I moved 3 inches he would have yelled at me for not waiting for him to pick me up. Again, at least it was BEFORE the baby, and near the same time we got our tax refund back.
Then, our microwave decided to stop working. It's not even 5 years old. Adam put in two baked potatoes and they cooked (mostly) fine, the next day.... nothing but an odd noise and no heat. Bummer.... he decided to see if he can fix it by ordering a part on E-bay. We just got it last night and he put it in. The microwave sounded right, but it wouldn't heat anything. Then he realized he forgot to connect one of the wires (oops, lol), so he connected it and threw in a bag of corn to heat up. All of a sudden, the microwave started shooting out flames from where the wires were.... again... oops. So we're going to try another part from Ebay to see if we can fix it, otherwise, I get to pick out another microwave... at least it happened right around tax time, and at least this didn't happen right after the baby came!
Of course, things happen in 3's, so what's next???

15 more days... although, I have a feeling it'll be more like 25 more days

Pregnancy rant

I'm not a big girl, I mean, yes, I am pregnant, but I'm still not huge. So why in the hell do both of my hips hit the sides of my bathtub?!? What freakin' idiot even decided to put a bathtub that size into a house?!? There are MANY people out there bigger than me that like to take baths. Does one really have to purchase a house based off of the size of the bathtub? We had to pay extra to get the shower head moved higher so Adam can fit, why didn't one of us sit in the tub before we bought the house?! Ugh.... to make matters worse, the drain has no suction, so in order to keep the bathtub full of water, one must keep their heel pushed down so the water does not empty itself. Of course, if it takes 5 minutes to realize this, like it did for me, then by the time the tub is full, there is no more hot water left... my wish for mother's day... a bigger bathtub. I am done with my rant... Adam refuses to look at a house without a 3 car garage (his expensive wine taste with his light beer budget) but I refuse to look at a house that doesn't have a glamour bath.

Still 17 more days....

Pack 'n' Play

I cannot believe that we're at 17 days and counting! 2.5 weeks! WOW! Adam and I bought our pack 'n play this weekend. Thanks to (a) the one we registered for being sold out, (b) a large gift certificate, (c) a 15% off coupon and (d) a nice sale, we upgraded to the mother-of-all-pack 'n plays. I'm not kidding, this one not only has music (5 different songs) but they're not annoying songs, there's also nature, birds, and waterfalls and white noise, (also 5 different settings), a changing table, some lights to use (if changing a baby in the dark), a sunshade (if we take him/her outside), and.... a vibration option to vibrate the baby to sleep! And it doesn't even take quarters! (Just a ton of batteries! AA and D) This small bed is so much nicer than the one Adam and I even sleep in! (Except ours is heated, this one isn't.) Oh, and it has some hangy bears on it too. The best part is, that it matches our basement. (Dark brown walls, red couch). I guess we were lucky that the pack and play couldn't be purchased over the phone by Margie, and when we went in to get it ourselves, it was sold out. All in all, this actually came in about $10 less than the other would have (with taxes and stuff). How exciting! I know, it's the little things in life... soon, I'll be excited about a first poop or something. Sad.