just life

The Power of Social Networking

2011-06-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have been putting off writing about this because I know it will make me cry. But I think it is important and that people should know about it.

Facebook has changed my life.

Literally.

Myspace, too, really. It all started in 2006, my first year of graduate school. But we'll get back to that.

Most recently, I came across a family who had a lot of needs. Eugene is a janitor who cleans state buildings. My mother (a single mom of four, who had a lot of help from her co-workers when she was raising us) developed a relationship with him and found out that his wife was expecting twin boys. Eugene and Judith are immigrants from Africa. One day, while my mom was playing with Tyler, she asked if I had any clothes "or anything" I could pass along to this growing family. Our own family was expecting twins, and I'd donated much of our extras to them, but I was able to come up with a few things. I told her I would post a message on Facebook and see if any of my friends had any extra baby items.

So I did.

And they did.

Everyone wanted to help.

This is where it gets emotional, so hang in here with me. I cried. Every. Single. Time someone had a donation. One stay-at-home-mom I know made two beautiful minky blankets for the family. Another mom of four donated a gift card. A mom in my mom's group brought clothing, toys, and extras. Another mom met me for lunch with a baby bathtub, changing pads, and clothing. I found a consignment store in town and purchased some baby gear, and when I shared the story, they donated two strollers, two car seats, and miscellaneous toys and clothing. Another girlfriend collected donations from her network of friends and family. I didn't call any of these friends asking for anything.

I only changed my status on Facebook.

So back to grad school. I was getting my Master of Social Work and the program required two full years of internship hours. Because I was working through school (and at the time school started, working 50 hours a week), I chose to delay my internship hours and complete them in a double block over the summer. Some of the professors worked hard to tailor the class experience to meet the needs of those interning. I didn't have an internship, so I would often piggy-back on with other students and discuss their experiences in their internships.

In my Diversity class, there was a service learning component. Each student was to spend classroom hours working on a project that would benefit the agencies hosting their internships. I was paired with a classmate, Mollie Nobile, to help with her agency. Mollie worked for a partial-hospitalization program -- a day program for those with mental illness, many of whom lived in group homes. Nearly all were indigent, as their disabilities rendered them unable to work.

They needed clothing. Patients would come to the day program in clothes that were soiled, needed changing and hadn't been washed in days. Many of the patients experienced weight gain (a side effect to anti-psychotic drugs, and other mental health medications) and could not affect a new wardrobe as their needs changed.

The agency requested a clothing closet and I thought and thought of how to provide them with one. Naturally, they did not expect me to BUY everything. I knew people would donate for the cause, but couldn't think of the logistics involved in organizing such a clothing drive. So what did I do? MYSPACE.

It was brilliant. And easy. So easy, it felt like cheating. I posted an event on Myspace and invited all of my friends in town. The messages started pouring in. I drove to meet friends across town that I hadn't seen in months, and each person stuffed the trunk of my Honda Accord full of clothing. I had the opportunity to thank each person for their donation and tell them just what their bags of clothes meant to the patients of the hospital. Every couple of weeks, I dropped by the agency with a delivery, until their storage room was filled. One Friday, I took off of work and organized the clothing, hung everything by size, and took a few photos.

It was the easiest (and most rewarding) school project I'd ever completed. I had an impressive clothing closet to provide the agency, and the most important part? The people who needed CLOTHES had CLOTHES. What a simple but beautiful thing.

So back to this family. Eugene and Judith had the boys last week. Only one twin survived, and the other has a heart defect. Eugene missed work for over a week -- and because Judith was on bed rest during the last months of her pregnancy, they did not have money for July's rent and other bills were piling up. I shared their story on my Facebook and Twitter feed and asked for monetary donations. Because really, we can't take away the pain of the loss of their son. We can't make adjusting to life with a newborn easy for this family. We can't immediately breach the language barrier that makes getting public assistance so difficult. But we can alleviate some of the financial stress, albeit temporarily, while we are working to get them on their feet.

This is the part where I really cry.

In fewer than 48 hours, I have received donations and pledges totaling over $300. Friends from all over the country have sent paypal donations and mailed checks to help this family. Some are women I have never met -- they're moms in my online birth club. Nearly all of the donors are people who are not in my everyday life -- friends I don't see often. The employees at the state building where Eugene works have taken up a collection, too. Their immediate financial needs are being met and we are working to provide them with resources such as Family Road to help with their ongoing needs as they adjust to life with this new baby, mourn the loss of their son, and get back into the swing of things with work.

Word of mouth, emails, and technology have brought people together for this family. But mostly? Facebook. Social Networking.

Amazing.

If you are interested and able to help with a monetary donation for Eugene and Judith, please leave a comment and I will get the information for you.

2010

2011-06-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

I recognize that I am doing this about six months late... oops!

January: We heard Tyler's heartbeat on a doppler for the first time. Announced our pregnancy to our friends. Took an Intelligender test that swore we were having a little girl. Didn't believe it (fortunately).

February: Received a Valentine card from Scott and the baby. So sweet! Started looking pregnant. Dug a garden and planted a lot of yummy things.

March: I started having horrible acid reflux because of the pregnancy. I woke countless times choking on my vomit. It was terrible! I had no idea that people LIVED like that and I started buying stock in tums. When that stopped working, I used OTC then prescription drugs. Of course, none of these worked, so I just swallowed a ton of vomit.

April: Scott won a trip to Miami, so we babymooned. Fortunately for him, everything was all inclusive with premium bar. Unfortunately for me, I was pregnant. We didn't spend much time on the beach, but it was nice to get away. I took my annual photo with my birthday tree, and we celebrated my last birthday as a family of two.

May: School ended and work for me became much easier. I became huge. There is photographic evidence of my size on this very blog. At some point, I decided that it would be a good idea to completely demolish our kitchen and remodel it. (Okay, not completely, just mostly.) It was horrible, but now it looks much much better.

June: I did summer camp with elementary and middle school kids in the heat of Louisiana summer. Outside. With little liquid nourishment. It was tough, and I had a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions. These would be the last contractions I would feel until I was actually in labor.

July: My due date was July 31. I knew better than to think I'd actually have the baby early, but I was so sick of choking on my vomit that I was ready to have the baby. I spent a lot of time at the pool because I felt weightless. It was amazing.

August: Tyler was born August 3 at 12:24am. He started screaming after birth and didn't really slow down for months. Fortunately for him, we are very forgiving people and we fell in love with him anyway. All that time at the pool I spent in July? Big mistake. My belly button was black. I am not kidding.

September: Scott started a new job and was out of town for nearly two full weeks. My mom stayed with me to help with Tyler and I spent a lot of time crying and feeling helpless. Every day felt like the longest day of my life and I was sleeping a collective 5 hours of broken sleep a day. Tyler would only sleep in the Baby Bjorn or on the boob.

October: Tyler took his first out-of-state trip to Dallas, TX. Scott had a business trip and I was terrified of being alone with Tyler, so we went along to see Catherine and Mark. Catherine especially loved seeing Tyler, as she was pregnant with twins and ready to be a mom. Tyler didn't sleep very well, but that was sort of normal for the time. The Baby Bjorn wasn't working out very well on the trip, so most of his sleep was attached to the boob. This would be a habit that would continue until March 2011.

November: Tyler and I accompanied my mom to Wichita Falls, TX to meet the brand new Salem Hostetler. Tyler slept less than he slept in Dallas, and he cried most of the time we were visiting with my sister. It was stressful, but I fell in love with baby Salem. She also managed to sleep more than my 3 month old baby. In love? Yes. Jealous? You betcha. We brought Tyler to Slidell to stay overnight the night before Thanksgiving. He woke up every 45 minutes and slept in my arms while Scott and I share a double bed. Not a whole lot of fun. Tyler also cried through Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. I suspect he was exhausted, as I wanted to cry, too!

December: We hosted my in-laws for Christmas because it was really the only way we could survive. Tyler loved the Christmas tree (a fake) and spent most of his time trying to eat the branches. I took six hundred photos of him sitting in front of the tree in his little elf hat. Life was still incredibly difficult, but was becoming more manageable. Scott and I decided that we would move Tyler to his own room in hopes that we could all get some sleep, and we made a plan and stuck to it. Initially, Tyler hated his crib, but we soon learned that he could in fact roll over (as he spent most of his time rolling in his sleep. Which woke him. It was great!)

So that's a year! Only six months late :)

Our Breastfeeding Journey

2011-06-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, but let's face it - I haven't blogged in months. I don't do much writing at all nowadays (besides my daily note to Tyler, part of our 365 project) but I think as if I am writing all the time.

I am not sure if that makes me crazy, but yes, I do it!

SO here goes.

While I am well aware that many women successfully formula feed their babies, it never crossed my mind as a choice. Even before I knew so much about breastfeeding, it just seemed right to me. Hey, that's what these things were made for, right? I longed to be one of those mothers who held their babies close while they nursed at the park, and I loved the idea that I could just grab a diaper and run out of the door (no bottles!)

My biggest misconception about breastfeeding was that it would come naturally. It's such a natural thing, right? I would just open my hospital gown right after birth, pop that sucker in his mouth and he would eat until he drifted off to sleep. Why did I need a class, or to go to a La Leche League meeting? I tried to read a book, but it just didn't seem right because there was no baby to practice on and borrowing someone's baby for the task just didn't seem right. My preparation didn't exceed buying a few nursing bras, tanks, and a good pump. I already had the other equipment, right?

So it goes something like this. Tyler was born. What a big boy!! He was so big, in fact, they did this sneaky test to check his glucose. I don't remember consenting for this blood prick, but I'm also not sure I was really given a choice. Regardless, his numbers were off, and he had to eat - IMMEDIATELY. BUT I AM BREASTFEEDING! I exclaimed. I'd heard of Lactation Consultants (commonly referred as LCs - those specialized in infant nutrition and helping moms like myself learn to nurse their babies) and I wanted one in my room now!

But it was 12:24am. And even though I was delivering at WOMAN'S HOSPITAL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF BATON ROUGE who swears on every commercial and billboard that they are woman and baby centered, there was no LC available. It was past midnight. These people needed some sleep, y'all, and my baby had to eat.

"If you don't breastfeed him right now, we have to give him formula" the nurses informed me. No problem. Here goes. Boob - check. Baby - check. I opened my gown and tried. Baby was SCREAMING! Isn't he supposed to know what to do?? (I had no idea what to do). And there she appeared - the pediatric nurse. She will know what to do! "You have to hold yourself this way" she said, as she smashed my breast painfully between her hand, "and just DUNK him on like THIS" Well, the dunking wasn't successful the first two times so we tried it another hundred. The result was an incredibly bloody nipple (just one hour post-birth, mind you!) and her response, "Well, it doesn't look like you'll be able to breastfeed him. Your anatomy isn't right for it."

OOOOOHHHH good. That makes sense, right? I mean, I had the boobs, but my anatomy wasn't right. Whatever the hell that meant. I decide I'll try again when I get to my room and am away from this boob smashing nurse. So I get to my post-partum (mother/baby) room and get the full, 30 minute long orientation. At some point, I said, "I really don't need to learn how to use the remote right now. Could you just turn off the light?" It was 2:30am, Tyler was two hours old, and had been crying for close to an hour because he was hungry and I'd been unable to feed him successfully. When I was finally alone, I did that thing I saw all of the other women do - I put my boob in his mouth (right?) and I think he kind of latched (albeit incorrectly) for a moment or two.

Until Nurse Bitch walked in, waving his chart. His whatever glucose issue was important. We are testing him again. If it's whatever wrong, he needs this crap we have ready mixed in a 2oz tube. (Obviously this was not what was said, but all I heard was that my baby would eat first from a rubber nipple instead of my own, that those precious first drips of colostrum would not line his tummy, but it would be stinky Similac or Enfamil or whoever the hospital signed a contract with.)

But he was still crying. He was hungry. I failed at feeding him and I had no support. It's not like my husband knew how - and obviously none of the nurses knew anything but how to screw that rubber nipple on the top of that liquid ready-to-feed human milk substitute.

That was not our first challenge. Tyler's glucose levels "required" (I write in quotes, because I am not positive this was an actual requirement and will request physical documentation of this policy/procedure before it happens again) another formula feeding. In the morning I attempted to nurse him, and it must have been enough to keep him from screaming for a little bit. And finally, when the morning nurse came, I asked, through tears, "PLEASE HELP ME BREASTFEED MY BABY!" and she responded by immediately paging the LC. Who promptly came.

And told me I had flat nipples. Wouldn't be able to breastfeed without a nipple shield and shells. She even told me that because Tyler was a big baby (8 pounds, 8.5oz at birth) that he would need more than I could provide. Showed me how to syringe feed formula through the nipple shield. Brought in a hospital grade Ameda pump and showed me how to use it. "Oh! You have a lot of colostrum" I remember her saying. But never took back the comment about Tyler needing formula because I would not make enough.

I cried. A lot. This was not how I pictured it at all. Where was my peaceful, easy, convenient set of boobs I could use to feed my baby? Now I have to wear these hard plastic things in my bra that cut into my bleeding nipple (still sore from pediatric nurse) and pull out this silicone thing to place over my nipple before I feed my baby. It didn't make sense - Surely other women had the same issue I was having and didn't use all of this crap to nurse their baby. Why was I being told this was what I needed?

That night was a long one. Tyler barely slept and spent most of his time screaming. I tried to nurse him over and over, and eventually ended up supplementing with the syringe and the nipple shield the way the LC showed me. When that didn't work, I called the nurses in to check him out. SURELY something was wrong with this baby. Newborns were supposed to be sleepy, right?? After checking him out and finding nothing wrong, they concluded that I was starving him. He NEEDS formula, you know. They offered to let me feed him. I refused. I didn't want to feed my baby formula. I cried as he was fed an entire two ounces of formula, and I cried again when he projectile vomited all of it all over himself and his bassinet thirty minutes later. Obviously, no one told these nurses that the size of a one day-old's belly is only the size of a marble. No one told me, either.

The next morning, a nurse came in to bring Tyler for his circumcision. Tyler had just woken and I was struggling to nurse him while Scott ran home to check on the house, clean up, and grab some non-hospital food to eat. The nurse saw me nursing and said, "Oh no! He can't eat right now. The doctor can't wait." So I listened. What else was I to do?

When she brought him back in, she said, "Don't feed him now - the pediatrician is coming and will want to see him." My wonderful OB came in to tell me about the circumcision procedure. He asked how I was doing and I broke down into tears, telling him of the problems nursing. He told me he could have waited, and that the pediatrician could wait. We talked about supplementing with formula, and he told me to make sure to bring the baby to my breast first. He was so supportive, and I cried the whole time. I was alone and incredibly overwhelmed. I immediately started nursing, and was able to get Tyler to latch. Less than five minutes later, I was interrupted by the pediatrician who, as it turned out, would not wait. "Take him off. If he's been nursing longer than five minutes, he's gotten everything he needs anyway." Really? If that was true, why had the LC told me to let him nurse until he stopped sucking? I wanted to believe that five minutes would work instead of an hour, but it seemed too good to be true. I didn't react, so he grabbed Tyler from my arms. Off of my breast. I wish I was exaggerating. After the exam, he left and I attempted to nurse again.

I called the lactation line. A new LC came this time - Mona. She asked me about the night before and I broke down into tears and told her about the other LC, the formula, the nurses, the vomiting. Mona tossed the shells and nipple shield to the side and showed me how to get Tyler to latch without all of that garbage. I felt like I could do it for the first time since giving birth.

The hospital social worker also came to check on me because I'd spent the whole day crying every time someone asked me how I was doing. We talked for about thirty minutes about my difficulties, my level of stress, how I was being interrupted when trying to meet my baby's most basic need, and how I thought I'd be okay if I would JUST LEAVE THE HOSPITAL.

Mona came a few times that day to check on me, and the next day, too, before discharge. After meeting with Mona that initial time, we tossed the formula from the room. I felt confident in my ability to feed my son without the artificial milk. (As a side note, the hospital did not, and they packed along 70oz ready-to-feed formula with the bag of diapers they sent home. The sad thing is, the nurse really believed she was doing me a favor hooking me up with freebies. I took pleasure in donating it to the local food bank as soon as I was able.)

It didn't get easier. As soon as my milk came in, my nipples were flat again and I was unable to get Tyler to latch. But wait! I had this silicone thing that helped - the nipple shield! I used that thinking I would toss it after the first few feedings, and ended up using it exclusively (with resentment) for over five months. Not only did I receive that thing at the hospital, it came with no information about nipple confusion or how to wean, and I would cry as my own baby would not recognize my nipple without it.

We had other problems, too. Tyler was a refluxy baby and when I brought him in for a doctor visit, my pediatrician told me he was gaining weight too rapidly and that he was overeating. He was, after all, eating for an hour every other hour. It certainly felt like too much for me, but I believed it was what he needed so I did it. When I asked, "But I thought breastfed babies regulated on their own?" the pediatrician said, "Yeah, well, no." She recommended nursing for five minutes and finding another way to pacify Tyler without feeding for at least an hour. We tried it once and it all Tyler did was cry. Then, we decided that the problem wasn't Tyler's weight gain, rather, it was the pediatrician. We chose a new one immediately. (And, for the record, he has stayed on the same curve since his 20 week anatomy scan - he is just a big kid.)

Breastfeeding Tyler was HARD. As in, cry-every-time-he-showed-a-hunger-sign-because-I-know-it-will-be-horrible hard. I wanted to quit nearly every day for most of the first three months of his life. On top of nursing being tough, he was just a generally tough baby (still is, as an older infant) and I resented my decision to breastfeed. I thought every day about feeding him with pumped milk, or human milk substitute, but really? I was too stubborn to give up. That didn't mean I didn't want to, that I didn't cry when someone asked me about it, that I didn't consider the possibility that I was having a breakdown because I felt I wasn't able to meet the needs of my child.

But one day - and I don't even know when because I was so mentally and physically exhausted - it didn't feel impossible. Then, after that, I found some support. Even though I'd called the LC line (and talked to LC #1, the giver of nipple shields) and was told I wouldn't be able to nurse without the shield, I tried it. It took some time but we eventually stopped using it completely and haven't looked back. Feedings dropped from 12 times a day to six or seven. (Remember, this is the baby that slept attached to the breast for the first six months of his life - literally. If I had given up, I wondered, how would he sleep??) I educated myself about the needs of a newborn when feeding and became angry about my experience. I vowed to spread the word about basic breastfeeding education to my pregnant friends so they wouldn't feel booby-trapped the way I did.

And somewhere along the line, I fell in love with nursing my baby. It became easy, convenient, healthy for both of us, relaxing for both of us, and we bonded. Tyler found my eyelashes one day last month while nursing. He learned to "Give me 5" while getting his morning milk. We talk, laugh, and share smiles while he nurses. Sometimes I sing. I finally got it.

I don't know how long I'll breastfeed Tyler or any of my other, not-yet-conceived babies, but I do know that when I look back years from now, I'll cherish those moments. Maybe even more so because of our struggles.

What is it they say? The challenges for the joys?

Tyler is 10 months and 3 days old.

A Day in the Life

2011-01-14T18:09:00.001-08:00

There's a great reason why I've neglected my blog. The thing is, I actively parent 12-13 hours a day, plus an hour or so in the evening. Here's our regular-ish routine:

6-7am -- Tyler wakes. (Sometimes happens as early as 5:30, often happens closer to 6:15. Occasionally has happened as late as 7:30. Love the 7:30 wake-ups!!! For the sake of this post, we will say he wakes at 6am) I fight to get him to nurse. (anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on his interest. He often wants to look at every single thing before going back to the boob. It's on and off until eventually, I give up, and we get up to play.)

6:30 -- Play. Look at everything in the house. *I* know that it's the same, but he doesn't! Make faces at daddy. Sometimes this is when I shower and Scott takes over. Most of the time we play for 30 minutes or so and then I make his oatmeal.

7:00 -- Eat breakfast. Usually both of us. This means that I have to manage to get his breastmilk/oatmeal/fruit concoction into his mouth fast enough to sneak in a bite of cereal myself, then give him another bite. He really enjoys eating solid foods, so he whines in between every bite. It is so cute. But also a little bit difficult! If he finishes his oatmeal and I still have cereal, I have to try to shove it into my mouth as quickly as possible without him noticing or he will continue to beg. We haven't gotten to the point that he refuses food, so I am thinking if I kept giving it to him he would continue to eat. But I don't.

7:30 -- Play. Sing ABC's, Jingle Bells, and any other song I can think of (or make up). Roll all over the floor (both of us). Tyler puts everything in his mouth. Toys, toy box (his favorite), hands, bib, feet, my hair, my hands, his feet again, the remote if I would let him... etc.) This lasts for about an hour. Often I beg for him to poop while Scott is still home because let's face it: it's no pretty sight.

8:15 -- Begin to get fussy. Whining, throwing head into my chest, and shrieking are his favorite displays of fussiness.

8:17 -- Nurse in our bed. Where we stay until he goes to sleep then wakes from his nap. Yep, that's right, both of us. The thing is, when I hold him he sleeps for sometimes 2 hours (often closer to 90 minutes). When I leave him in our bed, he sleeps for 15 minutes, max. When I put him in his crib, he sleeps for zero minutes. You read that right, ZERO.

10:00 (ish -- this is where it gets tricky) -- Tyler wakes. I nurse him if he'll have it. We repeat all activities. Look around the house, play with toys, eat solids. If we are going to do anything out of the house for the day, this is the best time. The morning nap is the most restful, and he's usually not very fussy at this time.

12:00 -- Nurse and nap again. This usually only lasts for 45-60 minutes, total. This nap sucks. Always. I really think it's because he wants to nurse the entire time and he's not able to fall into a deep sleep. It sucks. Again, I hold him. For this nap, he won't sleep at all unless he's held.

12:45 -- Wake. Try to find stuff to do that we haven't done. Try to remember that Tyler doesn't mind doing the same thing over and over again, even though it's not super exciting for me. Ah, the love we have for our children!

2:30 -- Nurse and nap again. This nap rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes. He's so overtired at this point, so this is rarely a successful nap. If he didn't act so fussy at this time, I'd skip it... but he can't skip it. Without screaming and crying for an hour or more.

3:00 -- Do anything I can to entertain Tyler until 5pm. This often includes Scott's help.

5:00 -- Walk. This is the only part of our day that's consistent. Scott and I take Tyler in the stroller for 30 minutes around the neighborhood. As soon as he was able to sit upright in the stroller (3 months), this became the fussy cure.

5:30 -- Bath with daddy. Scott bathes Tyler and I get his PJs ready. This is my "me" time. I often use it to get on the computer and delete the mass amounts of junk mail I receive daily.

5:50 -- PJ's and lotion. Tyler is so exhausted by this point that he fusses a bit while Scott tries to dress him. I set up in the bed and wait for Scott to bring Tyler to me.

6:00 -- Nurse. For an hour. I realize that he gets all of the milk he "needs" in about 20 minutes, but he's a big comfort nurser. Seriously. If he could park himself at the boob all day, he would pop on and off every ten minutes, just to "check in" and see what Mom's doing!

7:00 -- Hand Tyler off to Scott who kisses all over him and places him in bed. Tyler pulls a ninja move and flips on his belly before we even have time to shut the door. It takes him much more time to roll back to belly during the day when he's wide awake, but at night he has a super flipping power.

At this point, Scott and I often cook dinner, eat together, and then try to spend quality time for a few minutes. I pump for about 20 minutes and then we go to bed around 9:15 to read (yes, I do that sometimes, even now!) By 10, I am struggling to go to sleep, but am not usually successful until around 10:30.

Tyler wakes anywhere between 2-4am to nurse, nurses for about 30 minutes, then goes back to his bed. It usually takes me another 30 minutes to get back to sleep myself.

So there you have it! This blog is not the only thing that's neglected. Now that Tyler will play for 3-4 minutes alone in his room, I am able to pull out the Dyson and swing it around the carpet in the living room. If I attempt this while Tyler is in the living room it results in tears. An overtired baby is startled easily!

For the most part, he's happy, though. When I have tried to get him to nap by himself he's skipped naps completely and he's NOT happy. If he could just play all day, I'd skip the naps! He can't, though... he melts down and then his nighttime sleep is horrible.

So this is where we are. Not perfect or ideal, but drastically improved!

Sorry to neglect you, blogger!

extreme neglect of blog!!

2011-01-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm really horrible at keeping up with this blog. Part of the reason is that Tyler ONLY naps in my arms, which means that from 6:30am-7pm I am parenting him. The other part is that after 7pm, when he's in bed, I have my only bit of "me" time for the day, and that's actually shared with Scott. (This isn't 100% true... I do have 10 minutes of "me" time when Scott gives Tyler a bath! Does that even count?)

I am writing this now next to a whiny baby who is in his exercauser, bored, wishing I could play with him. So, I'd better go!

I'll leave with a photo of Tyler's first experience in a shopping cart, 12/30/10 :) He started sitting unassisted at 4.5 months and we are all loving it!

4 months

2010-11-30T13:03:00.001-08:00

It's been four months since I've had time to write a real post, so there will be none today... but I wanted to share some photos that my friend Harper took of our little family :)

another youtube video

2010-10-31T11:59:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9SVAc6m4ug

new video

2010-10-19T17:21:00.001-07:00

Sorry, blogger, but your video upload time is ridiculous! Instead, this is loaded on youtube.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDf78cd2iaY

first bath

2010-08-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Tyler had his first bath last week and as you can see from the photo, it was not his favorite thing to do! We waited a few days and reintroduced the bath, this time with warmer water... and he really seemed to enjoy it the second time around.

He did, however, poop in the tub. Ah, parenthood!

Tyler is three weeks old :)

2010-08-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Tyler was born!

2010-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

This post is almost two weeks late... but gosh, I've been busy!

Two weeks ago today I was very anxiously awaiting Tyler's arrival. The doctor told me on Friday that I was "close" and that if I didn't go into labor over the weekend, I would need to go in on Monday to check my blood pressure. If it was too high, we would need to induce -- and if not, I would need to keep coming back until either labor started or my BP was too high (and we would induce then!) On Sunday, August 1, I spent the day doing whatever I could do pre-baby... I had a good feeling that Tyler would be forced out on Monday. As it turns out, I was right! I went in for an induction after my appointment with Dr. Dickerson on Monday and Tyler came early Tuesday morning. He was born at 12:24 on August 3, 2010 and was 8lbs 8.5oz and 21" long.

Me on Sunday before Tyler was born

Before they started the induction

First time seeing Tyler... so in love!

With the pediatric nurse

In daddy's arms

Hospital photo

Finally home

Here are some sneak peeks from our session with Lindsey Whitty:

and my FAVORITE...

I love my family!!

a few recent photos

2010-07-23T15:46:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling sick for two days, so I'm not up for writing... but here are a few recent photos! Enjoy.

36 weeks pregnant

38.5 weeks pregnant

my first baby :)

our kitchen!

2010-06-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

This is a seriously delayed post! Our kitchen has been complete for a little while now. I can't really say that I've been super busy -- only that everything that used to be easy is no longer easy at all! I'm still hanging in here though, at 35 weeks pregnant. No recent photos, but I'll have to work on that :)

before the sink was installed

our new fancy sink and faucet

Unfortunately, there are now a few things that need to be done -- things we didn't expect to need to do. When we removed the tile back splash, some of the drywall was torn up. We didn't think much of it, as the granite was going to cover it... but as it turns out, the tile was uneven (surprise, surprise!) so now the wall will need to be plastered and painted. Our cabinets will also require some touching up from the removal of the old counters. Hopefully these things will be done in the next few weeks before Tyler comes, but who knows :)

By the way, there are still a ton of things to do in Tyler's room before his arrival in approximately 5 weeks -- when the room is complete, I'll update photos.

baby showers and other new things

2010-06-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

Friends and family threw me a shower on May 29. I forgot my camera :( so I didn't get a ton of photos, but here are some that I got from others.

Tyler got so many things at this shower that I couldn't imagine him needing anything else! It must have taken me a week to get everything shoved into the closet :) We got our stroller and figured out how to use it with the car seat, which was a lot of fun! Tyler also got quite a few monogrammed gifts.

My girlfriends at work also threw me a shower. I had a great time with everyone and got everything a ton of great stuff! Brittany came up with a lot of original games that everyone enjoyed.

Scott's coworkers pitched in and bought us our changing table, pack-n-play, and a gift card to Babies'R'Us. I was so excited to have the rest of the furniture that I put it together by myself :)

There's still a lot of work to do in the nursery, but we moved our energy to the kitchen remodel this weekend -- but I'll save that for another post and another day :)

all appliances are in!

2010-05-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

(disclaimer -- this should be an update about my baby shower, but since I don't have any photos yet, it's about my appliances!)

All appliances are in!

Last week, Scott installed our dishwasher. The only thing left was the microwave, which has been in our home for over a month. It started in the dining room, was moved to the living room, and made it to the office where it remained... until today. With a little help from a friend, our kitchen is (almost) complete!

new dishwasher :)

our fabulous refrigerator

Scott working on the demo of the old tile back splash

microwave in its new home! (with a few patches on the drywall that came off with the tile)

aaaand one last thing...

Scott thinned out the carrots in our garden, by removing these delicious sticks. The next batch will be heftier with just a little more space and growing time.

It's been an exhausting but fun Memorial Day weekend. We could all use a nap.

maternity session

2010-05-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

A fellow social worker, Harper Levy Bauman, came to our home today to take a few photos of us in this exciting journey. Here are some of the shots, as well as a link to her blog where there are tons of other great photos.

Thanks, Harper!

new addition to the family

2010-05-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Introducing our newest addition to the family...

part one of video project

2010-05-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

it was hard to take it seriously toward the end!

SO many things...

2010-05-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

This post should be broken into several posts -- but I'm super tired so I'll throw it all into one (and maybe get away with mostly posting photos!)

Exciting update #1:
My sister Melanie and my niece Adora came to visit for a week! During that time, my nephew Preston turned 1 and we had a birthday party at my mom's house. It was my birthday, too, but I didn't mind being overshadowed by the super cute kiddos. It was only a preview of what's to come

adora playing with the fountain at the zoo

Adora playing in the bouncy castle at the party

Preston playing

Preston with his cake

Obviously not a fan

Sweetest girl in the world

Exciting update #2: Our kitchen is going to be completed one of these days! Scott and Jeff installed my range yesterday (forget that it had been sitting in our living room for a week -- Adora didn't seem to notice, which was very funny!)

new range... next in will be the refrigerator and dishwasher -- and soon enough, the granite!

I did, however, manage to come up with a microwave on my floor -- fortunately, it's significantly smaller and will (hopefully) soon be installed.

see, much smaller than the range!

Exciting update #3: Our garden is growing! Scott was able to eat his first collard greens and bok-choy from our garden. Which reminds me, I need to water it for him tonight :)

our garden

Also growing is the tree that we planted on my birthday last year -- strangely enough, it's not the only thing growing!

birthday photo 2009

birthday photo 2010

I'm short on words, so I'll leave you with a super sweet video:

Scott's pet orchids

2010-04-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

We've had two orchids since moving into our home on Sweetbriar Street (about six months before we got married -- so three years ago?)

Of course we purchased them blooming but we could never get them to do anything again. The leaves were healthy and reproducing, they were potted correctly, but... nothing!

We inherited a small pinched off plant from an Orchid we gave Scott's mother for Mother's Day a few years ago, and we threw that in it's own pot. It began to grow large leaves but would never grow a stem. Scott followed all of the watering "rules" but we just couldn't figure it out! I finally told him that if they didn't bloom this year, we would throw them out and start fresh. Two years of non-blooming orchids does not make for a happy wife!!

The orchids may have realized they were wearing out their welcome, because near the end of the year last year, they began to grow stems! Here are some shots of our very loved orchids:

before the flower

flowering

from Sweetbriar Street

a few new things

2010-04-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've purchased "a few" new things since my last update! I found and fell in love with this bedding -- and bought it -- just to realize that it is the exact same bedding my brother and sister-in-law are using for my nephew Preston! It made me think of something my friend Brittany told me when she was buying furniture for her new home. She chose the same entertainment center her sister was using at her house, but decided to go with it anyway. Great minds think alike, right?

When we painted the bathroom, we chose the paint color for the nursery. It was sort of a muted greenish color... we thought! We bought three gallons (just in case) for around $100. For a few weeks it's been sitting in our storage area outside waiting to go on the walls.

This weekend, Scott pulled out the paint. As it began to go up on the walls, we decided it looked blue!

We both love the color, but it's not quite what we were expecting! Seeing as how we'd already purchased three gallons (and my sweet husband spent so much time being the wonderful painter that he has become) we decided immediately to go forward and stick with it.

All in all, Scott did a beautiful job! We ordered Tyler's dresser this week and also bought a glider from a friend -- so the nursery will soon be coming together!

Here are some shots:

please excuse the large maternity pillow on the glider :)

Saturday night I was invited to a Planned Parenthood fundraiser. I had the opportunity to meet the CEO of Planned Parenthood and Julie Powell, the author whose movie was turned into the movie Julie and Julia. Because of my past involvement with Planned Parenthood and my very obvious planned pregnancy, I was selected to choose winners for the door prizes! I was told afterward that my performance as Vanna White was "just perfect" :)

Here is a photo of me before the event:

and Julie Powell with the CEO of Planned Parenthood:

Revisiting "the list"

2010-04-04T07:05:00.001-07:00

I was talking with a girlfriend last night about things she wanted to do to her house in the next few years... which leads me to revisiting our own list. We have a "new" one now -- conveniently stuck to the refrigerator -- but here's our original (with updates)

Working on our list!
For a refresher, here are the things still on our home "to do" list:

Paint office -- done
Paint laundry room -- done
Paint pantry -- done
Paint master closets -- done
Paint master bath
Paint guest bath -- finally complete!
Replace fixtures in guest bath -- still looking...
Replace mirror in guest bath -- priced, but not done
Replace toilet seat in guest bath
Replace shower head in guest bath -- ordered and in the mail!
Figure out what's wrong with guest toilet (done) and fix it (not done) as a side note, this mysteriously fixed itself after we purchased the repair kit. i guess we won't be needing to repair it now! so, done!
Fix drains in guest bath
Paint outdoor arch (done!!)
Replace frilly curtains on front door--done!!
Replace light in kitchen
Add mechanical arm to iron gate -- DONE!
Repair grout in kitchen -- instead, we are removing the tile and having granite and new appliances installed. this one item now requires it's own list!
Caulk cracks near roof -- done
Remove huge ugly Sago palm -- finally done!!
Clean dryer vent --done!
Replace ridge vents
Remove attic vent and patch hole (we just fixed it)
Remove tree close to house (we are trimming it and not removing it)
Plant trees to replace all of the stuff we're removing :) (done!! we planted two!)
Paint hallway -- done

Seeing our original list makes me feel like we've done quite a bit... although there have been many more lists :)

Over the next two months, my goal is to complete the kitchen remodel (counters and appliance conversions) and complete the nursery. These will be our biggest projects to date (as well as the most expensive) but if we don't do them now, will we ever?

bathroom painting day!

2010-04-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

we HATED the color of our guest bath, so painting has been a to-do for about 14 months :) Nothing like a baby on the way to get these projects going!

We used the Valspar paint plus primer, but it looks like we still need another coat of paint in the second half of the bathroom. Here's the finished color in the first half:

Before

After

I have to thank my painter again -- Thank you Scott! The project actually took all day, but we rewarded ourselves with DeAngelo's dinner and Abita Strawberry beer (for Scott). When the bath area is finished, I'll take a photo of that area.

Next project? Painting the nursery!

UPDATE:
Scott finishing the back part of the bathroom:

rain barrel

2010-04-02T16:34:00.001-07:00

Scott actually did this the day after we dug the garden, but I've been slacking at taking the photo and posting it!

We bought a 10' strip of gutter and a downspout at Lowe's and Scott cut and hung it. When the water comes off of the roof, it goes down the downspout and into the barrel. The barrel has a mesh hole in the top to keep out debris. The spout at the bottom uses the pressure from the weight of the water to power fill the hose... and water our plants!

Enjoy:

two posts in one day!

2010-03-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

We didn't install the gutter/rain barrel, but we did dig out the garden! It's pretty cold out, but we made the best of it.

Here's proof:

the beginning

see, I can help, too!

the finished product (needs a bit more soil)

our "Earth Machine" (for compost -- from Freecycle.org!) and rain barrel are in the background. The seedlings still need time to grow, and next weekend we'll be out of town... so maybe we'll be able to plant a bit after we get back.

Spring is here!!

2010-03-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

Although it doesn't feel like it! Last week's weather was blown away by a cold front that came in yesterday... so all of our big plans to work on our garden and water barrel may be put on hold. I don't want to be out there in the 40 degree weather, so I can't blame Scott if he doesn't either :)

We went to Lowe's yesterday for some preparation for our newest projects. Here's the evidence:

four bags of garden soil, two plants for our pots, and our previously purchased rain barrel, garden in a box (above ground frame for garden), vinyl gutter and downspout (for rain barrel), gutter parts (who knew there were so many!!)

So, what is a rain barrel? Simply put, it's a trash can with a metal grate on the top and a spot near the bottom. When it's attached to a gutter downspout, it fills with rain water to save for watering plants. You can find more info here: EPA website

Besides saving money on our water bill over time, our rain barrel will allow us to reuse the water that's already coming down into our yard on our potted plants and in our beds. The initial cost was about $100 for the barrel and gutter parts, but for a home with gutters, that cost would be cut in half. We bought our barrel at the annual sale in Baton Rouge for $50.

Remember last year's Oklahoma Redbud tree? It's finally blooming! There are still buds to open, but here's a photo of the tree from today:

Our tree isn't the only thing growing... my belly is! Here are yesterday's photos at 21 weeks pregnant:

and a few diaper cakes I've made for baby showers I've been to recently:

Next weekend we'll be in Miami! Since it doesn't look like many of our projects will be finished today, I'll have to update with the finished product at another time.

20 week belly shot

2010-03-15T15:12:00.001-07:00

getting bigger by the day!!

So, I hired a painter!

2010-03-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

When we first moved into our home, we painted one of the rooms (the smallest room, too!) It became Scott's office. We chose a curry yellow, and while we both like the color, it's really loud. Neither of us had a lot of experience painting, so we just got what we thought we needed and went for it. After it dried we decided we weren't too happy with the outcome -- and since the color of the room was so drastically different than the previous color, we had to use 2 coats of primer and three coats of paint for the smallest room in the house. With the cost of the drop cloths, the brushes and rollers and other tools, the job cost us over $200. Not cheap, especially considering we could have gotten someone to do it for us for that job (and we'd be happy with it!)

There are other rooms we have been needing to paint, but I told Scott I wanted to make sure we were happy with the results if we were going to spend the money. If that meant hiring a painter, that's what we'd do -- but I didn't want us to drop a ton of cash and be unhappy, then end up hiring someone anyway. So we made a deal -- he would paint the hallway, and if he did a good job, he would paint the other rooms. If we weren't happy with it, we'd hire someone and just pay to have it done.

With the baby on the way, I've been feeling a lot of pressure to get these things done. Part of me knows it will be harder to do once the baby comes, but a bigger part of me believes that if we wait, it will never be completed! With 20 weeks left in the pregnancy, we decided to get moving.

This week we went to Lowe's and chose a color for the hallway (a bit lighter than the previous color). Scott did a little research and found that we had the wrong rollers, so we went ahead and got the correct ones. Aside from rollers, paint, and tape, we really didn't need anything. Scott spent his time today taping off, edging, and rolling the paint. Now that it's complete I've decided...

I've hired a painter! Fortunately for us, he's cheap -- Scott did such a great job, he's been hired to do the other jobs :)

Scott found that the turtle tape was significantly better than the regular blue stuff. By using the correct tools (and likely by not allowing me to participate!), the job was completed at a professional level, but at a small cost! It only took one coat of paint, no primer (since the colors were so similar) and really didn't cost much.

Check out the man in action:

and the end result:

(color variations caused by lighting in the room)

Very pleased! Can't wait to start the nursery :)

the ultrasound photos

2010-03-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

They're not great scans, but here are the photos!

My back has been killing me today -- not sure if it's regular baby pains or if it's from walking the 4 mile lake and then cutting the grass yesterday. I'm thinking the former was the culprit and the latter aggravated the problem. It's tough because I'm finally feeling up for doing things, but my body doesn't want to keep up!

At my last doctor's visit, I'd gained a total of 7lbs. The doctor wants me to gain a pound a week, putting me around a total weight gain of 28lbs. I realize this may be somewhat out of my control, but I'm still trying to be healthy. Occasionally I crave McDonalds french fries... but I've only indulged twice! Maybe tonight will be #3...:)

A few weeks ago my sister found out she's pregnant! She's due late October and it's so exciting. I've been holding onto the news for a while, but it looks like she's sharing the news now -- so I don't have to keep it secret anymore!

We finally decided against the combined guest room/nursery. Baby Tyler will get his own room -- a luxury I didn't have for many years! Hopefully he'll appreciate it :) There really wasn't enough room for everything we (or, I, actually!) wanted in the nursery and a bed. Now we (or, Scott, actually!) need to get the room painted and then I'll see about ordering the rest of the furniture.

Oh, and I started a registry online! I haven't actually been to the stores to add things, but in case any of you enjoy browsing registries (I know I do!) you can check Babies'R'Us and Target online. There are still a few duplicates, like the jogging stroller... not sure which one we want yet. Also not sure if my extremely tall husband will be able to use either one! We shall see.

it's a boy!

2010-03-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

More later...!

18 week belly picture

2010-02-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

I feel like I don't look this way at the beginning of the day, but I definitely do toward the end!

Not really in the mood for writing right now -- but here's my most recent belly pic!

Edit: From the morning of 2/27:

(proof that it does grow throughout the day!)

the (slowly) growing belly

2010-02-07T06:51:00.001-08:00

In my sixteenth week, Baby Stead will grow from a navel orange to the size of an avocado!! I am amazed by the recent growth and all of the changes in development. This week, the tiny bones in Baby Stead's ears are in place, making it likely that he or she can hear me! Fortunately my coughing has almost ceased, or the poor baby would be sick of me before meeting me.

Starting last weekend, we've done a lot of baby stuff! It was actually coincidental, as it started with me shopping for a girlfriend's baby shower. We were at Babies'R'us (which was a HORRIBLE experience, by the way... I have rarely had such poor service, and never when spending so much money) and I saw the display for a crib I'd been eying online. The only thing was that this crib, the one I loved, had been out of stock for a month! At one point Babies'R'us took backorders, but then they just stopped and no one would say when it would be back. Well, it was on display, so we thought we'd ask if they had it!

An hour later, we found out that they did (hence the extra-poor customer service that was provided by the assistant manager Curtis) and there was one left!!! We had to get it, right?

So we did! Following some other troubles (they gave us the wrong one, so we had to bring it back and exchange... uh!!) on Tuesday of this week we ended up with our crib. And what did we then do? Put it together, of course! Realistically, we didn't want it taking up space in the guest room/soon-to-be-nursery, but I was afraid if we didn't at least inspect it, we'd end up with a defective one past our return date. Now that it's together, it's not coming apart! I've just kept the door closed to that room -- we need to move out some furniture before it will look live-able :)

Here's a stock photo:

I don't have a complete photo of it in the room, and it doesn't have a mattress or any bedding anyway, but here's one of Roxie. She had a difficult time allowing us to put it together :)

I couldn't stop looking at diaper bags, and when I found this one I loved it. It happened to be on sale, so it only made sense to buy it, right?! I like that it's gender neutral and it's something I will be able to re-purpose in the future. (It's also made out of recycled plastic -- but that's just a plus!)
check it out:

Lastly, my belly photo for this week.. forgive me for looking very very tired! It was taken at around 6:30am!

Next week we're going to North Carolina to visit Scott's aunt and uncle at their beach house. I'll update with photos when we get back!

update

2010-01-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

I have not been great about tending to my blog lately! Although I've had time, I have been seriously lacking motivation and energy. Where is this second trimester energy everyone is talking about?!

In December, we had the opportunity to visit with Melanie, Jake, and Adora for a few days before Christmas. Adora had her first Christmas tree, but Mel and Jake couldn't place any presents under it in fear she would get into them early. Scott and I brought about 15 books for her Christmas presents, so we decided to wrap them individually (so it seemed like more, right?!) and place a few underneath the tree each evening. It was such a joy watching her search the tree for presents and open each one. Each time she would ask for help, but her mama would tell her, "You can do it" and she would. Each time she acted like she was opening a brick of gold instead of a book. Here's hoping she keeps that excitement for small things for years to come!

Here are the photos:

And a video:

Scott really enjoyed his time getting to know Adora. In past visits, he usually sees her in a large group of people and spends a few minutes with her here and there. Seeing them play in Adora's element was just so cute I had to get a few photos:

In baby news, I'm finally in the second trimester but not much has changed. I still look close to the same -- maybe a little more swollen than before! After getting two different infections and a load of medication, I am finally starting to feel post-pregnancy normal (which is nothing like pre-pregnancy normal!) I haven't taken a belly shot for a few weeks now, but I'll post the last ones I took:

at six weeks

at ten weeks

During week 14, the fetus will grow from the size of a lemon to the size of an apple. In the following week, it will grow to the size of a large naval orange! Surely by this point I will be showing a little something more... I think I am being spared now because my stomach wasn't rock solid to begin with (and the little bebe is so small).

At ten weeks, we took a test called Intelligender that allegedly reports the sex of the baby. We got a girl result! I'm not having a lot of faith in this urine and chemical test, but we should find out either way on March 8th (I'm hoping). My plan is to be sneaky and schedule my doctor appointment that day... then tell my OB "But I'll be 19 weeks and 3 days!" so he'll let me schedule the ultrasound then too. His preference is 20 weeks, but lots of women I know find out the sex at 16 weeks! I know, I know... he wants to wait to look for abnormalities... but I already know this baby will be perfect however s/he is, so I don't care about that!

We are using this time to do some serious nesting -- ie. complete projects on our home that we swore we'd get to but we'll never do post-baby if we wait. We're traveling in February and March, but once we return, our plan is to complete the kitchen remodel! We're replacing our white appliances with stainless and our tile counter tops with granite. Hopefully we'll throw some granite on both of the bathroom counters too -- but that may end up being more intricate than we think (with sinks and all). Either way, we're super excited to get the project underway and I'm even more excited for it to be finished before Baby Stead makes an appearance.

Love her :)

2010-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Uncle Scott reading to Adora. I love to hear her say our names. ("Cott" for scott and "Lala" for Laura)

Another year

2010-01-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

I did this last year and enjoy looking back at it, so here goes again!

January-- Scott and I celebrated our first anniversary as a married couple on December 31, 2008. We woke up January 1 at our lovely house in Southdowns, but only lived there for a couple weeks. On January 16 (also my sister's birthday!) we closed on our first home in Springlake subdivision in Baton Rouge. We spent countless hours painting and making other small changes before moving in a week later. We bought our first fancy washer and dryer and a great new living room set.

February-- The delivery of our wonderful things took quite a while! The first few weeks we were in our home, we didn't have our new things. That meant lying on a blanket on the floor watching DVD's (our television service wasn't yet set up either). We made the best of it and spent a lot of time unpacking. We celebrated our 3rd Valentines Day together as a couple.

March-- Our new home was missing something... so we planted an Oklahoma Redbud tree in the front yard. We were easily swayed by the beautiful early Spring blooms.

April-- We celebrated my 26th birthday/Arbor Day by planting a red maple in the back yard. Scott and I both took that Friday off of work and we spent a wonderful day together. I ate at India's with Jeff for lunch.

May-- School ended mid-may, and I had a lot of work to complete to close out the school year. My position ended May 31, so I had almost an entire month off of work in June. We spent our time getting our last minute things together for our big vacation in June.

June-- Scott and I spent a week in Montego Bay, Jamaica at the Sunset Beach Resort. We enjoyed our time but found Jamaica to be a very sad, desperate country. Later that month, I threw a baby shower for a co-worker who was adopting. I visited Melanie, Jake, and Adora for five days. Near the end of the month, I started in my new position at a middle school in Baton Rouge. Roxie kept me busy with two dog parties in one day.

July-- We celebrated Scott's birthday with dinner at a Thai restaurant that he loves. I convinced him that we would be picking up take-out, but when we got there, my mom and Jeff were there. He still thought it was a coincidence... until I told him to go sit down. We ended the evening watching a movie (his choice, which is rare!) The next day we met our dear friends Jeremy and Ashley in New Orleans to visit the "bug zoo." We spent some time at the museum and enjoyed a day of summer in the French Quarter. Scott and I joined the YMCA and started regularly attending classes.

August-- School started early August and I started at my new school. We went to the Baton Rouge Balloon Festival and Scott was interviewed by Channel 2. We DVR'd the news that evening and were so tickled to see Scott on TV. We decided Scott has a Southern accent -- something I've never noticed before!! We went to Austin, Texas for five days and loved it so much that it was hard to come home.

September-- We spent the day in New Orleans at The Aquarium of the America's and Cafe Maspero. We did a little shopping in the French Quarter and drove past our favorite hotel, La Pavillion.

October-- Scott and I had the opportunity to attend a tailgate party on the terrace of the journalism building at LSU. We watched James Carville broadcast Serius XM radio from the terrace and I was lucky enough to snap a photo with him. We watched the Tigers flood the streets around the stadium, but we weren't lucky enough to get tickets to the game! On Halloween night, we finally made it to the Tiger Den Suites -- courtesy of AT&T. I have no desire to ever sit in the regular stadium seating again :)

November-- I found out this month that I was pregnant. It was everything we have wished for and I didn't believe it was true. After two blood tests, I started to believe it. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom, Jeff, brother Joshua, and step-brother Joseph. We went to LSU vs Arkansas in the suite and I was unable to enjoy the complementary alcohol! Fortunately I wasn't feeling sick, but it was very cold.

December-- The last week of school, I took off some time and Scott and went to Wichita Falls to visit Melanie, Jake, and Adora. We spent our last Christmas as a two-person family. Christmas Eve we ate dinner with my mom. Christmas morning we shared breakfast with my mom and our family, and then went to Slidell to spend time with Scott's family. We shared our news with Scott's mom and she was overjoyed. For our anniversary, we drove all over town getting ingredients for the perfect stay-at-home dinner. We made a fantastic cheese fondue (with fancy cheese from Whole Foods) and dipped vegetables, bread, and apples into the cheese. Scott had a grilled his steak and I baked a stuffed chicken breast. By the time we got to the main course, I couldn't eat my chicken!! We stayed up reading until midnight (thrilling, I know!!), kissed for the new year, and went to bed.

I can't wait to see what 2010 brings us! Happy New Year!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

I've had plenty of time to reflect on the many things I am thankful for this year. Although I'm not a big fan of holidays and huge get-togethers, this year has me nostalgic in a different way. Instead of spending this time wishing I could change all of the things that I don't like, I'll take a moment to reflect on all of the positivity that has occurred in my life, shaping who I am.

I am thankful for my mom, who made her life a struggle so mine wouldn't be. I am thankful for all of the things that she did that go unrecognized, such as maintaining my mental and physical health. I fully believe I would not be the person that I am today without having such a strong role model in my life.

I am thankful for my sister Melanie, who has been not only a sister but a best friend throughout the years. I'm thankful for the things that we've experienced together and also those separate experiences that we can both learn from. I know she is always there for me whether I need to laugh or cry (or, like many times, both).

I'm thankful for my older brothers, Joshua and Jonathan and my younger step-brother, Joseph. They often keep me in touch with the male perspective, making me both laugh and glad to be a woman. Without my brothers, I would not be as well rounded a person.

I'm thankful for my step-father, who came into my life at a time that I was rebellious and unmanageable! He still loved me and showed me what it was like to have a supportive father. Jeff made my wedding so special by walking me down the aisle and handing me off to my wonderful husband.

I am thankful for Tracie and Dale Singleton, who are wonderful parents for my niece Bethany. I cannot imagine a better home for Bethany and am so thankful for her wonderful family.

I'm thankful for modern medicine for making things happen that were otherwise not possible. I'm thankful for my job and my supportive co-workers and supervisor. I'm thankful for my beautiful home, my car that always starts, my friends and family that are always there when I need them, and my animals that always make me smile.

Lastly, I am so thankful for my husband Scott, without whom I would not be as sane as I am right now! Scott is my best friend, my rock, and the love of my life. I couldn't ask for more.

LSU vs Tulane

2009-11-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

Scott and I had the opportunity to sit in the Tiger Den Suites. We hosted Scott's customer's niece from Scott's Fence and wined and dined courtesy of AT&T. I haven't been feeling well this whole weekend, but the buffet and ice cream cooler in the suite definitely helped!

Here are a few pictures from the game:

weekend warrior

2009-10-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

The weather has been beautiful in Baton Rouge this past week. Saturday, Scott and I thought it would be nice to have a change of scenery for our usual run. When we lived in Southdowns, the LSU lakes were right around the corner -- so they were an every week place to go exercise.

The thing is, it's been a long time since I've run as many as four miles... at least five years. Scott and I run about 2 miles at a time, and pretty easily, but still, four?

We ran the entire "big" lake (4 miles) Saturday afternoon. It was exhilarating to find that we could do it! The rest of the evening Saturday we were both feeling great. At some point, I decided it would be a good idea to do it again Sunday, and Scott agreed! We were going to do it again!

Sunday morning we ate brunch at Kingfish and went on our run around 3. At the beginning of the run, I noticed my muscles were still tired from Saturday's run. A mile or so in, I realized that brunch wasn't the best idea. About three miles in, I realized my underpronating was causing some pain in my left foot. I guess I thought it would go away... and when it didn't, there wasn't much I could do about it anyway! We finished the four miles at only 2 miles slower than the day before. The second run was much harder, but I was so proud of myself for being able to do it!

It looks like it may be a while until I am able to run again. I am hobbling around on a mildly sprained left ankle. Fortunately I am able to wear flats to work! Unfortunately, I still have to walk around school all day to see my clients. Tonight I'm skipping our Tuesday night boot camp class at the YMCA... hopefully tomorrow we'll be at the lakes again!

recent happenings

2009-10-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

This week was the best and worst week I've had for quite some time. The work week was long and exhausting, and I agreed to administer the GRE on Saturday morning at 7:15. 7:15am after a long week?! What was I thinking when I agreed to that?!

Fortunately, I had a fun weekend to balance out the exhausting week. Scott and I decided to stay on campus Saturday morning after the test. We ate at Inga's and then went to Tiger District to buy some shirts for the gold game. We didn't get tickets for the game -- it's difficult to convince someone to give you tickets to the LSU vs. Florida game -- but we had a good time hanging out on campus until the AT&T party on the terrace of the journalism building.

After getting our VIP passes and enjoying some of the delicious catering from Cef Don Bergeron (who also happens to be a client of Scott's, as we found out that day), we ran into James Carville and snapped a few pictures.

It is likely that I was the only non-important person that was photographed with him on this day. Everyone else looked pretty important and the photos were taken by a professional photographer with the "handshake" (you know, the slow handshake with the smile at the camera... perfect photo op?). I snuck in and just told him I wasn't very important but was a big fan, and he graciously took a photo with me.

The view from the terrace was wonderful -- we were in between the stadium and the PMAC. I didn't enjoy too much of the view, though, as I was more interested in sitting in a chair at a table for the first time throughout the tailgating process :) The food and open bar treated us well, and we enjoyed watching the sea of gold gathering around the stadium as our city prepared for the football players to come through.

I know in my lifetime I've seen this before, but we had a really great view of the players in their suits walking down to the stadium. We were surrounded by LSU foundation donors, Exxon lobbyists, and many other people who traveled hundreds of miles to attend this party on the terrace and watch LSU play Florida in Tiger Stadium. It was a great time!!

Eventually, the ticket holders were separated from the non-ticket holders, and I took one photo with Kimberly before she and her husband went to their club seats in the stadium. We're hoping to attend a Saints game in the AT&T suite next month.

We had the opportunity to visit with my oldest friend Camila and her wonderful family on Sunday morning. Camila and Michael recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Mason Wiltcher. This was my first time to see Mason and he is just perfect. I would have snapped a photo with Camila, but she was very tired and I didn't want to make her self-conscious by playing paparazzi! (Although it would have come out beautifully, I am sure!) We'll have to make sure to take one next time... don't know when it will be, but hoping it's not too long!!!!

playing catch up

2009-09-27T18:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a video of Scott on the news from the Balloon festival a few months ago...

I know it's a little late, but I finally recorded it on my camera!

We had a very busy weekend!

Saturday afternoon we visited the brick garden at the Crisis Intervention Center. A few years ago, I planted an engraved brick in honor of my middle school friend, James Carmichael, who died by suicide. This week has been an emotional one for many reasons... on one hand, it feels like yesterday that he died (although it has been 13 years); on the other, so much has happened since then. Visiting the brick garden with Scott was a peaceful way to remember.

Later that evening, we enjoyed a bottle of wine at the Wine Loft downtown. We don't ever go out on weekends, so it was nice to get dressed up and go on a date!

This morning we ate breakfast at New York Bagel before heading to New Orleans. Our first stop was the Aquarium of the Americas. After acting like children and taking a ton of photos, we walked to the French Quarter for a bite to eat. We did a little shopping and headed home.

Our visit to the Aquarium of the Americas

Spotted eel

I was obviously a foot too tall for this photo opportunity...

Eating at Cafe Maspero

sweet ride outside of Harrah's

austin vacay

2009-09-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

Scott and I went on a weekend getaway to Austin, Texas. It was a very last minute trip, but we had a ton of fun! Here are some things we did while we were there:

These are the rowboats at the Texas Rowing Center on Lake Austin

Beautiful Lake Austin

Mount Bonnell

University of Texas

At a wine bar in the warehouse district

The Story of Texas Museum... we didn't go, but we enjoyed the IMAX theater inside :)

My sweet husband

Texas State Capitol

We rented cruisers and rode through Austin

Waiting to eat dinner in soco (South Congress)

Scott and me at the Oasis on Lake Travis

our hot air balloon date

2009-08-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

okay, not actually a date in a hot air balloon... :)

we went to the balloon festival on saturday night and scott was on the news! i'll have to figure out how to record it to a video (i have it saved on DVR but it's not online) so when i do, i'll post it here... until then, enjoy the snapshots!

Working on our list!

2009-07-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

For a refresher, here are the things still on our home "to do" list:

Paint office -- done
Paint laundry room -- done
Paint pantry -- done
Paint master closets -- done
Paint master bath
Paint guest bath
Replace fixtures in guest bath
Replace mirror in guest bath
Replace toilet seat in guest bath
Replace shower head in guest bath
Figure out what's wrong with guest toilet (done) and fix it (not done)
Fix drains in guest bath
Paint outdoor arch (done!!)
Replace frilly curtains on front door--done!!
Replace light in kitchen
Add mechanical arm to iron gate -- DONE!
Repair grout in kitchen
Caulk cracks near roof
Remove huge ugly Sago palm -- finally done!!
Clean dryer vent --done!
Replace ridge vents
Remove attic vent and patch hole (we just fixed it)
Remove tree close to house (we are trimming it and not removing it)
Plant trees to replace all of the stuff we're removing :) (done!! we planted two!)
Paint hallway

Before

Way up high on the ladder

See how good he is?

scotty's eclair cake

2009-07-27T17:07:00.001-07:00

Scott's mom made him this yummy eclair cake for his birthday! I'm so glad she makes it every year because it's his favorite and I'll probably never make it for him :)

Visiting the "Bug Zoo"

2009-07-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

Scott's 27th birthday was full of surprises! On Friday, I told him we were ordering from Duang Tawan, a Thai restaurant here in BR. I even faked the call-in order and we waited for 45 minutes before going to pick it up. In the meantime, my mom and step-dad were rushing through traffic to get there and grab a table. When we got there, Scott thought they were just enjoying a Friday night dinner... I had to tell him to go sit down with them and that it was a surprise!

Saturday morning we drove to New Orleans to meet up with our good friends Ashley and Jeremy. We met at GordonBiersch and enjoyed lunch and a few unique brews. Then we were off to the Insectarium (which Scott fondly called the "Bug Zoo" -- which made me laugh until I cried).

I'm not sure that I recommend the bug zoo for young adults without children... but it was still entertaining. The atmosphere was very childlike and not as enjoyable as the aquarium, but fun nonetheless. Having Jeremy and Ashley with us made it much more fun! We ate cricket pancakes and watched videos and got face-to-face with roaches... I was not a bug person before the experience, and my feelings did not change at all!

Enjoy the photos :)

Can you spot the bug?

gross!!

huge ants

Laura and Ashley in the bug

checking out the menu at the bug cafe

It's been a while...

2009-07-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

I just realized that it's been three weeks since I've updated!

We've started a few new adventures since my last post... one of which was joining the YMCA. Our first night we did a toning class with an instructor named Cissy and soon found out just how out of shape we really are! It was definitely a wake-up call and I was sore for about four days (Scott, on the other hand, didn't feel sore at all!)

A couple of Fridays ago we enjoyed dinner at our favorite fancy restaurant in Baton Rouge, Maison LaCour.

It's this little old french-style home that was converted into a French restaurant. We always enjoy it much more than Galatoire's Bistro, which is much larger and usually crowded. I guess that makes Maison LaCour a secret, but the secret's out! It's best to call for reservations a week or two in advance... so when Scott called, they said they weren't sure of their availability because HBO's True Blood was filming at the restaurant that day!

Here are some photos of other recent events:

visiting Tricia at the hospital after her 24.5 hour labor... doesn't she look great?!

Virga with little Izzy

Adora's artwork sent to Uncle Scott for his bday (Mommy Melanie drew the heart!)

Love Potion #9

2009-06-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

My oldest brother made this short video about my niece Adora...

It's so cute... you have to check it out!!

visit with baby preston

2009-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to see my nephew and sister-in-law on Wednesday. I only took a few photos, but here they are!

preston hanging out

a very proud Aunt Laura with her little speedster

awesome!!

2009-06-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

dog parties

2009-06-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Roxie went to two dog parties in one day. Wow! Her social life is better than mine! She needed a ride, so of course I was invited too... here are some of the pictures!

Roxie at Bogalusa's party, Canes Dog Park

doggie treats at B's party

little dogs at B's party

Josie living it up at her party

Roxie at Ginger and Josie's party

adora's breakfast with aunt laura

2009-06-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

make sure to turn up the volume!

another cute video

2009-06-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

She loves her Aunt Laura!

2009-06-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

jamaica post one

2009-06-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've just uploaded the photos and videos from our Jamaican vacation. Sadly, many of the photos are not great, and some of the things we did I didn't photograph (like the kayaking and white water rafting, and even some of the zip lining). The photograph I wish I had the most was the one of Scott jumping off of a cliff into the river we rafted along. I thought I was brave enough to go, but after slipping on the rocks on the way up, I decided I was not!

Here are just a few... and I'll update more later!

one of the restaurants overlooking the beach

our first day, taking in the view

another shot of the beach

in the jungle, before ziplining

the day we went shopping (which I do not recommend! I said "no thank you" more than ever in my entire life!!)
We were sad to learn that this woman has spent her life balancing this basket on her head to earn tips from tourists.

"spiderman" climbing a tree to get us a couple of coconuts to drink from

we're back!!

2009-06-09T21:33:00.001-07:00

we're back from Jamaica... but I haven't uploaded any photos and I am leaving in about 36 hours to visit Melanie, Adora, and Jake... so I may not update until I get back from that trip!

learning how to use my camera :)

2009-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

my wonderful brother-in-law not only knows how to fly planes, but he's great at showing me how to use my camera.

i've owned it for about 18 months, but didn't even know it had the color accent function! good to know, right?

i feel like it makes me look like a much better photographer, which i am not...

maw maw reading to adora... click to enlarge the color in the book

i reversed the green and red. this is a magnolia outside of my mom's house.

back yard at mom's house

the steads

crawfish at the stead's

exciting weekend

2009-05-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

guess who is in town?!

my beautiful neice and brand new nephew!

i'm exhausted now, but enjoy the pictures :)

happy mother's day!

2009-05-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

i love you mom!

my chair!!

2009-05-08T16:12:00.001-07:00

When Scott and I moved into Southdowns, my mom and step-dad gave us this wonderful rocking chair. They told us to seal it, but we never did... and eventually it ended up looking like this spotted gray beat-up chair. We knew it had potential, still, and a couple of weeks ago we spent a few hours taking it apart and sanding away all of the weather damage. The next day it stormed all day and we never got around to sealing it.

My wonderful husband decided to surprise me by finishing it today, and three hours later, look how wonderful it is!

so proud of our plants

2009-05-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

We haven't quite decided where we want our garden, so for now, we're growing out of containers.

I am constantly amazed by watching things grow, especially from seed or cutting. One of my favorite things to do is taking care of my plants :)

Here are a few of my favorites:

This is our red bell pepper plant. There are Mexican marigolds planted alongside the pepper... a natural way to manage pesky pepper-eating pests!

Here is my birthday hibiscus. The last time I counted, it had over 20 buds! It's going to be blooming all spring and summer... and with our weather here, probably in the fall too!

This is my hibiscus from last year. It had some horrible death fungus on it, so we had to spray it down and prune it to half of it's size. It's just starting to bloom again, and it's so beautiful!

Here are our plumerias. We fell in love with these flowers on our honeymoon, and we purchased a cutting from our favorite nursery in Lahaina and planted them. According to the insert, these won't bloom for up to four years, but we think it's well worth the wait!

Scott found this pitcher plant on ebay and has taken care of it for over a year. It has doubled in size and is uniquely beautiful! Pitcher plants are natural ways of combating mosquitoes and other pests. It has an appetizing serum that attracts bugs... when they go in for a bite, the plant eats the bugs! Very Little Shop of Horrors, I know!

I am so proud of Scott's thai peppers. Last year, Scott bought some pepper seeds from ebay and grew a large pepper plant that yielded over 100 peppers. He then dried some of the pepper seeds from last year and planted them this year... and they grew! Amazing how that happens, huh? So we're looking forward to hundreds more of them this year. Let me know if you need any :)

birthday tree

2009-04-25T07:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Arbor Day, which is a great reason to plant a tree...

but it was also my birthday!

We bought a red maple from Louisiana Nursery and Scott was so kind to dig the big hole! Check it out!

new nephew!!!!

2009-04-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Meet Preston James Bennett, born April 23, 2009 to my wonderful sister-in-law and brother!

I can't wait to meet him!!

april showers

2009-04-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

bring beautiful flowers!

i know it's not quite may, but i put these cute flowers in our bed in the back yard.

check them out :)

passports are in!

2009-04-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

we applied for our passports almost 8 weeks ago, and were so surprised to get an envelope from the government 3 weeks later. i was confused, though, when scott's passport was the only one in the envelope. our check processed! it obviously only took scott's passport 3 weeks to process. where was mine?

i waited a week longer and finally found a website that has a link to check the status of my passport. i entered my name, etc... and there was nothing! didn't they get my check? wasn't my application sent with my husband's? where was mine? i called their 800 number at 6pm on a weeknight and was told that their customer representatives (that accept calls until 10pm) were overwhelmed with calls. i thought i would be put on hold, but the message said, "please call back at another time" and hung up! the government can't even afford to put me in a queue? had they not processed my $200 check? surely that afforded to put me on hold!

there was a way to send an email through the website, so i submitted my question. where is my passport? three days later, i got a call while i was in a meeting. "ms stead, we're trying to verify your travel date" -- no "call me back at this number" or anything, just a message teasing me, letting me know that they called, and there was obviously a problem.

i broke down and called them again. this time i waited 25 minutes on hold. i spoke to someone that said there was no problem -- my passport was being processed. i asked why we received my husband's so much sooner than mine and the representative could not give me an answer.

finally i received an email stating that they needed me to send in my old passport. why had no one told me this before? i asked the lady at the post office if i needed to provide anything else. she verified that i did not need to send in my old passport, which was damaged (and included my maiden name). looks like she was wrong, as was the woman who i waited 25 minutes to speak to. i mailed my passport to the passport processing center with a letter. i did not receive anything back for over a week, so i replied to the email asking again, "WHERE IS MY PASSPORT????"

sunday night we checked the mail from the weekend. my passport was finally here! i can't imagine how this would have worked if i expected to travel in the last two months. i guess scott would have just gone without me!

my adorable adora

2009-03-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

my neice adora kissing the mirror... so cute :)

lights out

2009-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

i'm blogging in the dark.

why?

earth hour 2009!

from the website:

What is Earth Hour?

* Earth Hour is World Wildlife Fund's global initiative where individuals, businesses and governments turn off their lights for one hour to show their support for action on climate change.
* Earth Hour is a symbolic event designed to engage people from all walks of life in the climate change discussion to send a strong message to our political leaders that we want them to take meaningful action on climate change.
* The largest climate event in history where millions of people around the world will unite by turning off their lights for one hour, Earth Hour, to demand action on the climate crisis.

i'm demanding action!

what are you doing on your saturday night?

chicken, black bean, and corn burritos

2009-03-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

wow. amazing!

i'm trying to figure out if it means that i'm getting old when i become excited about dinner.

our tree

2009-03-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

a few weekends ago, we planted a tree in our front yard. in the real estate ad, there was a photo of the house with a tree in the front. hurricane gustav must have taken care of that one -- when we first saw the house, there was just a hole in the front yard.

it didn't take long for us to pick out a tree to replace it. we were swayed by it being spring, and oaklahoma redbuds are particularly beautiful in the spring.

when we bought our washer and dryer from home depot, we signed up for the home depot credit card. scott wanted the flexibility interest free credit and no payments for up to six months, and i wanted the four $25 gift certificates that are part of the sign-up bonus. needless to say, in the first month we paid off the washer and dryer, and every month from then until april we have a $25 gift certificate to use at home depot.

our $25 bought us our redbud, a bag of mulch, and a bag of potting soil. we spent an extra $10 on a pot of birds of paradise, scott's favorite plant of hawaii.

here is a closeup of the redbud (from the internet)

our baby redbud (it has already bloomed and is now growing leaves)

bird of paradise

what do you make??

2009-03-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man decided to explain the problem with social services.

He argued, “How’s a person going to benefit from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a social worker?” He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about social workers—“bleeding heart liberals.” To stress his point, he said to one of the guests, “You’re a social worker, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?”

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness, replied, “You want to know what I make?” She paused for a second, and then began. “Well, my colleagues and I make safe places for abused children and battered wives. In the process, we do our best to make them feel that they didn’t deserve the treatment they got, so they can go out and do better in their lives.

“We make arrangements for the elderly to go home from hospitals with adequate care, and run support groups so their caregivers don’t burn out.

“When a young widow or single mother doesn’t know where to turn, my colleagues and I make sure that she knows—whether people like it or not—what benefits she’s eligible for. And we do the best we can to make sure she doesn’t get lost in the bureaucracy.

“We make plans with clients so they can get jobs and homes. And this is only a start.

“You want to know what social workers make?” Bonnie asked again. She paused and looked at every person at the table.

“We make visits in neighborhoods that a lot of people wouldn’t go to on a bet, because we know that people there are in need. And we make friends there who invite us back to their weddings, their luaus, and the opening of the community center that we campaigned for.

“We make time to listen to the elderly, the mentally ill, the lonely. And we have knowledge and skills to help them make real improvements in their lives.

“We make appointments with officials and testify before the legislature to get everyone in the community a fair shake.

“Some of us teach, to make the next generation’s social workers.

"And sometimes, we make plans with our friends and families—and then have to break them because there’s an accident, a fire, a disaster here or in another state or even another country, and a social worker is needed.”

Bonnie paused one last time and then continued. “So when people want to judge us by what we make, we can hold our heads up high and say, ‘I make a difference... What do you make?’”

scott's surgery

2009-03-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

Scott had a minor surgery on Friday. The original plan was for me to go to work (because of Mardi Gras, it was only a three day work week) and meet him in recovery to bring him home. That sounds easy enough, right?

Wrong! I woke up in a frenzy, got dressed for work, and decided that concentrating on my therapy sessions at work was just impossible. I packed up four magazines and we went to the hospital.

I must admit that I spent the whole day before the surgery thinking of lasts. What if this is our last...? Crazy, I know. I wasn't worried about the surgery, but just the MAC (conscious sedation). I know people go under every day, and I've been under general anesthesia twice, but I couldn't stop the what if's.

Everything was fine. The surgery was a success, and we came home for about noon. My co-workers came over to the house for a meeting. Long after they left, Scott was feeling sick (from the pain medication) so I left the house to get him some Sprite. Finally I was alone, for the first time of the whole day, and all of the relief hit me at once. I fought back tears so I could pass for somewhat normal at Wal-Mart.

I couldn't be more thankful for my husband. I couldn't be happier with our relationship, our companionship. Thinking about losing him, even for a second, is debilitating. My need to function in a role to take care of him was the only thing that got me through Friday... He needed me to drive him from the hospital, pick-up lunch and medication, clean his incisions. The second that was taken away -- when I could take off the care-taking hat, the relief hit me. He is mine again, for years to come.

I love you Scotty Stead. I cannot imagine life without you.

jamaica, man

2009-02-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Steads are going to Jamaica in June!!!!

We looked at a beach vacation, and as it turns out, for a little bit more (okay, a good bit more, but still!) we can get two plane tickets and a week in an all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay. We're so excited!

We ordered our passports today and they'll be arriving in six weeks. Now I'll be counting down until June 3!!

For now, I'll leave you with a recipe to celebrate:

Jamaican Cocktail recipe
3/4 oz dark rum
1/2 oz coffee liqueur
3/4 oz lime juice
1 dash bitters

you know it's mardi gras when...

2009-02-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

southdowns parade 2009

2009-02-21T22:37:00.001-08:00

Southdowns is a small parade that runs through our old neighborhood. It's the heart of Baton Rouge and next to the high school I attended.

a family parade

The Steads

The newly engaged Eric and Brittany with Valerie

school based therapy girls

happy vday

2009-02-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

i am obviously not a real estate photographer

2009-02-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

but this is what i have:

the view from the dining area

the dining area

the wine tower and cooler

the kitchen

the office

the guest bedroom

master bedroom

laundry room

scott on couch

the steads vs the cable company

2009-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

so, we've never really been fans of the cable company here. they're over-priced, and they're the only cable option, so they seem to get away with murder.

occasionally i'll catch one of their commercials that brags about their customer approval rate, and i always wonder who it is that likes their cox cable service. their customer service representatives are second only to walmart.com in the worst service ever. if they ever sent me a survey, i'd have to make my own bubble and say "excruciatingly painful" for every interaction.

so after ordering the cable service online, waiting the three day period, and not hearing anything about when they were coming to install service, we did the thing that we hated doing more than anything... we called. turns out someone is using scott's social security number (but with their own name and address... does that mean cox cable's data entry person made a typo?) and has not paid their bill. we have to come in.

we started shopping for other options, but i'm a creature of habit and i'm comfortable knowing that mtv is channel 40, hgtv is 54, cnn is 34. we didn't want to change. so we thought we could just open the account in my name... right? because no one is using my name/social to have a cable account.
not the case. they have an open account in my name. seriously? we just purchased a house and none of this was on our credit report for us to straighten out. account is delinquent from 2005. ridiculous!

it was only $60, and we finally decided that living without cable/internet wasn't something we wanted to do... so we thought we could just call, pay the amount, and set-up the new account.

cox told scott they wouldn't open the account because our address was attached to the several attempts... so we would need to go in to their office during business hours to set up service.

we finally gave up, but we were frustrated. then magic happened! because scott is an at&t management employee, we get the highest speed DSL for $10 a month. we ordered directv (not the dish, because we got bad reports) for less than what basic cable costs, and the total price is HALF of the "competition" (the cable company). amazing! maybe i should have paid attention to those directv commercials a long time ago.

now we just have to reclaim our identities!!

we obviously need a bigger tv!

The Big Move

2009-01-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

So, we made the big move. So far we're waiting on our living room furniture, our appliances (fridge, washer, and dryer) and cable!
That means... no internet. I'm typing this now from work, but I have a super busy week so I won't be able to post photos or update.
That just means it'll be that much better when it happens!

contact paper

2009-01-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

There is no nice way to explain how hard this was for me. Using a utility knife and not having measuring tape made this a big job. I managed to cover the bottoms of all of the cabinets with thick, white contact paper and I put our crystal away.
The picture doesn't do it justice :)

House Project to-do List

2009-01-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

Paint office -- done
Paint laundry room -- done
Paint pantry -- done
Paint master closets -- done
Paint master bath
Paint guest bath
Replace fixtures in guest bath
Replace mirror in guest bath
Replace toilet seat in guest bath
Replace shower head in guest bath
Figure out what's wrong with guest toilet (done) and fix it (not done)
Fix drains in guest bath
Paint outdoor arch
Replace frilly curtains on front door--done!!
Replace light in kitchen
Add mechanical arm to iron gate -- DONE!
Repair grout in kitchen
Caulk cracks near roof
Remove huge ugly Sago palm -- finally done!!
Clean dryer vent --done!
Replace ridge vents
Remove attic vent and patch hole (we just fixed it)
Remove tree close to house (we are trimming it and not removing it)
Plant trees to replace all of the stuff we're removing :) (done!! we planted two!)
Paint hallway

more to come...!

painting

2009-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

We have been painting.
And painting.
And painting some more.

My shoulder is sore.

I continue to bring my low-battery camera to the house but am unable to take photos (because of the low battery) so the ones I'm sharing are burry at best and don't show the colors well.

a-mazing!

2009-01-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

thrilled to be a part of history.

scott's office

2009-01-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

Our new home has three bedrooms, so we're splitting up our guest room and home office. Scott's thrilled, since most of his work is done from home, and I'm thrilled that he won't be working from the dining room table :)

The room we chose for the office was a nursery. The color was a pretty mellow green -- which we liked -- but the paint was mixed with this sandy textured stuff. I pity the child who lived in that room... brushing up too hard against the wall could break skin! Needless to say, we're painting, and so far it's been an adventure!

This is a photo of the work I did while Scott went out for more supplies.
As you can see, I didn't do much!

Scott got the roller on the poll and put my work to shame.

Three of the four walls are complete.
The other wall mostly consists of a long closet, which we haven't primed yet.

Painting would be much easier if I was as tall as Scott! Most of the night I rolled around on the drop cloth picking up paint and making a lot of noise.

Even so, it's exhausting! Tomorrow we're off to pick out a color for the office and hopefully slap it on.

New Decor

2009-01-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

update: we returned the table and instead, ordered this:

things are a'changin'

2009-01-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

So... It's beginning to look like we're going to the closing table tomorrow!

We went by the new house today and the repairs were completed. Finally! I didn't take a photo of the fence, but it looks like it is supposed to look!

Here are a few pictures of our guest bathroom. Color suggestions? This definitely won't work :)

Very blue guest bathroom. See what I mean??

Here's another shot:

HELP!

If you are buying a house in the Baton Rouge area...

2009-01-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

Try not to buy a home that is listed by this person. Our interactions, though through our agent, have taken the joy out of buying our very first home. This event that should be so much fun has been full of anxiety and discontentment. We're not even sure at this point if we are buying a home Friday or where we're going to live in February. Thanks, Keller Williams, for being such a pain in the ass.

On a lighter note, here's our "finished" fence. So nice of them to do such great, complete work.

We'll see if they can get it together before Friday. Otherwise we're not closing, and the house will be on the market Saturday.

improvements in our contract

2009-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

i haven't written much about it, but this whole home buying thing has been incredibly difficult. for starters, the seller has been a super-jerk!

when we did the inspection, our inspector found several minor (but serious) problems with the house. for instance, in both bathrooms, there were the wrong outlets. sure, this is an easy enough fix, but all homes built after 1970-something are required to have these outlets. the garbage disposal didn't work and there was a leak under the sink. there were little things here and there.
we decided, to be fair, that we would only ask for half of what was wrong to be fixed. our real estate agent said "no way this guy will have you walk away from the house... he'll fix these things." we believed her.

the jerk-face came back and said he would fix not 9, but THREE things. we regretfully agreed... he was to fix the fence, have the air conditioner cleaned/inspected, and fix the leak underneath the sink. he actually said he would have the "fence company" come back and fix the unfinished fence.

we got the call today that the house was finished and ready for us to close next week. we were excited, but a little worried. last sunday we went by the house and the fence still had an 8" space in it. why have a privacy fence and not have privacy? we ran a few errands and drove by the house.

i wish we had taken photos of how it looked a month ago.. because it looked exactly the same today.

the gap between the fence and the house

what a wonderful "fence company"

oops... looks like the "fence company" left their tools!

the neighbor's fence (with the "fence company's" boards that were "left behind") -- see how it is 1 or 2 inches from the house?

2008

2008-12-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

Jan 2008-- January 1 we woke up at our house in Baton Rouge after staying out all night for our wedding! January 1-3 we stayed at LePavillon in New Orleans. It was soooo cold! We ate fancy food and went out for fancy drinks and shopped in malls we couldn't afford. It was a wonderful mini-honeymoon.

Feb 2008-- We celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. We decided to skip the eating-out thing and made a fancy dinner at home. I made Scott a book of all the months we'd been together. We had friends over for the neighborhood parade.

March 2008-- We laid low most of March. Can't say much about it.

April 2008-- We went to Maison LaCour for my 25th birthday. We ate some of the best food Baton Rouge has to offer and drank wine and Kir Royales.

May 2008-- I graduated with my Masters. We finally took our honeymoon, to beautiful Maui. We stayed at the Ka'anappali Beach Resort in Lahaina, Maui. We didn't want to come home, but we did.

June 2008-- Because of the state government's hiring freeze, I didn't start working until July. Most of June was spent cutting the grass every five days and trying to do things around the house. It was a little boring at times, but peaceful. I'll always remember it as my last summer before the real world.

July 2008-- We celebrated Scott's 26th birthday with PF Changs. We bought Scott's new car, a 2008 Honda Accord. It was the first time either of us had a car straight off the lot. I started my first job post-graduate school.

Aug 2008-- For the first time, we had a combined income. We did our best to save as much as possible. I bought a 2003 Accord from my mom and she got a new car. With two new cars (ie. cars that don't need repairs) we decided a house was next. Because we'd spent so much on the cars, we needed to get to saving.

Sep 2008-- On September 1st, Hurricane Gustav pounded Louisiana and Baton Rouge. We didn't feel safe in our little house with all of the great big oaks, so we stayed at my mom's house for the night. We lost power for 16 days, and many of them were spent at mom's where there was a generator strong enough to power the fridge and a few small fans and lamps.

Oct 2008-- We dressed up as Obama and Palin for Halloween and went to a party at our
friend Alice's house. I started a new job as a therapist at a high school. Scott interviewed for and was offered an awesome job with AT&T as a Business Account Executive for the Northshore region.

Nov 2008-- Scott started his job the day before he election. What an amazing thing! We stayed up all night and sipped champagne. We decided that we could really afford a house and decided to go for it. We contacted our realtor again and told her we were ready. Thanksgiving weekend, she met up with us to discuss options and look at homes listed online.

Dec 2008-- We found the house and made the offer. We set January 16th, my sister's birthday, as our closing date. We're getting an awesome APR because the rates dropped. Right after we locked in, they went back up.

We're celebrating our anniversary tonight with our friends Ashley and Jeremy. Ashley was one of our beautiful bridesmaids at our wedding, a year ago today. We spent last night playing Monopoly and drinking our favorite beer. Today we took a long walk in our soon-to-be-old neighborhood. We're really really going to miss it here.

Happy New Year :)

our favorite gifts

2008-12-25T19:14:00.000-08:00

our AA gift card from mel and jake

my wine cooler from santa (my husband)

scott's digital photo frame from me

our home depot and lowe's gift cards from jonathan and julie, mark and catherine, and mom and jeff

my eco-drive (solar powered) watch from my husband

scott's electric razor from me

and the love from all of you :)

happy holidays from the steads

2008-12-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

2008-12-15T17:55:00.001-08:00

click here to see our video :)

we got it!!

2008-12-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

home sweet home!!

We found out Friday that our offer was accepted. What a relief! We signed the purchase agreement Friday after work and went to a holiday party Friday night. We had such a tough week -- working all day (except for snow day!), looking at homes in the evenings, and working the testing lab at night.

Saturday we spent the afternoon with the loan officer. It took FOREVER! We're both hoping that we don't have to sign that many papers again for a long time... until closing! It's finally setting in that we're moving into our new home in six weeks.

UHHH!!

2008-12-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Just found out that they want another "extension" -- meaning we won't get a response for our offer until 5pm today.

I don't think we're going to let them have another extension if they ask for it... this has already been extended twice.

I can't wait for this to be over!!

snow day

2008-12-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

Baton Rouge got about 2" of snow this morning, keeping Scott and I home from work. Who can complain about that??

In about 15 minutes we should hear the response to our offer, and I'm happy we're together for it. I was almost in tears signing the offer -- this is such a big deal for us and we've wanted it (and worked hard for it) for a long time. Thanks to all of the extra time we've put in at work, the weekends we stayed in, and the trips we didn't take, we have been able to save up enough over the past six months to (hopefully) move into a beautiful home!

They say not to fall in love with a home, but it's too late. We weren't even out of the car and I knew it would be home. I can only hope that the sellers are willing to work with us. We didn't ask for much.

Attached are some photos of the snow.
this is not my snowman, but isn't it great?? Our dear friends Tricia and Jason brought Frosty to life in Port Allen, LA.

this was the snowman I made on our porch. He's about 8" tall :)

Now that's more like it

2008-12-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

We looked at some older homes today, and found one in Westminster that we really liked. I went to elementary school there, and it's a decent neighborhood that's semi-convenient to our lives.

By really like, I mean we didn't really hate it. It had a big open floor plan and some closet space. It was priced right... about 20,000 less than we expected to spend, and seller told our realtor to "make an offer" no matter what. It's been on the market since April. There was a big back deck and a large yard which we would have loved.

We figured we'd see more homes, but felt good about this one. Many changes would need to be made (a lot of these older homes have bathrooms that have either a shower or tub, not both, and they're really really small) and some we could live with, but some we might not be able to live with (like the bathrooms...)

I should mention that our realtor is a family friend and originally we were looking at newer, more expensive homes, but after watching HGTV we began to believe we could re-do an older home and we'd love it. Knowing what we originally wanted, our realtor brought us by a home that was on the market for 3 hours in a subdivision we liked.

We fell in love, and are going to make an offer tomorrow!

Enjoy.

starting over

2008-12-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

We're going to look at another neighborhood today -- Tara. It's a large, established neighborhood in Baton Rouge (which means old, outdated, but still nice).

but you have to have an imagination...
ignore all lace, the large mirror, the cabinets, and strangely painted (or wooden) walls.
notice the floor plan, the fireplace, the large windows.
ignore the carpet and the chandeliers.

i know it's hard to ignore everything, but we'd be buying the shell of the house, not necessarily all of the old lady accents.

disappointment

2008-12-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

I'm home from work today, so I thought this would be a good day to start the blog I've been thinking of starting. I'm not sure that I have a lot to blog about... so we'll see.

We've been married for almost a year, and Scott and I are shopping for a home. We've already been disappointed twice -- the two homes we fell for (one an older ranch with a huge yard, one new construction) have either been sold or taken off the market. We spent thirty minutes yesterday in the neighborhood of the ranch-style home, and decided we wanted to see it immediately and we were ready to buy (if we liked) without seeing anything else. Buuutt, it's not going to happen. Oh well.

I guess for now the blog can be about our home. We're thinking we're going to be buying an older home and making improvements... which is something we originally wanted to do. At some point we decided we wanted a brand new home, but we're over that now and are back to looking at older homes on larger lots. I can use this blog to document the progress :)

This is the one we're disappointed we're missing :(