All About Roo - She's Here!

Jadyn Elizabeth Marie
11/30/2009 @ 2:41AM
8 lbs, 18.5 inches

All About Roo - Part Four

Well, here it is. Part four... and hopefully the last of the pregnancy pics. :-) I'm halfway through my 38th week and Morenna made her debut at 38 weeks and 6 days.

For those keeping tabs, that means she came early.

I like early.

Early is good.

For this score-keeping momma, that means Baby Roo should come soon... like, yesterday - right?

I am definitely ready to see and hold my little baby girl. Perhaps because I'm not facing the distraction of wrapping up my last week of work, like I was with Morenna at this time, the days seem to drag by. I'm antsy to see some forward progress. The signs are definitely there. I just want a date and a time.

Is that too much to ask? ;-)

My mom is finally here with us, my bags are packed, the baby clothes are washed and I'm about as rested as I'll ever be. Oh yeah, and my maternity clothes don't fit.

Momma at 38 weeks

The last of my baby preparations included making curtains for the changing table, which we moved out of the nursery and int our master bedroom. It was a great evening project that helped me pass the time, while feeling I was accomplishing something special for the baby.


We're ready, Baby Roo. Come on out to play!

Where We've Been... Part Three

Better late than never, right? Forgive the unedited pictures. In the interest of getting this post up, I detoured editing them for simply posting them. :-)

Trip Two - Welcome to the Golden State!

Part two of our wedding-themed "amazing race" began the day the rain moved into Charleston, SC.

My parents dropped us off at the airport before beginning their long trek homeward and we casually made our way through security and caught our flight. No delays. It was great. And better yet, the Lord really answered our prayers concerning Morenna's behavior on the plane. She was very content to sit quietly on our laps and either read or color.. and then she napped. Our layover in Dallas provided her the ability to run around the indoor playground they had and so efficiently wore her out that she napped on the second leg of the trip as well.

We pulled into Matt's old hometown pretty much stress-free. After a quick dinner with Matt's mom, we got to work putting Baby Roo's crib together. Confused?

As you may remember from this post, Morenna insists on hooking her feet into the crib slats to sleep. That pretty much makes our pack 'n play useless. Oh well. To solve the dilemma of sleeping arrangements for the CA trip, we decided to order the mini-crib we wanted for Baby Roo and have it shipped to Matt's mom's house. It worked out great for Morenna while we were there, and then we had it shipped home.

At any rate, Morenna was pretty exhausted from the trip and fell asleep on our bed long before we finished the crib assembly. I was glad she transitioned to the new time-zone so well.

While we were there, Nana (Matt's mom) was so thoughtful to invest in a few activities for Morenna's enjoyment. The biggest success was the classic turtle sandbox. I don't know why I hadn't thought of getting Morenna one of these, but it certainly entertained her for hours. We spent very little time with Matt during the week, since he was busy with his best friend's wedding, so with his absence this was a great life-saver.

Morenna also spent a great deal of time following her Nana around. Because of the distance, Morenna doesn't get to spend a lot of time with Matt's family, so the fact that she had Nana to herself for more than a week was a special treat. Here they are pulling weeds in Nana's backyard. They also spent countless hours dancing and singing together. I think Nana got her workout while we were there. Morenna is, after all, like a mini gym membership. :-)

One day we (Matt's brother, David, Nana, Morenna and I) decided to head out to the California foothills to a charming place called Apple Hill. It's really a collection of many small apple orchards and farms, each with their specialties including dozens of types of apples, apple wine, apple treats, and lots of children's activities.

We made a point to hit up the petting zoo and Morenna loved it. Her favored mammals were the pigs, but this momma preferred the baby Angus calf and the goats. I heart goats. If we ever have land I think I will have to purchase a goat, just to keep myself entertained. I'll name my goat Chloe.

On Saturday, Matt successfully married off his bestie. It was a lovely outdoors wedding and he looked super sexy in his tux. My husband, that is, not the bestie. Well, I guess the groom looked pretty swell too (right, Chelsea?), but for the health of my marriage I think I'll just leave it at that. :-)

Matt's dad was able to attend the wedding and enjoyed chasing his little granddaughter around the grounds of the wedding site. She loved having the attention, of course. I loved having the help. :-) Morenna was able to get double use out of her flower-girl dress. But sadly it was in pretty poor shape by the end of the day.

It was great to get to meet several of Matt's childhood friends and acquaintances. By the days end, though, we were all wedding-ed out. Two best friends married off.

Whew.

On Sunday, we were able to kick back and have some fun time with Matt's extended family. Matt's mom was so sweet to throw me a baby shower for Baby Roo. All of the gals of the family (and most of the guys, too) made the long round-trip to/from Roseville from Fresno to spend the day with us and celebrate. Included in the company was Matt's maternal grandparents, who we only see on an occasional basis. What a joy it was to spend time with them! Morenna is their first (and currently only :-)) great-grandchild and the visit afforded them their first meeting. She took to them both right away (and to all her other new cousins, aunts and uncles, too!). It was a great experience. I love Matt's family. So full of fun! We are definitely looking forward to visiting with them again, hopefully, at Matt's aunt's wedding in June.

And then the rain moved it. After eight days of beautiful California sunshine, a nasty storm arrived the day we were to leave. So, we left the rain in Charleston, and then we left the rain in California. :-) The trip home was a little more stressful, but we made it back safe and sound... and with no delays, amazingly enough.

And that is the story of our amazing race. :-) To see more pictures, click here.

Freezer Baking Day

I wrestled with a bit of disappointment that I wasn't able to participate in real time with my favored bloggers - FishMama and MoneySavingMom - as they took the blogging world by storm and loaded up their respective freezers with lots of yummy food. The flu does place one in survival mode, after all.

But in the days since, I've been stashing things in my freezer a bit at a time. Perhaps it's a bit better I'm doing my cooking a little at a time anyways, seeing how I waddle around like a duck these days and my belly is sagging a bit low.

But then there was Monday.

After a six-hour stint of six-minute spaced contractions on Sunday (whoa, that's a lot of "S's"), an urgency to tackle my pre-baby to-do list swept over me. Since Baby Roo decided November 16th was not her idea of a good birth day, I marched into the kitchen and stormed my pantry.

Morenna was a real comrade-in-arms and occupied herself with dirtying up the kitchen... something normally off-limits but when you have a crazed mom on your hands, you can get away with anything.

Here's what she accomplished:

- Rolling leftover dough around in a fluffy pile of flour;
- Putting said flour all over her face, her clothes, her step-stool, and the floor;
- Dropping said leftover dough in my bowl of banana muffin batter, and then fishing it back out;
- Emptying my 5 lb bag of red potatoes on the kitchen floor;
- Transporting each of the said potatoes to the living room couch while counting them: "One... two... three... six...";
- Being generally good-natured and cute.

Here's what I accomplished:

- Made 5 lbs of freezer mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner;
- Made 2 dozen pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving dinner (I made these for Christmas last year and we loved them - so tasty!);
- Prepared a double recipe of Chicken-Asparagus Casserole (one for dinner and one for freezing);
- Chopped and bagged 5 lbs of asparagus for winter eating (got them at a terrific price!) not pictured;
- Individually froze and then packaged 2 lbs of bacon, not pictured;
- Prepared two stir-fry packets (one for dinner this week and one for freezing);
- Chopped 1 pineapple;
- Made 2 dozen banana crumb muffins

Whew. Was I ever pooped at the end of the day. And of course that would be the day my child refused a nap, which happens about once every 3 months. But although tired, I felt so good knowing the food in my fridge would not be going bad and that my post-baby food tally was growing.

To the casserole and the stir-fry packets I've also added: a chicken pot pie, 2 broccoli-cheese quiches, pizza dough, and three bags of spaghetti sauce. Those things, combined with the two Birdseye Steamfresh Meals for Two that I got cheaply at a good sale last week, brings my frozen meal allotment to a grand total of: 11.

But lest I tempt you to envy me... here's what was on my other counter:

Hmm, now if I could have just arranged labor to kick in before I had to address the dishes...

Another Week of Food

The last two weeks didn't bring about much in the menu-plan department due to the flu. But the week prior we had a yummy selection of food for each day and I was able to throw some ideas together for this past week to just get us by. Definitely prefer the whole planning-it-out thing, though.

As I mentioned, I tried planning out breakfast and lunches in addition to dinner. I found I did like having a plan for breakfasts, but lunches never quite went the way I had scheduled, so I'm thinking it may have been a waste of time to plan them out? I might try again just to see.

Anyways, here's another menu to share:

Monday
B: Muffins & Eggs
L: Mac & Cheese
D: Oven Fried Chicken, Lima Beans

Tuesday
B: Eggs & Toaster Strudels (got these for cents on sale last week)
L: PB & J
D: Almond Crusted Tilapia, Baked Potatoes, Fruit

Wednesday
B: Sunshine Toast
L: Hot Dogs, Applesauce
D: Slow-Cooker Lasagna, Salad

Thursday
B: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
L: Egg Salad
D: Chicken Pot Pie, Fruit Salad

Friday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Eating at a party

Saturday - Didn't end up happening due to the flu :-P
B: Blueberry Coffee Cake
L: Cheese Quesadillas
D: Out

Sunday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Tacos, Fruit Salad

Where We've Been... Part Two

Matt and I have done a lot of laughing this past month at just how crazy our life gets sometimes. I'm sure we're rather arrogant to assume we're the only people this happens to, but what are the odds that each of our respective closest friends (my maid-of-honor, his best man) would get married the same year?

One week apart.

On opposite U.S. coasts.

Six weeks before baby number two is scheduled to arrive.
::Insert screaming banshee here::

I say we've been laughing about this because we already had about five months of walking around with a deer-in-headlights look on our faces. But God is gracious - and faithful - and we now have some lovely memories to reflect upon.

Nope, none of us got H1N1 from the flights. Neither did Baby Roo decide to make a break for it and arrive in an unplanned state. We're back, safe 'n sound, healthy 'n happy. Here's how the month of October went for us, in two parts:

Trip One - Welcome to the Palmetto State!

If I've never publicly made this announcement before, let me say it now: my mom is awesome. Our wedding-themed "amazing race" of sorts started with the arrival of my mother, who came to take over my life. Literally.

My plan was to head to South Carolina a week beforehand to help my close friend with last minute wedding tasks. Although my mom (bless her heart) came down with a sinus infection 24 hours post-arrival, I was still able to make my Saturday flight to Charleston.

I spent the last week of September traipsing around historic Charleston and the neighboring Yonges Island helping my friend and her fiancee make last minute purchases, etc. It was very refreshing to be childless for five entire days, to sleep through the night and awake on my own time, and to feed only myself at mealtime. :-) From what I hear, Morenna didn't even miss me that much.

Two days before the wedding, the wedding party began arriving, including my parents, Matt and Morenna who, by God's grace, managed the 10-hour trip down with no meltdowns.

We had a wonderful weekend spent with family, church friends and old college friends. Morenna didn't end up making it down the aisle as flower girl (although she did for the rehearsal), but she made up for it by being super cute and dancing a whopping 2 hours at the reception! I think she pretty much collapsed from exhaustion by night's end.

Sunday we hit up the beach and introduced Morenna to the waves. The day was warm, not too warm, but nice enough to get in the water. She love it. Loved it.

Two of my close friends from college roomed in with my parents and us. We had a lovely suite in downtown Charleston with just enough room for us all. They were able to join us in the beach festivities and later in the day for a trip to the famous Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and my personal favorite - the Charleston Candy Co - for gelatos, salt-water taffy and pralines.

After nine days in the South, it was time to head West...

One friend successfully married off, one more to go.

'Tis the Season

Wondering where all my promised posts have been regarding our recent family adventure? They're here. In dry dock. Awaiting edited pictures to go along with them.

My pictures are still sitting untouched. The flu paid me a visit this past week and I'm just now getting around to trading in my pajamas for normal clothes.

And my little one has three of four molars poking through.

And last, but certainly not least, I think I'm due to have a baby in a couple weeks.

All that to say that my to-do list hasn't quite shaped up to what I wanted it to be. But here's what I did do today:

- Bestowed lots of kisses on the rosy cheeks of my baby girl
- Visited briefly with a dear friend
- Ran a load of diapers
- Danced with my baby girl
- Stacked dishes in the dishwasher
- Made a loaf of bread
- Cuddled with my baby girl
- Made dinner (for the first time in nearly a week)
- Pushed the "start" button on the dishwasher
- Loved my family

More posts to come soon, I hope. :-)