Menu Planning Monday

The last week was kind of disheveled when it came to meals, since we had a couple rough night AND Joe's parents are in town, so we tend to just head up to their house to eat yummy Italian food.  So I only ended up cooking three times.  Here is a rundown of our meals for last week:

Sunday:  Rigatoni with veggie chicken strips and broccoli in a basil cream sauce.  Not the healthiest, but tasty and quick.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday:  Pan-seared crusted Tilapia, asparagus risotto, and corn on the cob. 
Wednesday:  We had Salmon and Mahi with vegetables at Joe's parents' house.
Thursday:  I made orzo with shrimp and tomatoes, green beans.   This was delicious!
Friday:  Leftovers
Saturday:  Leftovers
Sunday:  Pizza.  We watched the football game with his parents.

This week I am going to try to do better, but his parents are still in town so some of my planned meals may fall to the wayside if we get together with them.  The upside of his mom cooking is that she always makes really healthy, delicious meals.  But here is my plan anyways:

Today:  We are doing our own thing.  Joe is eating leftover pasta and I cooked up a bunch of chicken breasts and added a microwaved sweet potato with cinnamon.
Tuesday: Mahi, couscous, and sauteed spinach.
Wednesday:  Veggie meat sloppy Joes with corn on the cob.
Thursday:  Veggie chicken and orzo "chicken noodle" soup and spinach salad.
Friday:  Joe works, so this is usually a free day.  I will likely eat some mini turkey meatballs I made with some brown rice and veggies.
Saturday:  Pasta with shrimp, corn, and avocado.
Sunday:  Spaghetti squash and meatballs.

Foto Friday

Too bad the damn Eagles lost, so this is the first and last time Nash will wear this onesie.

Workin' Wednesday Post 1

Since it's Wednesday, I need to think about work.  I have been looking for a job for a year now after being in DC for the last two, and it hasn't exactly gone as planned.  I never expected to go a whole year with barely a nibble.  It's really demeaning to think all my hard work in school and professional endeavors (not to mention the time spent sending resumes, maintaining social media sites, updating portfolios) has amounted to nothing.  My $50,000 contribution to Georgetown, which I thought was a surefire way to boost my marketability, has yet to reap any rewards.  Thankfully, I was able to defer my student loan payments since I am on unemployment or else I would be in deep trouble.

So, this morning I went online and applied to two more English teaching jobs here in Brevard.  I started on the teaching path last year when the regular professional world wasn't panning out.  Plus the idea of summer's off and working with kids in a family-friendly profession really looks appealing knowing that I know have a baby.  Plus, it's something I can do here in Melbourne, where there seems to be a shortage of jobs in my field.

So, I applied for an English job at a high school and a temporary position at one of the middle schools.  I think I will put together some formal resume packets this week and fax them out to all the schools I've applied to since the beginning (which is about 8 or so that have had English or Journalism job postings).  Perhaps this will help, since the whole Brevard County School system online thing doesn't seem to elicit much response.

My only concern is that I have never taught before.  Not only that, but it's not like I took education classes in college or anything, so I have no real idea how to create a lesson plan or what material I am supposed to cover or what's the best approach to teaching certain things (I realized my lack of knowledge when I took the certification exam and 50% of the questions centered around teaching skills).  So it's not enough to have a degree and have working in the field...I need to know how to properly teach it to kids.   So it makes me wonder if a school would even hire me with no experience...

Still waiting to hear about a few Orlando jobs that I applied to last week or so...  And need to follow up with the unemployment since something was screwed up the last time I logged in to report my earnings.

As much as I don't want to leave little man, I know I will just be depressed if I don't find a job.  Even if it's just part-time somewhere so that I feel like I'm contributing and I have something to do with myself outside of this house.  Plus it will be nice to socialize and meet people again.  I really hang out with no one these days and that does not help the morale.

Blog Updates For the New Year

In the spirit of the new year and keeping to my resolutions, I've decided to amp up my blog content.  In order to accomplish this, I have come up with some regular topics to post on each week, so that I always have something to write about.  Also, it will let everyone know what to expect each week, in case you find one particular segment interesting and want to make sure you keep up with it.

So, here is my tentative schedule:
Monday:  Menu Planning Mondays.  This is where I will detail what I plan to make for that week (I do this now in order to keep up with grocery shopping and never be left without a plan).  I will also look back at the previous week and talk about what I did/didn't like and how things turned out.

Tuesday:  My Life as a Wife and Mom.  This is where I will talk about my daily adventures/struggles/reflections on being married and having a new baby.  This is the family topic! 

Wednesday:  Workin' Wednesdays.  This is where I will discuss my professional endeavors.  Since I have been looking for a job for a full year now, it will likely begin with discussions about where I am applying, interviews (hopefully), and what else I am doing to further myself professionally.

Thursday:  Free post.  This is where I get to write about a random thing that inspires me that week. 

Friday:  Foto Fridays.  This is where I will post my favorite photo (or photos) from the week.  One of my desires for this year is to get a fancy schmancy new camera and improve my photography skills.


Saturday: Day off.  I am allowing myself one blog-free day of the week...this way I won't get overwhelmed.  And I can spend more time with my family!


Sunday:  Sewing Sundays.  This is where I will blog about what I have sewn or would like to sew...will include links to projects/blogs I like, so all my fellow crafters/seamstresses out there, keep your eyes peeled for this one!  I may not start this right away since I haven't had much time to sew lately with the baby and all.

New Year, New Me

I love new beginnings...I used to get all jazzed up when the fall came because it was the start of a new school year and a chance to change things that just didn't seem right.  It was an opportunity to become a better person, focus your goals for the year, and reflect on what's most important to you in the coming year.

Well since I am no longer in school I have started to really treat New Years as it should be...the real time to start over.  Ever since I can remember, I have made New Years Resolutions.  I know some people think they are a waste...just hopefully goals that never get achieved and get swept under the rug, but I still do them.  I love to look back on my resolutions and see which ones I accomplished and which ones were just out of reach (automatic for next year!).  So, in the spirit of the new year...here is my (working) list for this year:

• Get down to 125 lbs 
• Work out at least 3 times a week unless sick or on vacation
• Track diet with livestrong
• Sign up for yoga and pilates

• Complete a half marathon
• Save $5,000
• Maintain blog and increase network
• Make money with sewing/craft projects
• Get promoted to CPT
• Earn at least a 270 on PT test
• Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day
• Join a "mom" network in Melbourne
• Find a job
• Be the best wife and mother I can be (not really sure how to make this quantifiable)

So there you have it...perhaps I will think of some more in the coming days and add them in.  Till then, must log on to Livestrong.com so I can track my food!

Struggling

Feeling a little down tonight.  Wishing this whole breastfeeding thing was going better.   It's not awful, but it's far from perfect.

We do ok, but we have to use the nipple shield.  So I worry that he is having to work so hard to get the milk (although there's always milk in there when we stop).  I feel like he is cluster feeding so much because he just gets tired of sucking.  And then we added in a few bottles during the times he was up for hours fussing, and now I feel like I've opened the flood gates.  We used a pacifier too, which I know isn't good, but we've been desperate.

To make matters worse, I feel like Joe is wanting to just go to bottle feeding.  He can see how frustrated I get, and how my nipples are hurting, and how easily Nash drinks from a bottle, and he thinks it's ok.  But I really want to do this.  Going to make an appointment to see Louise...the LC from the hospital...next week.  Maybe she can help me.  I've read a ton of stuff to try and figure out what I need to do, but I feel like he still isn't taking to it as well as I'd like.  He never "empties" a side, or anything like that.  He tends to play around a lot, which tells me he is not sucking effectively.  All the stuff I've read keeps telling me this behavior is normal, but that doesn't console me when I can't console him.  When he's acting hungry for the third time in an hour, yet only tries to suck for a few minutes before playing around or passing out (albeit only temporarily).

I just feel like I'm failing.  I'm tired...  I feel like I'm not being the mother I want to be.

Welcome Baby Nash!!

Wow...so much has happened since the last post, where do I even begin.  For starters, we welcomed our little muffin on Saturday, December 11th.  He was 15 days early, so although I had talked about wanting him to come early, I wasn't really expecting it.  Here is the story:

I had been feeling like crap for the last two weeks...so big, sore, tired.  I felt like I might not make it.  We talked with the doctor on Thursday the 9th, and she said I should come back in a week to get checked.  If at that check up, my cervix was looking positive, then we would schedule an induction for Monday the 20th.  I was super excited because it finally gave me a timetable.

Friday morning about 11 or so, I lost the mucus plug.  I was quite gross, but I knew that meant I was on my way.  I looked it up online and found out that you lose the plug hours, days, or up to two weeks before you actually go into labor, so it didn't really tell me much.  So I was out and about after handling the maids...getting a mani-pedi, hitting up the sewing store, and cleaning the house a bit.  I spent the rest of my evening sewing some new projects and hit the sack about 11 pm or so.   Joe came home about 1:30 am or so and I was passed out.  At some point in the night, I felt a pretty distinct contraction.  When the second one came, I decided I should check my clock just to be sure.  It said 2:27 am.  I wanted to be sure that if more came, I knew what I was looking at.  Well a short while later, I felt a gush.  I immediately jumped up and ran to the guest bathroom (hate waking Joe with a flushing toilet).  Once in there, it was a waterfall!  It just kept coming and coming...I couldn't even get up to go get Joe.  Finally, I walked back to our bedroom, but it kept gushing so I ran into our bathroom to try to catch it.  At this point, I am soaked!  I wait about 5 minutes or so and decide I should wake Joe.  He took a while to get up, but I told him, and he said, "So what does that mean?"  I was like, uh, I think that means I have to go to the hospital.  He was like, awww, really, I haven't really slept.  He said, I thought we have hours to wait before we can go...and I said, well that's just if I have contractions.  I think this is different, but I can't remember if I need to go right away or not.

So I leave him in the bed and go call the doctor.  The on call lady answers, I explain that my water broke, but I've only had two contractions, so I'm not sure if I should go to the hospital or not.  She was not helpful at all, so I just about hung up on her.  I came back into the bedroom, angry and crying...and not sure what to do.  Joe asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I just wanted to go to the hospital.  So I went and took a shower (had two more contractions during my 15 minute shower, so I knew something was up).  We had to finish throwing things into our hospital bags, so didn't get to the hospital until about 4 am or so.  I had water gushing almost the whole time and my juicy pants were soaked through by the time I got up to the 6th floor (even with a pad protecting me).  They asked me to change into a hospital gown, but I was literally leaking fluid all over the floor and could barely get undressed.   I was crying because I wasn't expecting it to be so much...I had always heard it would a gush or a trickle.  As in, ONE gush.  Not multiple gushes continuously.  Now I understand why people are nervous about their water breaking in public.

When I checked in, they said I was indeed in labor and my water had broken.  I was 1-2 cm dilated and completely effaced, so we were on our way.  Poor Joe was so tired...  We were moved to room 612 where we would stay until we were discharged days later.  They talked to my Dr and she said to start me on pitocin to ensure I would progress adequately since my water had broken.  I was able to manage the pain for a few hours, but by 10 am, I was off the charts.  I was sitting on the birth ball, with Joe rubbing my back, and said I can't do it anymore.  They decided to check me to see where I was before calling in the epidural.  Thankfully, I was 5 cm, so it was perfect timing.  It took about an hour of absolute misery for them to get me the epidural and get it in me, but thanks to my god awful contractions, I barely noticed the pain of the epidural.  Once it was in, I was in heaven.  I was so tired, Joe and I both tried to doze off for a while.  My doctor arrived and said I should wait until I feel the overwhelming desire to push and then we could move forward.  At about 2:20 pm or so, I started to feel a lot of pressure despite the epidural.  She came back in and said, you're 10, let's go.  So we got ready.  It was a lot harder than I thought...I always thought I would be a good pusher, but I kept running out of breath and feeling dizzy.  I didn't expect it to hurt as much as it did...always thought the epidural would take care of a lot of pain, but it didn't.  Finally after an hour and a half, little Nash was born at 3:39 pm.  He came out all bloody and sticky, but I loved him so much, I didn't care.  He came out at 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long, so I can't even imagine how big he would have been if he had stayed in for two more weeks.  I ended up with a 2nd degree tear, so that part kind of sucked, but I was so happy to just have it done and over with.  I cried...a lot.  In pain, in fear, and then in joy.    Joe cried too...it was such a sight.

 The next few days in the hospital were a bit stressful.  During the day, everyone was so nice and encouraging.  Told me that the breastfeeding was going well, even though he was zonked out like a zombie for long periods of time and had to be woken up to eat.  But when the night nurses came in, they (one each night) told me I had to try harder or else he wouldn't do well.  They threatened me with him being sick, not being able to leave, etc...  I always thought he would wake me up in the middle of the night, crying, to say he was hungry, but he never cried.  Like literally NEVER.  Then during the next day, I was told, wow, doing a good job.  I was so confused about how we were doing...it was maddening.  Because it was a weekend, I had to wait until Monday to talk to the lactation consultant, so I was operating blindly.  In the end, we talked to her and she said, we were doing really well.  Said we should be proud and that we would have no problems once we left the hospital.  And she was right...we've been doing great!  He passed all his bilirubin tests and everything was fine.

Monday we waited forever for the pediatrician to come and release us.  He finally came around 7 pm or so and said we were good to go.  We grabbed our bags, our muffin, and headed out.  It was the coldest night of the year!! 

Everything has been going well so far (minus the pediatrician/circumcision issue I will tell you more about in a later post).  The only issue we have is that he sleeps all day, then keeps me up all night.  And he's definitely found his cry!  He barely cried the first few days, but now he has it figured out. 

Lots more stories and info in coming posts!