Birthday Update: One Month!

Wow… how time has flown since Miss M made her debut in this world!  I can’t believe she’s already a month old.  My little peanut has definitely put on weight (official Peds weigh in on Monday!) and is sleeping and eating her way through most days.  She is our joy and… our frustration in those times when she just cries for no reason we can discern at 2am. Mostly she just fills the days with joy and love and a feeling of complete wonder at the awesome miraculous creation that she is!

Birth Deets: 21.5in, 8lbs 12oz (7lbs 14oz when leaving hospital, 8lb 2oz at Peds 3 days later)
Height: 22 inches
Weight: 9lbs 15 oz
Nicknames: Maddie, Princess Peepants, Grunty McGrunterson, Miss Me, Hungry Mungry Kiddo
Exciting Events: Aside from the very exciting event of her birthday, Maddie had many visitors from Michigan! The very first weekend she was home, Grammy & Grampy K made an impromptu trip to see their granddaughter.  About a week later, Great Aunt Pat & Great Uncle Jim arrived with cousins Jessa, Eli & Erin.  One day later, Grammy and Grampy K showed up with Aunt Katie and cousin Collin! While they were visiting, Maddie had a Skype date with Great Grandpa Slagter and a few other Great Uncles back in Michigan. She also made the move with mommy & daddy into their very first house!  It made for a very exciting and exhausting month!
What She Does: cries, sleeps, eats, pees/poops… that’s pretty much the run of things these days. Tummy time includes her being able to move her head from side to side and push herself up (head/chest) with her arms. She smiles mostly just randomly but I think I’ve caught her smiling back at me or daddy a time or two. And recently she’s taken to standing up when you hold her, supporting her whole body weight on those tiny little feet!  She has a pretty set internal schedule and let’s us get to bed sometime around 10/11pm gets up around 1:30/2am and then sleeps until around 5/6am – those 3-4hr stretches of sleep can work wonders for mommy & daddy!

Mommy update: I’m healing well and have lost most of the pregnancy weight – thank you breastfeeding! My pregnancy carpal tunnel is mostly gone with just slight numbness in 2-3 fingers on each hand instead of complete numbness in 4!  My wedding and engagement rings fit once again – yay!  It’s a good thing too because the fake bling started turning my finger green immediately after I gave birth! (totally weird!)  We moved to the new house 3 weeks after Maddie was born which was totally crazy (note to self: never repeat that) and we are still living mostly out of boxes because there is barely enough time in the day for me to eat let alone clean and unpack.  (Needless to say picture updates of the new house will be delayed for a bit!)

The House

If you have been following along with the Hump Day Bump Day posts, you may have caught on to the fact that we are also currently in the middle of a remodel of our home to be!  A little background… my hubs inherited this 1940’s mountain home when his ‘granny’ passed away.  When he moved to TN from TX about the same time I moved to TN from MI, he moved into her home with his stuff and basically left everything the way she had it when she was living there.  We have been working on paring down (both at the house and in our townhouse), clearing out, refinishing and making the space work for us and baby.  I thought I would post a few before and during the process pics.. after pics will be coming much later because we aren’t moving in until after Miss Madeline makes her appearance.

We aren’t planning to do much to the outside this year as most of our cash flow is tied up on the inside and with buying the necessary baby gear. This was taken a few months ago when the trees were still in full on winter mode and we have a bag of bathroom remodel trash on the porch!

Bathroom before, demo, during remodel. There was no existing shower so we had that added and had the tub surround tile done. Not pictured are the new vanity and toilet and we still need to paint and add the light fixtures but we are *almost* done in here!

The last pics I will post are of the living area/front entry.  We have the dreaded wood paneling in the living room, dining room, kitchen and part of the hallway currently.  I scoured Pinterest and found that it is possible to paint the darn stuff and update the look of the house without having to rip it all out and re-drywall the whole thing.  The results so far have been worth the effort for sure!

The above pic still has the painters tape but you can get the idea.  It went from crazy paneling color to a khaki color with white trim.  Still to do in here: touch up the trim, change out the ceiling fan, clean the blinds (& figure out window coverings), and replace the carpeting.

Still to do: paint the bathroom, paint the 3 bedrooms, paint the kitchen, replace the linoleum in the kitchen, replace light fixtures/ceiling fans throughout, and get the carpet replaced throughout. I know it sounds like a lot – and it is!  But this will be our first family home together not just my townhouse that he moved into after we got married.  More importantly, it will be the first home for Madeline.  A place for her firsts and a place for us to grow together as a family.  The work is more than worth it!

Caught Red Handed

Not sure if it has been mentioned on le blog or not to date but when I moved from MI to TN I had to break my rental agreement.  Said rental agreement stated I had to pay through the end of my lease term or until my apartment was re-rented, whichever came first.

Guess who has been paying the tidy sum of $710 every month since I moved out in addition to my current rental fees?  Moi.

Guess who’s apartment was re-rented “right away – in January or February” {quote from the apartment complex office staff} but who has been paying the $710 every month because the management company did not inform her of the re-rental? Moi.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, guess who is owed some big time buckaroonies back in le bank account.  MOI!

I am too tired tonight to compose a lovely “I dislike you very much” mail this evening but you can bet your bippy the aforementioned management company will be getting a piece of my mind tomorrow!

Connected!

So I actually had to read my own blog to remember when the last time I posted was.  Sad. So sad.  So much and so little has happened since Christmas Eve!  Where could I begin?  I guess I’m just going to give you the highlights to get you all up to speed.

One. The holidays were wonderful.  I managed to focus on spending time with family and friends instead of packing which made for many special moments even if it did add a little to the stress levels.  The night before I left Michigan I barely got 2 hours of sleep because of all the things that had to be done that were running through my mind.

Two.  I was dreading the 12hr drive to Tennessee not only because of the lack of sleep but also because I was toting the kitties in the car.  Cats HATE cars. Mine tends to cry/meow very loudly the entire time we are in the car. This trip started out just like I thought it would but after about 20 mins I heard not a peep!  Amazing!  Were they still alive? They rode like champs and made mommy proud.  And I didn’t even have to sedate them!  They didn’t like being cooped up in the hotel bathroom the first night though and let me know they were feeling neglected by ripping the hair dryer off the wall and turning it on.  Oh how I wish I had a video camera for those moments!

Three. Since arriving, the temperature has been anywhere from about 35-65F.  Being from Michigan, I’m used to crazy temperature swings but down here they are on a slightly warmer scale. Love it!  I’m sure my cow neighbors appreciated the snow melt as well. ;o)

Four.  Apparently moving to this area as a single woman immediately makes you eligible for adoption by any and all slightly older southern ladies in the area.  I have even been adopted by Ms. Carolyn at the Chick-Fil-A.

Five.  It is impossible to find a silverware organizer for a drawer that has a 7 inch maximum width.  But you can find magnetic curtain rods in many stores!

Six. No matter how organized you thought you were when packing, there will be way more “random” boxes than you remembered causing you to go up and down stairs 5 or 6 times per box until the contents are emptied.

Seven.  I acquired a terrible cold/sinus infection about a day after we arrived so the unpacking and getting organized has been going slowly.   I firmly believe everything would still be in boxes if my wonderful family hadn’t been here to help me!  I think I only have maybe 10-15 boxes to go, most of which are “spare room” items (read: not critically important for survival) but maybe 3-5 are classified as “bathroom.”  That means its time for another cup of Thera-Flu and back to work for a bit!

Out for a Bout

As the boxes are stacking up, so is my anxiety. I will be checking out of the blogosphere for a while to finish up the packing and to spend my last moments with family over the holiday. Plus, my laptop is just another item that needs to be packed! 

So to all of you I say…

Merry Christmas!

Stressin

My To-Do list seems to be growing by the day and with Christmas just three days away my time is running out.  Once Christmas Eve hits, things will come to a close and I will be spending stress free time with family before the big move… I hope!  The post-it notes are in full effect now.  I’ve always loved post-its, but since having thyroid cancer my memory is just nonexistent so I use post-its on doors and in my planner to remind me of things.  On my entry door right now I have 5 post-its with notes ranging from “remember storage space boxes” to “cancel cable/internet, gas, electric” to “ remember CD for U.Ken on Saturday.”  Notes that may get added to the door in the next day or two: “Bring: presents, turtle pumpkin pie, laptop for dad”, “email to moving crew of new time”, “fill out paperwork.”  Some of these are notes I usually would post in my planner or in my Outlook as a reminder but since I’m off work until next year, post-its it is!

Packing is going slowly.  I have completely cleared one room and almost cleared two others.  Today I didn’t get much done on the packing front but I did start and finish my Christmas shopping.  Go me!  All presents are now wrapped and in a laundry basket ready to head to my parent’s house on Friday.  Still on the list are many things in addition to packing and today I’m just not feeling so well.  I’m trying to decide if I should head to bed early to make up for the mere 4 hours of sleep last night but I have so many things swirling around in my head to do that my anxiety levels are rising just thinking about wasting time on sleep.  On the top of my To Do list for tomorrow is to cancel my cable/internet so maybe I can look at it as time to finish my DVR clearing project?  I’m doing pretty good so far and have gone from 58 movies on there to just 5!  I’ve seen 4 of the 5 before which to me means its ok to “watch” the movie in the background while the main focus is on packing.  So maybe taking a break to watch the last one I haven’t seen isn’t too bad.  I’m just hoping I feel better after 8 hours of sleep tonight.

If I don’t get some sleep, I think I may soon look very much like this…

And no one wants that now, do they?

Bittersweet

**not sure why this didn't post on the 17th like it was supposed to - oh well here it is now!**

It's my last day at work and I was doing ok, was excited even, until I started hearing the following things:

"I was writing you an email but it got too emotional so I decided just to come over here instead!"

"I'm getting in my truck now so I can start bawling."

"I want to say thank you for all your help and support. I have leaned and grown so much within the last couple years"

And then quite possibly the sweetest thing came through and I just lost it:
"You are such a beautiful person inside and out! It is my pleasure to know and have worked with you. You are truly an inspiration to everyone that knows you. Good luck, which I am sure you don’t need because you have God’s favor on your life."

How can you not love working with people like that?  They even brought in my favorite lunch (Taco Bell) and a pink flower cupcake-cake (hope to have a pic of that soon.. hint, hint Cindy!)    I am so going to miss the many very special people that I have worked with over the last 6 (almost) years.

Tonight's agenda?  Going away party take 2 with family & friends.  I am a mess waiting to happen.

Today’s Randomness

It’s been a really awkward day filled with randomness.  My brain is just not processing complete thoughts lately.  It might be because I have so many things swirling around inside or it could just be the approximate 48 oz. of coffee I’ve had today.  Either way here is some of the randomness:

• 48 oz. of coffee plus one banana make for complete and total jittery productiveness.  I must remember this for packing days.
• the waiter at On The Border tonight was totally blitzed.  I think I got drunk breathing in his fumes. Luckily this brought down the jitters a bit… or maybe it was just the beans and rice soaking up the caffeine.
• went to see The Social Network which made me immediately want to check my Facebook.  Hello addiction!
• I leave for Tennessee in just 11 days. ELEVEN. Holy crap!
• it was slightly shocking when I checked DSL availability for my new address and the only thing that came up was dialup information. Panic not dear friends, I found ONE provider to keep me in high speed heaven.
• Speaking of Facebook and the internet…is anyone else tired of the “mommy exclusionists”?  Mom only groups, websites, posts.. they are everywhere.  You also have the moms who seem no longer capable of associating with their non-mom friends.  I may have to save this one for a full on post sometime…
• I am looking forward to coming home to a place that doesn’t smell like the neighbors fish dinner.  Seriously, its gross and my house reeks because of your dinner choice.  Which makes me also think… if the ventilation is that interconnected am I paying to heat and/or cool their apartment?  Could that be why my electric bills were near $200 all summer? Hmmm…
• The Sing Off is quite possibly the best show ever created.  I think I like it even better than Glee… because a) their voices aren’t digitized and/or “studio” sounding they are just real and b) there is more singing less talking.
• Speaking of Glee… have you see the Glee flash mob videos on YouTube? This one recorded in Rome is my favorite.
• And speaking of flash mobs… in the spirit of Christmas you should really watch the Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus.
• And finally speaking of Christmas… its not feeling very Christmassy around here.  Its snowing, its cold, the songs are on the radio, the movies are on TV… but I have no decorations up in my house.  Its just weird. I’m hoping I can drum up some Christmas spirit for our family party this Saturday.

Biscuits

One thing that must be noted about the South?  They know how to bake a mean biscuit!  Seriously even the ones at McD’s tasted better down there.  They were light, fluffy, buttery delightfulness in one tiny little package. 

I’m serious its like they know some sort of magic trick… or… they use inordinate amounts of butter… either way they are delicious.

My plan is to move down there just to steal their secrets.

Weekend Education

While on a recent trip to my soon to be new hometown, I made several discoveries about myself and the many cities between Michigan and Tennessee.

• Ohioans are either very healthy… or very not!  I counted about a bazillion hospitals and medical centers while traveling through this very LoOoOoOn state.
• Sweet tea is my new very bestest friend.
• The Cumberland Mountain area of Virginia is amazingly beautiful when its snowing… but also amazingly scary. Plummeting down tiny, winding, slippery roads is definitely not my idea of a party.
• I am truly a creature of habit – I sat in the same seat for more than 30 hours this weekend.
• Back to Ohio… we passed through a small town that had many houses covered in Christmas lights.  As we passed through the center of town one home in particular stood out – the funeral home.  It was the most decorated building for miles!
• While in Kentucky eating breakfast at McD’s, we met a man who told us he had a daughter who is 38 as well as two others by two other women.  His first wife was 14 when he married her (he was 21 at the time).  He then proceeded to tell me to look him up if I needed anything after I moved and that he was “in the book.”
• …Then he asked if I had a boyfriend.  When I said no he said, “Shoot, if Ah had a girl as pretty as you, Ah’d put a cowbell on ‘Er so Ah’d always know where she was!” True story.
• My mom is hopeless when it comes to sports.  When driving through Cincinnati she asked if the Bears play there.  When I said no the Bengals do, she looked puzzled so I said,  “You know like Bengal Tigers?”  To which she said “So they don’t have a football team?” I guess at least she knows the (Detroit) Tigers don’t play football?
• In Tennessee it seems the motto “If it’s flat we will build it” rang true – even if getting to “it” was nearly impossible. One apartment we looked at had my mom fearing we were driving off a cliff instead of down the driveway.

The trip was truly memorable and also very productive!  I now have a place to live and finally feel like this is all really happening.  I promise after the big move to include many, many pictures of my new abode and state!

And speaking of Christmas lights… take a look at what a town did for one little boy…

Donate to St. Jude’s this holiday

Cleaning Up

In preparation for my big move at the end of the month, I’m doing a lot of cleaning… Cleaning up the rooms as I pack them up… Cleaning out the closets, drawers, storage space, fridge/freezer, cupboards… Tonight’s project?

Cleaning out the DVR.

I started with 81 recordings. I’m not even kidding you.  After deciding I don’t really need to re-watch the current seasons of GLEE, House MD, Fringe… I deleted those. Now I am left with 58 recordings, all of which are movies.  Darn you cable for having free preview weekends! 

Since I recorded all of these I must have wanted to watch them at one time or another right?  So I feel like I have to watch them all before finally turning in my box.  When I get to TN I have decided to go sans cable for a while in an effort to get out and learn my new surroundings, save some cashola, maybe finally get to those bazillion books I have bought but never read, and really… its all about crossing another thing off the 101 list right?!

So back to the project.  I have 58 movies to watch equating approximately 116 hours of cinematic enjoyment.  I would need to spend almost 5 days straight to watch them all.  If I watch just 2 per day, I would need 29 days.  If you notice, my countdown currently displays many less than that… and I will be gone for 4 days this next week trying to find a place to live in TN.  Sooo that puts me down to about 18 days of movie watching time left.  That would be 3 per day. Hmm…

It’s a challenge and I like it!  So first up (or last on the DVR list) is… Living Proof, Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy and Crazy Sexy Cancer.  If I can fit a 4th in before sleep takes over I will add Seven Pounds.  Looks like I’m taking a trip down cancer memory lane tonight!  Just need to grab some pizza, soda and some Kleenex and off we go!

Reality

Today marks exactly 2 weeks until I am done at my current place of employment.  I’ve been there for almost 6 years now and really I have no idea where that time went. It will be a bittersweet goodbye.  I will miss the people I work with but I’m looking forward to the challenges my new employer will bring.

Tonight I have my first going away party and I’m just not sure how I feel about it.  Am I ready to say goodbye?  I guess I don’t know. I’m going to be positive about it and say its not a goodbye but more of a see you soon. Plus I will see these people for the next two weeks still!

It’s starting to sink in now.  I’m leaving everything here behind.  And there isn’t much time left.  I plan on making the most of it!

Facelift

♪ ♫  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…♪ ♫

Well on the bloggy blog it is anyway!  My normal tradition is to put up the tree on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.  This year there is no tree, no lights, no stocking... Its slightly depressing to not come home to the warm glow of tree lights.  It just seems silly to take all the decorations out of boxes while I’m putting everything else I own into boxes… don’t ya think? 

I started packing last night and discovered I’m just not motivated to do that yet.  Maybe it’s because I don’t have a place to live in TN yet?  I’m hoping I snap out of it sooner than later because if you noticed my new countdown… there are only 26 days left!  Yikes! 

Anyone want to come help me pack?!

BIG News!

I have big… biG… bIG… BIG… HUGE  news to share with you!

I will not be putting up a Christmas Tree this year.

Come on!  Do you think I would have been teasing you for WEEKS just to tell you that?!  But… it is a part of the puzzle… a clue if you will.  Here is another clue…Taken earlier this year and posted earlier by yours truly HERE.  Any guesses on the super big announcement yet? 

How about this hint?

If you guessed that I’m moving, you would be only half-right.  One last really obvious hint:

If you guessed that I’m moving to Tennessee to take a new job…. you are obviously a genius because that is exactly right!

Yes folks you heard that right – I’m moving to Johnson City, Tennessee and starting a new job! [and let’s face it, I’m fixin’ to acquire a southern accent right quick] 

Tennessee… the birthplace of country music, Dollywood, Jack Daniel’s, and the Great Smokey Mountains.  Tennessee… a mere 699.91 miles from home and family.  Tennessee… a whole new adventure waiting for me!

There is so much going through my mind at the moment and a whole heck of a lot of checklists and spreadsheets started.  I start my new job January 3rd. Right after New Year’s.  That means between now and then I have to find a new place to live, find some movers, pack up my life, say goodbye to all my friends and family and… let’s not forget the holidays and the craziness they bring anyway! 

I’m starting to panic that I won’t have time to do it all.  At the same time I am SO excited about starting this new journey!  I’ve been wanting to tell everyone for weeks now – I’ve been interviewing since August – but I hope you can forgive the hinting and understand why I have to keep it under wraps for a while. 

I am officially done with my current job as of December 17th so if any of you are around the week of Christmas, let’s make some plans for lunch, dinner, a movie… whatever!  For now, I plan on leaving the mitten the week of New Year’s and arriving with enough time to get unpacked before the holiday.

Sooo I have to know… was the wait worth the big reveal?

And so it begins...

It was moving day! I was so exhausted i couldn't haul another box up the 3 flights of stairs to my door. Chalk it up to a whirlwind week of packing, stressful meetings at work, terribly little sleep and an even worse diet - right? As i hauled my booty out of bed to unpack the maze of boxes, i brushed off the exhaustion and the aching muscles and got to work. By the end of the weekend I had unpacked nearly everything and the place was starting to feel like home!

On Monday i was back to work shrugging off the muscle pains and popping motrin here and there to keep moving. During a lull in the action i decided a mini neck massage would work wonders... wait...what was that?! There was a painful bulge in my neck just above my collar bone...this is totally not normal! Could i have pulled a muscle in my neck somehow causing it to want to shoot out of my neck?! I called my mom [and my own personal nurse] with a mini freak-out. She assured me that i was over reacting and that she was sure i was fine... maybe i had caught a 'bug' and my lymph nodes were swollen... ok sure, she would stop by tonight and check it out only to prove i was a nutjob.

So she came over and her reaction was more of the 'what the heck IS that?' than 'yup, you just got a bug' variety. After some discussion it was decided that if it didn't go down/stop hurting/stop half choking me when i ate by Tuesday, I would call the doctor.

Now my doctor is fabulous, he is super funny, laid back, super smart, and doesn't mess around...which is why he is always so stinkin busy! I was told he was booked but that I could head over to Urgent Care to be checked if i thought it was necessary. Well by this point i had looked up my symptoms on WebMD and decided that i had some extremely rare disorder so of course i headed to the UC. In the waiting room i watched the swine flu epidemic unfold while anxiously awaiting my name. I was called back, my vitals were taken and soon a lovely MD was in to see me. He took a look and had me swallow while pressing on the lump [not comfortable at ALL mind you!] and quickly ordered me an EKG, xray and lab tests. Apparently my heart rate was over 100 resting which is not good and is ridiculously high for me, hence the EKG. The xray and lab work covered everything else. Oh yeah and at that point he also said 'You most likely need a biopsy of your thyroid and should follow-up with your doctor in 1-2 days.' Uhm....

In my world, biopsy = not good. My grandparents, dad, aunt... all had biopsies...all had cancer.

So i called my most wonderful doctor again and was able to squeeze an appointment into his day off [i wasn't the only patient he saw that day..i told you he is fabulous!]. He took a look and had me do the swallow while pressing thing too - again not fun - and said i needed to talk to Surgeon and he will most likely do a biopsy of my thyroid nodule. Ok so it now has an official name i could Google! Dangerous.