Three weeks… February 23, 2007
Posted by Liz in : Baby, General , 5 commentsWell Sean is officialy three weeks old today. It seems like he’s been here longer then that, and still a bit surreal. Ben made a comment a few days back that it is like we are watching someone else’s kid for them. There are times in the day were I admit, it has felt the same way to me as well.
There is sadly no system down yet, no routine in motion. Each time I think I have one in motion… it falls apart. That is all my fault I am afraid… letting the lack of good sleep drag me down and trying my best to stay in bed till 10ish when Sean wakes up again to eat. While I know I should be rejoicing in Sean’s schedual of 11pm, 3am, 6 am, 10am, and be happy it’s not every hour or two hours that he wants me up to feed him… but I find myself really dragging in the morning and my brain refuses to function like it once did. I don’t see how people are able to hop back to work… I can’t get myself showered and dressed till noon.. is it going to be possable to do all that and get Sean ready so I can be at work at 8:30am. I feel like a slumpy bum! Does everyone feel this overwhelmed? Does everyone else forget why they walked into the other room… what the heck am I doing… why did God trust us with this little bundle to take care of…. and when do I get that third arm to go with my super mommy hearing every little sound he makes in the middle of the night powers?!? I mean I know I don’t need the eyes in the back of the head powers till he starts moving, but the third arm I could really use now!
Anyways, Sean is doing wonderful. He’s still being a very good baby; I have no complaints there at all. He still cries very little which is something I am really thankful for. When he does cry, it’s usually for a good reason. Hopefully though he’ll get over the crying when naked bit soon though. (He does like baths now since he can now sit in the warm water… sponge baths he still hates) I don’t want him screaming the entire time during the Elbows and Toes shoot that we are planing to have done when he’s two months old.
Well my brain is not surprisingly shot right now… as I seem to have forgotten half about what I sat down to write about. Perhaps I shall sit down again later once I remember and add another post… that is if I remember to do just that.
Dr.’s Check Up February 16, 2007
Posted by Liz in : Baby, General , 2 commentsWell last week we had our first Dr.’s appointment and got to meet Dr. Jennifer Wagner. She is really a nice and personable Dr. and we are really glad that Jamie recommended her to us.
The visit went well other then they weren’t happy with Sean’s weight gain. He needed to be back up to his birth weight of 9 pounds 7 ounces and he fell one ounce short of that. We were given a few more things to watch but nothing major.
First Visit: 21.5 inches 9 pounds 6 ounces
Today Sean and I went back to visit Dr. Wagner and all went really well. Sean had gained the weight they wanted him to plus some putting him in the 90 percent tile for his age. Of course I do think the little guy did cheat a little, as he waited to poop till just after they weighed him. But yes, he’s one big baby… playing hockey with his cousin Andruw could very well be in his future. We were given the thumbs up and told we don’t have to come back till his one month check-up.
Second Visit: 21.5 inches 9 pounds 14 ounces
Our first week… February 8, 2007
Posted by Liz in : Baby, General , 1 comment so farIt’s hard to believe that it has been a week since Sean finally decided to make his entrance into the world. It was a long labor… not a very fun one at that… but looking at his face, it was all worth it in the end. And yes looking back at it… I am still glad that I made it through without having to take any drugs for the pain…. honestly it did hurt like hell, but I had a very alert and drug free Sean in my arms later that morning. Now I am still not sure if I am willing to go through the whole pregnancy and labor a second time yet to give Sean a sister or brother later… but we have some time before that will be decided yet.
So how has the first week been? All and all, it went very well. We checked out of the hospital on Saturday. Oh it was very nice to come home again… away from the nurses that come in all the time to check on you. Oh don’t get me wrong, we had wonderful nurses that looked over us… but no matter how nice you are, it just gets dadgum annoying to have your tummy pressed, blood pressure and temperature taken every so many hours… which almost always seemed to be when I was finally falling asleep. We took it easy the first few days… settling back in, getting to know Sean a bit better and him getting to do the same with us.
Ashley seems to approve of the little one as well… which is good and was a slight concern of mine. At night she plays the roll of the mother hen making sure I get up when he begins to fuss… following me into his room and lays at my feet as he eats and gets changed. During the day she usually ignores him for the most part but then tries to bathe him like a puppy when she feels like it.
Sean is a great and seems to be a very easy going baby. We have been blessed with quite a handsome little man that fusses very little. Really the only time he is vocal about anything is when we are changing him… oh how he hates to be naked! When it’s time to eat there is slight cry as a reminder that we best feed him. Oh and at night, he’s been nice enough to let mommy have a four to five hour block of sleep time! Yes yes, as I said before we are blessed and we know it! I just hope and pray he keeps that pattern up… surely he’s doing this because he feels bad about the long labor he gave mom!
Our first venture out of the house was on Monday where we decided to eat lunch out at Johnny’s Pizza and pick up a few needed items from Wal-mart. Not an exciting first outing but was enough to keep mom from getting too stir crazy. Tuesday we of course went to Carney Studio and had our first photo session. Poor Sean cried through most of it… as poor mommy just had to have him naked in for the photos… and as I said above… he hates that! But I think the photos still came out wonderfully.
Well, that is a basic short summary of it all so far. We’ll keep you posted when Sean lets us get the free time to do so. Tomorrow is Sean’s first Dr.’s appointment and we will let you know how that goes.
hugs and kisses to you all
Pimp Your Stroller?! December 23, 2006
Posted by Liz in : General, Random Stuff , add a commentThis truly has to be one of the funniest contests I have ever come across. The site Planet Bump has a contest going where you enter your “pimped up stroller” into a photo contest to see which kid has the slickest ride. Much to my viewing disappointment there are no entries entered at this time to look and laugh at. Perhaps if the contest is done again next year we might just have to enter it for our own amusement.
“Pimp your stroller holiday competition Homey for the holidays! Yo, Yo, Yo, baby! ‘Tis the season to deck the white walls! So, break out the spinners, the spoilers and the speakers and live large with the coolest, custom ride on the playground!”
A Wonderful Baby Shower December 22, 2006
Posted by Liz in : Baby, General , 1 comment so farA big thank you to everyone that came and joined in on the fun and celebration of baby “Thumper”. I have a wonderful time and I do hope that you enjoyed yourself as well. It really is over whelming to know just how much stuff that babies need and now we have a good start and the basics to build on. Momma is just thankful that a new laptop computer isn’t one of those (much to daddy’s dismay and disappointment)! The photos will be put into the photo gallery soon.
Oh and at the shower the Baby Bingo game determined that “Thumper” will be be born at 12 AM with only a 15 minute labor, weight 8 lbs, 20 inches long, but sadly will be 10 days late!
We also learned which baby animals go with what mothers… very amusing and educational… making us wish that we watched more Animal Planet and paid more attention to it… see if you can figure it out with out googling or going to Animal Planet for the correct answers.
Mother: Alpaca, Crocodiles, Giraffe, Hare, Lion, Monkey, Mouse, Opossum, Ostrich, Oyster, Pigeon, Platypus, Swan, Turkey, & Zebra.
Baby: Calf, Cub, Hatchling, Colt, Joey, Cria, Chick, Infant, Leveret, Pinkie, Spat, Puggle, Squeaker, Cygnet, Poult
I have the answers and will let you know if you are correct or not if you leave your answers in the comment box. Good luck!
Complaints June 24, 2005
Posted by Liz in : General , comments closedHave you ever felt like writing a complaint letter about someone or thing, but were too lazy to write one up? Well, this is the answer to that lazyness, this web site will do all the hard work for you. You just simply fill in the blanks and it will generate the complaint letter for you.
*note: Just know that the party you send this to will be utterly confused on just what it is all about.
Enjoy
Cloudland Canyon May 30, 2005
Posted by Liz in : General , comments closedQuickly becoming a Memorial Day weekend tradition a group of us got together and went camping. This year’s location was at the Cloudland Canyon Campground.
This year was a small group then last year, but it was equally as fun! Watson & Dee came again, and this year we were joined by camping newcomers: Julie & Chris with their two children Katelynn & Matt. (Much applause to these very well behaved kids!) We are already looking forward to next year’s group camping trip where ever it may be.
We claimed our sites, 11, 3, & 7 which you wouldn’t guess by looking at the numbers, but were close by to one another. Our site was again the headquarters for all the group gatherings as we had the most room and most of the stuff. Ashley got to enjoy everyone this way as well, which I must say she did very good. This has really been a good experience for her, meeting new people and staying relatively calm. (She has come a long way from last year’s trip where she wanted to tackle everyone.)
Now this year we did not come back with a famous quote to continue to repeat all year round like last year’s “Keith, Keith… Oh dear God!” Instead we have the tale of the squirrel that ate… yes I said ate… a hole through Chris & Julie’s tent in order to have a snack upon some lonely hot dog buns. This must have been one hungry squirrel! How do we know that this is indeed the perpetrator? Ashley went into a fit of historical barking and as we looked in the direction that she was looking we see a light brown bushy tail emerging from the tent. Honestly I thought the reason you don’t keep food in your tent was to avoid bears and raccoons, not squirrels!
This year because the weather was nice we were able to go hiking this year. We took a trail to the canyon overlook and to two different waterfalls. Hiking this trail we were given the advice to go to the second fall first and then do the first one. We followed the advice, and I am kind of glad that we did. The second one was a long hike down that required a large amount of stairs. (A real killer coming back up… I think Chris said the count was 200 and something.) Anyways, the waterfall ended up being disappointingly small. On the way back up we stopped at the first waterfall which was beautiful. Here we relaxed from the hike up and watched Ashley jump right in and take as much of a swim as the leash would allow. She was in heaven and hated to leave. When we got back we all rewarded ourselves by kicking up our feet around a nice fire.
Sunday never got as warm as it was supposed to so we gathered around the fire again and talked, played a card game called Once Upon a Time, and enjoyed the ever famous Mad Libs that is defiantly a part of the camping tradition. The rain came, and we all headed to our tents with our nice warm and dry beds.
I have to say I was very impressed by this campground and would highly recommend it! The bathrooms were amazingly clean, and the campsites (the walk-in sites) were nicely spaced out from one another. There are plenty of things to do (plenty of trails to hike, team building activity, outdoor survival class, etc.) to keep you entertained, or you can simply sit back and relax by the fire. We give it the Ashley 5 paws up of aproval!
Overall the weather was nice and we were able to enjoy the weekend under the open sky. If anyone remembers last year… this was a nice change from the tarps that we had to hide underneath the whole time.
Photos will be posted here soon!
Dragon Con Count Down May 11, 2005
Posted by Liz in : General, Sci-Fi , comments closedYes, it is true…I have become a Sci-Fi Nerd! Anne McCaffery is going to be there again this year. I am looking forward to meeting her again, and hoping for another reading! Joss Whedon is going to be there as well, which is cool! This year I am going all out and dressing up too, and I am going to find a group of Klingons to have a drink or two with!!! 
Anyways, I just thought I would let all of you know there is 114 days left to buy your tickets (Next deadline is $60 before 5/13/05). Really you should have bought them back in Feb. to get the best price like we did, but you can still get them cheaper now than you will be able to at the door. Ben, Watson, Dee, and I are all going and we would love for you all to join us in the Dragon Con festivities!!!
We Bought a New Car! April 1, 2005
Posted by Ben in : General , comments closedSo, we bought a new car last night, and it was the smoothest and most pleasant process I’ve ever been through with a dealer—those are adjectives not usually given to car salespersons or dealerships. But that’s how it was for us.
We bought a 2005 Honda Pilot last night for several reasons: we’ve been in the market for a new car since my 2000 Honda Civic sustained $6300 in hail damage last month, Honda’s 2.9% financing special ended on March 31st, and we’ve been wanting an SUV for a while.
A few weeks ago, I took the Civic to Carmax to get a quote, and they quoted me at $1800—a full $6000 less than what I thought the Blue Book value of the car would’ve been before the hail damage! I thought to myself how cosmetic damage could ruin the value of one’s car so much, but it apparently wasn’t the hail damage that lowered the value. While my car incurred no frame damage from an earlier wreck a few years ago, the body shop welded parts back onto the frame itself, which I’m told weakens the “crumple corners” of the frame. This is what lowered my car’s value so much. Carmax told me that, even with with cosmetic damage repaired, I couldn’t expect to get more than $2000 for my car because of the “frame damage.”
In addition to deciding to buy an SUV for camping and hauling things around, etc., we decided to try out a few “tricks” we’ve heard for buying a car. One is to always buy on the last day of the month. This is because the dealership’s allocation for the next month is determined by how many they sell this month—among other things. Also, we were told to communicate either by e-mail or fax and not to show up in person to discuss prices. If you show up in person, you will not get the lowest deal (a fact that one dealer admitted to me yesterday). Apparently, the salespeople assume that you’ve been shopping around to find the best deal on the Internet if you contact them via e-mail, so they know that you know what other dealerships are offering; thus, they’re likely to be more competitive. If you walk on the lot, they’ll offer you a higher price because they’re more certain they’ll be able to sell you the car since they have you there.
I found that both of these tricks work. For one, we were able to get a below-invoice price. When we’ve walked onto the lot in the past and asked how low they could go on a price, they told us they could go to the invoice price but no lower—which we now know is bull. Another thing is that we asked each salesperson for their “bottom line” final price—the drive-away price including tax, tag, title, destination charges, everything. This tells them that we mean business, that we’re not playing games, and that we’re shopping around for the lowest price. With one dealership—the one we finally went with—we saw that they even knocked an extra $500 off the base price since it was the last day of the month (he even told us this)—we really think what he did was knock off the “destination charge” because Liz questioned it, and he apparently was eager to make the sell.
In the end, we purchased a car for $5000 less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $30,120. Our base price was $25,597, and our drive-away price was $28,320.88. This was the price we got them down to through e-mail and phone conversations without ever visiting the lot, and they never raised it once with extra stupid features (they threw in the mud gards and clear-coat finish for free) when we got to the lot. Had we just visited the lot instead, we wouldn’t have gotten any lower than the invoice price as our base (we know this because Hennesy Honda wouldn’t go any lower than invoice when we visited the lot), which was $27,611.
In the end, we got a great SUV for a great deal thanks to Ben Choi at Curry Honda. I’d recommend him and Curry Honda anytime.
To sum up, here are the buying tips I recommend:
- Test drive on a lot first (but don’t buy)
- Always buy on the last day of the month
- Always initiate your “buying” communication with a dealership through e-mail
- Ask for the bottom-line “drive-away” price up-front in your e-mail (if they say they can’t give it to you unless you visit the dealership, then drop them and move on to the next dealership)
- In subsequent communication, question the “destination charge;” they may drop it