I WON THE LOTTERY!

No, not last night's mega millions Powerball lottery (which, I might add, was not won, and will be up to a cool $203,000,000; yes I am one of those idiots that only buys tickets when the jackpot reaches astronomical numbers). The equally important and impressive VENDING MACHINE LOTTERY!

I went to purchase a diet Dr. Pepper to go with my lunch, and what did I find, smashed to smithereens, under my can of DDP.....

"They" (in quotes because I have no idea who does this, never seen them, and the machine is miraculously replenished quite frequently, and I visit quite frequenly, so it would only stand to reason that I would have seen "them") recently upgraded our building's vending machine and we went from ancient Big Red gum and generic salami sticks to gourmet vending foodstuffs like pop tarts and Milky Ways. I feel the new machine has increased the value of our building by at least $100k. One of the new items are Red Hot Riplets, which are a St. Louis staple.

Having never really tried them, I figured this was a gift from the heavens. I was about to tear into the bag when I noticed a small detail.

Expiration date: 10/17/11. Ten days past due.

As my parents can confirm, I became a bit of an expiration date Nazi with the pregnancy. I blame Rick. Since I don't think a bag of Red Hot Riplets is something that perishes quickly, I estimate this bag was packaged somewhere around 1983. I feel this was the reason they were left to languish at the bottom of the vending maching collection area.

I guess it was too good to be true, but at least by not eating it, I won't have worn out my good luck for the next Powerball drawing!

Days of Birth

I remember 10/24/01 vividly. I had been Chaney and Dan's right hand man during their pregnancy and I was lucky enough to be there when sweet Parker Elizabeth Hagemann was born. I think seeing Parker being born was the first time I really thought I could be a mother, and Chaney made the birth look so easy...after she vomited, of course. Parker was the first baby I ever spent any considerable time around, and I was in love from the very start. I can't believe she is 10 already. I remember being 10. I am thankful she is an age where she will remember her baby cousin and how Annie smiles every time Parker talks (even when she's not talking to Annie).

Double digits. It's a big deal. Next stop....teens!

Chaney and Dan blazed the trail as far as babies are concerned. I like to think that because Parker was so awesome, everyone started having babies after that. I am sure that's what it was. Some people started and never stopped. My friends Emma and Kevin welcomed their third baby into this world on 10/25, Hayden Max.

Tonight I am especially thankful for all the healthy babies in my life, old and new.

5 MONTHS!!!

Dear Annie,

You are five months old today! You continue to be a great sleeper, though I think we are in some sort of napping transition. You are going longer between feedings (around 3.5 hours during the day), but your naps have been pretty short lately. You fell asleep almost immediately after your 4:00 feeding this afternoon and I couldn't hardly wake you up, which was a first (you normally don't sleep after 4 until your bedtime).

You have had several successful feedings of rice cereal, which you have two times a day. I have been mixing the rice cereal with breast milk, which you have liked. We did notice that the cereal did help you sleep through the night much sounder, which has been nice. Of course, your Dad and I still get up a few times to make sure you are ok.

You had your first bottle of formula today, which you seemed to tolerate. Then I got ambitious and tried to mix the formula with the rice cereal for dinner and you were NOT having it. You got all exorcist-ie and whipped your head almost 180 degrees to show your distaste. I quickly whipped up another batch with breast milk and you gulped it right down. Not sure where that leaves us when my stash of frozen breast milk runs out, but maybe after you get a little more used to the formula it won't be that big of a deal. Hopefully.

You are very close to being able to sit up by yourself, you are obsessed with your feet, and you love sitting in your bumbo seat. Your little legs filled out so much in the last week that we have to squeeze you in an out of it! You are still in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month sized clothes, though some of your sleepers are 6-9 months already.

Do I have anything on my face?

I pay much closer attention to babies these days, thanks to you. I love looking at them and guessing how old they are and imagining what you will be like when you are that age. It's hard for me to think of you in any other way than you are right now, but then I look back on how quickly you have grown already.

I still can't believe you used to be this itty bitty.

You continue to amaze us and we never had any idea that we could love something so much that poops and barfs on us with such regularity. I even got misty at work the other day when I smelled sour milk on my shirt. To say we are smitten is putting it lightly. Hopefully you don't read this blog until you are much, much older, because if you catch wind of how much we are wrapped around your finger we are in big trouble.

Sleepy

I dropped Annie off this morning at Jen's and headed off to the office as I do on every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On my way, I found myself sitting an inordinately long time at a traffic light. Then I realized I was at a stop sign.

I used to think that the "Baby on Board" signs that people put in the windows of cars were to warn other drivers to be careful of the precious cargo. I now realize they also serve to warn other drivers that there is a sleep-deprived parent behind the wheel.

Thumbs Up-21 weeks

Sorry for the delay in posting. We were celebrating our 5th annie-versary in Miami and things were such a whirlwind when I returned, blogging didn't seem to make the list of priorities. I know this is shocking to all 2 of you that anxiously await my next blog. Perhaps anxious is a bit of a stretch. Either way...

The trip to Miami was another success. She was a dream on the way down. Circumstances beyond our control prohibited ideal behavior on the return trip. These circumstances involved a rather large woman taking the aisle seat that was pushing the limits of the seatbelt extender and an arm rest that was not deployed between this woman and Rick. This resulted in Rick only having about half a seat and needing to lean eversolovingly into my area. We tried to make the best of our 1.5 seats, but Annie wasn't thrilled with the way I had to hold her (practically vertical and in a constant state of almost slipping to the floor) and she cried a bit. I got a strange amount of pleasure that her might be making someone *cough* on our row a bit uncomfortable. I think that makes me a sociopath. Moving on. Here's the latest:

We had found our thumb previously, but really started to hit our stride with it in the last few days. Then we found our feet. This picture shows Annie getting the best of both worlds. Off to the left of the frame is the pitcher of sangria Rick and I split to celebrate our arrival to Miami.

Prime 112 dinner for our anniversary. The food was excellent and the place was beautiful, but the clientele appeared to be a Jersey Shore reunion.

To celebrate our anniversary, Annie rolled over! I think she wanted to show the peeps at the pool her new bloomers.

If you don't think this is the sweetest picture ever, then you are dead inside.

Annie braved the storm while shopping on Lincoln Road. Thankfully Bigs was available to feed her. Speaking of feedings, as you can see from the pic, her legs are filling in nicely. She even has dimples on.her.knees. Deal.

I hear I have quite a large Texan following, and to the one of you, I hope this picture doesn't turn you against Annie too much. Or you stop reading the blog out of hatred when the Cardinals win the World Series. Gah, I am such a sports fanatic.

Here's a tummy time shot. A few seconds later I noticed a stash of the neck cheese that was giving sweet baby a red rash that looked like a sunburn. Using my excellent sleuthing skills, I deduced that it was not a sunburn as this particular part of her body has never seen the light of day. No matter, Moms and Pops were on it and it's already better today. Whew!

Her most favorite thing to do is to contemplate her thumb. And it appears we might have a sucker on our hands. At any given point she can be seen staring intently at her hand and moving it ever so slowly towards her mouth until her eyes cross. Then she jabs her razor sharp baby thumbnail into her cheek/nose/eyelid and starts the process over. And over. And over. People warn me of the difficulties of breaking a child of a thumb sucking habit, but because every once in a while she finds her target, and that gets her to sleep, I think we'll let it be for now.

Shaving and sleeping-20 weeks

Rick performed his annual shaving of the beard on Saturday night after Annie went to bed. He then instantly realized that Annie might not recognize him and we were a little anxious when he went to wake her up on Sunday morning.

As you can see, beard or no beard, she knows her Daddy...

...and loves showing him her patented finger hooked in the side of the mouth move.

We are mastering tummy time, which is becoming Mommy's favorite time to access what has become known as "neck cheese". No matter how frequently we bathe the child, there is always something funky brewing down there. Maybe this will let up a bit now that she seems to have a bit more neck control.

This is actually the latest development. I had mentioned that she's spending a lot of time on her side. Well now she's taken to sleeping on her side in this swinging for the fences stance. Before I am admonished for letting her sleep on her side, please know that we tried to reposition her repeatedly over the course of the evening. But almost immediately she would scissor-kick and fling her head and be back in the same position. The good news is that her head position seems to keep the airway clear. The bad news is that I get a neck cramp just looking at this picture. Upon taking a second glance, I also see this as an excellent opportunity to get in a good neck cleaning.

Conflicted

There are plenty of invasive questions people love to ask pregnant women. Are you planning a natural childbirth? How much weight have you gained? Do you have a birth plan? Do you plan on breast feeding? All questions are a trap and are inevitably followed up with the asker's remarkable tale of their symptom-free pregnancy where they gained 7 pounds and vaginally delivered (didn't even need stitches!) a perfect baby that was walking and talking by 6 months. Oh, and the breast fed this little miracle until it was 2 with no complaints. It was their baby's gift to them.

You will then choke down the vomit that has accumulated in your own mouth, smile politely, and walk away feeling like a total parental scumbag.

I was prepared for how difficult the whole parenting thing would be what with the sleepless nights and the abundance of free flowing bodily fluids, but I had no idea how difficult the exterior pressures of parenthood would be. Mind you, I have a select group of friends that I actually appreciate their advice and respect their opinions. Then there's "the others". The ones that tell tales similar to the ones above. That make you feel guilty when, say, you mention you might be considering quitting breast feeding. They tell you that you will regret it and that formula is poison and basically insinuate that your child will have a seat reserved on the short bus should you discontinue your feeding services.

Yes, I am considering quitting breast feeding. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE breast feeding (rare instance where there is no sarcasm). I love the closeness, it's really easy, it's readily available, and I get 500 EXTRA CALORIES A DAY! It's the pumping I hate. Hate might actually be not strong enough of a word. I loathe it. It hurts a bit, it takes quite a bit of time (and then you still haven't even fed your child), it's cumbersome, there's all the parts to clean, and it makes you feel like a cow. There is nothing sexy about pumping. And I find myself pumping anywhere from 2-4 times a day. It's the last thing I do at night and the first thing I do in the morning. AND, I am starting to get this bizarre hand cramping thing from "supporting" myself while I am feeding her. Yes, these puppies require some manipulation that is resulting in pain and weakness in my hands. It doesn't seem like much, but try sqeezing an orange (or a bag of pudding, depending on the time of day) for an hour each day for four months. It's either from that or from overuse of the iPhone. Maybe I will google it on my phone and see. After I am finished playing Book Worm.

While I am thankful that pumping has allowed me to return to work and still provide breast milk for Annie, I think we have reached that point in the relationship where we are more annoyed than appreciative and are ready to part ways.

Thankfully, I have a bit of a stockpile that will assist in the weaning process, so that's reassuring. I will miss the closeness, but it's not like all of a sudden strangers off the street are going to be feeding our child (but now they could, if I was so inclined-YAY!). I am sad that if we don't have any more children that I won't ever have this experience again, but I also fear that if I keep this up, I won't be able to lift that second child with my crippled from breast feeding/iPhone hands. I realize it will take a few weeks to wean her and given the willpower I demonstrated with my swaddle weaning, it will probably take me another 2 months to actually do this, but I think this human chuck wagon is about to be closed for business.

We Tried-19 weeks

Annie has earned her 1 week swaddle-free chip. I have learned it's much easier to get her to sleep when she's actually tired. Novel concept, I realize. At the request of Dr. Eaton, we tried giving her rice cereal. As with all things parenting related, we received conflicting information on rice cereal preparation. As the cooking of rice in the Erwin household usually involves a colander, I should have known this wasn't going to be easy. Dr. Eaton instructed us to make the rice cereal to be the consistency of apple sauce. The box instructed us to add 4-5 tablespoons to each tablespoon of ricey powder. We just assumed that following the box's directions would give us apple sauce-like biz. Notsomuch. It ended up being more like just chunky milk. YUM!

Wait. What are we doing? You want me to take my hands out of my mouth? For that stuff? It looks disgusting.

So I hate to disappoint, but we didn't get many pics of a face caked in goop. I think we have a video but it is mostly Rick and me debating the consistency of the rice cereal. I leave and go add more rice, we try again and no real luck. I now know why Dr. Eaton got us started early on this stuff. At this rate, we might have the hang of it by 6 months.

Annie is spending a lot of time trying to roll back to front these days. As a result, we are spending lots of time perched precariously on our side.

The cheeks are getting so big that they are encroaching on the corners of the eyes, resulting in a sort of drawn on eyeliner effect you see here. Wonder where she gets that.