Sunday, September 25, 2011

The End is Near

Tomorrow marks 8 weeks on the planet for Liam. Man, has time gone by fast (it DID NOT go by even close to this fast during my time in the hospital...that felt like months). At least I've been wrapping up my maternity leave in style. Friday (aka the "Final Friday of Fun"), I had lunch with Liam, Frank and PJ down on the Kemah Boardwalk and spent some time walking around, enjoying the weather, and watching the boats sail by (I like to watch boats, not be on boats). Friday night we headed over to poker at Jessica and Dusty's where it was BYOB (bring your own baby). Liam finally got to meet his girlfriends, the minis. Although I can't say there was love at first sight, they definitely have things in common...love of bottles, ability to require diaper changes at a moment's notice, needing to be held by Mommy...hey, it's a start! I can't believe how big the minis are and how amazing they are - I can't wait for Liam to have control over his head and limbs like they do - it will be great to not have to worry about Liam headbutting me and for him to really be able to play in his favorite gym (although he can really give the big bee a good walloping). I didn't win at poker (and neither did Thomas), but I was happy to make a donation to the three champions for all the fun we had :)

Saturday, Thomas, Liam and I ventured downtown for a trip to Pottery Barn Kids. Taking me to PBK is always a very dangerous prospect, and now that they have "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed things, it is now also extremely dangerous to take Thomas there as well. We did manage to escape from there without too much damage to the bank account, and headed to lunch at PF Chang's. Liam managed to do some serious snoozing right up until I spooned my orange peel chicken on to my plate...oh the joys of motherhood ;-). Not to worry, the Kamas family is always (HA!) prepared. Since Thomas can eat at light speed (or faster...perhaps he's part neutrino), he downed his lunch and took over for me after a quick run to the bathroom for water to fill up bottle #2 - time to start bringing six oz with us - not four! Of course, when you are in that area, you have to get Sprinkles Cupcakes (it's a rule in our household), which I snacked on last night and plan on chowing on again today. I did yell at Thomas for getting too many cupcakes (there is such a thing when the finally-not-pregnant lady is trying to lose weight...in most normal cases, no such situation exists), but obviously, that is no longer a concern for me - I've given in to the deliciousness.

Today will be football (did I mention that I am in first place in Fantasy Football? That's right...ahead of all the boys!) and relaxation. Then, it's just Monday and Tuesday and back to work on Wednesday. Yikes!!!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Postpartum...Check!

Today was my six week postpartum appointment. I'm happy to report that everything checks out okay and I was given the go-ahead to resume "normal" life...whatever that means these days. The appointment was actually a little bit of a letdown. After nine months of exciting appointments where you discover something new, hear a heartbeat, have an ultrasound, or any or all of the above, a brief chat and a prescription for birth control just really didn't do it for me. I did have to take a test, though. Just a few quick questions to make sure I'm not nuts - passed with flying colors. Still not as exciting as an ultrasound.

I guess it's about time to start getting it back together. I've actually had a strong urge to get the house in order - postpartum nesting, perhaps? I've cleaned and organized and recycled and donated and just have a few more things to tackle before I think I will have satisfied my itch. Impressive? Not really...I've been on massive "spring cleaning" kicks before and always feel the better for it. I'm more impressed that I managed to find the stamina to make it happen. That has been one of the most challenging aspects of recovery - I had NO energy. Even passing Liam off to Oma Frank and taking naps still did nothing for my energy levels. It's hard to function much less decimate closet clutter with the amount of energy I was working with...but it's all better now. Game on, closets of the Kamas household.

It's also back to work soon. That makes me a little nervous. I'm not worried about the work aspect - and I can't wait to see my co-workers and getting back to business - I'm worried about getting up, getting dressed, getting Liam ready, and making it out the door before 10am. I could totally do it if work started at 10:30ish...since it's more like 8ish, I'll have to find a system that works so I don't have to wake up at 5am to get started. I still have to get some sleep!

Monday, September 5, 2011

A Record Breaking Weekend

Frank and I set out for Central Texas at 7am on Friday morning. One McDonald's stop, a U-turn, three hundred red lights on Hwy 6 (don't ask), a stop at Sonic for Frank's diet vanilla coke, one diaper change, 4 oz of formula and a stop in Cameron to see Judy later...we finally arrived in Rogers a little after noon. Frank spent the next two hours showing off her grandbaby to anyone and everyone that would pay attention, heathen high school students included. The first comment from just about everyone was how much little Liam looks like a mini-Thomas (well...except he's not so mini). Liam did very well, especially since we was passed around so everyone could get in baby snuggle time (hey, I understand...I like to snuggle other people's babies, too).

After a quick stop at the bank and a visit to see his Great Uncle Eddie and Great Aunt Melba, we got a phone call from Judy asking us to go pick up her dog from Belton. No problem, we were closer, but at this point I was fiending for a nap. I had only slept about 3 hours the night before and about the same Wednesday night as well with NO NAP thanks to a cardiologist appointment (which went very well, I might add...only one more month of medication and then if all looks good, no mas!) Still, there was more to be done. We got the dog back to Judy's and then headed for the Mexican restaurant that Judy and John eat at apparently almost every night. No kidding, before we even sat down, Judy had her drink and the waitress didn't even bring menus because everyone at the table already knew it by heart (except me). Frank had met a lot of Judy's friends while she was staying with her while finishing up the school year and they all had to see the little man. I finally had to put my head in my diaper bag and start trying to sleep before they decided it was time to leave.

I caught a much-needed nap at Judy's house - not even quite an hour, but it's amazing what getting just a short catnap will do for you - and then headed to Beth and Chris' house so they could meet Liam. We stayed there until about 10pm and then headed into Temple to Uncle Jake and Aunt Tammy's house. After catching up until about 1am, we decided to head to bed. Liam had already been asleep on Tammy for about an hour, and since I had had such a long day, Thomas said he would take the first shift....which didn't come until after 7am! Solid sleep...it was A-MAZ-ING! After a horrible breakfast (sorry Jake, Tammy and Andrew - Thomas picked the restaurant), we headed out to visit Tiffany and then went out to the grandparents' house where Liam got to meet his great-grandma and great-aunt and spent good time snuggling with everyone.

That night, we had a crew over at Jake and Tammy's for more meet and greets with Liam (Tammy & Jake - we owe you big! Thanks for everything and hopefully Tammy got some sleep before work!) However, after listening to Jake and Thomas tell stories about things they did when they were young, I'm strongly considering packing up my sweet little boy and running...no bad influences from Uncle Jake or Daddy...I can't believe both of them survived to adulthood, or at least still have both eyes and all their fingers and toes. ;-)

After two busy, busy days, Liam rewarded us with another 6 hour sleep...woohoo! On Sunday, after breakfast and then a quick stop at the grandparents, we were fighting the wind on the way home, and made it to the house with ZERO stops. He slept the entire way and for a few minutes even when we got home. This much straight sleeping definitely sets a Liam record. We had a lot of stuff to unload (apparently, babies require lots and lots of equipment, more than even my SUV can hold because Frank is bringing back some of it that we didn't need for a few days), but the first thing I noticed was that something smelled funny in our house. We found out that MECO was locked in the closet under the stairs since Thursday night and had left us some "gifts". Even though Dad came and checked on the dogs every day, MECO never cried and let him know he was in the closet. Even after clearing out the blankets and running them through the wash, the closet still smells. Guess what I'm doing this week...grrr.