the past three months

Harper only 3 days old!

Harper at 3 months old!

I can not believe 3 months have already flown by! One of the things I have enjoyed is that I have not really known anyone that had a baby around the time Harper was born. Mostly for the reason that I am not sitting and comparing everything she is doing (or not doing) to others. I have told myself that Harper is her own person and she will do things on her own schedule. I do not want to be the crazy mom that is super stressed because someone else's child is rolling over but mine is not. That can't be healthy for her! Anyway..... the things she has been doing are:

* Focusing on objects and following them when moved from side to side/up and down

*Smiling all the time (this one is my favorite!)

*Supporting her head

*Holding her head up during tummy time

*Beginning to understand that she can make things happen (i.e. when she pulls the frog on her activity mat it will sing a song)

*Using her core muscles to try and sit up

*Bearing weight on her legs when I hold her up

*Makes intense eye contact. Especially when you are telling her a story or singing to her

*LOVES music....mostly the Black Eyed Peas

*Sleeps through the night since 7 weeks old!!! (7pm-7am with a 20 minute feed around 10:30)

Every day she amazes me with all the little things she is doing to learn and develop. However the whole experience has not been the easiest. She has been quite the fussy one and also has acid reflux. This can make our days very long and heartbreaking. Who knew babies could even have acid reflux? Basically, if she lays down on her back she begins to scream bloody murder because of the pain. She will then spit up/throw up and sometimes when I get her up from naps her hair will be soaked from the spit up. My pediatrician has prescribed her Zantac. It helps most of the time but I have had to watch my diet as well. No caffeine or dairy. The former is not so bad....the latter is a killer. I love cheese. I love ice cream. I LOVE milk! I will admit that I do not always stick to it as much as I should but I definitely reap the consequences if I slack. Apparently my brother and I were the same way when we were young so my mom switched to formula feeding and we had to have soy formula. I can understand why she did it but I am so used to breast feeding (and the saving all the money) I figured I will just improve my diet, which will hopefully help me lose the last of the baby weight anyway!

I also told myself before she was born that I was going to put her on a strict schedule so my life and her life could be somewhat predictable. To my surprise I did a great job in the beginning. I was strong when it came to letting her "cry it out" for naps and working on a routine feeding schedule every 3 hours. But as life throws curveballs at me is when I tend to stray to my inital great ideas! With the acid reflux we have not had the most successful time with napping. She will nap maybe 45 minutes and then usually lets out a scream to let me know she is having pains again. If she does not wake up screaming she still wakes up after about 45 minutes with a GIANT smile on her face letting me know she is ready to be awake again. How can I leave her be when she is sooooo happy?? Plus the older she gets, the more personality she has. This makes it much harder to allow her to cry.

My absolute favorite part of the day every day is at 7:00 a.m. Not because it is 7:00 because I will tell you when my alarm goes off, I am not always ready to get up. But, when I walk into Harper's room and lean over the crib to tell her good morning she is the happiest girl in the world. She opens her eyes and gets this grin from ear to ear. It makes my heart jump with happiness every morning. She is so excited that it is a new day!! Josh and I actually race to see who can get to the crib first to get the first smile.

So...over the past three months I have had so much fun watching Harper grow and learn. Also, I have had fun learning with Josh how to be the best parents we can be. So far, I think we are doing a pretty good job!

The birth of Harper Adalyn Pluid

It has been quite some time since I have blogged. I have a lot of catching up to do but I will begin with the most important event since I last wrote. It is a bit long but I did not want to miss any important details!

The arrival at the hospital. My last belly shot!

Excited mom & dad to be in a few short hours!

First off and most obvious Josh & I had our first little girl on August 18th, 2010 at 12:20pm weighing in at 7lb. 7 oz. We had the date and time scheduled because we knew beforehand that I was going to have a C-section.

When going in for our ultrasounds our little Harper was Frank Breech (she was basically folded in half in my belly with her head by my left rib, her bottom was down by my abdomen and her feet were up by my right rib). Needless to say this created a lot of difficult breathing along with multiple kicks to the ribs & sides during the last part of pregnancy! When I was about 35 weeks pregnant at the doctors check up she still had not turned into the correct position for a vaginal birth. Our doctor gave me the option of either trying to have her and another doctor turn her manually & then they would induce me, or I could go for the c-section. I know it sounds strange that I would automatically go for the C-section but something in me knew the whole time that would end up being the way I would deliver her. When my mom was pregnant with me I was positioned the exact same way and she had a C-section with me. Like mother like daughter!

The benefits of having a C-section:
1. Knowing the exact date of when your baby will be born
2. I never had to experience any contractions or pain
3. I was able to have my bags packed, shower and put make-up on before the delivery
4. Being able to read about the procedures and talk to those who have gone through it
5. I never had to experience any contractions or pain =)
6. Your baby comes out with a perfectly shaped head
7. All my family and friends were able to take off work and be there
8. Being able to stay in the hospital 3 nights and utilize all their resources for questions
9. Did I mention that I did not experience any contractions or pain?

The disadvantages:
1. It is major surgery (but a very common one)
2. I was not able to get up and walk for a day (hooked up to an IV & catheter until the following morning)
3. The morphine kicked my butt!!!
4. Having a scar
5. My husband watched them do the surgery (creeped me out, I just figure a husband should never see my insides!)
6. Finding a comfortable position for breastfeeding without bothering the scar
5. Recovery takes a bit longer...but the pain medicine was my savior!

The process of the surgery was amazing to me. If you know me at all I am someone who thinks that ignorance can be bliss but when it boils down to it, I need to know all the details! I am pretty sure every day after I made the decision for a c-section I got online and read about others experiences, called my friends, watched a Baby Story on TLC every single time it came on and read whatever I could get my hands on. This is just my way of preparing so I do not have a freak out. I survived most of the entire process with out freaking out at all.

We arrived at the hospital and they put me in a room and got all my information to check me in, put in my IV and checked to make sure she was still breech. Then they rolled me down to the operating room where they numbed by back, then did my spinal. This was the point of me freaking out just a bit. I was all smiles and cool calm and a collective until the feeling of numbness came upon me. I HATE the feeling of being numb! They had to help me put my legs back on the table and then my doctor was asking me to wiggle my toes. Fortunately I was unable to wiggle my toes but that was the point that I started to panic. Oh my gosh what if I am paralyzed forever? I can't even move my toes! What if the feeling never comes back??? I kept saying "This is so bizarre, this feels so weird" My nurse then looked at me and said "You are not going to freak out on us now are you? You have been so great!" I then pulled myself together because that was when they brought Josh in the operating room with me. He stood by my side and held my hand the entire time. In his other hand was his iPhone which he used to videotape me throughout the whole procedure. Although I did not like the idea of it at first it is very cool to go back and watch now. Anyway, Josh was chatting with me and then the Anesthesiologist told me the doctors had already began. I had no idea anything had even happened yet! About 5 minutes later I felt some pressure on my stomach and then I saw a stream of something (soon to find out pee) go up in the air and hit me. Yup, the first thing my daughter did was pee on me! They pulled her out, wrapped her up and handed her to daddy. This was the moment I broke down. I can not even put into words what it was like to see her for the first moment. All I can say is perfection.



They then took her over and started cleaning her off and gave her oxygen so she would turn pink. The funny thing is that since she was breech she came out with her legs stuck in the air for about a day or so.

Harper with her legs crazy & the family checking her out in the nursery for the first time!

After they finished sewing me up they rolled me out of the operating room. That very second I saw the swarm of family and friends heading towards my room with me to see our sweet baby girl! We literally had 20+ people in our room taking turns holding Harper for the first time. It was such a special day that I will never forget. Harper Adalyn Pluid is one very loved little girl and I am a very blessed person to have such a perfect family.

Our first Pluid family photo!!

Pasadena

As my previous post states, Josh spend the month in Pasadena, California. He was able to come home for the weekend after being there two weeks and for me that was just not enough! So..... we decided to fly me out there to spend the last week with him and then fly home with him when he was done with his assignment!!! While there we walked around Pasadena and checked out all the shops near his hotel, went to my favorite grocery store Trader Joe's (much more eventful when I can actually drink their wine that is only $4!!), went to the Getty museum (which I highly recommend if you ever get the chance to go there) and went to a Dodger's game. I had so much fun and of course was able to spend less time apart from my other half which made me one happy gal!!

This is a pic of us in the gardens at the Getty museum. Josh took lots of neat flower photos so we can frame them and put them up in Harper's room

At the Getty there were many architectural aspects that boggled my mind. This photos below looks as if we took a picture of one tree. However, there are 11 more trees behind this one, lined up and trimmed perfectly so it looks as one when standing at a certain angle.
A birds eye view of the garden area at the Getty
I had to sneak in a picture of my handsome hubby on the beach!! We spent the late morning relaxing on Manhattan beach where the nicest man approached me and gave me a handful of shell's to "give our little one" =). After our time in the sand we ate at Pomodoro for lunch and then to a little treat of the most delicious ice cream cookie sandwiches (a dream for a pregnant woman!!!)
The pier at Manhattan beach. The rounded building was actually an aquarium, we did not go in and check it out but it was very busy!

passing the time

From April 11th until May 8th, Josh had the opportunity to go to Pasadena California to head a project that dealt with the remodeling of some stores. Although it was a great experience, this left me, home alone, 5 months pregnant and bored. So to pass the time I was experiencing the beginning of my "nesting" phase which caused me to get SO MUCH DONE in Harper's room along with random tasks throughout the house!

Things I completed while he was gone:

• I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to rip up the carpet in Harper's room so it would be easier to paint the trim
• Painted the trim with the help of my lovely mom!

• Worked in the backyard, trimmed trees, cleaned out all the bricks lining our flower beds, picked weeds, and mowed
• Worked in the front yard....I tore up my front flower bed & chopped down some bushes that I apparently hated that day? This left random sticks sticking up out of the flower bed that I claimed looked "artsy," thankfully they are growing back normal now

My beautiful Hydrangea my mom got for me. This plant makes me smile =)

Freshly planted flowers alongside the sticks that I chopped off the tops!

Josh approving of the flower bed... mostly because he did not have to help!!

JP's birthday

Josh turned 29 on April 5th and we both took the day off so I could treat him to a day of fun!! We woke up and went to Cracker Barrel (yup that is right) for a deliciously huge breakfast. Then we went out around town and spent time together then off to Hooters for lunch (again, yes it is true). Then we headed to a fun filled competition of bowling at RedPin downtown. I never really consider myself a competitive person but I believe I proved myself wrong. Josh beat me all 3 games and I was not super happy about it (lets just say I let him beat me since it was his birthday??) Later, we grilled him the steaks my parents got him while some friends came over and we just relaxed at the house. Anyway, I hope he had fun because I really enjoyed having a whole day to spend together.

Looking cute while kicking my butt in bowling


Big 2-9.....next year we will go big & party in Vegas!!! =)
Me, comparing myself to the bowling ball...at this point I am not quite there but I am quickly getting to that point! I love you babe!!

A family filled Easter Sunday

Last year during Easter Josh and & were in Kansas City. We had so much fun last year but it was so extremely nice to spend this Easter with all of our family!!

Stephen (Josh's brother) and his daughter Tasha at her first Easter.

Tasha was all dressed up for Easter looking so beautiful!!
Josh getting in some practice and bonding with our niece... he is going to be such a great dad!!

A splash of color

Josh and I were feeling motivated and excited so we decided to dive in and begin the painting of Baby Pluid's room. We chose a color called Lettuce Alone which is a yellowish-green color that I am absolutely loving! The room was a crazy dark brown color (yuck) before so the change has been so nice and the room is starting to feel so welcome and bright! I will post more pictures as we continue to transform the room!!

This is the 1st coat of the final color. We also are planning on painting all the wood and trim white.....a project for another day!
Dexter our cat who was very interested in the painting process.
Josh starting on priming the walls so we could have an easier transition from the dark brown to the awesome green!! I really like this pic, his shirt explains exactly how I feel right now with our lives and family =)

Medieval Fair 2010

So Josh, Slim & I all attended our 3rd year at the Norman Medieval Fair. Each year gets a bit more eccentric and fun. Honestly I go for 3 reasons. 1. Giant Corn Dogs & Cherry Limeade. 2. The most wonderful chocolate and maple fudge. 3. People watching!! One of the best parts about it is that everyone brings their dogs so our pups get to have an exciting afternoon as well!

Example of those who wear tails...
A fairy lady that shocked many attendees of the crowd. She would blend in and then all of a sudden you would notice her. It was really pretty cool!
This is definitely NOT the most flattering picture of me but it is the only recent one I have.

belly band

I am now 15 going on 16 weeks pregnant. I am still in a bit of denial that I am going to have to pack away some of my favorite clothing items and fall in to the awfulness of maternity clothes. I know there have been improvements, but all in all there is nothing sexy about maternity pants with a giant front panel. Most of my work pants are still going strong and I can still wear them, and I am not able to go up a size yet either.

Last Thursday I felt ambitious and decided to put on my every day khaki pants and belted them to the second belt hole. Yes, ideally if I never decided to sit down they could have potentially worked, but that was not the case. I have never been so incredibly comfortable and I am pretty sure baby Pluid was not very happy with me either. I was sadly tugging at my pants all day as if I could magically stretch them to grow and fit? It was awful, my stomach was cramping due to the pressure and that is when I realized that no I need to get out of denial and come to terms with the fact that my belly is bigger and to embrace it.

Due to this terrible tight khaki experience I went to Old Navy to try on some maternity khaki pants that I could hopefully get for work. OH MY GOSH were they absolutely the worst thing in the world. They hung all weird, had a giant khaki panel covering my entire stomach and the material was just yuck. I am sure a lot of the issues were because my stomach is not extremely prominent yet but still.... do we have to feel so ugly in maternity pants? Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful things and a pregnant woman is just the same, beautiful! But no no no... nothing about a front panel is beautiful at all my friends.

One great compromise to invest in is the Belly Band. It is this wonderful band you can wear around the top of your jeans that covers up the top so you can leave your pants unbuttoned!! It looks just like you are wearing a camisole under your shirt and not a giant blue panel covering your tummy. There are a few different ways to wear it and you can also use it throughout all your pregnancy stages and even after as you are shrinking back down in to what we all hope to be the original size we began at! =)

growing belly

As you can see I am slowing growing along in my pregnancy. In the last photo I am around 12 weeks pregnant and we had just gone to the Dr. and we were able to hear the little heartbeat! Unfortunately, we did not get to hear it for very long but none the less it was amazing.

So far pregnancy has been a whole new experience and mind set since the day I saw the 2 pink lines on the stick. I found out just a few days before Christmas and my ultimate goal was to surprise everyone on Christmas day. That idea made it about 5 minutes before I realized I had to tell Josh!! It was a Tuesday so we were both off work and I had made up some excuse to run to Target to grab some last minute items for Christmas. I raced to the store and found a onesie that said "Worlds Greatest Daddy" along with a sack and some tissue paper. One the way home I assembled the gift and placed the pregnancy test in with it so Josh would hopefully get my message. I was so excited yet nervous to tell him. I had him open the sack immediately as I got in the house and it took him no more than a few seconds to figure out what I was telling him! We were both so excited and of course I was in tears.If you know Josh and I at all you know that we can not keep a secret for the life of us so we told a few of our closest friends that day and waited for Christmas to surprise our families which that all ended up in tears as well!

I have been extremely lucky so far in my pregnancy, no morning sickness just the issue of being extremely fatigued from around week 5-13. I have not had much of an appetite either, nothing has sounded absolutely wonderful but nothing sounds particularly gross either so I eat because I need to, yet nothing outrageous.

The biggest thing I feel sorry that Josh has to deal with is the whole "pregnancy hormones" thing. I wear my heart on my sleeve anyway but random tears has not always been an issue for me. The other evening I was making the super classy dinner of biscuits and gravy and wanted it to be all ready for when Josh came home...I had even made the biscuits from scratch which I had never done before. Well silly me set the table and put the biscuits in a bowl and a towel over them in somewhat of a pretty presentation and went to go pick Josh up. We walked in the door and I was all smiley and proud of myself to find the bowl, towel and no biscuits on the floor in the living room. This created instant tears. Poor Josh is thinking "Ok so lets just run to the store and pick some more up, no big deal" but to me it was the end of the world!

I am now on my 14th week and feeling much more energized and definitely starting to pick up the need to eat. I think I had my first craving the other day which was for pop tarts. I have always liked pop tarts but always stayed away from them. I saw someone at work eating them a few days before and could not get them out of my mind. I would wake up and think about what flavor I wanted to buy. I do work at a place that unfortunately has all the good treats right at my fingertips so I caved in to my craving and bought a box of frosted blueberry pop tarts and boy were they delicious!!!

Ok so my ramblings are done for the evening, just thought I would catch you up on what has been going on thus far and my crazy yet fun pregnant ways.

about the pluids

So this is us. Josh and Brenda Pluid. This photo was actually taken April 2008 in Kansas City where we went to experience my first Royals baseball game for Josh's birthday. This trip is one of my favorite things to start with because although the weather was rainy and dark and the Royals ended up losing the game I had an absolute blast with who was at the time my fiance.

If you do not know us well, Josh and I have a crazy story of how we met, fell in love and were bound to be together forever and we figured all of this out in a very short time. No... this blog is not going to be just about my husband and I but he is a huge part of who I am today so I find it important for my first posting to be about us.

Since April 2008 so much has gone on it really can not all fit in one blog but to make a long story short we were married July 13, 2008 (exactly one year from the day we fell in love and to note it was a Friday the 13th!) We have been on so many wonderful trips together to Kansas City, San Diego, Colorado, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, a few trips to Dallas and the most recent vacation was to Hawaii with our friends. We have been extremely fortunate to be able to travel and experience different places.

One huge event that has occurred since then is that I am currently 14 weeks pregnant with our first child! I am sure most of what I will be blogging about will be about my pregnancy because it has turned out to be, even in the short time, a life changing yet interesting experience.