Sandy’s Blog

15 years ago today Jason and I started dating. It seems pretty unbelievable. I was a sophomore at Ashland University and was 20 years old. Jason was a freshman at the same school and 18 years old. I remember I met Jason in the fall of 1995 when the Cleveland Indians were going through their playoff run. It was a big deal since this was the first time we got to experience this kind of excitement. One of my guy friends who I met during orientation at Ashland invited me over to his dorm as he said a group of people were going to watch the game. I don’t remember what game it was. Well, that is where I met Jason.

However, at that time, I was still dating my ex boyfriend who went to the College of Wooster. It was about a 40 minute drive from Ashland. However, during that fall and the early winter Jason and I became great friends. We did a lot together and hung out a lot.

A week before the Valentine’s Dance at Ashland or so, Dave (my ex) and I broke up. I didn’t know if I was even going to go to that dance. It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day. Jason had other plans for that night but took me to the dance instead. However, we went as friends. I never thought anything was going to come of it. A week after that dance, we were dating. Everyone said he was just a rebound including my family. I guess everyone was wrong.

Jason and I ended up dating for 5 years all through college. We ended up both transferring to Mansfield University of Pennsylvania where we both graduated in December, 1999. On April 29, 2001 we got engaged at Niagara Falls Canada. Our friends Melissa and Shawn (who live in North Carolina now) came with us so I would not suspect anything. We were married on June 29, 2002 at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Parma, Ohio. We lived in Toledo, Ohio until August 2004 when we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. It was an exciting place to live and I am glad we did live there even though we were very far from our families. I did miss the snow and cold a little even though I am saying this after the horrible winter we have had here. Then in October 2007 we moved back up north to Indianapolis, Indiana. Our son David was born on December 5, 2009.

I look back at the amazing journey that started 15 years ago today but I am glad it did and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So I realized that I haven’t blogged since David was 3 months old. It’s not that I didn’t want to, it is just my life is crazy and the only time I really get to myself is after I go to bed and on my breaks, lunch and the half hour after I get off work before I pick him up at the sitters.

I can’t believe my little baby is already one. This year has gone by so fast. He has reached a lot of milestones and we have had a lot of sleepless nights along the way. However, I wouldn’t change it for anything. David is almost walking and he loves to get into everything. We have to keep the remote control, cell phones, computers away from him. I think he is going to be just like his daddy. He also likes to turn on and off the TV volume. He loves the dog too. Casey is one of his favorite things and was one of his first words. He also can bark like the dog which is quite funny.

David has also experienced a lot of things that I didn’t until I was older. He has already been to two Ohio State games. We took him to the game at Illinois in early October. He had a blast. He was a bit tired after the game since he kind of missed his nap since we were tailgating before the game. Then, in late October we took him to Ohio Stadium for his first game in Columbus. Ohio State played Purdue and it was an awesome game. Our seats were all the way at the top. I think we were about 4 rows from the top. But he had such a fun time and we even stayed until after the game as the band was doing script Ohio. He did fall asleep once we got to the car. though.

Some of the other places we have taken David are the Indiana State Fair in August, The Indianapolis Zoo. We also took him to his first major league baseball game. We went to Cincinnati to see the Indians play the Reds in June. The Indians even won which was even better. Then we went to 5 star chili for dinner as you can’t go to Cincinnati without having chili. We went to Cleveland several times to see the family and also went to Chicago for my sister in law’s wedding reception. She got married in Mexico.

I am sure this coming year will be filled with fun activities and new adventures as well.

It seems like yesterday I just brought David home from the hospital. Well, actually it seems like yesterday I found out I was pregnant which will be a year at the end of the month. It is hard to believe. David has brought so much joy to our lives. Yes, there are days where it has been frustrating as he hasn’t been the easiest baby. He has been quite challenging with his fussiness and being colicky, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I just can’t get over how much he has grown and how much he is absorbing. Lately he has become interested in his feet. He loves playing with his feet and now getting interested in his toys. He is starting to make a lot more cooing sounds and trying to move a lot more and roll over. I guess we better start babyproofing the house soon.

Aside from the fussiness, I have to say he has been a great sleeper. He started sleeping 5 hours a night at 5 weeks old. The past two weeks he has been sleeping through the night. 8/9 hours of sleep a night. However, this week he has been getting up again. I think it’s due to a growth spurt as he has been so hungry this week I can’t seem to feed him enough. I know he won’t always sleep through the night but I am thankful for the days he does. I am hoping once he goes through this growth spurt he will go back to the 8 hour stretches. Mommy and daddy really appreciate it.

Over the weekend we took David downtown Indy for the Women’s Big Ten Tournament. They had a pep rally for the Ohio State Women’s team at Champps and David got his pictures with Brutus and the Buckeye cheerleaders. David did awesome. He loved watching the cheerleaders and wasn’t scared of the noise. I think it is because we have his Brutus mobile at home and he recongnized the music. We then headed to the Home and Garden show at Lucas Oil Stadium. We ended the day going to the Women’s game. David did really well however he did start to get fussy during the game. Although the game started at 8pm and he normally goes to bed at 9 so I wasn’t too surprised.

We also went out for the first time Friday night without him and left him with a sitter. We went to the the Women’s game Friday with some friends. She said he was kind of fussy but that is expected with someone new. She is our regular sitter that watches him during the day so I am sure eventually he will get used to her and love for her to watch him.

Well, it sounds like he is starting to get fussy so I better end here before I have a screaming baby. He sure lets us know when he needs something. That is for sure. He has a great set of lungs.

I know it’s been ages since I last blogged and David will be 2 months old on February 5 and it is around the corner but I have been pretty busy the past 6 weeks as you can imagine.

David was born on December 5, 2009. I had a pretty good pregnancy and labor and delivery. I was induced on December 4 but the drugs didn’t start working until the morning of December 5th. I went into labor around 1:30 am and he was born at 6:42 am. The weird thing was I never felt a contraction. I started getting severe leg pain around 11:00pm on December 4. The nurse checked me and I was starting to dialate. It was so bad they finally gave me drugs to ease the pain. I was loopy and don’t remember a whole lot. About 3 hours later I got the epidural. I remember feeling pressure but I was never in any pain. When I tell women my story they are shocked I never felt an actual contraction and the monitor never really picked it up either. I was in the hospital until Monday, December 7th and that was the day we came home.

Our first few days at home were challenging to say the least. My milk hadn’t come in and we had a very hungry baby who did nothing but scream the first night. It tested our patience a lot and I know if I was younger and not ready for this I don’t know how I would have handled it. But, we got through it. The next day my milk came in but then breastfeeding was a challenge until we went to see the pediatrician a week later. She showed me some tips and it is has been going well ever since. I still pump though so Jason can feed him when I am not around or if I want to take a break.

Life has been changed so much but in a good way. David cries a lot. We don’t know if he is colicky or just a fussy baby. But he has been a challenge, especially in the evenings. He wants to be held all the time and attended to. It is hard to get stuff done around the house when he wants to be held a lot. But, I am sure he will outgrow it eventually and start smiling, moving around more and it will be all worth it.

However, the one good thing was ever since last Wednesday when daddy was in Texas on business, David has been sleeping 5 and 6 hours at night. It makes mommy and daddy very happy. He turned 6 weeks old on Saturday so I can’t complain. I guess if he is going to be fussy in the evenings I will take him sleeping that long at night so I am able to get some rest. I will be very helpful too when I go back to work in two weeks.

I am looking forward to going back to work but then again I am not too. I wish I could just spend time with my baby all day and not have to work. But I know we need the money and need me to work. I hope eventually one day I can just stay at home and not have to work. I do feel fortunate though that I am working at home and we don’t have to put him into daycare and we just have to hire a sitter for a few hours to watch him. It is a lot less expensive than having to put him into daycare.

I must say these past 6 weeks have been a whirlwind but they have been great too. I remember before I had him I was wondering how I would take care of him since I never had any little babies around to watch. I never changed a diaper or fed a baby. But, that motherly instinct kicked right in after I had him and I even surprised myself.

I promise to keep this blog updated more as David goes through more milestones and I can’t wait to see life in the months ahead. All the things I have had to change in my life and things I have to give up are totally worth it.

I have noticed since the last time I blogged, that how things change so quickly. My last blog was how we bought a house but nothing more. Well we are finally moved in and all settled (finally) in our place. We really like it and all the unpacking is done for the most part. Now we are just trying to get the nursery set up before the baby comes. The crib, dresser and changing table are up and my shower is on Sunday so I am sure we will have lots of baby items to put around here after that. We already have a few baby gifts from my work shower and family already.

It is amazing how fast this pregnancy flew by. I found out in late March which was when it was still cold out and will give birth probably in early December or possibly late November which it will be cold again. I am finally starting to look like I am pregnant. However, I have been really careful what I eat since I wasn’t super thin to begin with and didn’t want to gain too much weight.

Soon I will be blogging about my new baby but until then I still have a little more to go and enjoy my life the way it is before everything changes.

After months of looking and wondering if we would be able to find a house in time before the baby comes, we finally found a house. It seemed like everytime we would find something we liked, someone else would already have it. We looked all over the place. Of course we only had a certain area since we didn’t want Jason to have a longer commute than he has now. Once we have the house, I will be applying to work at home so it won’t be as big of an issue to me.

So, then we found this house. The only thing was another couple was also interested in it. We put a bid on it last Friday. They were supposed to look at it Friday night. So, the waiting game began. We got a counter from the seller on Saturday and negotiated. So, we finally heard back on Sunday that they had accepted the offer. We were really happy.

We had the inspection on Thursday and a few minor things need to be fixed. However, nothing major that would prevent us from getting the house. We are hoping to have closing the first week of September and then we can move in Labor Day Weekend. It would be great since we would have an extra day off.

I would post pictures on here so instead I will be posting them on our website and on facebook.

We went for the ultrasound yesterday and found out the question we had been wanting to know. That we are going to be having a little boy. I am thrilled. We got to see the baby moving around and he is definately an active one and definately has Jason’s ego. He was smiling and waving at us showing off for the camera.

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment. It wasn’t anything too big. We got to listen to the heartbeat with the fetal monitor that the doctor had. It was pretty cool sounding. The heartbeat is 150 beats per minute which is really good. I then had some bloodwork done for tests. However, we got to schedule the exciting next appointment which is the 19 week ultrasound. We scheduled it for July 10th. If the baby cooperates we will be finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am happy with either as long as the baby is doing well and healthy.

I am doing well so far. I haven’t had any complaints so far the whole pregnancy. In fact luckily it has been fairly easy. I feel lucky to have escaped the morning sickness and all the misery with that. So, I do feel quite lucky. I have had a few aches and pains and some tireness especially at the beginning but overall it has been really good.

Today I am 15 weeks and 2 days along. I am going to buy my first pair of maternity jeans tomorrow. I finally reached that point where my clothes are getting tight. In fact my jeans have been but I was wearing transitional band that helped. But, it is time to buy maternity jeans. A few weeks ago I tried some on and they were too big so I decided to wait a few weeks.

It’s with great joy to announce that Jason and I are expecting our first child.   We are 11 weeks along and mom-to-be and baby are doing just fine.  Call us a bit old fashioned, but we didn’t want to announce until we had made it most of the way through our first trimester.

We had our second visit with the doctor today, and we were able to hear a good strong heart beat.  The due date is 12/2/2009, so we’re expecting the snow storm of the decade to fall on Central Indiana that week.   Now that’s Jason’s dad’s birthday, so we know what day he’ll be picking in the baby pool.

At this point, not much else to tell, our house hunt continues and we hope to find something this summer.

About a week or so ago Jason and I went and ordered Ohio State checks from our bank, National City.  Well, we ordered Ohio State checks this time.  Today, we got them in the mail, except that they were the wrong checks.  We remember when we went to the bank to order them the guy at the counter gave us a big deal over them because they were Ohio State.  Jason even gave him the paper that the checks were on and I remember it saying OSU.  So, I went back today and complained to the girl.  She gave me a bunch of you know what.  Like we have so many customers and he probably just ordered what you already had.  Well, we handed him a paper that said OSU on it how hard is that?  So, tomorrow I am going to be making a call to the branch manager.

Of course this isn’t the first time we’ve had a problem with checks. Maybe it is just this branch.  I have always liked National City- well now PNC that is bought but have had problems with the guy we handed to the paper to a few times at this branch.  Last year when we opened our account, first they put the wrong phone number on the checks, the second time I told them no phone number so they finally got it right the third time.  I just want my correct checks.  Of course if the bank had online ordering for the checks we wanted, there wouldn’t be this problem.