only took me a month...

well, i am back to work and in the swing of things whether i like it or not! its definitely hard to get to the blog updates, but a lot has happened since my last post. work is going ok for me. it has taken a bit to get adjusted to everything for both steve and i. but all in all, it has went pretty well. this past weekend was the first weekend i had to work and that stunk cuz i didn't see zander or steve hardly at all. but i made it!

as far as zander goes...he's 4 months old now!! crazy! he started rolling over pretty consistently last week and he is officially sleeping on his belly now. i had to take the bumper out of his crib...i was driving my self crazy worrying bout it cuz he tends to be right up next to the side of the crib when he rolls over.  so we got a breathable bumper today that is like a mesh material.  hopefully that will still keep him from getting stuck in the slats but yet he can breathe which is a good thing.  i also think he really wants to move..as in crawl, but i'm sure he's got a while for that yet. 

we went back to the doctor today for his 4 month check up.  he weighs 13 lbs 15 oz and is 26 inches long!!  he gained a little over 3 lbs and grew 3 inches!!  everyone has been saying how long he is getting so i guess they were right.  he went from between the 25th to 50th percentile up to between the 75th and 90th percentile for his length.  he's still in the 25th percentile for his weight and 10th for his head!  HA...long, skinny with a tiny head.  but he is developing fine, so the doctor was not worried at all about his head.  

the doc also suggested we start solids since he's skinny and bottle fed. i have kind of thought that he might be getting close to being ready cuz he seems to be pretty interested in our food.  but i didn't want to start too early either.  so since he suggest that we go ahead and start and just be really slow, we did.  tonite was his first taste of cereal. i think he actually liked it. he even opened his mouth when he saw the spoon coming.  it took him a few bites to figure out how to swallow it and then i think he got a little frustrated cuz he was hungry.  so he didn't eat a ton, but i think it will be a pretty easy adjustment for him.  its definitely weird how much he's changing and getting into these new phases.  he will be all grown up before i know it!  :( 

well thats bout all for now. i know that i'm really tired and should not be up still since i have to get up in the morning in time to get myself ready, zander ready, deal with the dogs and still have time left for the 35 minute drive to xenia where i drop off zander at the sitter's and then still have to get to work by 9 (oh yeah...and have time to stop for my fountain pop.)  can you see how my mind works??  sometimes it makes me tired just thinking about my crazy, too-detail oriented mind.  lol!

Our annual visit to the Odle lakehouse

We went to see Jarrad, Misty and the girls last weekend at the lake.  it was a very fun weekend!  they just got a boat so we had a blast just goofing around.  my parents came up on saturday afternoon too so that was nice to see them again.  we tried to do a pic of all three kids and i guess it didn't turn out too bad but i really like the one with my dad and his kiddos.  

on the way home, we had to stop outside of dayton to go to the funeral home for one of steve's cousins.  that was of course a downer, but he got to see some of his family that he hasn't seen for years.  so that also meant that i met a lot of his family that i hadn't met before.  it was great to meet some of his aunts, uncle and cousins and they all loved zander.  

and i posted last week that zander was 12 weeks old...well this wednesday was his official 3 month mark (or as i said on facebook...his 1/4 birthday)  he's started giggling a little now too which i love.  i only have 3 days of my leave left so i'm definitely bummed that its coming to an end!

can you see any similarities??

the top pic is steve at age 1 right before getting his very first haircut.  and then the 2nd pic is me of course.  i was about 3 months i think.  so steve and i keep arguing about who we think zander looks like.  not like it matters, but its kinda funny.  a lot of people see steve and his side in zander but then when i look at my baby pic, i can maybe see a mix of both of us. i know one thing..he's not quite pushing up with his arms yet like i am in my pic.  he's definitely getting stronger, but he still has a bit to go.  i just keep saying that maybe he's a bit slow on the physical side, but that's ok because he's going to my little brain!  HA...guess time will tell.  

12 weeks old...

well in about 5 minutes, zander will be 12 weeks old.  i can't believe that i have been off of work and at home with my new little guy for that long!!  i am sooo NOT ready to go back to work, but then there are definitely times that i crave the sense of accomplishment that i get out of a good day at work. so i guess it is bittersweet.  its just going to be very odd to go from spending pretty much every minute of my  daytime with zander to not seeing him except for tuesdays and most weekends i guess.  i really wish that i didnt have to work 10 hour days. oh well, i guess the real world is about to slap me in the face in about 1.5 weeks.  i'm also hoping that it all works out ok with steve and his schedule.  he will be in charge of zander a lot more and it could get harry with his sleep/work schedule.  so we are praying that all works out well.   i will cherish my tuesdays off with zander for sure!!  it will also be weird because i wont see steve near as much either.  it has been awesome to spend quite a bit of time with him.  so i may go through double withdraw....less time with both of my men!  

and speaking of accomplishment...we still only have 1 working car BUT our garage is looking soo much better!  for those of you who didn't see it in the beginning, it was full of piles and piles of stuff/junk!  we have a 3 car garage and until we had car problems, it didn't house any cars.  so steve's car has been in it now while he has been working on it but we still had stuff in a large part of the rest of the garage.  steve and i have worked very hard the last few weeks to clean out and relocate stuff in order to get our garage into garage status!  woohoo.  go us!  :)  it only took about 3 or 4 months after moving in.  we'll just use zander as our excuse. 

our work in progress...the landscaping!

we are blessed that our house has some land-

scaping already when we moved in, but it was in need of some TLC too.  they had put really random things in really odd spots and some of the stuff had totally taken over the beds.  so steve has been working very hard on trying to get the beds to be more presentable.  we have bought a few perennials to try to add some color and dimension, so we'll see what happens.  it will still be a work in progress of course and it will take a year or two to see what we think. this first pic is of the bed in the front of the house and it looks so much better since steve yanked out some of the stuff that seemed to be overtaking everything else. and then we planted these cool perennial pictured in the 2nd pic (can't remember what they are called right now...maybe like black eyed susans???) and i love the colors!!

we are excited to have the outside stuff looking better than before. our neighbors have even complimented steve's hard work!  the lawn is shaping up very nicely too.  its been fun to look at different flowers etc to figure out what we want to gradually do.  i guess maybe i have a bit of the odle traits of wanting the landscaping to look nice but its nice that i have my husband to do the work!  :)  he's soo good at it, so i dont want to hinder that!

zander's 2nd pool day

i was sooo excited to get this little outfit for zander.  i have been watching it at gymboree all season and waiting for it to go on clearance.  so i went in there the other day and it was on sale AND they still had his size.  so i couldn't resist.  these are like the only swim trunks that come close to fitting him right now (he has no butt) and they have a really nice diaper cover/liner thing inside which some of them dont have.  and the shirt is awesome cuz it has a spf of like 50 which means not having to cover him in sunscreen.  so anyway..i was very excited about the stinking cute swim outfit and then look at him...he was even smiling!  i'm sure it was cuz he knew that his mommy was loving him in his little outfit!  :)  we are hoping to go to jarrad and misty's lake house soon, so now he's all set.  

so today at the pool, i got him in the water a bit more and he seemed ok with it.  i'm hoping that he likes the water sooner rather than later, so i'm trying it a little by little.  i think more than anything, he doesn't like being cold and then he HATES the wind.  when it blows, its like it takes his breath away and he can't breathe. funny.  i hope he gets over that soon!

A bear near our area???

check out this link...i guess there have been a few sightings of black bears really near where we live.  that's kinda weird!  there's also a you tube video of it, so i totally believe it!  

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/black-bear-spotted-in-warren-county-156776.html

i'm getting so good at this posting thing!  there's going to be so many updates that you all wont be able to keep up!  :)  i'm sure once i go back to work, the postings will slow down again.  but then again maybe not, its kinda fun keepin you all in the loop of our lives here in the exciting state of ohio.

Zander is 2 months old now!!

I can't believe that my lil z is 2 months old already.  and i'm really started to dread going back to work. just when he starts to have more personality and be more interactive, i'm going to have to go back to work!  :(   well anyway..we went to the doctor this week and he is now 10 lbs 12 oz!!  so he has gained 4 lbs since his birth.  and he is 23 inches long too....so he's grown 3 1/2 inches since birth. he is in the 25th percentile for both length and weight and the 1oth percentile for his head size.  he was in the 1oth percentile for all three at birth, so i guess he's goin up on the curve a bit for his weight and length...and then he's still ok for his head as long as it doesn't go down.  he had to get 3 shots!  pretty sure that was harder for me than him...he actually did really well.  he didn't even cry that much except for the initial prick. the doc also told us that he has thrush which i was kind of wondering about.  so the lovely nystatin suspension is fun to give to him!   so i guess all in all, he's doing really well!  we've also had a few nites of 8 hours of straight sleep!!  its not every nite, but i really can't complain.  

so i decided that i needed to go to the pool for the first time this summer...i'm really in need of a bit of color.  so i packed up zander and all of our junk and headed to the pool.  it was really relaxing.  i went to the kiddie pool and just dipped zander's feet in the pool a bit.  he seemed ok with it but didn't seem to like the coldness.  so then i set him up on a chaise with an umbrella.  so yes mom, i had him in the shade and covered with sunscreen!  :)  i'm really exicted for him to realize what's going on when i do things like take him to the pool.  steve says that i'm wishing him to grow up to fast...but i'm just anxious for him to be a bit more interactive, that's all!

Additional drama to finish out our 1st year

So I haven't really told anyone this story because i really had to see how it turned out first.  saturday nite was a great nite until we got home and Tasha (our sitter) left.  i went to let the dogs out and luci was not acting right.  it was like she didn't even recognize me and she wasn't acting like a spaz which is normal for her.  i brought luci inside and she started seizing!  so steve took her from me cuz i was freaking out!  for the last few weeks, steve has been working on his car in the garage and i guess somehow luci must have gotten into either antifreeze or transmission fluid earlier that day!!  so i was pretty sure that it was too late and she was a goner.  but after she stopped seizing, i called an ER vet and also the animal poison control center and basically both of them told us that we needed to get her somewhere asap.  so she at least stopped seizing and was calmed down but she still wasn't normal.  at about midnite, steve took her to the ER vet.  they did a blood test and it showed that she had antifreeze poisoning which there is an anitdote for but i guess it causes kidney failure if not treated within the first 8 hours of exposure.  i really thought that it was too late, but they gave her 3 doses of the medicine and she stayed overnite.  she had a couple more seizures but i dont think they were as bad.  so anyway...she came home the next day and seems to be out of the woods!  she's pretty much herself again.  i'm amazed actually!  this poor dog always seems to get hurt somehow.  a few months ago, steve took her for a ride cuz they love goin bye-bye, and she jumped out of the car and ran straight into the tire of a moving car!!  again...she should have probably been hit, but she timed it just right i guess.  i really do think she is part cat cuz she certainly seems to have nine lives!  i've been thinking about trying to find someone to adopt my dogs, but man did i feel guilty when i thought that luci was dying!!  so i dont think i can give em up!

Our first year was a rather eventful one....

Well, Steve and I celebrated our 1st year this past weekend.  I have to admit that it seemed like kind of a long year but not because of our marriage, just because of everything that has happened.  it just doesn't seem like that much stuff should have happened in a year, ya know??  first, i moved to a new state (not just city), changed jobs and inherited 4 step kids.  then we adopted 2 more pets (our sugar gliders which didn't make it of course).  then we found out we were pregnant...so then we had the fun of the pregnancy.  then we finally sold my house in indy and also bought a house here which meant another move.  then i had zander....all that well before our 1st anniversary.  steve and i often joke that if we can get through as much as we did in our first year, then we will be good to go!  so we'll see!  

so to celebrate, we actually got a sitter...zander's first sitter that is.  my good friend and co-worker, tasha came to stay with zander while steve and i went out to dinner at fleming's.  we had an awesome dinner and then even went to a movie.  it was a bit weird not being with zander but then again, it was nice and i knew that tasha would do a great job with him.  it also helps that we have these awesome cell phones...texting is soo much easier than calling and doesn't seem so OCD!  HA!  

one of my other friends and co-workers (colleen) suggested that i should leave zander a few times before i go back to work.  before saturday nite, the only other time i had left him was when i went to the doctor's office and that was only for an hour and he was with steve.  so i think her advice was good and i probably need to do it a few more times too. i go back to work july 20 and it will definitely be hard!  another co-worker (kristina) is going to watch him for me for the first month or so until my other sitter can take him in august.  he will only have to go to a sitter like 2 days a week too which is nice.  

well i guess that's the update for now....i dont really have any pics to post so i guess you just get the update! :) 

Strawberry Festival

Steve had to work today and I didnt feel like staying home.  so i packed Zander up and we headed to troy ohio which is only about 1/2 hour away and went to the strawberry festival.  i love festivals so this was the first for the season!  of course, i mainly go for the food, but its still fun people watching.  i have to say that its much more fun going with someone else besides just a newborn!  ha!!  he's not all that conversational.  :)   and parking when taking into consideration that you have a newborn in a stroller is interesting too.  i was so hot by the time we got to the food, that i wasn't that hungry!  it was still fun though...tried strawberry salsa for the first time and even bought some!  so that was my sunday and just fyi, i didn't skip church...we went last night so steve could go too!  

I guess I didn't meet my goal...

i said in the last post that i would try to post another update before baby fields was here, but i guess i didn't hit that goal.  looks like i'm averaging about one post per 6 months and of course, there is much more going on in our lives than that!!  

so let me start by saying that Zander Allen Fields is here and is healthy and growing!  i'm sure most of you know that by now and probably have seen a ton of pics already.  he actually came a bit early (only about a week) but everything worked out great.  i had a c-section on april 15 which was about 6 days before i was already scheduled for one.  my blood pressure started to get a bit elevated for some reason, so my doctor decided to go ahead and do the c-section since he was already past the 38 week mark.  i was actually very glad because my back was hurting so bad from sciatica pain, i just wanted to get on with it and move on to the next pain...recovering from a c-section.  my doctor is a very good doctor and the whole c-section recovery wasn't bad at all.  we had zander on a wednesday and went home on saturday and i have pretty much been out of the house at least for a short trip somewhere every day since.  i really dont enjoy staying home all day!!  zander is precious...even when he doesn't sleep very long at night or screams his head off.  all in all, he is a very good baby and i am already dreading going back to work in about 6 weeks.  its amazing how God creates such beautiful creatures...sometimes i just sit and stare at him.  we are definitely blessed even though there are lots of adjustments happening! 

in other non baby news....my house in indy finally sold.  it wasn't the smoothest sale but its finished!  there was quite a bit of drama and since i was about 9 months pregnant trying to deal with it on top of buy a house here in ohio, i didn't handle it very well.  thankfully, my dad was able to take it over and handled all the drama and the closing etc!  the same people ended up buying it but not before they found a ton of issues with both upstairs bathrooms and ended up getting more money out of us to fix the issues.  oh well...like i said, its finished!   and we were able to buy a house here too.  looking back now, it was all rather crazy.  we got possession of our house here in march and then moved in the first weekend in april and then i had zander april 15.  and...there are still boxes in our garage....and there probably will be for a bit!  guess they aren't going anywhere and will still be waiting on us.  i love our new house and i LOVE the area...we are sooo much closer to "stuff" and closer to my parents and my brother and his family. 

that's also some interesting news.  jarrad and misty have sold there house in indy and are moving back towards home.  jarrad took a job with edward jones in marion and they have just bought a house in greentown.  in some ways, its good cuz when i go to see my parents, jarrad and misty and the girls are only about 10 minutes away.  its also very weird to think that neither one of us live in indy anymore!!  pretty sad actually...and it will make it harder for me to get back to indy too.  its very strange to think about how many of my friends and family used to live in indy and now how few do.  i definitely miss that city!

well i think that is probably about the extent of my updates for now.  its almost 11 pm so i probably should try to feed my child again and then head to bed.  its interesting how much things change when you have a little one depending on you 24/7.  i go back to work in july, so i plan on enjoying the next 6 weeks to the fullest!!!  and we'll see about another post before then.  HA!!