Vacation from my vacations
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: August 11, 2009
Wow… what a crazy past couple of weeks!
First, we took a trip to Chicago! Big Steve is a diehard White Sox fan so we went there with Beau to see them play the Yankees. I went to 2 games and spent the rest of my time sightseeing. It was awesome. I had a great time. What I was most looking forward to was going to the top of the Sears Tower and going out on the Ledge. 
103 stories straight down! It was incredible and I can’t wait to go do it again 
Another highlight to our trip was the pizza place we went to, Giordano’s. As Steve puts it, “It’s like cake in my mouth!” It seriously was the best pizza I ever had. I could eat it all day and I don’t like pizza that much. All in all, we had a great time. It was nice getting away from Little Steve for awhile although I missed him terribly. He was almost shocked when he saw me.
Two days after we got back, we took our yearly family trip up to June Lake. For me, this is pretty much a boring trip but it means a lot to Big Steve and it was Little Steve’s first trip up there (well second since he was in my belly last time.) Little Steve would only nap in my arms which made for an even more boring trip because I spent most of my time laying there while he took those all important naps. He did really good during both 6 hour drives which was awesome. We only had to stop twice each way to get some fresh air and stretch out the baby muscles.
All in all, it’s been a busy couple weeks and I’m so glad we are home and getting back on schedule. I need a vacation from all this vacationing!
Off to Chicago
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: July 30, 2009
We leave tomorrow morning for Chicago. I dropped off Stephen at my parents and I actually feel better about it then I thought I would. I didn’t even cry. This is the first time that he’s been left overnight anywhere without me let alone for 5 days! I know that we’ll have a better time without him. I will definitely miss him though!!
It’s almost midnight and I’m still getting things ready for the week including washing sheets and cleaning the house for our house sitter. We have to leave for the airport around 4am so I don’t think I’m going to bother to sleep tonight. Usually that makes me feel worse. Plus, I have at least an hour more of work to get done before I can think about bed. Steve and I aren’t even packed yet!
Can’t wait to take great pictures and have an awesome time at the ballpark…
Gooooo White Sox!!!!
Podee Bottles
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: July 28, 2009
Man this thing has been a lifesaver! The picture shows it on the infant setting which I do not use. It also comes with a short straw so that you can use the nipple attached directly to the bottle. This thing has saved my life in the car and the stroller. Since Stephen can hold his bottle but can’t tip it up, he could never eat in the car unless I reached back and held the bottle as I drove (which isn’t exactly the safest way to drive.) The other great thing is that it works with all standard size bottles so you don’t even need to buy the whole set with the bottle but just the set with the disks and straws.
Baby Gym!
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: July 28, 2009
Just got back from Baby Gym! It is so much more fun with Stephen now crawling. He is all over the place. Plus, because everything is so padded there, I think he feels more fearless because if he falls, he knows it won’t hurt. He has been pulling up onto everything but only onto his knees. Today at Baby Gym, he pulled up to his knees then stood to his feet! Then promptly fell over. He’s really come a long way in the last week. He’s all over the place and I love it! This is such an exciting time
Going to Chicago
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: July 28, 2009
Well in a day, we’ll be off to Chicago. That is without the little guy. I’m trying not to think about it at all but it’s going to be really hard. Wednesday to Monday is not going to be easy for me. I have never been away from Stephen overnight. I have total confidence in my parents with watching him though so that’s one less thing I have to worry about. Plus, I know our vacation would be totally ruined by catering to an 8 month old. Especially since we’ll be going to baseball games and if he gets really tired and crabby, we still have to take the subway back to the hotel. I know I’ll have a good time but I will definitely miss the little guy.
Today is also his 8 month birthday! I don’t know where time has gone. We’re moving downhill fast to the 12 month mark which I cannot believe will be here before we know it. Next weekend we’re going to June Lake and it seems like yesterday we were there and I was pregnant. I’ve been looking back at the pics of my in the hospital recently just to reminisce. I cannot wait to do it all over again. Nothing in my life is more rewarding then knowing that I helped to create and bring into this world a perfectly healthy (albeit huge headed) beautiful baby boy. Sometimes I sit and stare at him trying to figure out what he’ll look like when he’s older. I mean, I cannot believe that in a few short months, he’ll be walking followed by talking, followed by going to school. It all seems to be happening too fast.
Busy Weekends
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: July 7, 2009
Happy 4th of July! We had a long weekend. Steve stayed home Friday and today so it was nice to have him around for 4 days. Friday, his grandparents came over and they worked on the Studebaker for a little while. As usual, no actual work got done. Oh well. I had a decent day and Stephen Jr. slept really good. Saturday we went to the Hootenanny which is a rockabilly music festival/hot rod show. I was disappointed at the lack of hot rods that were there this year. It was way hot and there was only one band we really liked there. We did get tons of cute onesies for Stephen Jr. “Toothless and Ruthless”, “No Milk, No Mercy,” and “I love Mom” all with classic Sailor Jerry-esque designs. All I wanted to do after leaving was dye my hair red again and get a sleeve. (I would love to get a sleeve but I know I’d regret it and it looks incredibly painful.) It was nice having a baby-less day and not have to worry about his needs. He spent the day swimming at Gamma’s house. Yesterday was kick back. I don’t think I ever left the house. Then today we went to see Transformers. Stephen Jr. apparently LOVES when alien robots fight. He kept yelling so I had to stand with him near the door so we could leave when he got too excited. Luckily it was a pretty noisy movie so I don’t think he caused too much harm. He did manage to get a half hour nap in on Dad.
The past two nights, he’s been sleeping all the way until 6 then back to bed until 8. Hopefully this becomes a more frequent pattern. I feel so rested lately! We had some bobbles with nap times this weekend. I guess because we did more than normal, he really fought me on sleep. I think he napped less than normal. Now I’m sitting back watching baseball with my main man and about to take a hot bath then off to bed. Baby gym tomorrow and maybe the beach on Wednesday!
Going for #2
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: June 30, 2009
We are actively trying for #2. I hope a little sister, Stephen hopes a little brother. During my pregnancy, Stephen’s employer switched health insurance from Kaiser but kept us on until the end of my pregnancy before we had to switch. Well I hate this new insurance. I have to go through all sorts of loopholes in order to see a specialist in infertility. With Kaiser, it was simply self referral. So I saw my PCP hoping for a direct referral but instead got a referral to an obgyn and then onto the reproductive endocrinologist (RE). My obgyn appt is July 14th which seems like forever away. All I’m going to do is walk in and answer questions then get my referral. Seems like a big waste of time. Luckily, once we get to the RE, we’ve already done tons of tests so hopefully they’ll get me right on Clomid to get to ovulating. I’m currently not ovulating at all and I’m on cycle day 45 when the normal cycle is only 28 days. I’m just beyond frustrated. I was hoping to be one of those people who just spontaneously get pregnant after previously being infertile. I did have 2 completely normal cycles post partum but I was determined NOT to have a Christmas baby and wanted to wait until that due date was in the clear. Now I’m looking at an April or later baby. Hopefully closer to April so I’m not a whale in dead of summer.
Today was very uneventful. SJ slept more hours of the day than he was actually awake. I don’t know what’s up with him but it’s probably because of his new friend Toofer. I gave him some baby puffs for like the 2nd time and Stephen flipped out on me about the choking hazard even though they almost dissolve instantly. That’s ok. When he does something I don’t like, I’ll remind him that I’m holding off on the puffs for him.
We got the Studebaker back from the shop today. One step closer to running. The goal is to have that be Stephen’s daily driver and I can drive the BMW because my car has way too many miles and at the rate we’re going, we’ll double our lease agreement miles. I’m excited just to have the damn thing done. It’s been sitting in the garage of every house we’ve lived in.
Upcoming this week: Baby Gym Tues and Fri, Hootenanny on Saturday, Practicing my pinstriping!
Until Next Time….
New Update
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: June 29, 2009
I haven’t updated in a little while. To be honest, I forgot about my blog. Haha. Life is busy with a now 7 month old baby! (Happy 7 month birthday Stephen!)
Anyway, today we went to Raging Waters and spent the day sans baby. It was nice to get out and not have to worry about sunscreen or feedings.
We moved up baby gym classes to the 7-13 month olds. Wow it is like night and day. The babies are EVERYWHERE! Crawling and sitting up by themselves. I feel like SJ is so little compared to the other kids (Even though physically he’s huge.) They say that after moving up, normally the baby begins crawling by the 3rd week. We’ll see! He has lots of other kids to watch crawling. It’s weird for me because none of the moms talk to each other. They mostly follow their baby around and explore. I only had one mom talk to us and it was only to ask how old Stephen was. Other than that, I talked to the instructor who used to teach the little kid class we had moved up from. (Her name is Jocelyn and Stephen is totally in love with her.) Now we go twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) so we’ll see how that goes for awhile.
The only other thing I want to add for today is that we had his Dr. Appt. last Monday and he was 20.7lbs and 28.5 inches long. Then there’s the head, off the growth chart still!
So I’m starting this blog…
Posted by: stephanieespinosa on: April 30, 2009
Today is my first day. I have some time as little Stephen takes his last nap of the day before bedtime and I wait for big Stephen to get home from work. I thought it would be good to keep a journal of sorts of what I’m going through to look back on later. After 5 months of his existence, I’ve already forgotten so much about SJ (Stephen Jr.). Being a stay at home mom (SAHM) can be tough sometimes. Some days I just want a break and have some adult interaction but alas, it’s so difficult finding other 20 something SAHMs that I get along with.
Here’s how the day went: Today was Wednesday and therefore baby gym day! I love going to baby gym as much as SJ because I get that adult interaction. Last week we had like 5 new moms join so I was excited to get to know them all more. Well, it was cliquey this week. To the left of me was a mom/mom clique and to the right of me was a mom/mom clique so I basically sat with SJ by myself and tried to join both conversations. I hate this stupid mom clique crap. It makes it so difficult to fit in anywhere. There are two new moms down the street but I can’t even get in with them because they live next door to each other and are already a clique. It’s getting very frustrating.
After baby gym, we headed over to the mall. We’re getting family photos taken in old town on Sunday and I have no clue what to wear! I tried on a couple of dresses and took pictures to show Stephen when he gets home and hopefully he can help me decide.
We then came home and did some floor play, super baby, and tickle monster. My life is now run by a 5 month old. It’s to the point now that I make up songs about whatever I’m doing to keep him from getting frustrated. I sing while washing bottles, folding laundry, making dinner, pretty much anything. It works though!
Until next time….
