the turkey dance

Since it has already been "Facebooked".... my sister is ENGAGED! give me a minute...
WAHOO!
When I found out, I did what Lee now adoringly calls "the turkey dance." I would like to teach you all the turkey dance. So the next time you are overcome with joy and you just can't come up with the words to express it, you'll know what to do.

1. Walk in place...ecstaticly.
2. Bend arms at elbows, palms facing your cheeks.
3. Wave hands.... ecstaticly.
4. In an escalating volume begin to scream (squawk) OH MY GOD!
5. While doing all of this, jump up and down... ecstaticly.

Behold... the turkey dance.

I could not be more excited for any person to begin the walk towards married life. Not like I didn't already view them as a married couple... it's been five years now.... but now it's OFFICIAL. And God bless Dan for his gentle and relaxed manner in dealing with the continuous screams of YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!!?!?!?!? YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?#@?#@?# And most of all... congratulations to Roxy.... their puggle child.... who no longer has to be hyphenated at doggie day care.
Now excuse me I need to spend the rest of my life scouring ETSY.com.....

Does a Body Good

BREAST MILK. AMAZING. GROSS. AMAZINGLY GROSS.

Ok... yes, I pushed an actual human being out of my body, but breast milk is by far the weirdest thing my body has produced.

The sheer science behind it is amazing. How all of a sudden there is an overwhelming flow of fluids and this is what your baby will live and thrive off of.... and for three days you barely feel like wearing a shirt because you'll just end up changing 15 times because you haven't figured out how to turn to nozzles from mist to jet stream. As if it wasn't bad enough that you have to wear a pantyliner for three weeks straight, now I have to put pads in my BRA!?!?! The one time in my life where I don't need any help in that department and now I'm STUFFING?!!? Good grief.

As weird as it is (not seems, IS) and as tiring as it gets to feel like nothing but a feeding machine, a glorified Holstein, or Slurpee machine.... there is a certain pleasure I take in knowing that I alone am the soul source of life for my little girl. Sure there is a down side.... I ALONE AM THE SOUL SOURCE OF LIFE OF MY LITTLE GIRL.... not much anyone else can do to help at some times... but seeing Hailey go from this screaming colicky mess, to a peaceful chubby angel is quite rewarding.

My favorite part of nursing is there are times when Hailey is so ravenous she cups her cheeks as she feeds as if to say "OH MY GOD MOM, this milk... amazing... Julia Child would roll over in her grave... do I detect a hint of nutmeg? Watch out Mario Batali, there's a new set of boobs in the kitchen."

Baby pt. 2

So the slightly abbreviated version is up, now for a little more filler.
Ok, women across the world will probably want to maul me for saying this.... but here goes.

The whole labor was not that bad. Let me rephrase that.... FOR MYSELF ONLY, labor was not terrible. Uncomfortable? YES. Brought me to tears? YES. But overall, and I count my blessings, my whole pregnancy experience was....pretty wonderful. I pat myself on the back for making it to 8cm without meds. And in hindsight, I feel I could have delivered her completely naturally and had her within 2 hours of being at the hospital. But, my water did not break, and I had to have a catheter put in- so I was pretty happy that I had the epidural.

It only took three pushes to get her out into the world, and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Everyone says that, but I mean it with all my heart. When the doctor placed her warm, wet little body on my chest, she might as well have been handing me my heart to hold on to. Hailey was the most alert, happy person to have been born. She immediately grabbed my finger and just stared at me. Even the clamminess of her skin was perfect. Unless we have another child, there will never be another time on my life, where I had no other care in the world then what I was holding in my hands. This person..this life.. my DAUGHTER, the one thing on this planet I had been so anxiously waiting for was here and she did not disappoint.

My mother, sister and husband were all present for her birth, the three people I know she will always look to in my absence or even when she is just not getting what she wants out of me, have literally known her from her first breath. I can't imagine anything more special.

So there I was, still in the stirrups, holding this perfect little person, and all I could think of was how thankful I was to have this wonderful experience. To have had a healthy pregnancy, a relatively short labor and the people I love the most to have shared it with, what else could a person want? What else could a mother want? And now, I can officially answer that question.

NOTHING.