Channeling my inner domestic diva

A couple of people asked about the sweet little quilt that I took the picture of Eden on a couple posts back. It was given to me as a gift by Nate's incredibly talented aunt, who is the quilter of all quilters. She has given each of my kids their own quilt (or blanket) when they were born- she's crafty and thoughtful like that. I have loved all of them and this one is no exception.

But I love the quilt even more when this little peanut is on it.

(Macie, trying to get in on the action)

Speaking of quilts,
do you remember all the fabric I bought to make a quilt the week before Eden was born? Well, here is the end result...

It was a group effort from both Nate & I (he's known to be domestic from time to time as well) and I had someone else to the decorative stitching on it.
Let's go in for a closer look, shall we...


I absolutely love how it turned out. Now the only problem is I think I love it too much to actually let the baby use it.

Open Door Policy

I do it,
my sisters do it,
my mom does it,
I'm pretty sure a couple of my brothers do it,
my father has learned to accept it,
and Nate absolutely can't stand it...

What is "it"?
Peeing with the door open.
It's a trait I've inherited (most likely from my mothers side).

Growing up with 4 sisters it was completely normal to leave the door open when you pee. People would come in and out, carry on everyday normal conversation, but we would of course break eye contact whenever the pee-er needed to wipe (we do have some respect for privacy).

::True story::

When Nate and I were first married we lived in my parents basement. Nate and I were showering together (purely for water conservation and time saving purposes), when all of a sudden the door swings open and in bursts my mother on a frantic mission to use the bathroom. She rushes in, sits down, and with a BIG sigh of relief says, "Oh my, I had to go to the bathroom so bad!" Nate, by instinct, covers up his special parts with one hand while the other hand makes the universal sign for "shhh-ing" which is also code for, "If you tell your mom I'm in here I swear I will kill you". I was trying my hardest not to laugh. I wasn't sure which was funnier; the fact that my mom was carrying on a full conversation with me while she was going to the bathroom or that Nate was standing just a few feet away from my mom butt naked with just a thin shower curtain separating the two of them.

As soon as my Mom finished taking care of business Nate jumped out to lock the door and it wasn't a minute too soon because seconds later we hear the door knob twist and shake followed by a pounding and my sisters voice on the other side yelling, "Ginnie, hurry and open up! I need to go to the bathroom!!". That's when Nate spoke up and said, "Ummm, I'm in here." Shocked and a little bit embarrassed my sister responds, "Oh, ooops! (insert nervous laughter) I didn't know you were in there."

When Nate and I finally got out of the shower and finished getting ready we walked out into the family room to be greeted by my sister and my mom, who was completely mortified. We (meaning me, my mom, & my sister) all thought it was pretty funny...

Nate on the other hand? Not so much.

. . . .

I'm trying to convince Nate that peeing with the door open is completely normal- lots of women do it. I'm normal. Totally normal.

You want strange? I'll give you strange. I once sneezed in a public restroom while going to the bathroom and the lady in the stall next to me said, "God bless you!". I may pee with the door open, but at least I don't talk to strangers when I'm going to the bathroom.

Open Door Policy side note

Now that I'm a mom I pee with the door open for a couple reasons:
1. because I can (I'm a rebel like that)
but mostly,
2. because when the door is shut the kids think it's an open invitation to come join me. For some reason the kids get the uncontrollable urge to congregate in the bathroom and have a heart to heart with me. It's something I don't quite understand and probably never will. Truth is, it doesn't matter if the door is open or shut the.Kids.Are.Always.There. ALWAYS.

If I were to have a bathroom catch phrase it would have to be, "Can I please pee in peace?!"

Just sayin'...

Just in case...

you were wondering if I'm still alive-
I am.

And just in case you were needing a baby Eden fix-
here you go.

You're welcome.

I'm still not with it as of late.
I have yet to make a real dinner for my family
fortunately for them I am very experienced in the ways of take-out.
It takes me about a week to return phone calls,
about two weeks to return emails,
maybe a few days to actually shower,
and I wrote this post three days ago
but I'm just now getting around to posting it.

I will be posting again soon.
I feel the need to have a blogging discussion about peeing with the door open...

Project Skinny

I believe it is time to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. The motivation started the day I had Eden. I was sitting in the hospital bed and the nurse was running through an endless amount of questions, one of those questions happen to be,

"How much do you weigh now?"

I answered.

Then she asked,

"How much did you weigh before you got pregnant?"

Again, I answered.

Then she looked at me and said,

"Wow, you gained a lot of weight!"

My response,

"Why, yes. Yes I did and I enjoyed every fat filled calorie of it."

My goal is to stay motivated for project skinny and to help me accomplish that I will blow up this completely authentic, 100% non-photoshopped picture of myself as a constant reminder that "I must, I must, I must decrease my butt"... and get a tan... and give the sisters a lift and an enhancement... and when the doctor asks me what size I want to be I will asked for the engorged size.

So here's to eating healthy and working out
starting
right
now!
.
.
.
(Two hours, 1 bowl of ice cream, 3 chocolate chip cookies, and a handful of Swedish fish later.)
.
.
.
Okay, so when I said eating healthy, what I really meant was eating an occasional vegetable every now and then.
And when I said working out, what I really meant was walking from my bedroom to the kitchen to scoop myself a bowl of ice cream.
And when I said starting now, what I really meant was starting a week from now.

Oh, and when I said completely authentic, 100% non-photoshopped, what I really meant was completely non-authentic & 100% photoshopped.

We named her Eden

But as of right now Abrie is the only one who calls her that.

She's been called an assortment of names so far like,
edie
(with the E pronounced the same as in eden)
dottie
dort
the edge
E
eve
(technically it's not too far off since eve was there in the garden of eden)
lil' monkey
macie
&
baby

I would say 90% of the time when I try to say her name Macie comes out instead of Eden so I find it easier just to call her baby or lil' monkey.

For some reason it's just not natural for me to call my babies by their names for the first little while. I guess I'm weird like that...
Is it just me?

But slowly, day by day, her sweet little name is starting to fit her.
And really, I think it's the only name for her...
well that and babylicious, but I'll save that name for my next child.

. . .

Two little somethings are missing

He thought perhaps this day would never come...

Kaleb: "Mom, what if I'm a dad and I still haven't lost any teeth?"
Me: "Well, then you'll be a dad with really small teeth."

Fortunately for him he will be a dad with at least two large bottom teeth.

. . . . .

The delivery run down...

We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am.
They started me on pitocin and I got my epidural by 8:30.
At 8:33 I professed my love to the anesthesiologist & assured him he was worth every penny I'd be paying him.
The midwife broke my water at 8:50.
I was ready to push by 10:45 am.
At 10:46 I apologized profusely about any bodily function that may occur during the delivery.
At 10:47 I apologized for "unattractive scenery" I'd be providing the midwife and the nurse for the next 10 minutes.
After a push and a half, little baby Eden made her way into the world at 10:57am.

* * * * *

Any sense of pride and modesty was thrown out the window from the moment I walked through the hospital doors.
::actual conversation::
Lactation specialist: "May I see your breast?"
(I figure, to a lactation specialist, asking to see someones breast is just as similar as asking to see their elbow... an elbow with a nipple)
Me (attempting to feed the baby): "Why yes, yes you may?"
Lactation specialist (inspecting the goods): "Your baby should be able to feed quite nicely."
Me (trying to figure out how to respond): "Oh, well thank you."
(maybe it was intended to be a compliment)
The lactation specialist proceeds to grab my right "sister" and helps the baby latch on.
Lactation specialist: "Look at that! That is such a good latch. Isn't that a nice latch nurse Cherie?"
Nurse Cherie (who'd been quietly observing from the opposite side of the bed): "Oh yes, such a nice latch."
For a brief moment I felt like I was in the middle of an Saturday Night Live skit.
The role of Nurse Cherie would be played by Molly Shannon,

the lactation specialist would be Rachel Dratch,

and I would be Pamela Anderson (guest hosting of course)

because as of right now we have two things in common.