5 Things Friday: What the WHAT?!? Edition

So I may have taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging in the last month.  Life... it's busy.  And frankly, when you are working 45-50 hours a week, there really isn't too much to blog about.  The creative juices weren't flowing.  And I really don't want to fill my blog up with stuff just for the sake of posting.

The good news is that after A MONTH, I actually have some stuff to blog about.  And I figured what better time to start back up than 5 Things Friday.

This list is comprised of the shocking "SERIOUSLY?!" moments that have happened basically in the last week.  It's been a good one.

1.  I was at the ENT the other day (for a hearing test) and the doctor was giving my neck an exam.  What that had to do with my hearing, I have NO idea.  He starts at the top of my neck, working his way down, and vocalizing all of the things he feels along the way.  Lymph nodes, carotid artery, thyroid...

Thyroid?!

Me:  Um... I don't have a thyroid.

Dr.:  Ok, let's check again...

Proceeds to re-do neck exam, and when he gets to where my thyroid should be,

Dr:  Well, right here, I feel the cartilidge.  I just assumed you have a small thyroid.  It's not like you have cancer though.

Me:  I did have cancer.  Which is why you'd better not feel any thyroid in there.

Starts neck exam AGAIN.

Dr:  No I don't feel any residual thyroid tissue in there.

Yeah, I feel like I'm in such good hands.

This might not seem like a big deal, but if I have thyroid tissues, that means my cancer has come back.  So it kind of is a big deal.  In the past, this would have really freaked me out.  But I had an ultrasound and bloodwork done in December that showed NO thyroid tissue in my thyroid bed and the bloodwork showed NO sign of thyroid tissue (aka cancer).  But I honestly can't believe that it happened.


2.  Later that same day, I went to a committee meeting.  We have had these meetings almost every month for over two years, so when the meetings first started, I was fairly pregnant.  And if you recall, I was not a small pregnant woman.  I was one of those unfortunate, not cute, chubby pregnant ladies.  And I have since then lost all that baby weight.

Like a year ago.  So I was a little confused when TWO people said:

"You look really different since the last time we saw you!"

Granted we haven't met in probably 3 months, but I was a little confused.  So I asked, "Oh yeah?  How so?"

Response, "Well didn't you recently have a baby?"

2 YEARS AGO!

And it would have been one thing if these were large meetings (they aren't) or if I was silent during the entire meeting (I'm not) or if it were just one person (but it wasn't).

I guess I should get rid of the shirt I was wearing.


3.  I'm not going to go into details on this next one, but let me just say this...

When you are interviewing for a job, it is probably best to NOT look down the employers blouse while shaking her hand good-bye.

Just a piece of advice from me to you.


4.  I was taking a drink of coffee and missed my mouth.

{Don't worry... we won't really have people sleep in the kitchen}

Can we say "Professional?"  I suppose it could be worse?  Like I could have dropped chili on the plans.


5.  My family was together a few weeks ago and I casually told a story mentioning that I had baby fever.  Here are some examples of the response I got:

"Not yet!"

Downcast stares with a subtle head shake.

At least one person looked at Phil and said, "No."

I'm probably the ONLY one left in my family that will have kids, so this reaction surprised me.  They all LOVE Henry.  And I'm pretty sure I didn't get a say in their family planning.  It just seemed like a strange reaction.

I mean, look at Henry:

He's so cute!  Obviously we should have like a dozen more babies.



So hopefully you have a good weekend and nobody says (or does) anything weird to you!

5 Things Friday

I'm not sure why, but I am having a HUGE blank on things for this list.  It isn't like the week has been boring, because it hasn't.  But I'm just not sure there are a lot of things to share, if that makes sense.  We'll give it a go anyway because it's my blog and I am nothing if not a stickler for tradition.




1.  I have felt some twinges of baby-fever lately.  I blame it on other bloggers and friends who have recently had babies or announced they are pregnant.  Either way, it has gotten me thinking.  And then I stumbled upon THIS POST from a couple of months ago.

Baby-fever has subsided a bit.


2.  Have you seen these floating around pinterest?

{I made this picture nice and big to make it look extra enticing}

I may have pinned the recipe a little bit ago.  Well we were having some company over last night and while I was at the store (without the recipe) I decided to get the supplies I though were needed to make them:

-  Crescent Rolls
-  Hershey's chocolate
-  Large marshmallows

After I got home, I looked at the recipe.  Not quite right.  But I thought I would just go for it anyway. I rolled a large marshmallow with one bar of chocolate and baked them at 375 degrees for 11 minutes.  The marshmallows WAY expanded and kind of solidified on the pan.  I went ahead and added an extra bar of chocolate in the giant hole the marshmallow left.

But it didn't even matter because they were DELICIOUS!!!!  Looked super weird but nobody cared as they stuffed them in their mouths.  I have no pictures of the ones I made because 1) they were ugly and 2) they were eaten too fast.

For future reference, I will use small marshmallows.


3.  Henry has developed some interesting sleeping positions:

I don't think he will be ready for a big boy bed anytime soon.

Also, he doesn't usually have that stern look on his face while he sleeps.  I had to turn his lamp on to get that pictures.  Blogger Mom, right here.


4.  I'm pretty much over having stomach problems.  2 bouts of food poisoning in the last month... that's lame.  With Phil's defense coming up and all the work that he needs to do for that, I don't want him to get sick anymore.  Being completely rational, I think we will just eat at home until October.  Only extremely over-cooked vegetables, chicken and rice until then.  Totally rational, right?  Right.  No more puking in the Janney house.  Please and Thank You.


5.  The other day at daycare, I pulled into the parking lot and parked with PLENTY of room in my stall for me to get Henry into his carseat.  Anyone who has dealt with a carseat knows that sometimes you end up having the door open AS WIDE AS POSSIBLE to get a squirmy babe fastened.  I walk outside to put Henry in the car and someone has parked their Mercedes over the line in MY STALL.  It took some special maneuvering (and about three times as long), but I was able to get Henry in without bumping the other car.  Meanwhile, that driver (a Grandma) comes out with two little girls.  Because I am busy by one of the doors, she has them crawl through and get in from the other side of the car.  I contemplated saying something to her about leaving more space, but thought better of it.

After I sucked everything in and slid into the driver's side, the Grandma was still waiting for the girls to climb to their carseats.  I buckled my seatbelt, turned on my car and put it into reverse.  But before I could start backing out and before the girls had fastened their seat belts, the Grandma backed out so that she wouldn't have to wait for me to back out.

And it really irked me.

I meant, of all places, the daycare parking lot should be one place that people don't screw you over parking.  We ALL have carseats.  We ALL have had to put babies in the car.  We ALL have dealt people doing that to us.

No where is safe.

Who will he look like?

I'm so curious about what Baby Janney will look like.  These pictures might help give some foundation.

{Phil's newborn picture / My newborn picture}

I guess we shouldn't be surprised if he is born with hair.

And perhaps the discrepancy in our cheek volumes is the fact that Phil was born weighing like 6 lbs and I was born weighing over 9 lbs.  Ok so Baby Janney will probably have my cheeks.  :)  Hopefully not my birth weight.

And yes, I was born with a perfect "blue steel" look.

Thursday?

A part of me can't believe it is already Thursday and another part of me can.  This week has been jam-packed with activities and I am seriously looking forward to our weekend that has NOTHING planned for BOTH Saturday AND Sunday.  Whoa that was a lot of caps.  But it needed to be done.  We haven't had an entirely free weekend for at least 10 weeks.  All the free time almost makes me want to cry with joy.

What has this week entailed?  I'm so glad you asked...

I'll just tell you what we did Monday.

To celebrate being finished with our Bradley Class, we decided to take another class!  It was a one-night Baby Care and Feeding Class at the Hospital.  I've never had a newborn before, so I am always ready to soak up more knowledge on how to take care of one.  And since Phil has had VERY little exposure to babies in his life, he really wanted more information.  We are nerds... we like research.

We walked into the class and immediately had to grab a doll to practice with.  Phil grabbed the darkest skinned baby doll available, which I thought was funny.  We then proceeded to talk about how each of us would have some serious concerns if our baby was that color.  I believe Phil said to me that I would have a lot of explaining to do.  I agreed with him.  However, I know this won't be an issue and our child will be as pasty and white as we are.

We passed the class with flying colors and left feeling like we won't actually kill or harm our future newborn with our ignorance.  Money well spent.

The class did, however, completely freak me out about SIDS.  I mean, I had known about SIDS and have actually known someone who lost their baby to SIDS, but it wasn't really something I was too terribly worried about.  If you know me in person, you'd know this is a small miracle.  I'm completely and totally anxious about almost everything.  And class woke the anxiety beast in me.

It just so happens that the next day or so, I saw a couple of bloggers mention the Snuza Halo Baby Movement Monitor and I am seriously considering purchasing it.

Sure, it's over $100 (seriously Amazon raised the price $10 since Phil and I looked at it last night), but I think the fact that I won't be sleeping at all because I'll be monitoring my baby's every breath might make it money well spent.  Therapy costs more than that.

Alright, I just thoroughly talked myself into it.

Do any of you have any experience with a monitor like this one?

Happy Thursday!!

It Feels Like Forever

After I posted THIS post the other day, I proceeded to have kind of a rough day.  It was a bit ironic.

My anxiety got the best of me.  I started thinking about my upcoming appointment with my endocrinologist.  She said some stuff last time that kind of freaked me out.  Basically one of my blood tests wasn't as low as she wanted it to be.  In reality, there's a perfectly good reason that it wasn't all that low.  And she even told me that after I started freaking out.  But that intital reaction stuck with me.

I started worrying about having to do more treatments for my thyroid cancer.  And how that would delay our ability to start trying for a baby even longer.

Phil was able to calm me down.  We went OVER AND OVER how my cancer was caught early and that I had done absolutely everything possible to get rid of all the cancer cells and that my scan had come back clean.  My poor husband got even closer to his husband saint-hood because we had to talk about this for A WHILE.

And then I began to feel like even if all my test came back clean, that it would be forever until we actually had a baby.  Sometimes, it feels like it will never happen.  I remember feeling the same about getting married.  It felt like something was going to go wrong and the wedding wouldn't actually happen.  To a certain extent, I think that is probably normal when it comes to gigantic life events.  They are so surreal, they feel impossible.  Finding out you have cancer is one of those experiences as well.

So as I voiced these feelings to Phil (that it felt like we would never have a child), his response was, "Of course you feel like it will never happen.  You can hardly wait 2 weeks to bring the puppy home... I bet 2 years does feel like forever."

Oh man he gets me.  :)

But here's the things... Cotton comes home with us Saturday (insert me jumping up and down in utter excitement).  And it always felt like that would never happen to (since it took two breeders, three litters, and puppies dying for us to get Cotton).

The cancer stuff will be fine.  And the baby will happen.  The same way it took a while for the puppy, it will take a while for the baby.  But it will happen.  The same way Cotton happened... all in good timing.

{My boys}

Breathe in... Breathe out... Be patient, Natalie.

Random Recap

I put together a list of random thoughts from this week.  I figure it is better than another post where I talk about my feelings.  We'll save that for Monday.  :)  Meanwhile, my husband is earning points toward his Saint-hood left and right.  I can't even tell you what last night's cry-fest was about.  Oh... thyroid hormones.

{Another picture from my walk with Taylor yesterday.}

- Facebook has really just turned into a place to announce pregnancy.  EVERY DAY someone is either announcing they are pregnant or having a baby.  The next person to announce they are pregnant on Facebook is getting de-friended.  I mean business, people.

-  Speaking of which, I am working on three baby blankets right now.  Now that my radioactivity has dropped, I feel like it is safe for me to work on baby-related craft projects.  These people and their babies better love these dang blankets.  If they don't, I want them back.

-  Dawson's Creek is on Netflix now.  It is awesome in a ridiculous kind of way.  It is made even better since I have been reading Suri's Burn Book.

-  I need to find a support group for my addiction to Cherry 7Up.  It is getting out of hand.

-  Sometimes I wish I could post more about my job and working with relatives.  But really I can't.  Being a business owner means I have to keep things on the down-low sometimes.  Let's just say that this week I have discovered that what I like to call "Man Logic" is alive and well.  And it is kind of dumb.  Because that $h!t wouldn't fly with any woman anywhere.

-  I read a post yesterday that gave health and fitness advice to ward off diseases like cancer and infertility.  I love the implication that I made myself sick.  Just because you are lucky enough to be healthy doesn't mean that you do anything special that I don't.  And that post isn't the first time that implication has been made.  Next time someone implies that to my face, they may get a verbal bitch slap.

-  Phil refuses to read the Harry Potter books, but he loves it when I read them to him.  So we are starting at the beginning.  But since my reading voice is so soothing, we fall asleep about 3 minutes after I begin reading.  In 2 weeks of reading, we have made it to Chapter 2.  It might take us a while to finish all 7 books.

-  I really stuck my foot in my mouth at work yesterday with one of my coworkers.  I basically implied that she was too old to have babies.  It was an accident and she was a good sport about it.  But it had been a while since I REALLY dug myself a hole.  Here's an example of one of the BEST foot in mouth moments I have ever had:

I was at a city hall for a meeting with one of our clients.  This building happens to be an open air, concrete building.  In Oregon.  And it happened to be raining that day (surprise).  So we were standing in the open hair hall, freezing our behinds off.

Me:  Man it's cold.  I hate this building.

Client:  Oh yeah?

Me:  Yeah.  I mean who would design an open air building in Oregon like this?

Client:  My father.

Turns out his dad was an architect and actually designed city hall.  Of course.  He likes to tell people that story.  Eventually I will learn to just STOP TALKING.

{Baby grapes}

Shoe Box Parenting Advice

In preparation for Phil's birthday, I needed to wrap his present.  So I grabbed an old shoe box and put everything in it.  That's right... I got him MULTIPLE gifts.  Making up for being a sucky wife.

Later at the office, I noticed something weird on the box.

The little sticker on the box which suggests I do not do one of 2 things:

1)  Don't let me 0-3 month old play with the shoe box.
2)  Don't store my 0-3 month old IN the shoe box.

In the case of number (1), I am pretty sure 0-3 months old don't play with much of anything.

In the case of number (2), thanks for stating the obvious.

The scary thing is that they put the warning on there probably because someone has already done it.  Goes to prove you don't have to be a genius to have a baby.

Thanks for the parenting advice, Nike.  It would mean a little more if Nike didn't use small children to make their shoes (I can't judge because obviously I bought a pair).

So let me make sure everything is perfectly clear:

Don't store your baby in a Nike shoe box.

Not sure about other boxes.  We will have to see if they also have warnings on them.



State Fair

On Labor Day weekend, our family made our annual trip to the state fair.  This year did NOT disappoint.  Here are some highlights:

The view isn't always nice.  Gotta love the state fair around sunset, when the lights come on.

DRAGON!

How cute is THIS?!?  He walked right up to the face painter and said he wanted the Green Lantern mask.  When the face painter said she didn't know what that was, he simply pointed to his shirt.  Stephanie said David picked out that shirt specifically for the face painter.  So he is a little Green Lantern.

This might have been one of the best parts.  We went to look at the newest piglets.  There was a crowd around the pig pen and a bunch of the piglets were eating (obviously).  In front of the large crowd, David says, "The piggies are on her boobies."  To which Jeffrey replies, "They must have gotten their suckling reflex early."  It was funny.
Can't wait to see what next year brings.

PS - A couple of years ago, Foster Farms gave out "No Plumping" T-shirts for free.  We grabbed a couple.  Towards the end of the night, I decided to put mine on David (who was 1 and a half at the time).  The shirt was like a dress on him.  We then let him walk around for a little bit until he was tripping on  the shirt.  It was pretty stinkin' cute watching a baby walk around in a huge shirt that said "No Plumping."  I wished I had a picture.  It was the best Foster Farms ad I had ever seen.

Happy Birthday Braxton!

Wednesday was THIS GUY'S 1st birthday!!

This is a couple of months old.  Phil and I baby-sat for the afternoon.  He LOVED Phil.

I can't believe he is a year old already.  Josh and Joanna let me come over on his birthday to see him and have dinner with them.  At first Joanna thought I was kind of a weird-o for wanting to come to their house in the middle of the week, but then she realized that I was there for his actual day of birth so of course I wanted to be there for his birthday.

Josh made some amazing fajitas.  They were so yummy.  While he was making dinner, Joanna and I tried to get Braxton walking.  What better day to hit another milestone than your birthday, right?

He had been taking a couple of steps on his own already.  Since he got a HUGE round of applause for even attempting to walk, he got pretty into trying to do it.  As he was walking to his "Aunt Natalie," he took 4 COMPLETELY UNASSISTED PERFECT STEPS right into my arms!!!

We cheered.  Joanna almost cried.  It was awesome. 

Happy Birthday Braxton!!  You keep getting cuter every single day.

This picture is a couple of months old.  He won't be needing the walker much longer!



PROJECTS

Lately, I have been dreaming up all of these projects that I want to do.  I currently have so many, that I almost don't know where to start.

The first step to all of my projects was CLEANING.  Now that that is done, I can actually start doing my projects.  Here are some projects I have been thinking about:



1)  A project for Dave and Christie's baby.  Their baby is due in October and I am SO EXCITED for them!!  I haven't exactly told Christie what the project is (she wanted to be surprised).  So if you are reading this, Christie, just scroll down really quickly without looking.  :)

2)  More banners like this one for Tegan's Bridal Shower, only without the letters.  I am going to make one for Halloween (perfect because you can hang them outside and they can get wet).  I will post pictures when I am done.  Let me know if you are interested in one of these banners.

3)  Another streamer like this one.  I have about 60 to 75 feet of a second streamer ready to be cut.  It looked really good at Tegan's Bridal Shower, so I wanted to make the second one and maybe dye it to use for different occasions.

4)  I have a couple of crocheting projects up my sleeve as well.  One is for ome friends of mine that have a 7 month old little girl.  I started this project a few months ago, just because.  I had a pattern and I wanted to see if I could make it work.  The other project is for a baby shower I am going to at the end of August (need to get going on that one).

5)  Plus I need to do an update on my Little Hate Project.  I have made quite a few little hats, but I need to make more so I can donate them.


So that is an update on that.  I am sure you were all on the edge of your seat during this post.

Love, Mrs. Janney

Braxton Douglas

This week has been kind of crazy because JOANNA HAD HER BABY!!!

I was super excited because (and this is going to sound bad), but since he was earlier than expected (I think her due date was off) her mom wasn't going to be here for the delivery. That left one spot open in the delivery room for... ME!!! I tried to make myself super useful so Joanna wouldn't be annoyed I was there, but there is only so much you can do. I did take my fancy camera I bought myself for my birthday and tried my hand at birth photography. That may sound gross, but it isn't. Nothing revealing or gross. Just some nice pictures of Braxton's journey into the world. :)

Joanna got to look at some of the pictures on my camera while things were finishing up at the hospital but hasn't seen that actual images yet (I guess she's busy or something). I won't share much here because I don't have her permission yet, but I CAN'T HELP MYSELF!! He is so stinking cute.




Joanna really hasn't ever held a baby before, but let me tell you, she is a NATURAL. The second they handed him to her, she looked like she had been holding babies her whole life. And Josh's face during the whole process was PRICELESS. We kind of thought he would cry when Braxton was born, but he didn't. Instead he had this look for absolute amazement and excitement. It was so cute.

So I ended up going about 40 hours with like and hour and a half of sleep through the process. Totally worth it, but I am TIRED. Not nearly as tired as these guys will be though...




Welcome to the world, Little Man!!! I am so excited to be your Auntie! :)






Love, Mrs. Janney

P.S. - The nurses in the maternity ward of the Corvallis Hospital totally ROCK!! Thanks so much for being totally awesome.