Memorial Weekend 2011

Memorial weekend for me has been camping since I was 4 years old. I was introduced to this by my step dad, Bumby. He has a group of friends that get together every Memorial weekend and they call themselves Tent City. We take over entire campgrounds. I believe they are on their 42nd year. This year was the first for Jolynn. We decided to take it slow and go to their cabin first, then go camp for one night. When we got to the cabin we discovered that all four of us were sick with the same cough. After listening to the forecast of rain for 3 days, we decided not to camp out. Good plan on our part because being sick, sleeping on the ground, and packing up wet gear=no fun.

Here are some pictures of our fun filled weekend.

One minute I see this...

The next I see this.

Bath time in Ducky!

Having some bananas and cheerios before our trip to Tent City.

Made it to Tent City for a few hours.

Playing with Marge Gamache at Tent City.

When we got back from TC I tried my hand at the Bobcat. Did pretty good until...
I got it REALLY stuck. Neighbors brought over a tractor to get it out.

After trying to dig it out, my mom and I went for a trip into town for a little spa time. Jolynn slept through most of it.









When she woke up my mom gave her a swim lesson (since she missed this week)

Spa Day

I decided to host a home spa day for my girlfriends. My mom took Jolynn and Polly overnight so I could get the house cleaned and prep the food. Saturday, I had 7 friends over for face masks, manicures, pedicures, hair treatments, and paraffin waxing. I made food and had Mohitoes (with Grey Goose if you wanted to spike it). It's been a while since we have gotten together. It used to be getting together once a month or so to see a movie. Just getting out of the house and being with the girls. The guys had a similar night - Tuesday's at BWW for the wing special. They haven't done that in a while either. The last few times I have gotten together with the girls I was pregnant.

I haven't done anything with them since Jolynn was born, at least not without her. I love my time with Jolynn - especially right now because she is so interactive with her facial expressions and voice; but sometimes it is nice to sleep in, take a long shower, watch a whole movie or tv program without getting up or falling asleep, and being able to savor a meal. I just realized why I don't make big meals anymore (mostly it has been Ramen, mac-n-cheese, pizza, or something frozen that you just pop in the oven); I only have about 10 min to actually make anything before her attention span goes and she gets cranky. Then enjoying that meal is just the same. She may have eaten already, but if she's not getting attention because you are too busy eating-then you have a cranky baby again.

Anyway - back the Spa Day. It was a blast. We all sat around the table for a good hour or more just chatting (venting). Then we got out the foot spas and paraffin wax. Some did just their feet or hands, and some did both. It felt really good. Luckily Erin brought nail polish because I don't own anything but clear. There is a reason for this - I suck at putting polish on. Lauren was nice enough to paint my toes for me. Every time I look at my feet I feel fancy. Like I just went to a salon and had my toes done. My little secret that it was done at home :)

I wanted this to be really special for all my girl friends, so I didn't have them bring anything but themselves. As much as I would love to do this again, I don't think I could do that part again. Welcome to host it, but going to need each person to bring food of some sort. I love to entertain, but my single/non-mommy days are behind me. I need to realize that I can't do everything anymore and I need to learn to accept help.

I wish I would have taken some pictures. We were just so busy chit chatting. The best one would have been Lauren and my face after putting on our Avocado/Carrot/Honey masque. It looked similar to what Jolynn spewed all over me later in the evening when I tried to feed her pureed carrots. (BTW-carrots stain...bad.)

Florida

Mike and Margaret invited Jolynn and I on a trip to Florida this past week. It was Jolynn's first time on a plane. She did very well. Everyone's advice was great. She ate at the terminal when we first arrived. Then ate again about an hour into the flight. The take off wasn't too bad, she had her pacifier and my ears weren't popping much. When it was time for her to eat again is when the air pressure was a bit more intense. So the timing was great. Then she slept for a little while, then visited Mike in first class.

Before getting to the resort we stopped at Denny's. The room at the resort was awesome! Jolynn and I had our own room with a king size bed, bathroom, and mini kitchen. She had a metal bar crib that creaked and was very low for me to lower her into. She ended up sleeping with me. In a king size bed she could have been in a completely different bed for all I could tell. Mike and Margaret were in the main room that had a large kitchen, dining room, living room, balcony, king size bed, jacuzzi, (two person) shower, and his and her sinks; my mom had a room within this room with two single beds and her own bathroom too. The room also had a washer and dryer. This came in handy for all the changing of outfits daily.

There was an Outlet Mall within walking distance of the resort. We ended up going there 2 of the days. We also went to a Thrift Store on another day. Margaret went off on her own when the rest of us decided to go swimming. She ended up at a Goodwill that was like a main corporate building or something. It was HUGE. Between all the different stores we went to, I really didn't need to bring any clothes for myself or Jolynn. A bathing suit and pjs for me would have been fine. Everything else was provided by my mom and Margaret.

Monday afternoon Mike, my mom and I went to a lobster all-you-can-eat. I had 5 lobsters, 3 mussels (for the first time), and 2 oysters Rockefeller (first time also). This was a lot of fun and our waitress was great. Jolynn stayed back at the room with Margaret.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning I used the workout facilities. They were as nice as my old gym membership equipment. Tuesday - the grandmas joined me. Wednesday - my ankle and knee were bothering me, so I did laps in the pool instead. The water was like bath water it was so warm. Not a soul in the pool either. When I was done, I soaked for a while in the hot tub. It was great.

My mom and I had one last adventure together - we both got tattoos of our hubbies names! Okay, so they were temporary, but it was still fun :)

The flight home was less eventful. Jolynn was fussy when we got seated, then Mike got her to sleep. She slept from take off to touch down. We even passed her around and she still didn't wake up. Margaret's ticket was upgraded, so this time my mom was in first class. She needed it. A little relaxation and pampering before heading back to the frozen tundra.

When we arrived at the terminal, Jon was there waiting for us. Jolynn was so happy to see her daddy!

New Beginnings

New Beginnings is a blog I had going for my new life with Jon. Simply Me was just that - Simply Me. I blogged about my pregnancy on it because I thought it was mostly about me. Now that Jolynn is here I figured it is now all about family, so the blogging has continued on New Beginnings. Feel free to follow along there on my adventures as a new mom.

And thanks for following on Simply Me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bumbo

Back to work

My day started at 2am roughly. Jolynn was half crying, half talking. After getting up every 5-10 min, I decided to just get up. That was about 3am. I fed her, then got today's milk thawed and divided, then pumped. Since she got up earlier than her usual 4am, I was able to catch up on Facebook and blogs. It is now 4:30am. Time to take a shower and get myself ready for work.

I was dressed and ready by 5am. Jolynn started to cry again. Changed her diaper, rocked a little and back to sleep she went. Only to wake up again at 5:30am. I really hope she can get a handle on the gas issue soon. If it is what I am eating, we are in trouble for today (which she hasn't started eating yet) - chili, dips with carrots, green peppers and cucumber, Reese's PB cups, and pickle ham roll-ups. I don't dare go back to sleep because she will just wake up again as soon as I start to get comfortable. Then I feel like I had less sleep than if I were to just stay awake relaxing watching the news.

Jon was nice enough to take her 7am feeding so I could pump one last time. Only thing left to do is pack up her food for today. I really hope I make it through the whole day without crashing.

I dropped off Jolynn at 7:30am. Went over how I had the bottles measured out. Mary pretty much said she had everything covered and shooed me out the door. She said I was welcome to call if I felt like it. As much as I wanted to know how she was doing I didn't want to hear that she had crying fits or wasn't adjusting well. So I didn't call.

Work went well. Lots of people welcoming me back and saying I was missed. A few schools called and didn't even say anything about the fact that I hadn't answered my phone or returned emails in 3 months. Just went on with their questions as if I had never been gone. I dove right in with a project from Matt for composites. It was nice to be kept busy so I didn't think about Jolynn as much. I pumped twice at work, which was a little awkward walking out of the server room with my containers of breast milk. I brought two pictures of Jolynn with me. Everyone expected me to have my cube covered in them.

Jon got off early so he picked up Jolynn. Mary said she was really good and got a lot of attention from the other kids because she was so little. All the kids were in awe of "the little baby". Jon said she was very stimulated today-slept once and then took a 45 min nap close to the end of the day before being picked up. Hopefully she will sleep for a long time tonight.

I would just like to mention how much Jon has taken on for my first day at work.
1. He picked up Jolynn (so I could then go to the grocery store and take care of my Gym membership -that's another story)
2. He was feeding her when I got home.
3. He picked up the living room and stairs and vacuumed both.
4. He just took Jolynn downstairs to her swing.

Time for Momma to relax and recharge for another day.

Popcorn

Jolynn was upset when she was in her swing so we went upstairs. For some reason I smelled buttered popcorn. When Jon got home he was holding Jolynn and asked why she smelled like popcorn. I looked back at what I ate that day - no popcorn was consumed. Jon started feeding her and she stopped taking it in, so we went to change her (this wakes her up or reminds her that she is still hungry). When I unzipped her nightgown I found poop all the way up to her belly button. Guess who got a bath.