Second Attempt at an Update

It's been much longer between updates than I intended, but I don't have much free time these days and when I finally do have some time to myself I end up resting to trying to get some housework done.  It seems like so much has happened since I last updated. 

Smiles are in full force.  She literally smiles with her whole face.  Morning time is often the best times to get smiles.

Lots of cooing: guh guh, ahhhh!, all sorts of fun sounds.  We practice conversing back and forth often.  She really loves to "talk".

Movement. She loves to kick and move her arms at the same time.  Usually this happens while I'm trying to change her diaper.  Before tummy-time I will let her kick and squirm as much as she wants.  She's mastered scootching around in a circle while laying on her back.  It's becoming normal to find her completely horizontal in her crib.  When I flip her to her tummy she gets her legs going - like she's trying to get up on her knees.  The poor girl just doesn't have the upper body strength yet for crawling.  I have a feeling though that I'm going to be even busier once she starts crawling.  She's ready to go!

Sleep.  Daytime sleep is not great.  Usually I'll get 1 or 2 decent naps out of her and one of those usually is sleeping on me.  She often cat naps.  The best success with naps has been when I lay down with her on our bed.  The crib is useless during the day.  Night time is getting better.  A good night usually involves two four-hour stretches a bad night is her waking about every 2-3 hours - so really not too bad in my opinion.  After we got back from Canton on Sunday, I got her down about 9:30 that night and she didn't wake until 4:15 that morning.  That's the longest she's ever gone and I couldn't believe it when I saw what time it was.  I'm not holding my breath for that to ever happen for awhile.  We still have some nights where it's difficult to get her to sleep, but it's getting easier. 

Travel. She did okay when we went back this past weekend.  She slept a bit, but she also cried/wailed a lot as well.  It was pretty stressful for all of us.  Needless to say, we won't be coming in too often for awhile.  I really do hope we make it back before Christmas though.  I think she hates being restricted in her movement.  She doesn't like to be "worn" in a carrier, she doesn't like the swing (although she's tolerating it a bit more these days) and it when she's in her car seat she's trying to lift herself out.  She's been doing this movement lately where she looks like she's straining to sit up or lift her head up.  Anyhow, short trips to the grocery store are at least tolerable.

Overall, I feel like she's coming "alive" so to speak.  She's a lot of fun to be around when she's in a good mood.  I'm really looking forward to watching her grow up!

I don't have any pictures this time.  Her newborns pictures FINALLY came in today.  It took long enough!  We don't have the birth announcements yet, but hopefully I'll have them soon.  I'm hoping to send some of the pictures out soon.  I'll probably make an online album for family, so they can choose what they want.

Almost 5 Weeks

I can't believe it's been a month already.  Time sure flies when you're sleep deprived.  Lola is napping so once again, this post may not even get published.  She is napping a tiny bit better.  It's certainly not an every day occurrence, but hopefully we will continue to improve.  Bo and I are still learning how to put her down in a way she won't wake up immediately.  I somehow managed to put her down this morning while she was still awake and she went to sleep with no issues.  That probably will never happen again :)  The evenings are the most difficult.  She likes to stay awake from about 5 or 6 until about 12AM/1AM.  The past two evenings she's been cluster feeding again, the upside is that during the night I either don't have to feed her as often (as in every 4 hours instead of 2) or she still feeds every 2 hours but for only 10 minutes or so - which means we all get back to sleep sooner.  She really is a much nicer baby when she naps.  When she's over tired she scratches and pulls at me and is just fussy in general.

Today I bought a Baby Trend Snap N Go stroller off of Craigslist.  I was reading the manual online and it mentioned the importance of the safety strap.  Well the one I have either didn't come with it or the lady lost it.  I will say that our car seat fits snugly into it and I'm not that worried; however, I also don't think it would be difficult to make one for it.  It was only $15, so I guess that's good.  I'm really looking forward to being able to take her down the road for a stroll.  I think she'll like it.  We have a BOB stroller that is much, much nicer than this other contraption, but she has to be at least 8 weeks to fit in it.  Unfortunately BOB doesn't have an infant car seat adapter for Britax seats.  The BOB will be especially nice for the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. 

Lola's month well check went well.  She's 8lbs 12oz already.  Two weeks ago she was 7lbs 7oz!  She's also started to smile every now and then.  She does it a lot in her sleep and then if I talk to her in a high pitched voice she really seems to like that.  I haven't been able to catch one on camera though.  Hopefully soon.  I tried to take her one-month picture today (almost a week late) and she wasn't having it.  Well I hear her stirring around, so I better go.  I didn't proof read it, so I hope everything makes sense :)

Here are some pictures:





This one looks posed, but I promise it's not.  He really was smiling.  I think it's so sweet :)

Tummy Time

Yes, We Are Alive!

Lola is napping, well supposed to be at least, so I don't know how much I'll get to write.  She's not great at sleeping during the day for some reason.  I think we're still learning what works best for her and getting a newborn to sleep in general.  Yesterday was rough, so I was reading some stuff about getting newborns to sleep and Dr. Sears made a point about babies needing to be "parented" to sleep.  It makes sense, although when I'm tired it's not incredibly convenient.

Anyhow, today is our 8 year wedding anniversary.  I really can't believe it's been that long.  As they say, time flies by when you're having fun.  I'd have to say except for the 8 months I spent in San Antonio, it's all been lots of fun.  In August, we will have known each other for 10 years.  I can't believe I was 17 when we met...or 19 when we married - haha.  Tonight, we're going to stay at home and take care of Lola.  She's pretty much the coolest thing we've ever done together so, yeah I'm happy to be here with her and Bo. 

Lola turned three weeks on Sunday.  I still can't believe that!  I'm working on the birth story, but it might be awhile before I get it done.  When I do have the time, I'm too tired or just want to sit and stare at the TV.  I think Bo and I are finally getting used to having a baby.  I'll be honest, it's been hard.  Nothing prepares you for it, that's for sure.  We've been battling some latch issues with breastfeeding (pain!), which are getting better thanks to visiting with a Lactation Consultant and having lots of support from Bo and my mama friends.  It doesn't help that she cluster feeds quite a bit, so having to feed her a lot can be quite painful.  She's gaining weight beautifully though and that's really what matters to me.  I can't tell you how many times she's pooped and/or peed while we were changing her.  We've gotten poop on the new diaper before it's even opened, poop on the wall, poop on the couch, poop on Momma - newborns poop a lot!  It's never funny when it happens, but it's pretty funny looking back at it. 

The influx of visitors has slowed.  It was nice seeing so many people, I was actually surprised at how many people could come!  It's been nice having some time alone though to figure out what the heck I'm doing - and to be able to cry when I need to.  I had no idea that postpartum hormones were so crazy.  I've been doing a good job at taking my vitamins and supplements and Bo has been an amazing support.  Maybe I'll add in some walking soon.  I hope the hormones level out in the next few weeks though.  I get really anxious in the evenings and that's no fun.  I really do think we're getting our stride though.  I'm sure she'll shake things up in a few weeks and we'll feel like we're back to square one, but I think we're getting better at this!

Okay, well my brain is not really cooperating much today (it doesn't often these days).  I just wanted to give a quick update though and let you all know that we're doing well.  I'm not sure when we'll go back "home" to visit yet.  I have some courage to work up there!

Click here if you want to see a sneak peek of Lola's newborn session.  Isn't she beautiful?

Almost 39 Weeks!

I've been wanting to update the blog since we got back almost two weeks ago, but I haven't been feeling well.  On the way home from the shower, I got a migraine - the first one in almost 5 years.  Since we took separate vehicles, we had to pull over because I couldn't see due to the aura.  We ended up in a little motel in Belton, Texas.  It wasn't the nicest place, but it wasn't gross either.  Thank God they allowed pets ("No Cats Though") and the pet fee was only $10; otherwise, I guess Brodie would have stayed in the back of the truck?  I'm not sure what we would have done.  We stayed in Belton until about 4:30 Monday morning and then headed back.  I spent Monday recovering and by Tuesday I felt better, but then Tuesday afternoon my allergies started up.  It's taken two weeks to feel "normal" again.  The mold has been sky high and several other Austinites have been having the same issues.  I feel like many of us are yelling at each other because we're all so congested - haha.

Anyway, last week we had our 38 week appointment and my blood pressure was higher than it usually is.  Not high enough to be considered hypertension, but pre-hypertension.  They took some blood (testing kidneys, liver, platelets) and then I had to do a 24-hr urine collection.  Everything came back good, which means no Pre-Eclampsia.  Probably the worst part of the whole ordeal was having to keep the urine in the refrigerator.  Yep, I could have lived my entire life without ever having to do that!  We have our 39-week appointment on Friday, so I hope my blood pressure hasn't gone up.  Brodie and I went on a nice walk today, so hopefully lots of nice walks this week will help.  I didn't walk as I usually do the past couple of weeks because I felt so bad.

The silver lining to all of this is that I had a lot of time to put away all of the gifts we got at our baby shower.  The shower was so much fun and I was completely overwhelmed with everyone that came and supported us.  I felt SO special.  I have to say there have been times during this pregnancy when it's been hard to be away from our family and friends.  Everyone was so generous and I could totally feel the love in all of the work that was done to make it happen.  A special shout-out to Lynette, Nancy, Ramona and Janice for making it all happen.  These ladies did a fantastic job!

I typically don't enjoy doing laundry, but there's something calming about washing, sorting and putting away her clothes.  I guess for me, it's the most tangible way I can prepare for her presence.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's incredibly soothing - even though there's way more pink than I could have ever prepared myself for, haha.  She's still moving a lot, although the movements seem much slower.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the doctor is estimating her to be at 7lbs 12oz already!  I know it's an estimation, but I think we might have a cute, chunky baby on our hands. 

Since my allergies have been so bad, my eyes have been incredibly baggy, which means I've been completely unmotivated to have my picture taken.  I did have Bo snap a quick one while we were fishing on Sunday.

We didn't catch anything, but I did catch the hook in my leg.  Luckily, it wasn't too bad because I'm not sure what I would have done if Bo had passed out - he's not much for blood. 

Well, the "due date" is May 24th.  I'm not feeling that she'll come early, but we'll let everyone know when she's here.  I say "we"; I mean Bo.  That is after he's gone to get me a big, cold, deli sandwich - seriously, that's all I want at this point.

Love to you all.

36-Weeks!

Google owns Blogger and has been making everyone switch over to their  new system.  I think that's what I did, but I'm not quite sure.  If by the end of May the blog doesn't work (that's the deadline to switch it over I think), I guess I'll be starting a new one!  I've been meaning to update all week, but my energy level just hasn't been there.  The mold has been medium-high and I've pretty much been a zombie all week.  Both of us have been stuffed up - not fun!  At least we don't get sick very often *knocks on wood*.

The past two weeks have been really busy.  Two weeks ago, some ladies from our church had a shower for us.  I had such a great time!  They really are an incredibly encouraging group of women, I could go on and on really.  The next Monday we had Maternity Pictures done...they turned out great!  I was so nervous - it's shocking to see how big my belly has gotten!  Then last Saturday our small group had a baby blessing for our small group leaders second baby.  I couldn't really tell you what this week entailed...I've been so tired - I just don't remember what we did!  Bo did finish the painting in the nursery, well we have the door left, but that's no biggie!

Here's Bo finishing the last chevron stripe!  He has done such an awesome job, I love it!  Thank you Pinterest for the idea!

This is me at 34-weeks right after my shower.  I had no idea my belly was that big!  I wonder what it looks like now.  I'm sure I'll have pictures of it tomorrow!  Speaking of tomorrow, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone before our little girl is here.  I feel honored and blessed that people want to celebrate our little one with us!

I can't believe we only have 4 weeks until our due date - it's gone by SO fast! Of course, we could go as long as 6 more weeks.  Oh, I just remembered one of the things I did this week. I started packing our hospital bag!  It's almost done, basically I just need to add in our extra clothing and I think we'll be good.  I originally thought we'd need two bags (one L&D and one for post-partum), but I think it'll all fit in one suitcase.  The food and snacks will go in a separate bag, so only having two bags to carry in will be nice for Bo.  We had an appointment yesterday, it went well.  I was tested for Group-B Strep - I really hope that comes back negative.  Otherwise, I'll have to have an antibiotic IV during labor and birth.  We're prepared to deal with it, but it would be nice not to be hooked up to an IV the whole time.  Her heartbeat is strong, she's still head down and she's on her side - which according to the doctor that saw us is a good thing (I think it's neat that they can determine position by feeling around.  We haven't had an ultrasound since the 20-week appointment, so I'm glad they know how to tell where she is by feeling around). She moves so much and so often that I'm always worried she'll flip head up.  The chances of that happening at this point are very slim, so I'm not worried too much anymore.  She does love my ribs...they were numb last night.  Every time I get in the car she backs up into my ribs...it's torture, haha.  I read that putting something cold up top helps, so I'll probably try that on the trip. 

Alright, I need to get up and get moving around...my feel are going to swell up! I apologize for any typos, like I said, my brain just isn't functioning too well these days!

Almost 34 Weeks!

I keep thinking I'll get around to posting a picture, but both of our camera batteries are dead and we can't find the charger. We should probably find it before we have the baby! Instead, I'll post a picture of Bo painting the nursery. His phone takes great pictures!

We, really Bo, started this last night. We've been ready to start for a few weeks now, but we were both avoiding it because we were afraid it wouldn't turn out well. I think we both completely underestimated Bo's ability for fine detail. It looks awesome! I think we have something like three gray stripes left to paint, so I hope we're able to get those done within the next couple of weeks. It took about two hours to do this one, so I don't want him to completely burn out trying to do them all at one time.

Bo has been working on the VW Westfalia Van a lot. We got the van shortly after we moved to Austin, but when I went into my internship we had zero money for working on it (or anything, really). It's been registered, inspected and insured for a couple of weeks now, and now that Bo can drive it around we're finding out what other stuff needs to be fixed. We're currently waiting on some sort of part for the gear shifting mechanism. The new tent for the pop up came yesterday...I really can't wait to see how great it looks! The current tent is pretty gross.

We had another check-up yesterday. All went well! The midwife we had this time was the same one we had for our first appointment. I really like her! I have to say that I have so far enjoyed my prenatal care at this practice. I chose the practice when moved here, specifically for their support of natural childbirth, so I'm glad it's lived up to the reputation.

I'm doing well. Allergy season is in full-force so that's not been fun for neither of us. I'm sleeping pretty well, every now and then I'll have a night when I don't sleep much, but the third trimester insomnia hasn't hit yet. The Braxton Hicks are definitely becoming more intense. I started taking papaya enzymes again with my meals because the heart burn/indigestion was getting really bad. It felt like knives in my throat sometimes. Baby seems really comfortable up by my ribs. I hope she enjoys it because I do not. Sometimes it's just a dull soreness and other times it's a quick stabbing feeling. It's quite painful, especially when I drive. For some reason, that angle really encourages her to move into my ribs. As long as she stays head down, I don't care where she is...haha.

I can't believe we're only 6-weeks out! I feel like I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in, but I think I'm just being paranoid. I have a few house projects that need finishing up, namely: take one final load of "giveaways" to Saver's Thrift Store, Organize the new office/library space, hang up pictures in the hallway (this project came out of nowhere - ha!), and finish up the nursery the best we can. The nursery needs: painting to be finished, clothes need to be hung (thanks to my wonderful friend Krista for the hand me downs!), cloth diapering system ready to go (diaper pail, wet bags, diaper sprayer, etc) and lastly a mattress. I imagine the decorating of the nursery won't happen before she gets here. We'll see. Maybe I'll get super-nesty there at the end! Oh and I need to pack our hospital bag...that's probably one of the most important things that needs to get done!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in a couple of weeks! Some of you haven't seen me since Christmas (or at all!) so I imagine I'm going to be pretty huge compared to then! Lot's of love to you all!

31ish Weeks

SXSW ended officially a week ago yesterday and I think I've caught up on all of my rest. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we walked at least 3-4 miles a day. Then that Saturday we had our hospital tour, came home and took a 3-hour nap, then decided to stay home from SXSW activities. We were exhausted! I think we both enjoyed listening to a variety of music over the week, but we did come to the conclusion that we'd never spend over a $1000 for us to get badges. If you don't have a badge you'll likely have to wait and may not get into see the concert...so if you're really into music and have the cash, go for it. I could get used to the whole free badge thing though :)

Here I am at the Austin Convention Center:

This is at 30-weeks. We need to take a recent picture because I know I've grown a lot since then. At our appointment last week I had gained 7 pounds since my last appointment. That's just over 2 lbs a week! I knew my shirts seemed like they were getting too small (plus all of the extra lower back and round ligament pain), but I had no idea that was possible! I guess we're catching up from the first trimester because I didn't gain hardly anything at that point.

Baby is still head down, moving a ton...oh while we were listening to her heart beat on the doppler we heard some extra "blips" and it was her hiccuping! She gets the hiccups at least once a day (I have them several times a day) and the doctor said she would likely have them a lot once she's "out".

Our Bradley Classes (child birth) also ended on the 18th. I'm very happy that we took them, we learned a lot, but we definitely didn't miss driving 30 minutes all the way up and back yesterday!

We have started painting the nursery and the only thing left is the accent or "chevron" wall. Bo put the crib together on Friday (I have pictures!) and I have some decorations I want to make. I love the gray and white so far. I was a little nervous that it wouldn't come out the way I had imagined it, but so far we're both really loving the color. We still need a mattress, so I need to look around for some organic ones...although we borrowed a bassinet from some friends and she'll be staying in that for awhile. The main things we need to get finalized are the car seat, the birth plan and packing the hospital bag. I'd also like to get some meals in the freezer, but we'll see how that goes.

I'll be 32 weeks on Thursday...that's 8 weeks left! Our wait could also be shorter or longer. I really hope she doesn't come early or I'm going to run out of time!

29 Weeks Today!

I can't believe we only have 11 weeks left! That is of course if she comes on time. I'll start with some pictures, since I haven't been very good at posting them regularly. Honestly these two that I'm posting were done last minute (hence the no make-up) and I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm wearing the same shirt in both! I only have two long-sleeved, maternity shirts so I guess that it was chilly both times we took the pictures. It's been otherwise nice and warm!



The picture on the left is at 26 weeks and the one on the right is 28 weeks. I really can't believe she grew that much in two weeks. Actually I guess I shouldn't be too surprised considering the amount of round ligament pain I've had.

We had an appointment last week and the midwife said that she was head down (pray that she stays that way!!) and a "good size" baby. She then asked if either of us were big babies, so that kinda scared me...haha. We heard her heartbeat and it was 145. Our practice does only 2 ultrasounds (8 weeks and 20 weeks), so we won't see her until she's on the outside. Anyway, I was also tested for diabetes and anemia, neither of which I have, woo hoo! Our next appointment is in two weeks, I have no idea what takes place at this appointment.

We're going to start painting the nursery *hopefully* tomorrow. I'm so excited! We're doing grey walls with one being a grey and white chevron wall and then I'll have pink accents in there. I haven't decided how that will work out, but I'll eventually get there (I hope). I've been asked by a couple of people where we are registered: Babies R' Us, Target and Amazon. You'll find your standard baby stuff on the BRU and Target registries and more of the cloth diapering related stuff on Amazon. That's all I'll say about registries, I feel weird enough putting it here :)

Lastly the Wingo's have been blessed twice this week. First Bo won a raffle at work for two SXSW music badges for us. We always go the free concerts, but never to the paid stuff because two badges would cost over $1000 if we bought them and this close to the conference they would cost $750 each! Our good friends were also winners of the raffle (for the 3rd year in a row!), so I think we'll get to hang out with them and have an idea of the best places to go. It seems like a million people come in for this conference so there can be some really long lines to see certain bands. It would be nice to see a "big act" but I'm not sure I want to wait in line for two hours. It might be nicer just to see some smaller, upcoming acts and not have all of the fuss. Secondly, Bo has been wanting some lighting for the garage. When he did the math, I wasn't comfortable with us spending that much all at one time. Well between selling stuff we didn't want/need on Craigslist and Bo getting birthday money, we'll be able to pay for the lights! Poor guy has been dealing with a single bulb for the entire garage lighting!!! I know those aren't huge blessings (and possibly trivial), but it will be nice to have one last hoorah before our little girl arrives.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully we'll be headed back to East Texas sometime in April!

Good Morning!

It's roughly 6:15 AM at the start of this post. I've been up since about 3AM, and since I figured it would be awhile before I go back to sleep, I might as well post. I'm running on less than 4 hours of sleep, so if something doesn't make sense or my grammar is even worse than it usually is, you'll know why.

Unfortunately we haven't had a chance to take any pictures over the last month. The weather has been gross and Bo has been working quite a bit. I think if I remember, I'll make it a priority to do that this weekend. I do enjoy seeing our progress and hopefully you do too.

We had an appointment about two weeks ago and everything seemed fine. We got to briefly hear her heartbeat again, which is always nice! At the 14-week appointment, she had to search awhile for it, but this time we found it almost immediately. In a couple of weeks I'll go for another appointment and they'll test me for gestational diabetes. I'm really not looking forward to this. I have to fast for something like 12 hours and then drink an orange-flavored glucose drink. Lately, I've been either waking up starving or having to eat in the middle of the night. Yesterday morning I felt horrible and I'm 100% sure it was all blood sugar. I should have tested it...I have a glucometer around here somewhere.

Little girl really started moving a lot these past two weeks. She's been quieter the past few days, but she's picked it back up this morning. It's even to the point now where Bo can actually feel it. He gets so excited and I'll never forget his first reaction. I'm just glad he gets to experience those aspects of the pregnancy. Overall, I've felt pretty good. Bo probably wouldn't know that because he gets to hear me whine about every ache and pain :) I have some pretty serious reflux that sometimes responds to enzymes or the occasional Tums, but other than that everything else has been manageable. I feel constantly hungry...all the time. A friend of mine, who is also pregnant, asked me if I ever got tired of eating. I said YES! I'm glad I'm not the only one. As much as I hate going to the grocery store, I find that going twice a week ensures that I have a good variety of things to eat. Having fresh eggs available is also nice. I had a great omelet a couple days ago.

I'll stop talking about food now. In all seriousness, I would like to ask for prayer for Bo. We are going through what I call a "busy season" of work. I guess this all started about a week or two ago, so we're both still a little shocked by it all, but hopefully we'll hit a stride soon. Not that it will be any easier. He's concerned he might be getting sick, which is not uncommon during these stressful times. He's such a hard worker and I'm incredibly thankful for everything he does for us. He rarely complains and despite the late nights, he's rarely crabby (unlike me -ha!).

Well I'm going to try and get some sleep before I need to wake Bo up for work. We miss everyone "back home" and will come back for a visit once our Bradley (child birthing) classes are over in mid-March!

Quick Update

I've been wanting to update the blog for sometime now, but I just never seem to remember to do it when I actually have the time (I think this is "pregnesia"). Anyhow, I finally remembered and thought I would try to do a quick update. Hopefully everyone knows by now that we're having a GIRL!!! I felt all along that it was a girl and of course I had a 50/50 chance, but it's still cool that my feeling was right. We're absolutely thrilled to be having a healthy little girl!

Here she is:

As for names. We do have a name picked out, but our plan is to wait until she's here to tell everyone. I'm not giving out any hints either :)

On January 15, we started our Bradley Method classes. Basically, it's a naturally approached childbirth method that emphasizes the husband's role as the birth coach. So far I've really enjoyed it, although we haven't really gotten into the nitty gritty. Last week was the nutrition part and so that was nothing new for me :) However, we had to keep a food log and I realized that I am not eating enough, especially protein. I was really surprised by this because I already felt like I was eating all the time. Now I really feel like I'm constantly eating. I find that it's really important that I eat right before bed, regardless of whether or not I'm actually hungry. No bed time snack and little girl has me up at 4:30-5AM eating a snack. Bo even got to partake in an early morning breakfast with me at Kerbey Lane Cafe. You can get the breakfast platter for like $3.50 before 7AM, how cool is that ?!

Lately we've been really busy cleaning out the "office" and purging it of anything we don't need. Most notably, we've taken out the desk and replaced it with a giant bookcase from Ikea. The painting is almost done, the bookshelf is almost ready for books and soon we'll be able to take put everything back in there. The nursery is FULL of office stuff. Seriously, I can't walk into the room. I'm not worried though, we have just over 4 months until we need the nursery.

Lastly, I thought I would post a picture of my progress. I'm currently between 22 and 23 weeks. If I got to see everyone on a regular basis, I would not put pictures of myself like this online...so I hope you enjoy them :) We likely won't get around to taking pictures each week, but hopefully every 2-3 weeks we'll do it. Brodie sat in with me on this one, haha.

Better Late Than Never...

I must apologize to our wonderful families. You all have asked how our trip to San Francisco went and I probably told you "good" and left it at that. Well, we have pictures! I'll try and do a quick photo montage. I don't know who still has dial-up so I'll make the pictures small. If you have issues viewing them, give me a ring and I'll try to help you. Otherwise, you'll see us soon and maybe we can show them then.

Without further ado...

Day 1 we got to SF and planned on seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. What we didn't plan on was being 4 miles away from it and it was Fleet Week (a huge display of planes and ships) so there were literally thousands of extra people hanging out. So we ended up renting bicycles and cycling up to and across the bridge.

Before the bridge, there was a little park full of tents and picnics. I thought it was funny so I took a picture.

Here I am on the bridge. We enjoyed cycling across, but there were quite a few snooty "real" cyclists who enjoyed giving tourists the evil eye. Cyclists take themselves way too seriously. I'm glad runners aren't like cyclists :)

The other side of the bridge was beautiful.

Here's Bo on the other side.

Sausalito is on the other side of the bridge. It's full of wonderful touristy shops and restaurants. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant for lunch. We didn't have much time to spend there before the ferry came to take us back (yes we cheated). After eating a bunch of pasta I was NOT about to bike back 4 miles!!

I have more pictures, but I think I'll try to upload those in a couple of days. Let me know if the pictures should be bigger...I uploaded them on the smallest setting.

**Edit: The pictures are pretty small. I might try making them bigger later.

Well Hello May!

So I don't think it's a secret that I'm not very good at blogging. I'm trying to think about what has happened since my last post. In February, I started getting a lot more hours at work and started seeing patients at the outpatient cancer clinic. I also started taking sewing classes at the Stitch Lab (Bo's Christmas present to me). In March, we celebrated Bo's 26th birthday at Hudson's on the Bend where we feasted on a variety of wild game - it was delicious.

April was a big month. I started quilting and I got a full-time job. Yep, my first full-time job! On Monday I started orientation at the Austin State Hospital. Orientation will last another week. We've spent a lot of time learning about mental illness, intellectual disabilities and a technique called Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behavior (PMAB). I've learned so much in such a short amount of time. I find it all very interesting (and I love to learn about new things). Bo has also been doing well at work. He was commended by his manager for doing such great work that they gave him a $200 gift card for Eddie V's (and there is a choice of two other restaurants that I don't recall). He's been working hard since he started his new project, so it's nice to know that his manager recognizes his hard work.

Here is a picture of my first completed sampler block. You don't have to look hard to find mistakes, but it's my first and I'm proud of it.

I took the picture will my phone, so the lighting isn't great. (the background is my ironing board). Hopefully I'll have the previous month's block finished by the end of the week. I attend a monthly quilting class taught by a woman that I go to church with (Dolores). Each month we start another block of the quilt. I think it'll take a year or so to do the whole project. Dolores has offered to give me some instruction on a scrap quilt to work on also. This should be a nice project that doesn't require much skill. Which is nice because I don't have much of that...haha.

Where Did January Go?

Well January isn't over yet, but it seems like it's flown by so quickly already. On my way to the grocery store this afternoon, a song came on the radio that brought me back to this time last year. The song in-and-of-itself isn't relevant, but it was new and very popular at the time so it was on the radio pretty much every time I was in my car. Anyhow, this time last year I was my foodservice management rotation. First off, I HATE hospital foodservice. Bless those that love it and are successful at it, but it just wasn't for me. I didn't like what I was doing, felt no connection with my preceptor (cold as ice!), and I missed my husband terribly. I don't think there are words for how much I missed being away from home. I haven't lived a very long time, but I'm going to say that was the lowest, darkest point of my life. Praise God I'm back home with Bo and even have a job! It's weird thinking about how different my life is now - just a year later.

Speaking of my job, in addition to my PRN in-patient position, it looks like I and the other PRN dietitian will be working with the outpatient cancer clinic. I'm pretty nervous, but excited at the same time. We haven't started yet, so I'll try to keep everyone updated on how that goes. We're first going to start by teaching people how to use their PEG tubes (feeding tube) and then will progress into doing some counseling and educations. There's also another opportunity that I might have. I would really appreciate some prayer for this as it's not definite that I will get it or even if I will be a good fit for it. I would love for it to pan out, though.

Bo and I started a new budget with the You Need A Budget (YNAB) software last week. I'm anxious to get this budget going. God has blessed us with educations and jobs and I think it would be in our best interest to honor those blessings by paying off our school debt! We've set everything up, so now we'll just need to update it weekly and actually follow it! Ideally, if we do it right we'll be paying the current month's bills with last month's income.

We're smoking a brisket right now. Bo bought a smoker from Craigslist awhile back and this is the second time we've used it. This is the first time we've ever done a brisket. It smells beyond wonderful. On one of our visits, Bo went down to the river bottom land and found a hickory tree that was about to fall so he took it back with him instead of letting it rot. I hope you all are jealous :)

Tomorrow our church is moving. I'm happy about this for many reasons, but the main one is that we will go back to one service. I miss not seeing everyone each Sunday. We're helping with the move because Bo is on the sound-team and I'm the hospitality coordinator. Hospitality is going to have a new set-up so I'm interested to see how this is going to work. I'm not worried about it though, there are so many people available to help and give input.

I'm not sure when we'll be in to visit next. Perhaps March or April. I know that seems like a long way off, but our schedules are NUTS! Love you all!

Happy New Year

I worked the first week of January so I'm just now getting to the Happy New Year post. First of all, we had a great time visiting our families for Christmas. It's always nice visiting everyone, but Christmas makes it that much more special.

Santa came to visit Grace and some of her little friends on Saturday. She was so excited to see Santa and then once he came she was suddenly shy. I've never seen her so shy before, so it was pretty funny!

Luckily, I don't have a picture of Bo and I sitting on Santa's lap. Yep, I don't think we had a choice in the matter...haha. I don't even know what I asked him for, but I'm pretty sure I got everything I wanted :)

Over the last part of December we dog sat for a co-worker of mine. She was going to drive back to see her family in Kansas City, but decided it wouldn't be safe as they were having some major snow flurries and ice. We watched Lucy, her Italian Greyhound, for a few days while she was gone. I think it was the first time Lucy had been away from her, but she did really well. Lucy didn't care much for Cannon, and vice versa, but her and Brodie managed to get some play time in. For a dog that isn't around other dogs too much she did really well.

We didn't do anything for New Year's eve, except go to sleep. However, we went camping on New Year's day so we needed our rest. We had never been to Bastrop State Park so us and another couple from church went. It's a beautiful park, right there inside of the Lost Pines. If I get around to it, I'll try to do a write up on our camping page.

Today I'm going to start my somewhat annual "Spring Cleaning" marathon. I know it isn't Spring yet, but the house could use it and I have the time. There's always the chance that I might not have the time come Spring. Spring cleaning is a time to purge our house of the things we don't need or haven't used in the past year and re-organize. We don't have a lot of extra space in our house so it's important to only have what we need and for it to have a place. Otherwise, I go crazy looking for things. Off to clean...

Unintentional Hiatus and My New Job

I lost track of time and so here I finally am updating our blog. Since most of our readers have seen us recently and will see us soon, I thought it might be pointless in updating. However, I really enjoy having a blog so I will update anyway!

Probably the main reason I haven't updated in awhile is because of my new job. I was hired by a local hospital system as a PRN Clinical Dietitian. "PRN" means that I work on an "as needed" basis. So basically whenever a full-time dietitian needs a day off, I will cover their position. There are 5 hospitals that I cover! I've been trained in at each one, so that's exciting.

I'm frequently asked what exactly my job entails. People mostly tend to think I make sure people get the right diet or that I write menus. That is a small part of my job, but not really the sole reason I'm there. I can tell you that what I love most about my job is that every day is different. It really depends on the patient. Everyone is different.

Some patients cannot eat. This might be because of their diagnosis or they might be mechanically vented, which means a machine is breathing for them. Whatever the reason is, they might need to be fed through a tube. I determine their "nutrition needs" (calories, protein, etc) and choose the appropriate formula. There are different formulas for different needs: more concentrated for those who need fluid restriction, high protein, some that a lower in certain minerals, etc.

There are also times when a person cannot be on a tube feeding. So they will be fed through their vein, so to speak. Again, I determine their nutrition needs and then determine how much amino acids (protein), lipids (fat), and dextrose (carbohydrate) to give them. This method of nutrition is very expensive, but it's cool to think that you can receive nutrition right into your blood instead of your body digesting them first! Okay maybe I'm the only one here who thinks that's cool :)

I also do diet educations. I typically enjoy doing those because I get to visit with people. Of course, not every patient wants to hear me talk about their new diet, so sometimes it's not fun. I also talk with nurses and doctors about the patients. It's a team effort, which I like.

When I make my recommendations to the doctors, I have take the diagnosis, lab values, medications, past medical history and of course the patient's personal needs into consideration. There's seriously not a day that goes by when I don't learn something new.

So there's a brief overview of what Taylor Wingo, RD, LD does as a clinical dietitian. The RD stands for Registered Dietitian and the LD stands for Licensed Dietitian. The RD is what I studied my rear-end off for and is a national designation. The LD is a state of Tx designation and I had to take an exam over the state laws of my licensure. Both licenses require continuing education and of course a yearly fee! That part is pretty much the same with any other health professional with a license.

Our Vanagon

I've been quite busy the past week and a half, so of course I didn't feel like posting. This past weekend we went to the Christ Church Retreat out at Genesis Ranch in Fischer, Tx. I think we both had a great time and are looking forward to next year's retreat.

This November 18 will not only mark 25 years of life for me, but will mark 2 years of us being the proud owners of our 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia. We acquired this big fella from my great uncle, Tom, who graciously gave us a steal of a deal.

This is us picking the van up in Houston. U-Haul said that our truck wouldn't be able to tow the van, so we had to not only rent the tow-dolly, but rent a U-haul truck as well. The Westfalia is a camper, complete with two (small) beds, a stove, refrigerator, sink, and a ton of storage space.

After sitting in my uncle's driveway for a few years, never being cranked, the van didn't run. Bo and I helplessly tried to push the van down the driveway and up onto the tow dolly. A neighbor saw us and felt sorry for us, so he offered to help. We're not stupid, so we accepted his offer. I'm pretty sure we would have been out-of-luck had he not helped us out.

Once we got to our house we realized even more how gross the "the thing" looked. Swamp thing would have been an appropriate name for the van, instead of Westfalia. Houston is really humid so it had moldy stuff all over the outside and the inside too. We decided it would be in our best interest to wash it up a bit so that the neighbors wouldn't hate us. At this point we'd only been in the neighborhood for 6 months, so we were still in the getting-to-know-you phase. All cleaned up with the side door open. Not bad looking, eh?

Bo started working on the van when we got it, but we had to stop while I was gone for my internship, for financial reasons. Now that we're not having to pay rent and all of the gas bills from traveling back and forth, we've started back to fixing it up. Progress will continue to be slow until I find a job and we have two incomes again. I'm excited about this and hope we'll be able to go on vacation in our little camper someday.




The camper with the "tent" popped up. This is how you access one of the beds. I think this looks really bizarre, but I like it!









This is the refrigerator. Above you can see the stove on the left and the sink on the right. How funny is that?



Bo's first goal is getting the van "inspectable." At least this way, we can legally drive it to get something fixed if Bo is unable to do it himself. Otherwise, I think we would have to tow it there. One of the more costly items will be tires. Apparently it needs special, heavy-duty tires. Hopefully that will be the most expensive thing it needs! Of course, I'm not going to leave it all to Bo. My plans are to clean up the curtains and carpeting. The seats are in exceptional condition, thankfully! The carpeting needs some TLC and at least this way I have a valid excuse to purchase a little steam cleaner :)

Los Dos Wingos

I've been procrastinating a bit on updating because I haven't felt that too much is going on with us. However, if you're here then surely you notice our new look. It was a collaboration between Bo and I with the help of a template that I found online. I hope it doesn't take too long to load for our family with slower connections. Please let me know if it doesn't work for you and we'll work on a solution.

The biggest news going on around here is that I have applied to two jobs. Hopefully I will hear back soon. I'm so excited and ready to finally be working as a Registered Dietitian! It just seems like it's taken so long to get to this point. I'm sure there are many great candidates for the job, so I'd appreciate your prayers that I can do the best I can if I get an interview. I've always wanted a job doing something I like and at this point in my life I know that is clinical nutrition. What I like about the clinical aspect of nutrition is that you never know what is going to happen. Every patient is different and you don't always have that "text book" patient, so it can be challenging.

Other news around the Wingo homestead is that we finally got the Hackberry trees that were leaning over our privacy fence removed. One was little, but the other one was a normal sized tree. It had started to rot and was infested with mistletoe. Anyhow, the guy who cut it down put a ladder up on the tree, climbed up and started cutting limbs down. He was WAY up there, no harness, no hard hat, nothing!! I'm glad I was inside because I was panicking. Bo took a picture, but I don't have access to it right now. He didn't hurt himself so I was very happy about that. He and his associate finished in two hours. I figured it would take much longer. This weekend will be spent moving the tree branches to the curb so the city can pick them up. Twice a year they do large brush collection for free, otherwise it would cost $100. So we timed that nicely, although it wasn't originally intentional. I think we'll post the wood on craigslist as "free firewood."

I never thought I would enjoy the home improvement process. I will confess I hated painting, but the difference is amazing! I prefer landscaping, oddly enough. Once we finish with our backyard I think it will be nice. It's a mess right now, no grass, stumps awaiting removal, and a chicken wire fenced garden. Overtime, all of that will change and I think it will be just how we want it. Now I just have to figure out how to keep the mosquitos away so we can enjoy our backyard more often. Any ideas?

Introducing Our Newest Addition

Meet...Duke of Earl aka Cujo aka Rabbit Claus, "Brangelina" for short.

Yes, yes I know what you're thinking, "What's with all the names?" Bo and I couldn't agree on a name, plus I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl. Usually we call it a he, just to make it easy on us. I am able to pick him up, but the thought of turning him upside down scares me. He seems to be happy here. I think his cage (that he came with) is a little too small, but Bo is eventually going to build him one. Once I make up my mind what I want it to look like :)

Yesterday when I took this picture of him, I think it upset him. He thumped at me, peed and then flicked it on me. NOT COOL. If it wasn't a cute little bunny I would have hit him on the nose or something. So I won't be invading his territory with my iPhone anymore.

I'm not sure what breed he is, but I'm thinking part Lionhead? He's not near as fluffy as some of the Lionhead rabbit pictures I've seen online, but he has the ring of hair around his head. So my best guess is that he's a mutt-bunny. Dad, do you know? From what I understand the American Rabbit Breeders Assoc does not recognize the Lionhead breed, so maybe you've never heard of it. Dad used to raise and show rabbits for those of you wondering...haha.

QUESTION: What do you think we should name him/her?

Labor Day Weekend and New Beginnings

I can honestly say that this is by far the best weekend we've had in a long time. I'll start with Thursday.

As most of my family, facebook friends, and fellow small groupers know, I passed my RD exam on Thursday! After waiting three months to be eligible to take my exam (long story!) and then losing Oma right after that, I finally took my exam and passed (on the first time yay!). I'm just looking forward to this fall. God-willing I hope to find a job soon and be able to move on a bit in life. I'm just finally happy to be a Registered Dietitian!

Friday was a day of rest. I was so exhausted. I don't remember much from Friday, but I know I felt insanely tired.

Saturday Bo got this amazing deal on a planer. Home Depot (or DeWalt) was phasing out a particular model, in order to replace it with a cheaper one. Anyhow, I think he ended up saving 75%. He had to call around quite a bit to find one and eventually drove to Pflugerville, but I'm happy that he seeks out ways to save money especially for things that are considered to be good quality. Also, I got a rabbit! I haven't taken any pictures of him/her, but I will. I *think* it is a lionhead or lionhead mix. He's not as fluffy as some of the lionhead rabbits I've seen pictures of.

Saturday night we went to Driftwood Vineyards and enjoyed our friends' band Clay Roof Rising. We also had the opportunity to get to know more of the people in our church since we go to the same church as Annie and Adam. It was a great night, with a beautiful view of the vineyard, great wine, food, conversation, and of course, music!

Sunday we were bulletin greeters at church. I think Bo and I are getting better at it and I hope we'll eventually know who the new people are. We still feel kinda new, as we've only been going since April, and we sure haven't learned everyone's names. However, we feel incredibly blessed to be a part of Christ Church.

Today we slept in, although Bo would argue that he could have used a couple more hours :) We packed Brodie up and went to a local park for a cookout/picnic our church had. I was surprised at how many people came. Again, we had the opportunity to hang out, chat and get to know people better.

Tonight I plan on finishing up my resume and I'm curious to see what tomorrow brings with my job search. I'm so thankful for such a great weekend and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week!

Another Weekly Weekend Post

I'm starting to see a trend here with the weekly weend posts. This weekend was pretty busy as we had somewhere to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday we went to The Oasis, which is a restaurant west of Austin on Lake Travis, to celebrate a church-friend's birthday. The food was mediocre and over-priced, but the view was amazing.
I forgot my camera, so I used my iPhone. The phone's camera is actually good for a phone, but of course it just doesn't capture the sunset like a regular camera. It's just awesome how many colors there were in the sky as the sun went down.

Saturday I went to a brunch with some of the ladies from church. I enjoyed getting to know everyone just a little bit more. It can be difficult being the "new person" in a group because most of the people have known each other a lot longer and go out and do stuff together. So I always try to go to any get-togethers because that's really the only way I'm going to get to know anyone. Bo went to some garage sales that promised to have "lots of tools," but of course they were either already sold or someone had no clue what "lots of tools" means. Afterward we went to REI and bought some folding camping chairs. We have some lawn chairs that we've had for about 5 years now they're starting to look unsafe to sit in. This go 'round we opted to get the kind of chair that folds up and goes in a bag. It will be SO much easier to pack and carry to the car camping sites that are not close to the parking lot.

Sunday we had to get up early for a meeting. We were asked about a month ago to be bulletin greeters and this was an orientation of sorts. Then we had to rush over to church before the meeting was over to be greeters. I enjoy getting to say hi to everyone before church, I mean literally everyone! I think Bo likes it to. He has to open and close the door, so his right arm gets quite the workout. Bo is also running sound about once a month and I have signed up to help with the children's ministry. We've both been blessed by being able to serve our church and I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us in this capacity.

Today I have to study. I'm taking my exam on Thursday so any and all prayers are greatly welcome. I'm nervous of course, but I feel prepared. There are a few sections that I don't feel great about, but if I do what I'm supposed to be doing I should be able to straighten those out without a problem before then. I really need to get some good sleep this week. I started having some serious insomnia problems last week, but Saturday and Sunday night I actually slept. I have a feeling that Friday will be massive clean the house day in the Wingo-household.