Updates

Well I haven't blogged in a bit so I figured I'd give an update. It's not going to be real coherent as my brain is a little tired after working today. But here goes:

• Water Pressure: We FINALLY have both water PRESSURE and HOT water! It's amazing, and I feel like I'm in heaven. Monday our plumber came and fixed the last few issues and got the heat working upstairs again. Woohoo! It was expensive to get all of this done, and I'm thankful that I got a great business paycheck this month which allowed us to pay cash rather than using credit or emergency funds. Praise the Lord! So now we can take hot showers and it doesn't take 20 minutes to get wet... plus I can take baths - oh, how I've missed having baths! And doing dishes is no longer an extremely long process.
• Kirsten: She's now 12 weeks old! I can't believe it - time is going by quickly. One of the funnest things she's been doing lately is lots of coos and gaas and all kinds of cute noises. She's especially "talkative" in the morning (and sometimes the middle of the night). Speaking of the middle of the night, the other night I fed Kirsten and then went to the bathroom myself. When I came back up, she was mostly asleep again and I wasn't going to bother changing her diaper. Then I smelled something... something not good. So, I unwrapped her swaddle, and saw a big green stain on her sleeping gown. When I lifted the gown up, I saw green poo all over her leg! Oh, it was not good. I very delicately removed her gown while Scott helped by wiping off her leg. Then I changed her diaper as quickly as possible. Wow, the things you see as a mother. That was definitely a good one. Anyway, Kirsten continues to provide tons of joy as well as sometimes frustration and tears... but thankfully we are getting into more of a groove lately, it seems. She's sleeping pretty well at night and rarely needs to be picked up and rocked/walked back to sleep after eating. She usually just drifts back into lala land with a gentle patting, which is fabulous for mommy. And she is beginning to realize that the bottle is not the devil, and it's okay to drink from it. Today she took 1.5 oz while I was at work - not much, but it's better than nothing at all! Then tonight she ate 4 times between 5:15 and 10:00! Yeah, she missed mom I guess. : )
• Other stuff: Scott & I went on a date this past Saturday night. It was a wonderful time to get out of the house together and focus on each other. It is definitely a challenge to do that now, and we want to be intentional about staying connected to each other. So Scott planned the evening and I didn't really know what we were doing. We left the house at 5:00 (Scott's parents generously babysat for us) and headed to town. Scott informed me that we'd be going to a movie at 6:20, so we didn't have a ton of time for eating. After discussion, we called the Texas Roadhouse to find out the wait time. 45 minutes. Okay, that won't work. Then we decided to head to the Olive Garden. On the way there, I suggested checking out the Longhorne Steakhouse since we'd never been there. Once inside, we realized that wasn't gonna work out: 60-75 minute wait. Alrighty then, let's head to the Olive Garden as originally planned. I didn't even bother finding out the wait time there - the entryway was so full I could hardly find a way to get through the crowd. Finally, let's check Applebees - a favorite of Scott's, and one where I can always find something I like. 30 minute wait. But by that time it was 5:30, and with a 30 minute wait, we obviously wouldn't be making our 6:20 movie (Marley & Me, which our previous attempt to see had been sold out, and I really wanted to see this). So at this point I am starting to feel rather disheartened, and almost in tears because this is our one chance to hang out together and I was looking forward to a nice meal & time to talk. We left Applebees and tried to figure out what to do. So, we finally ended up eating pizza at Little Ceasars in KMart. Okay, not the most romantic thing, but certainly memorable. We had about 10 minutes to chow down in order to head to the theater in time. Once at the theater I had visions of our previous attempt to see this movie with Steve & Jess: the line was extremely long and the theater looked packed. Thankfully, though, most people were there to see Mall Cop instead, and we got into our movie without a problem. I had just enough time to go to the bathroom before the movie started. Steve & Jess had warned us to bring tissues, and I did (well, actually napkins from Little Ceasars), and it was a good thing. I loved the movie and I think it made be cry even more because it seemed like so much of what happened was basically where Scott & I are at right now. The whole process of starting a family and feeling like you're losing yourself, not really knowing what you want to do when you grow up, etc. All stuff we have felt or are feeling currently. Not to mention the relationship with the dog - me being a dog person, I could totally relate to that. Well I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I highly recommend the movie. Although I wouldn't take young children even though it's rated PG.

Okay, I need to go to bed. Really a lot. Tonight I took some time after I put Kirsten down to fold laundry and watch LOST since I missed it Wednesday night. But now it's really time to SLEEP before she wakes up for another feeding!