Here's What I've Been Up To the Last Month...

Josie turned one month this past Friday. Hard to believe...(and yet, not so hard to believe when it's 3:00 or 4:00 am) Love this sweet girl! It's been a month of ups and downs but we're moving forward. Josie's dr. diagnosed her with reflux so the medicine she's on now has definitely helped. Oh...and did I mention the sinus infection? Yes...who knew that a 3 week old can get a sinus infection? I do, now. She's been on an antibiotic since this past Wednesday so praying that she continues to be on the mend. She sounded so stuffy that Phil started calling her Darth Josie. Poor little thing... My time is not my own anymore (and that's an adjustment, let me tell you) so instead of lots of words, how about lots of pictures. I bring you Josie's first month...

At the hospital

Heading home...my first car ride

Love to sleep...

Did not love my first bath...but loved Grandma helping me

Love my daddy

Hanging out in my swing

Me and mommy

See...love to sleep

Love the shirt my Aunt Karen sent me!

Look how cute I am!

Me and Sox

Look what Mom's cousins, Alan and Sue sent me!

One month old on October 22nd!

And because I look so darn cute in my sunglasses...

Josephine Julia Lankford Has Arrived!!

Josephine, or Josie, as we call her, arrived at 7:34 pm on Wednesday, September 22nd. The labor part...going from 2 cm (which is what I was when we got to the hospital) all the way to 10cm wasn't bad at all (whoever invented epidurals should have a spot somewhere in some Hall of Fame somewhere). That part only took 5 and 1/2 hours. The delivery part...well...that was another thing entirely. All in all, 2 hours of pushing and a little extra help from the doctor for a sweet someone who didn't want to make that last little part of her journey into the world.

I'll spare you the details.

But our little Josie is here, all 8 lbs 5 ozs and 20 inches of her. I'll post some pictures soon...right now, I'm just figuring out how to feed her, what I'm supposed to be doing, and how to talk coherently with a little bit of sleep at night. But she's here and she's all ours!

Oh...and the name in case you're curious. Josephine is a name we both really liked. It's definitely recognizable as a name, but unique enough that she probably won't be the 4th Josephine in her school class. And we liked the name Josie, which is what we'll call her. We're not really that big into the meaning of names but as an added bonus, her name means "God will add". And truly, it was only God who could've added to our little family. Julia is because she was named in honor of my grandma, Vienno Julia Peura.

As I type, I'm remembering my grandma and I'm all choked up again. Oh...these blessed hormones or the lack of them now that I'm not pregnant anymore. Whatever it is...pray for Phil. :) He's truly been amazing through all of this. And he is such a natural with Josie. She loves to just lay in his arms and look up at him. I just love it!

4:30am On the Clock But a Smile on My Face

Up this morning for the second time around 4:30am for my inevitable couple of trips to the bathroom every night. If I can fall back asleep, I don't mind them. If I can't...well, then, it makes for an extra long day that usually includes a nap the following day. Why the smile on my face this morning as I crawled back into bed?

Because as I lay there willing myself to get back to sleep(which didn't happen, unfortunately), I hear Phil slowly breathing in and out next to me. And I remember that nine years ago this morning, God, without a doubt in my mind, intervened and allowed us these years together. And if that wasn't enough, nine years later, He's decided to add a sweet baby girl to our family.

I am incredibly blessed.

(And for all those waiting...no, nothing new on the baby front yet. The wait continues...)

Want A Peek at the Nursery?

Well, once again at least a month (or probably now, two months) have gone by without a post. Your wait is over. Have I been too busy? Not really. We finally got the camera battery recharged and bought new camera disc thingys (I'm such a techie) on our woefully unused camera so we're ready when the baby comes. Unused...because no, we don't sit around taking pictures of each other. Ready...because this past Friday we thought the baby might be coming and realized we were not camera ready. But more on that later. First...some pictures of the baby's new digs.

So much fun putting the room and bathroom together! But it's all ready and now that it's September...holy cow, it's September...I feel like she can come anytime. And as said above, we thought that might've been last Friday.

All throughout the morning and early afternoon I just didn't feel like the baby was moving around in her normal patterns. I felt uneasy and wondered if I should call the dr's office. I didn't necessarily want to be labeled with "first-time mom anxiety" along with a gentle eye rolling, but then decided, "Heck...I don't care what they think, I'm going to call." To my surprise, they told me to come to the hospital to get hooked up with some monitors just to check and make sure everything was okay.

Well...two and a half hours later, after they had put in an IV (oh, how that doesn't feel good) for fluids because I was a bit dehydrated, I was shocked to learn that apparently I was having contractions every 2 minutes apart since I had been hooked up. Uh...what? I didn't feel anything. I could see them on the monitor but wasn't feeling it. The dr. checked me (and let me just say here without going into too much detail...that is not a pleasant thing) and said I was 80% effaced and 2 cm.

Again...um, what? I had just gone for my normal dr. appt the day before and was 30% and completely closed. So apparently these contractions were doing something. They said if things progressed after a few more hours they were going to admit me and we were having the baby tonight. Uh...I didn't have my bag with me (at this point, I hadn't even packed a bag yet) and told them so. The cheerful response of my nurse? "Oh that's okay...all we need is your insurance card." So funny.

I called Phil to let him know what was going on and he got there about 6:30. The dr. coming in for the night shift just happened to be my regular dr. and he checked me again after 7:00. Nothing had progressed (except the puzzling regularity of these contractions, which darn it, I still really couldn't feel) so he said to just go on home. The nurse then when into a long discourse about how to time the contractions to know if and when we should come back if we needed to. I didn't want to point out the obvious, but my big question was how could I time them if I really couldn't feel them?

So...all that to say is I think I've been having contractions off and on since Friday night...still not completely sure if that's what it is or if it's just the baby moving, and just playing it by ear, I guess. I have my weekly appt with the dr. tomorrow morning so we'll see if anything has progressed. Is Baby Lankford (still not going to name her Philipina) going to wait until the 23rd to arrive? Bets are on, dates have been picked, (sorry Kristi, but Aug. 30th has come and gone) and Jared...bite your tongue for saying the 28th. We'll let you know! Oh...and for those of you have been wanting a pregnancy picture...here I am at almost 37 weeks.

Are You Kidding Me?

So I get this email yesterday with the subject line in all caps saying something about a proposed class action settlement. Thinking it was some scam from Nigeria or the like, I was going to just delete it, but I have to admit, I was a bit curious.
Turns out there's some class action settlement against Classmates.com which I think I was on years ago. Who needs that when you got Facebook? Anyway, I have now come to learn that Classmates. com may have violated my privacy rights by sending some emails that may have violated the law. Whoop de do...so some people may know the name of my high school and what year I graduated from. I have till August 17th to respond that I want to be included in the class action suit or let them know that I want to opt out of the settlement so I can "maintain my right to pursue my own claim".
And just what am I entitled to? What huge fortune awaits my response? If I submit a valid claim form, I am entitled to either a cash settlement of $3.00 or a $2.00 credit off a Gold Membership at Classmates.com. Seriously? People are actually going to do this? And some people are going to opt out so they can sue the pants off of Classmates.com?
The lawyers representing the people in this egregious breach of privacy are two guys out of Seattle and LA. You can rest easy, knowing it was stipulated that they will only receive up to 1.3 million dollars for representing the poor public whose rights were so violated.

Has It Been a Month, Already?

Well...you know what they say about good intentions. A whole month has passed since my last post. Seriously...where is the time going? I picked up Phil at the airport on Saturday and a couple of days ago here's the jist of our conversation:

Me: Do you realize that it's almost the end of June??
Phil: Yep.
Me: Then comes July and August.
Phil: Mmm Hmm.
Me: Then comes September!! She'll be here before we know it!!
Phil: Yep.

You know what they say about women talking a lot more than men, right? A classic case above. But really...she will be here before we know it.
I'm still feeling pretty good. (Although after today and tomorrow with temperatures hovering around 96, we'll see if that's still the case. Whoever invented air conditioners...bless you.) I think you can't miss that I'm pregnant (and just an aside here...who ever invented the word "prego" to say that someone's pregnant? That's a spaghetti sauce, not a dumb word for pregnant. It's like the word, hubby, for husband. But I digress...) but my friends say that people who don't know me, may not think so. Well, just great...so the majority of people in lower Bucks County may just think I'm chubby/fat. Marvelous. But I don't think you can miss it. A picture? Maybe. I feel silly taking a picture of my profile and then posting it. But maybe.
Names? We're still working on that. We've pretty much narrowed the list (which by the way, was my list which Phil promptly nixed most of) to three or so. I think we're going to wait until she's born to see if one "fits" her better than the others. Telling? Nope. We're waiting until she's born for that as well. First, since you already know it's a girl, then there's still some surprise as you wait to hear the name. And second, we're not sure we want to hear all the opinions about what people think about her name. If there's a cute little face attached to the name, you may not be so quick to say, "Ewww...why in the world did you pick that for a name?"
Never fear...our little list doesn't really have names that are what I consider to be, "out there." And looking through a baby name book...there are lots of names that are just "out there". Seriously...are there really little girls out there with names like Bathilda, Greekriana, Lefitray, Melibea, Peata, and Sedofa? Really??
Not much else is going on...just schlepping Phil back and forth to the airport for his trips. Our lease on the flat in London is up at the end of this month so as of July 1st, Phil will no longer be a resident of the UK and will be based back here at good ol' home with trips all through the summer. Planned out, he shouldn't be away more than 7-10 days at a time. Yippee! (Not that he's away...just at the length of the awayness.)
But if stuff does goes on...you'll see it here. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Because Wendy Asked Me To

My dear old friend, Wendy, included me on a list of Seven Things on her fabulous blog which I highly recommend. (www.partofmystory.blogspot.com) I tweaked it once I sat down and realized my mind was seriously blanking out. So...if it's okay with you, Schwendy...here goes.

Seven Things I Did Last Week When Visiting Mom and Dad in Ohio

1. ate mom's roast...Mmm...
2. played cards with mom (and then texted my sister with score updates thru-out the evening)
3. celebrated my dad's birthday with the fam and ate my dad's favorite cake...mom's Strawberry Torte Cream cake...oh my word.
4. went to some garage sales with mom
5. took some naps and generally lounged for a few days
6. me and mom met my oldest friend, Melissa and her mom for lunch at Panera
7. watched some hockey with dad

Such a good time with mom and dad. Saw my brother and his family as well when they came over for dad's birthday dinner. The older I get, the more I realize the gift God gave me when he put me in this family. Just love them!

I'm Still Alive and She's Kicking

I never thought I'd be one of those people. Someone who starts a blog, faithfully writes, starts to have months between posts, and then before you know it, it's been a year and a half since the last post. It's not that bad, but had to stop the downward slope. My fans (all three of you) have been clamoring for an update...so here goes.

She's kicking...that's right...we found out last week that we're having a little girl. So exciting!! She'll be the first girl on my side of the family and Grandma Peura has already sent 10 blankets/quilts that she's made. :) She'll be the warmest girl in the Northeast. We've ordered the nursery furniture, cleared out the bedroom that will become the nursery to get ready to paint, picked out the crib bedding, and are throwing around potential names. We're keeping the final name to ourselves until she's born, but for the lady who asked me this week if we're naming her Philipina...no, I can tell you right now that no, we're not.

Phil's still traveling much but getting home when he can. He was home last week when friends of ours from Australia came over to stay with us for the week. What a good time we had showing them the area... New York including a Broadway show (where I might add, that both Phil and I kept falling asleep in the middle of...sorry Phantom...he had jetlag and I'm pulling the pregnancy card), Philly, Lancaster, New Hope, a Phillies game (where I really felt the baby kicking or poking me. Phil said she was just using her finger to comment on how lousy the Phillies were playing the Mets that night...but no, not our sweet girl), eating a cheesteak, Rita's Water Ice, Tastycakes, pretzels, Chickies and Pete's crab fries. The whole experience. And the baby got her first gifts...a stuffed animal mascot of Sydney's rugby team and the tiniest little pair of Ugg boots that you've ever seen.

And just how much is Phil traveling? Just in the month of May he will head to Paris, then London, back home for a week, then Hong Kong, then Tokyo, then Singapore, back to Hong Kong, back to Paris, over to Tunisia, back to Paris, and then back home in early June. Whew!! Pretty soon his passport is going to feel like an encyclopedia with all the extra pages that have had to be added.

How have I been feeling? Actually...I can not complain! This has been a very easy pregnancy so far. I never got sick or felt like getting sick. So far...not much of anything the book says you may experience. Do I look pregnant? Hmm...depends on who you ask. I think I do...I can really only wear maternity jeans/pants now but am still in regular tee shirts. Most people think I don't. One of these days, I keep getting told (really...all the advice started weeks ago...whether wanted or not) one of these days I'm just going to pop out. I'm 20 weeks exactly today so I guess it should start happening soon.

That's it in a nutshell. I shall try and be more regular with my posts. It's just that my life at the moment is not that exciting. Example? Today's schedule...got up, ate a bowl of cereal, checked email, got a shower, finished cleaning out the closet, ate lunch, got the mail, looked at the grocery circulars, a little Facebook, sent out some emails, started to make a dessert for dinner out tomorrow but realized that I bought the wrong box of pudding, emptied the dishwasher, filled the dishwasher, went to the store to buy the right box of pudding, stopped at Peppi's to pick up a personal pizza for dinner, ate dinner, made the dessert for tomorrow night, watched a little Golden Girls reruns, updating the blog. See? Riveting. But I still promise to do better. My fans deserve nothing less.

Back From Europe and Did I Mention...

No...I did not just get back. I've been back since the 3rd but lots going on here. More on that later. But first, I give you my trip to see Phil. I left on Jan. 28th to fly over to London. Unfortunately, in order to get the upgrade to envoy class with our miles, I had to first fly to Charlotte, NC. A very nice city, I'm sure, but not when it adds several hours to your 7 and1/2 hour flight. Although...I was seated next to a very yappy USAir pilot who was headed home after an overseas flight. I learned so much. Did you know that pilots have a sleeping area up near the cockpit on international flights and they like to wear the most outrageous pajamas they can find? Nope, I didn't either. He's on the lookout for some pink flannel ones with bunnies on them. Nope, I'm not making this up.

Phil arranged for a driver to pick me up and met us outside of our flat. (London-speak for apartment.) I was pretty tired after only sleeping about an hour on the flight so while he went to work, I showered and then went to sleep. The next day I walked over to the London Museum At the Docklands which isn't far from Phil's work. Very interesting! It covered the history of London from the Roman times all the way till today. We had dinner with one of Phil's work colleagues and his wife. Love my fish and chips. Did find out that the Black Pudding that Michael was trying to get me to try (I know...he just doesn't know that I hardly ever try something new) is actually blobs of dried animal blood. I mean really...who eats that stuff? See...that's why I don't like to try new things.

The next morning Phil and I flew over to Paris where Phil had to work at the offices over there. On Friday while Phil worked, (I know...my life is so hard.) I walked over to the Grevin, a wax museum not far from our hotel. I have this thing for wax museums. Back in '06 when Phil and I first went to London for a quick vacation, the top thing on my list was Madame Tussaud's wax museum. I'm not sure why I like them but they fascinate me. This one was much smaller yet still interesting, but had lots of French people that I had no clue who they were. Still...a nice way to spend a few hours.

On Saturday we headed to the airport to pick up Phil's parents. They were coming for a week's vacation, half in Paris and then half in London. We showed them the famous sites of Paris and then we drove over to Disneyland Paris the next morning. My father-in-law is a big fan of Disneyworld so we knew he would enjoy this. And what may I add is worse than sweating up a storm at Disneyworld in the middle of humid June? How about Disneyland Paris in February when you're so cold that you can't stop shaking? We had a day of snow, (standing on Main Street you couldn't see the castle at the end of the road through all the snow.) and another day of cold rain. I would wear three layers under my coat including Phil's sweatshirt with hood and wrap a scarf around my face and neck under the hood. I looked like an Eastern European immigrant from the early 1900's but vanity goes out the window when you're so cold that you can't feel your fingers.

It was a fun trip, even though I couldn't ride most of the rides. And why not?? Well...Phil and I are very excited to announce that we are expecting a baby in September! I know...I'm still a bit stunned. I've been feeling pretty good, yet pretty tired. But not tired enough it would seem to say no to vacation. So...this Sunday we leave for a sunny, warm Caribbean cruise. Phil is so done with gray, rainy London that all he wanted was to go somewhere warm and where the sun was out. I'm hoping the motion of the boat doesn't make me feel sick, but at this point, I'd take the warm anywhere we can get it (as I look outside and see the 15 or so inches of snow still on the ground from last week's storm).

We're leaving from Ft. Lauderdale and then heading to San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts. Phil's looking forward to some diving. I'm looking forward to a deck chair in the sun with my name on it. I may sleep away this vacation but at least I'll be warm doing it.

Still Here...But Not For Long

Yeah....I know. The previous post talked about our upcoming Christmas party (and yes, my Christmas tree is still up. Don't judge me.) and here it is the last week in January. My fans have been clamoring for more. (Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Wendy.) It's just been that kind of month.

I thought about what I could write about...my exhausting schedule (but who wants to read about my fascinating tv line up each night)...my exotic foods that I've been eating (peanut butter or chicken salad sandwiches)...my busy social calendar (Bible study on Wed. morning with an occasional trip to Panera everyone once in a while) and realized that nope...can't imagine many people interested in that.

But fear not, another trip is coming soon. I leave Monday (and here's where I add that my previous non-stop trips abroad were taken for granted...nothing like making an overseas trip longer by a nice 3 hour layover in lovely Charlotte, NC) for London to spend some time with Phil. Whoo hoo! I've been on the internet and have my list of museums ready and waiting.

After a few days in London, we'll head over to Paris to spend a couple of days at...wait for it...EuroDisney. Nothing says French culture like Mickey Mouse. Should be fun, but I have to say the thought of walking around a Disney park with a coat on is a strange one. Pictures and blogs galore when I get back. And hopefully none explaining the story of how our wallet or money from our wallet got stolen!