Me Rambling

So, I haven't written in awhile. I just haven't felt inspired I guess. Christmas in only weeks away and I'm still not quite in the holiday mood...
This is the first Christmas for Samantha. I think I am a little preoccupied with trying to make it the perfect 1st Christmas for her. In doing that, I'm forgetting the true meaning and reason for Christmas which is the birth of our Savior, JESUS CHRIST.

Just saying that (well, writing that) makes me feel better. It is so good to know that He is always here for us, for me, for Samantha, for everyone! So what if we don't make it to the mall for Christmas pictures with Santa. So what if all of our decorations aren't up and are stocking aren't hung with that much care. Jesus is the only reason there is a Christmas in the first place. Sure, I guess in this day and age we will always have the ever-popular "Holiday Season" but Christmas is the true celebration of God's only son. Merry Christmas

Hmmm...

STILL NO CAMERA

...enough said :(

Camera Search 2008

MISSING:
I'm having some bad luck with cameras. About 2 months ago our digital camera broke. Just stopped working one day. If you're a mom you know that one just can't live without a camera to keep memories of their little one(s). So, we broke down and bought a new one.



IT'S MISSING!!!



I can't find it ANYWHERE! I don't know if I left it somewhere when we were out, or if just buried under the stacks of random stuff and clutter around my house. All I know is that my daughter is getting bigger every day and I am missing some really fantastic photo ops.



If you've seen it...give me a ring! ;)

Daddy's Shoes

This evening we were hanging out in the living room and decided that Samantha is going to be (is a) little daredevil. She crawls 90mph (well, that might be a tad exaggerated), she already loves to jump on the bed, she uses our dog Satchel as a stepping stool to get onto the couch, and she loves being thrown in the air, turned upside down, and all that other crazy stuff...keep in mind, she's still an INFANT!

I don't know, maybe that's normal. Anyhow, this evening when we were in the living room I would put Sam on the couch and she would just kind of jump off (into my arms). So, Ben and I decided that she would make a really awesome snowboarder. We also decided that she would be a professional snowboarder and once she starts getting sponsors we can quit our jobs and live off of our totally kick-butt snowboarder daughter. She does have red hair, now it's not quite as orange as Shaun White's (aka: The Flying Tomato) but it's definitely auburn so we think it works. She's gold-medal bound. Can we say, Winter Olympics 2018!

Now, daddy is the snowboarder in the family, I just kind of go along for the ride. It's funny, of course we don't expect Sam to be a pro snowboarder or anything, but she's just so amazing that I know she'll do something great with her life and whatever it is will be the most amazing fit. But for now, we'll let her fill daddy's shoes and let her be a mini-pro-boarder in our minds ;)

ps. Doesn't 'Sam Russell' just sound like a snowboarder name?..I'm just sayin'...

6 months...already?

How on earth could my sweet little baby girl already be a half a year old? Time has flown by so so so fast, and I literally can not believe it! Today, Samantha was not in the best of moods. But, I decided to take her to get her 6 month pictures taken anyway... Even though she wasn't all that cheery, they still turned out so cute. Here's a look:

Growing Up

Because we moved Samantha has been sleeping in our room in her bassinet a little longer than I had originally planned. This past week, I finally got her room somewhat ready for her furniture. Then, daddy put her crib together, and we got in all nice and snuggly for her first night in it. I got out the baby monitors and placed one in her room and one in ours. When she fell asleep that night, I slowly crept into her bedroom and put her down in her crib. I watched for a couple minutes to make sure she didn't wake, then tip-toed out of there and shut the door behind me. A couple hours later that night when I got ready to go to bed, I walked into our bedroom and saw that empty bassinet...


I expected that she would've woken up at least once before I went to bed, so I made Ben go in her room...just to check on her and make sure the monitors worked. They did. So I layed down in bed and waited for the house to get quite and then waited for Samantha to wake up and cry so that I could go rescue her from the Big Bad Crib...wasn't she supposed to be upset that she was in that big room, all by herself?

She wasn't. I didn't hear a peep out of her or the monitor for a good 30 minutes. It was safe to go to sleep...I hoped. It was. At about 6:30am the next morning, I turned over in bed to look at her bassinet, of course it was empty. But I could hear her through the monitor. She wasn't crying, she was cooing...happily. I went into her room and there she was...







She is showing me day after day that she is getting bigger. She is such a healthy, active, happy, outgoing little wonder...And I was afraid to let her sleep in her own room! Someday I'll learn.

Trogdor...The Burninator

Samantha just wanted to give her Auntie Lizzy a shout-out and say "Thanks" for this awesome shirt! If the little dragon on her shirt doesn't mean anything to you, you obviously haven't ever visited Homestarrunner.com. If you like stupid, nonsense humor, you'll love it...

check it out here: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

Happy Birthday...to me!

Wow...looks like I haven't updated this thing for well over a month. My bad. As most of you know, Samantha is doing wonderfully since her little stint in the hospital. She had an appointment with the cardiologist over at Doernbecher's a few weeks ago and they said that as long as she keeps up with the meds, she should be just fine....whew!!!

Thursday was my 27th Birthday and my mom came to watch Samantha so that Ben and I could go out. Let me remind you all that this was my first time leaving Sam for more than a few minutes in her 3 and a half months of life. Needless to say, I was a little paranoid and anxious. My mom did a wonderful job of keeping my sisters and I out of harms way, alive and healthy all these years. I knew that Samantha would be just fine with her Grandma, but I didn't know if I would be okay without my baby girl.

Turns out, I was just fine. Big surprise, huh. Nanny did a great job with her and Sam was happy the whole time. I only called six or seven times and I didn't hear any screaming and crying out of my little one. I can't believe that I have turned into one of "those" parents. The mom who is so overprotective and calls the babysitter every five minutes....oh my!

Out of the Blue

Monday was Samantha's 2 month check-up. We went in, the doctor said she was growing wonderfully (12lbs - 23 1/2 inches). Then the doctor was doing her regular examination stuff, when she noticed that Sam's heart rate was racing a little bit. She had the assistants come in and do an EKG on Samantha. They put a bunch of little blue sticky things all over her chest and tummy, and then attached wires to them. When they started up the machine, I just wanted them to hurry up and get it over with so they could take those little sticky things off. Samantha looked so uncomfortable. They finished with the machine and then left Ben, Sam and I alone in the room. I remember thinking, "oh, this is normal, babies heart rate's race all the time." A few minutes later the doctor returned to tell us that this wasn't so normal. . .

Sam's doctor is a wonderful lady and she was very calm and reassuring when she told us that we were going to have to go straight to Doernbecher Children's Hospital and see the pediatric cardiologist. She told us that Samantha probably has something called SVT (Super Ventricular Tachycardia) which in short means - fast heart rate. Too fast.


We took her straight to OHSU, and got her checked in. We passed many hospital rooms before we arrived at ours and I notices a lot of sick children, and I felt my pulse quicken. I was thinking, a hospital is for sick kids, Samantha's not sick, she was just fine this morning, why are we here?

A few moments after we got into the hospital room and Samantha on the table, they hooked her up to more machines, that had me wishing for the little blue sticky things again. The things they put on her were big and looked extremely uncomfortable for an infant. One time I counted and noticed 9 doctors and nurses in the room. This of course is totally unnerving. Why on earth would there need to be so many people in here?! The next couple of hours were a blur. I remember looking at the monitor and seeing her heart rate as 280 (it's supposed to be around 100). One of the doctors put an ice pack over her entire face (to try to shock her heart into going back to a normal rhythm), he also tried pressing down on her chin/neck, for the same purpose and it just wasn't working.


The nurse put an IV in her, that then fell out and they had to do the process all over again. I was crying and Samantha was screaming her little heart out. Meanwhile, Ben was trying to keep us both calm. . . poor guy. Finally, the doc decided to give her a dose of medicine that goes straight to her little heart to slow it down, and it worked. . . finally!


After all of that, the cardiologist came and talked to us about what SVT is all about and what we will have to do about it. I guess the bottom line is that Samantha is okay, and God is in control. This has been the most difficult thing I have ever gone through, but it is all going to be okay. We are still in the hospital until at least tomorrow. I will write more later. If you could keep Sam, Ben and I in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days, we would greatly appreciate it.

Way too many wires

Mama trying to keep it together while Sam is crying. . . again!

Keeping her spirits up

And I was complaining about the little blue sticky things!

Tired baby and tired daddy

Meme?...Okay

Leanne suggested that I do this Meme thing, so I'll give it a try. However, I do have a newborn, so I don't think my answers are going to be all that exciting, but here we go...

5 Thing In My Bag
Like I said, I have a newborn so the only thing I'm carrying around right now is a diaper bag.

1. Diapers...duh (also, wipes and other baby changing paraphernalia)
2. Camera and an extra set of batteries
3. Cell Phone
4. Wallet
5. Soft Lips chapstick


5 Things In My Room

1. My bed, which does not get used enough these days...NO SLEEP
2. Samantha's Bassinet
3. Samantha's Changing Table
4. Books and Magazines
5. Way, Way, Way too much clutter


5 Things I Have Always Wanted To Do

1. Go to grad-school
2. Run a Marathon (Got half-way there!)
3. Learn how to cook
4. Establish a deeper connection and relationship with God
5. Train our dog


5 Things I Am Currently Into

1. Samantha - she's extremely time-consuming but I wouldn't trade a second of it!
2. Reading...mostly parenting books and magazines but I love novels also. I'm a little in between novels at the moment.
3. Trying to find time and energy to get out and run.
4. The Office and Lost
5. Scrapbooking - I haven't done this since Sam was born but I have enough pictures to fill several albums.


5 People That Should Try This Meme:
Unfortunately, I am relatively new to this blog thing, so I don't have many blog-friends, or friends that blog.

*I do think that Judith Anne should try it out though. I already know her pretty well but I think her answers would be entertaining, to say the least. She's always got something funny to say. Love you, love you, love you Judith!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day! My mom, sisters, and Samantha and I went to my Grandmother's house to celebrate. It was so cool having 4 generations of girls in the same house. It was wonderful how everywhere I went this weekend, people would tell me Happy Mother's Day. It was even extra special because my little sister is expecting a baby soon, and we were able to share our first Mother's Day together. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful Grandmother, Mother, and two wonderful little sisters that are going to make such awesome mothers.

I also have a truly wonderful Mom-in-law and two great sis-in-laws that I love so much!

It also made me think about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I have a really good friend and a couple other people that I know that desperately want to be mamma's. It's crazy how there are incredible women that would make such perfectly amazing mothers and they are having such a hard time making that happen. Unfortunately, I also know some not-so-amazing people that are taking advantage of pregnancies and using abortions as a type of birth control. What is wrong with people? I have always been anti-abortion but how could someone that has had the joy of having a baby once, have an abortion because they simply forgot to use protection...? It's so unfair and confusing. This is definitely something I'm going to have to ask The Big Guy about when I get to Heaven. In the meantime, my heart and prayers go out to you that are going to make wonderful mothers someday. God has His plan, and it is perfect, even though at times it's hard for us to understand...He already has it all figured out.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers and to all of those who will make great ones someday!

Pictures From The Hospital

mama and baby



Ben preparing to "assist" with the C-Section...
"assist"=hold my hand...which he did a wonderful job of


Our precious baby girl


Daddy and baby just after delivery


Ben's first diaper change...he did a great job!


All wrapped up

What the heck?

Why did no one tell me that having a newborn is SO much work? I mean, yeah, people always jokingly say, "oh, get ready for no sleep, and poopy diapers every 20 minutes," but I never took them literally. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not completely naive. I knew that there would be nights with not very much sleep, but I didn't know it would be EVERY NIGHT!!!
I have chosen to breastfeed, and I don't know how you other breastfeeding mothers out there stayed sane through the chaos! It is SO hard. It's uncomfortable, and a little inconvenient. For example...Thursday was the return of our favorite TV show, "The Office" (if you don't watch it, you should!) My parents and my sister and her boyfriend and Ben and I were all sitting down at 9pm sharp to watch, when Samantha decides that she's starving all of a sudden. Of course, this is my parents house and there is company over, so I had to go into the other room to breastfeed...AHHHH! My wonderful husband was so amazing and came into the other room with me so that we could watch it together later (thank goodness for DVRs) But still, no one else can feed her but me. I can't give her a bottle with pumped milk until she's about a month old and regular feeding is well established, she eats every 2-3 hours, sometimes she eats every hour on the hour...it's INSANE!
I feel like I haven't talked to my husband in days...and he's been right here the whole time. New babies are just so consuming that it feels like Samantha is the only other person in my life right now... Don't misunderstand me...I love her so much and it's totally worth anything that I might have to sacrifice to have a happy, healthy baby, but it's just a lot of work.

...A little more than I was expecting!

She's Here!

She's finally here! Samantha Elizabeth Russell arrived on April 1st at 6pm. I was in labor from 9pm on Monday night until 5pm on Tuesday when my doctor decided that she wasn't progressing AT ALL! (for those of you who know anything about labor, I hadn't dilated past a 1 that whole time). The doctor decided to do a C-section at around 5pm and she was born at 6. It was pretty crazy but it was so worth it. Ben and I have an absolutely perfect little baby girl. We are extremely sleep-deprived, but so so so happy to have her finally here!

More pictures to follow later...

So Close...Yet, So Far

So today is Sunday...that means tomorrow I will be at week 41, which for those of you who don't know, means that I will be one ENTIRE week past my due date! Tomorrow is also Monday, which means that if I don't go into labor between now and 9pm tomorrow evening...The Doc is going to put me out of my misery (or at least start to) with pretend hormones and drugs...Yeah for modern medicine!

I am SUPER anxious today and I know I will be even more tomorrow. I have a doctor appointment in the morning and then am scheduled to go to the hospital tomorrow night... The doctor did say that they would give me some meds to help me sleep through the night, which is awesome because that's definitely the only way I'll be sleeping.

It's crazy to think that in the next couple of days, Ben and I are going to become parents! I'm really excited and I think Ben is even more excited than me (of course, he also doesn't have to go through labor). I know that God is watching over us and Samantha. If anyone reads this...please keep Ben, me and Samantha in your prayers. Samantha to be safe and healthy, for me to have strength and be at peace with delivery, and for Ben to not say or do things to make me want to yell at him :) He will be awesome, I already know it!

I guess the next time I blog will be after I am a mother...holy cow!

4 Days...Late!

Okay...I was due on Monday and it's Thursday afternoon? What's the deal? I know, I know, only like .5% of women (or something crazy like that) give birth on their actual due date...but really, we're going on 10 months here! Come on Sam!

I went to the Doctor today and he said nothing has changed. I had another ultrasound, and it looks like Samantha is perfectly healthy and perfectly content inside the womb and just doesn't want to come out! I can't really blame her, I mean, the world is pretty crazy these days...but enough is enough.

It looks like I will be getting induced on Monday evening/Tuesday morning...go figure...an April Fool's Baby! Pretty darn funny huh?!?

1 Day and Counting

So, yesterday was my due date...still no Samantha! At my doctor appointment last Friday, my doc told me that NOTHING had changed. She set me up for an ultrasound and an exam for Thursday with a different doctor (she's on vacation this week!) Then, if I still haven't gone into labor by Monday, they will induce me Monday night/Tuesday morning. From what I've been reading, inducing labor is a rather scary thing. My doctor even said she really hates to do it to women with 1st time pregnancies because it's very traumatic on the body. I was reading a forum online, and these women were saying that getting induced is really painful and there is a much higher chance of having a C-section. Oh great! I know that I'm in for a pretty long labor experience anyway, and I know I'll get through it. Thousands of babies are born in this country every day. It's just the whole fear of the unknown thing...I've never been through anything like this before and that is what scares me...

That and all of a sudden becoming responsible for another human being...pretty intense!

We're Still Waiting...

Well, my goal of writing once-a-week hasn't really worked out so much. As most of you know, Ben and I are staying in Tillamook with the folks. My dad decided that he was sick of the phone company (with good reason) and cancelled the home phone and DSL internet...We are now patiently waiting for the nice New Internet company to come hook it up so that we can all be "connected" to the world once more.
Anyhow, Samantha STILL isn't here... My due date is in 2 days! I know that the majority of 1st time pregnancies are "late" but I'm tired of waiting! I'm not looking forward to the whole giving birth part of the process but I do want to have a little baby girl to hold and I kind of want my body back to myself. I know, I'm selfish, but I've shared it with another human being for 9 1/2 months now, I think it's time for her to have her own space!

I have a doctor appointment today, so we'll see what she has to say...I really don't feel any different than I did last week (when nothing was happening) so I'm not getting my hopes up. Only time will tell.

22 Days and Counting

This is my 1st attempt ever at blogging, so we'll see how it goes. I wanted to start this blog because I am sick of MySpace and all that other stuff... No, MySpace hasn't personally offended me or anything, I'm just not motivated to respond or post anything on there. Ben and I are planning on moving to Anchorage, AK this summer. Since we're going to be taking our new baby with us (No, mom, sorry we're not leaving her here) I wanted an easy way to keep everyone updated on the baby and Ben and I.

There is no way that I am going to be able to blog everyday, so I'm not even going to set that goal for myself. I think I'll start with a once-a-week goal, and see if I can even do that. I was really excited because I figured out how to put up a picture, it's going to be a learning process.

As of today, we should be seeing our new baby, Samantha Elizabeth Russell in about 22 days! (give or take a few) Ben and I are SOOOOOO excited to see her and introduce her to all of you!