I’ve been meaning to write about this for awhile… the highs and lows of parenthood. I’m the first in my close group of friends to have a baby. Most of my friends aren’t even close. That has made things a little hard on us. Okay… a LOT hard. My friends are wonderful people–but they just don’t get it. They didn’t get how much support we needed when Ryan was first born. How much help we needed. And now–they don’t get that I’m still a 25-year-old girl who still loves her friends. Steve and I have the same group of friends… and we’re fairly often left out of group events now. Granted, many of them we probably couldn’t attend (like the 10pm decision to head to the bars or a friend’s house), but an invite anyway would be nice.….….. right? Or maybe I’m just thinking it would be nice to be able to go. (and to be fair, I don’t call them nearly as often as I should… like, ever… and of course my excuse is that I get too busy, but I know I should make time and I should try to make plans).

I work part-time and when I get home, I hang with Ryan. It’s awesome and I LOVE it, but adult contact wouldn’t hurt once in awhile. I need MOMMY FRIENDS! I have turned to my blog and twitter friends who have all been nothing but amazing and supportive and thank goodness for them. In the real world? My closest friends are currently my mom and my mother in law. And there is nothing wrong with that, I love them, it would just be nice to hang out again with 20-something girls… 20-something moms would be great too.

So it’s weird. Being a mom is THE.BEST.THING I have ever done. It’s just also the hardest. I always hated that interview question, “what has been your greatest life accomplishment so far?” I never knew what to say… no one thing stood out. Finishing my thesis and getting my masters degree? Sounds like a good answer. Maybe getting my BS degree… or traveling away from family and friends for 6 weeks in Australia… jumping from a plane as 12,000 feet? All okay answers. Any would suffice. But now? Hands down, without a doubt, the greatest accomplishment of my life is Ryan. I made him and I’m still growing him (with this magical thing called breastmilk). It’s a miracle and it’s in my hands and smiling at me everyday.

That is the high of being a parent. It by far beats any of the lows that come and go. And I am meeting new mommy friends–with my ICAN and La Leche League groups. I’m even reconnecting with some girls from my high school that just recently had babies. But I don’t want to lose my “old” friends, although it seems we drift apart. How did you deal with that??? Did you drift away from your friends that had no kids???

I finally wrote this post because of an email I got today from Parents Connect that said: “your childless friends don’t understand, you have no “mom friends” and baby’s not much of a conversationalist. If you’re feeling lonely, you’re not alone. Having a baby is amazing, but it’s also amazingly overwhelming and easy to feel like you’re the only one stuck under a pile of dirty diapers. Get in touch with some grownups who get it!” <— and that is sooooo true, I could have written it myself.

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First, let me say that I’m AMAZED that in one day we’ve already raised $70 for Cora’s Story. You guys are incredible, seriously. I can’t wait to see the end result on May 30th! Maybe we can try for at least one donation every day?! Even if it’s just $1. We’ve gotten some great prizes donated already including: skin and makeup products (Sephora and BeautiControl), a gift card (Target), a Cushie Pushie, a gorgeous 8x10 flower print, Wix-and-stix, a Twitter for Business autographed book, Barefoot Books, various etsy shop items, etc. (and I’m still accepting more! Let me know if you’d like to donate something) and be sure to donate some money for a chance to win these awesome gifts!! Cora’s Story Fundraising Giveaway

Next… I got this in an email today from my mom and wanted to share it with all of you awesome moms too:

Before I was a mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn’t want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment,
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

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I have written on here before about Cora’s Story. Cora was a precious 5 day old baby girl when she died while breastfeeding in her mother’s arms from an undetected Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). CHD is the #1 birth defect and I bet most of you have never heard of it before. We need to change that!! Cora’s parents, Kristine and Ben, are now saving lives by raising awareness and educating on CHD and a simple test you can do when your baby is born, a pulse oximetry. Having a baby or know someone who is?? Tell them to ask for a pulse ox 48 hours after birth!

As of April 7, 2010, Cora’s Story Inc. has officially become a non-profit organization. By donating to Cora’s Story you are helping save lives. This organization has three main themes that your donations will help develop (taken right from corasstory.org):

1. Cora’s Hopes and Dreams (Spells CHD, cool, huh?): Saving and improving lives through congenital heart defect awareness and education. We especially want to work with expecting parents and parents. Our goal is for no other parent to find out about CHD, the most common birth defect, from the coroner. And, of course, screening for CHD goes hand in hand with this and is close to our hearts. We’ll be keeping an eye one newborn screening research and developments.

2.Cora Cares: Working to help parents pay for their child’s funeral.Cora’s funeral home, Zwick and Jahn in Decatur, Indiana, donated their services. We want to both work with other funeral homes to follow suit and to raise funds for parents to pay for their child’s funeral. Funeral are expensive, as are children, having a funeral and having a child just don’t mix financially.

3. Cora’s Heart: Remember “Wear pink for Cora?” Well, don’t put away that pink! We’re going to make it a monthly routine and hopefully grow as we go. Cora made us so happy, and we want to pass on the love. On the 30th of the month, Cora was born on November, 30, we urge people tocommit an act of good in her name, and to wear pink to pass on her story. Through all of our acts of good and kindness, Cora’s love will multiply.

If you’d like any more information, have ideas on how to fundraise or have services you can offer, please email Kristine at kristine@corasstory.org. They’re trying to keep overhead costs low so anything you can offer will help tremendously!

There’s also a community forum you can join for more discussion: Cora’s Story Community
And you can read Cora’s Story here: Cora’s Story

**EDIT** After being posted for only 1 hour, we already have 1 donation and FOUR sponsors donating prizes! Including: $25 Target gift card, a hand-knit baby hat, a prayer child candle and a Cushie Pushie for breastfeeding moms! I’m sure there will be LOTS more on the way. AND… the first 10 people to donate money to Cora’s Story will get one of Cora’s very own adorable birth announcements made by Tiny Prints. Want a chance to win?! Please donate money (any amount!) to Cora’s Story (see below or at the top right sidebar). THANK YOU!

WANT TO HELP??? I’m hosting a fundraiser/giveaway!!! Here’s what I need from YOU:

1) Please contact me (erdickey at gmail dot com) if you have a prize you’d like to donate. It can be handmade or purchased. Everyone who donates money to Cora’s Story will be entered in drawings for every prize, so I hope to have lots of great gifts for them!! What do you get out of it? First of all, doing something incredibly good and generous… but also, publicity. I’ll post about you and your gift for all to see! (I get about 18,000+ pageviews a month so that’s a lot of publicity for you!)

2) Please DONATE! 100% of what is raised here will go to Cora’s Story Inc to help save lives. You’ll get 1 “ticket” for every dollar you donate. So donate $10 and get 10 entries, $20 and get 20 entries, etc! I am certain there will be lots of amazing prizes so the more entries you get, the better your chances No amount is too small and any amount is greatly appreciated!

Click below to donate securely through paypal. If you’d rather mail a check, please contact me (erdickey at gmail dot com)

I will be raising money until May 30, 2010… Cora’s 6 month birthday. Once donations close, I will take all entries and draw winners for each prize that has been donated!! I will update my blog with news on sponsors as they come in PLEASE spread the word!

*Paypal is not associated with the drawing, only with the donations. Paypal does not participate in raffles. The giveaway is separate. If you have questions, please email me at erdickey at gmail dot com*

PLEASE contact me to donate prizes or for any other information!! Thanks much! erdickey at gmail dot com

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Ok, I’ve gotten some blog awards recently and I think it’s finally time I post them! Thanks to everyone!!

I was given the One Lovely Blog Award by Jana over at Boobies, Babies & a Blog! I recently discovered her blog too and love it–thanks so much! Rules: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. (I’m going to post all the blog winners at the end)

I was given the colorful Sunshine Award by Christa the Little BGCG blog! The Rules: Put the logo on your blog or within your post. Pass the award onto 12 bloggers. Link the nominees within your post. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I was also so kindly given the Beautiful Blogger Award by Christa at the Little BGCG blog! Thank you!  The Rules: Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog. Copy the award and paste it to your blog. Tell us 7 interesting facts about yourself. Nominate 7 bloggers that you love and link to their blog (See below)

Ok, here’s my 7 interesting(?) facts.. I’ll try to share things you guys don’t know about me yet :
1. I don’t mind snakes or lizards, in fact I’d like to own one… but I’m deathly afraid of spiders. Even ones so small you can barely see them.
2. I have a masters in animal physiology and I specialized in animal behavior… the plan was to go on for my phd, but I didn’t get accepted into the program I wanted… so here I am.
3. My favorite trip was 6 weeks in Australia/New Zealand, but if I could go anywhere again it would be Norway.
4. While in New Zealand I went skydiving, swimming with wild dolphins and exploring a glowworm cave.
5. I was born with hyaline membrane disease (issue with lung function) and the doctors told my parents I probably wouldn’t survive.
6. I have one brother who is 1.5 years old than me and living in CO. His middle name is Ryan
7. I used to play the piano, flute and trumpet and the only sports I ever did were tennis and track.

Ok.… and the awards go to.…

Wait… 1. because I’m lazy and 2. because I don’t want to sort these out (is that related to point #1? Yea, I think so.) Anyway… I’m screwing the rules and saying ALL of you get ALL 3 of these awards. Because I can.

Little BGCG
Single Mama Central
Hearts and Hands Services
Baby Bumble B
Cora’s Story
Hope Springs Eternal
Bodhi Bear
Dear Baby
It’s a BOY!
Miracle Pending
Mommy and Molly
Smiling Green Mom
The Vanilla Bean
Boobies, Babies & a Blog
Smonk You

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This is all coming at once because I’m way behind on taking the pictures and getting the post up. We’ve collected these purchases and gifts over the last 9 months!! Here are some other awesome things we’ve gotten, apart from the baby showers…

A motherhood memory box

A frog Crane humidifier

Our bouncer

I made this bulletin board, but it’s not finished yet. I just added the ribbon and monkey sticker, but still need to glue some little wooden sports pieces to the edges of the frame.

Our bassinet

A basket FULL of random goodies. We plan on hanging shelves in the bedroom and setting a lot of this out.

Cute sock monkey pillow

and of course… tons of diapers. These are all Size 1 and the bottom of baby’s closet is filled with more size 2, 3 and 4

I’m saving the pictures of the nursery (crib, dresser and wall art) until they’re totally done. SOON!

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Ok, third and final! This one was thrown for Steve’s side of the family by his sister, aunt and cousin (in law). Wonderful ladies! They had a picture board that everyone signed and wrote nice messages on. Once baby is born, a family picture will go in and it will be framed Love it! We played a word scramble of baby related things—it was tough! We guessed how many pacifier candies were in a jar… and each gift was given a random number and when I opened that present, everyone had to mark that number off their bingo sheet—cute idea I had never seen before!

Oh and there were COLD STONE cupcakes, yummmmmmm

Monkey stuff! This basket was also filled with baby blue hangers, crib sheets and a hooded monkey towel

We also got the other bathroom stuff: the monkey bath rug, shower curtain, toothbrush holder, wash cloths and soap dispenser! We got some great books (Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon, and Hungry Caterpillar), a Parent’s Survival Kit, changing pad cover, these adorable hand carved animals:

We got some cute Cubs and Vikings outfits:

Swaddling blankets, diapers, wipes, a baby bottle, bath toys, a cute Christmas outfit, Baby Einstein book, this SO COMFY swing:

a Pea Pod travel bed, and an amazing quilt handmade by Steve’s grandma! The colors are perfect! We also got money toward our glider. Here it is, with the handmade quilt!

and a “dream screen” for the crib—it shows moving images and you can attached your own mp3 player to play music!

Let’s not forget RAFFI! I loved him when I was little (ok, I still love him and have already played these CDs, singing along to annoy Steve best I could, haha). Here’s a picture with some of our books and music for baby…

Thanks so much everyone!!!

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This shower was co-ed and thrown by my friend Joanna who I’ve known since elementary school Before the shower Joanna asked me a bunch of questions regarding parenting style…. like what we’d do if Ryan failed a class or got a tattoo or didn’t want to go to college… they were tough! At the shower, Steve had to answer with what he thought I had said. It was hard because we’ve never talked about that stuff. Sure, we’ve discussed plans for baby, but not so much past age 5, haha. The fun part: if Steve got it wrong, he had to eat a spoonful of baby food and I had to feed him. It was hilarious. First he tried green beans (EW) and then squash or something. He even acted like a fussy baby, spitting it down his chin and opening his mouth only if I pretended the spoon was an airplane. Good practice! And in exchange he got a bag of M&Ms, haha.

There was a baby bottle chugging game, which was a lot harder than it looked! Who knows how those babies get so much out of those bottles, but everyone was having a really hard time. A smarty in the group decided to unscrew his cap and chug it… then screwed the cap back on before anyone noticed. Everyone was like—how’d you do that?! haha.

Sock monkey canvas pictures from my mom

It’s “fake wine” in my glass, no worries, haha.

Our activity mat!

As you can see in the picture, we also got our Diaper Champ! and… a wall sticker of baby’s name, some bottle nipples, a basket with diapers, nursing pads and bibs, a hand/footprint picture frame, a 1st Christmas ornament, burp cloths, bottle brush, and a photography session for maternity pictures!!! My mom gave us some glass bottles we decided not to use, so we returned them and bought our crib mattress!! Whoohoo!

I had to put this picture in because of my face, haha. We were discussing our need for a breast pump and someone suggested buying it used. I guess that was my reaction, lol.

Thanks so much everyone!!

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I’m way behind on posting these… and on sending out the thank you cards (sorry!!) My first shower was thrown by my mom with help from my MIL and great friend Joanna. I was 32 weeks along and the shower was mainly for my side of the family.

Everyone had to guess how big my belly was by cutting a length of ribbon… most people thought I was HUGE! haha. But Jan (mom of one of my childhood best friends) got the measurement EXACTLY! She had taken her time cutting the right length too and everyone was making fun of her, but it paid off! It was pretty funny.

We did a charades game where my mom had bought 4 gifts for me that each started with a letter to spell out BABY. She handed them to unlucky volunteers who had to try to act out the gift for me to guess.
B: bib
A: activity blocks
B: hm, I can’t remember. A book?
Y: “yellow” (was a book of colors)

And finally, we did a little pregnancy quiz and guess who won? The ONE girl in the room who has never been pregnant/raised a baby. Haha—I think that means she’s ready!

This stroller (with a matching infant car seat) is from my mom and grandma. The adorable monkey filling in for baby was a gift from my Aunt. She also gave us a boppy with a handmade monkey cover:

We got a baby bathtub, cute overalls, an awesome basket FULL of necessities and fun stuff—including this melody bear that attaches to the crib and plays music or heartbeat sounds:

Cute baby clothes, some receiving blankets, bibs, our diaper changing pad and cover, a convertible car seat from MIL (the air safety one!), a Target gift card, our pack n’ play:

 
Our baby monitors:

Some cute blankets:

Our crib mobile:

And lots more fun stuff! I apologize if I left your gift out, I’m trying to do this from memory

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There are a LOT of people we’ll need to notify once baby Ryan is born and we’ve found a great way to do it.

Steve and I were recently contacted by a company called “Baby’s First Phone Call” and we’re going to try it out. Basically, once the baby is born we call an 800 number and record a personalized message (“Baby Ryan was born at so-and-so time, weighing blah blah blah…  hip hip hooray!”) and then Baby’s First Phone Call will send that message out to a ton of phone numbers we entered on their website ahead of time.

Of course there will be some people we’ll call for real, but we can’t possibly call everyone. Some people we may not get to talk to for a few days. So we think this is a great way–and still personal!–to get the word out. Much better you hear it from our own voices than from facebook or twitter, right?!

PLUS.. after hearing our message, it’ll give you the option to leave US a return message, how cool is that?! Pretty exciting to me (which means you better leave us a return message! haha)

We’re working on entering all the names and phone numbers right now, so if you want to be on the list to receive our Baby’s First Phone Call message, let us know!!! Make sure we have your phone number too

It’s getting close!

((Sometime after birth we’ll post a review on this service to let you know how it worked in case anyone is interested in using it!))

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