Emma Rossi

Proof that time does, in fact, fly.

Julia came to visit with her niece last week. It's funny, I didn't want a girlie girl, but after she got here (and a couple of people have asked whether she was a girl or boy), I decided some gender specific clothes were necessary. Plus, most of what I had was 0-3 months, and they swim on her.


So we went shopping.

Yesterday was apple-picking and football game with the Rossis.


I don't much like the sling yet. I know you can carry newborns in them safely, but it really does not feel like her head has enough support. We have read the directions multiple times, and watched a few YouTube videos, and I still think I'll like it more once she can hold her own neck and I can switch her out of the cradle hold.

We had a very good time picking, the weather yesterday was INCREDIBLE.

This little girl is also a Gabriella Rose!

The more cute posed pictures I try to take, the more convinced I am that Anne Geddes drugs those babies with laudanum.

So a funny/scary story from the hospital ...

My blood type is O-negative. Peter is B-positive. Since there's a possibility that our blood could mix, it was important for us to find out Bella's blood type so I could get a Rhogam shot if she was Rh-Positive.

Friday afternoon, the nurse came in to tell us that I would be needing the shot, since the baby was A-positive. She left the room, and Peter and I turned to one another, "um, that's not possible, right?"

Now, we all know the immortal words of Rock Riley ... barring some unforeseen mutation, but we were pretty sure that a) that hadn't occurred, and b) we remembered 7th grade biology.

Long story short, we mentioned Peter's blood type to the next 2 nurses and the pediatrician, they had the blood bank recheck the test, and she is actually B-positive. Which is good, because I never had a strong desire to appear on an episode of Jerry Springer.

Bella had her first doctor's appointment this afternoon. I was a little apprehensive, because we basically picked the closest doctor from the insurance's website, and never bothered to "interview" them or anything (bad momma, but in all honesty, there weren't many options, and it's easy enough to switch if we hate the practice) Luckily I really like the doctor.
Bella is back up to 7 lbs, so apparently the nursing is going well. No concern about her poor skin (it's dry and peeling, we just have to keep greasing her up with lubriderm) and we'll be back in 11 days.

Our new chest freezer was delivered bright and early Saturday morning, and I promptly got started filling it up!

As of now we have:
2 lasagnas
The filling for 2 chicken potpies
2 meatloaves
2 chicken florentine casseroles
Cuban black bean soup
2 Pasta Fagioli casseroles
2 quarts chicken stock
1 chicken tamale casserole
3 packages each hot and sweet sausage
3lbs ground beef divided into 1 lb packs

I still have a couple of recipes to finish, but I'm feeling fairly prepared for the baby to come, this was the last thing I wasnted to get done.

We got a new camera. Pictures ( follow )

You know those home decorating shows? The ones where they redecorate a room or two in a couple's house in just a few days? I hate them.

Now I'm well aware that there is a huge crew behind the scenes and that it is not truly a handful of people doing all that work, but it's still really annoying.

I have never, in either of the houses I've owned, been able to paint a room, let alone completely redecorate, in two days.

Part of the problem is that I've only had older homes. Older homes come with former owners, all of whom apparently suck. In this house, one of the sets of former idiots decided to paint all the trim with gloss paint. I know this is because it's easier to clean, and that decision is just fine. The problem comes when the next set of former idiots comes along and wants to repaint the room in a day like they do on TV. They don't bother to do ANY prep work and instead just slap some more glossy paint up there.

The result is that when I go to paint my baby's room and do the fun, exciting part of pregnancy, it takes days of sanding, scraping, and patching to get to a point where the trim will look even halfway decent when finished. And I'm fat and tired and overworked so even I'm not doing as good a job as I would truly like to. In a perfect world I would have stripped the whole mess down to the wood and started over, but eh, I'm fat, tired and overworked. And it's a freaking baby.

I've got to get to work, so I don't have time for a full recap of this, but I'll make time to say that the ultrasound yesterday was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

And look! My dot looks like a baby now!



For comparison, here's the picture from 6 weeks

Thursday is my 14 hour day at CVS, in that time:

Number of times I was asked where the hand sanitizer is - 10
Number of times I was asked where the surgical masks are - 4
Number of times I was asked if we had Tamiflu by people that thought it was OTC - 3
Number of times I was asked if we had Tamiflu by a doctor's office/someone with a prescription - 3


Honestly, the panic would be amusing if it didn't mean that so many people who have no need for the medication were getting in "just in case", and therefore depleting the supply for the few people who may actually need it.

I also got this gem from one of the nurses at a local doctor's office.

They had a teacher call the office on Wednesday because, "one of my students is Mexican, what should I do?"
I asked if by chance the student had just emigrated from Mexico, to which she replied, "no, he was born here"

People are CRAZY.

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.



And it still looks flabby to me:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam.

I don't understand why:

- People can't just sign their names next to the damn pick up sticker on the log sheet, despite my saying very clearly "please sign next to the sticker". Probably 20% of the people will sign right ON the sticker, and if they are the first ones on the sheet, forget it, every following person will do the same

- People have such a problem using the refill call in feature of our phone system. It's ridiculous I know, but it is really irritating to pick up a phone call (especially if they insist on speaking to a pharmacist) and have the person say, "I need to call in a refill, the number is 123456". If you have the number, why are you wasting my time?

- Why people don't call in refills ahead of time, instead preferring to bring the empty bottles into the store and then stand by the register staring at the back of my head while they get filled. If you don't want to have to wait, let us know you want them before you come in.

There are more, oh there are so many more.

It was confirmed this evening. The McDonalds in Parkesburg, a mere 2 miles from my house, still offers the elusive Shamrock Shake!!!!

The car has been deemed a total loss. No idea how much money I'm going to be getting for it, but obviously I'm going to be taking on another car payment.

At least this time I've got another drive able car, no matter how much I HATE Peter's Ford. New vehicle research is commencing. Who loves what they drive?

So the snow's pretty, but I don't like it today.

Yes, just a week after I heard that my last accident has most likely been resolved, I slid my sweet little car into a telephone pole today.


I'm fine, but there's some nasty looking damage to the car. Thank god I didn't hit any other cars this time around, but ugh!!

I need someone with a regular job to explain to me why 14 hours is not enough time for your local pharmacy to be open.

Seriously, we're open from 8 am until 10 pm.

Maybe 7am would be more convenient for stopping by before work. I can concede that, and it may be why we sometimes have a short line waiting outside the store at 7:45.

But, why is it so hard to get there before 10 pm, especially since it's apparently completely possible to make it 10 minutes after we close?

I have a whole list of other questions I want the answers to, but this is my question for tonight.

Go.

Because it's one of my biggest pet peeves, I just bought myself this t-shirt

Wish I could wear it to work.

Per corporalita" I uh, uh, I need to go to bed"

The world needs to know that Jen corporalita can't spell her own name.

Proof that my job is slowly sucking the life out of me:
I actually IMed Peter to ask him to come up from the basement and get me more wine and my heating pad, which were 30 and 10 feet away, respectively.

Proof that I have a pretty fantastic husband:
He did it, and brought ice cream to boot.