Random thoughts that I wanted to blog about while pregnant that I never got around to.

As I was going through my e-mail and clearing everything out I came across a few e-mails that I had mailed to myself about things that I wanted to share with everyone on my blog while I was pregnant.  Needless to say I never got around to blogging them.  As I look back on the thoughts I find them kind of funny!   So, as they all say better late than never, right? Enjoy.

This is from my e-mail dated January 12, 2012:

My whole survival of eating depended on one simple thing, anything I could dip in ketchup!!! So, for roughly 2-3 months I ate chicken fingers and French fries.  Once I would find something I could eat I would eat it for a week straight until the thought of it would make me want to vomit.  One week I ate kfc FRIED chicken (my normal is grilled), mashed potatoes and corn on the cob and the next I would eat taco bell nachos.  That was off and on for a while.  Let us not forget that as soon as I would get home from work I would eat whatever I had picked up on the way home and then I would go straight to bed.

A few other things going on in my body was the fact that I was scared.  I was scared for financial reasons, emotional reasons, getting stretch marks scared & all the things that I really shouldn’t be worrying over in the first place.  I kept thinking about all the things that would need to be done and what I needed to do to get them done.

Dexter

Dexter at 4 months old



I probably should have started posts like this back when Dexter was first born, but to be honest with everyone I just haven't had the time or felt like doing anything like this. 

Dexter is 4 months old and will be 5 months here in just six (6) short days! He has changed so much in the past 4 months!

                                                       See how his looks have changed.

At his 4 month check up he weighed 15 lbs. and 9 oz.  and was 26 3/4 in. long.  He is now growing out of his 3-6 months clothing and can fit 6-9 months stuff perfectly.  He is a big boy!!   

After his 4 month check up he started eating rice cereal and after about a week of that we started with sweet peas!  The boy loves to eat and he eats very well!  He did not once gag or choke on his food and I hope that it stays that way!  So far we have had sweet peas, green beans, and rice cereal.  Tonight he will try some squash for the first time!   

Dexter smiles and laughs with us now and has been doing so for a while.. i just haven't posted about it!  His smile can turn my worst days around!  One look at it and everything inside of me melts away and I forget about everything!  He has started to get a sense of humor! I can be staring at the tv while he is laying next to me on the couch and he will start whynning and as soon as I look at him he will giggle.  So, I look at the tv and he goes to whynning again and I look back at him and he starts giggling!  I love this little game that we play.  I could do it all day!  Unfotunately, he gets bored with it before I do!! 

                           This is actually in mid giggle while playing that game while we were out eating.

Everyday is something new with him and I am looking forward to the rest of my life with this little guy. 

Enjoy,

Felicia Inman



They love to squeeze my heart

Let me tell you a few things that squeezes my heart!

I love having my own little family what some would call HOME.  I love picking Dexter up from the day care and seeing his eyes follow me everywhere once he knows I am there!  I love it when he tries his best to make a sound and all that comes out is a little squeak and a cooee here and there.  I love watching him smile and watching him do it with his whole face.  Dexter is almost 2 months old now.  Every day he grows a little bigger and he looses a little more of his hair.  Although, the underneath tiny hairs are popping up all over his head!  Dustin had said one night that he was going to grow more hair before he lost it! haha.  Dexter is becoming more and more active as the days go by.  I love having watching all these nieces and nephews grow!  They are so stink'n cute.  I could just gobble them all up!  Watching everyone of these babies grow just brings joy to my soul.  I am so thankful for everything that I have and for my family and friends.  Without everyone I would be lost.  Thank you for squeezing my heart just a little bit each day!

I love each and everyone of you.  Especially, my sweet husband and son!  Without you I am nothing!  

Love, 

Felicia

I want to take a minute to remember someone who was very dear and close to me. My sister, Marie. I miss her still just as bad today as the day she passed away.  I wish so badly she was here to see all these wonderful new babies.  She would have been a wonderful Aunt to them.  She was a great sister and one of my best friends at the time.  I am sure we would have been just as close if she was still here today.  She will forever be in my heart!  They say things happen for a reason, but I am still searching for the reason.  The only thing I can think of is it has brought me so much closer to my other wonderful sister, Denise.  We are tight.. haha.. 

I love you two and together you squeeze my heart!

A few things I'm loving today

1.  My husband, Dustin, and our son, Dexter!

                                                                  Aren't they precious

2. The Moby wrap!  If you have a baby this is a must have or at least for me it is.  They carry so well and Dustin and I can take walks and he just sleeps.  It does not hurt my back to carry him around in it either.  It is comfy!  Dexter isn't used to the stroller just yet because he is still too small but with the Moby wrap doing things like taking walks or going to outdoor events will now be possible. :)

3.  I am loving my new phone, LG Spectrum!! (Anniversary present from my wonderful husband)

4. I love the Willow tree figurines!

 The two that I have are:

This one is called home!
What the creature of this piece has to say about it.
"I wanted to capture the time in your life when there’s a lot of excitement, happiness, yet a big unknown. This piece connects the concepts of Home and Family — you are creating your own family — your own home. There’s been a shift in your life cycle. It’s about establishing roots in a way that centers and grounds you as a couple. It can be scary, but also has you in awe. Together, you’re creating a sense of place — building something — permanence and belonging. To each other and to the someone else that you haven’t met yet, but that you already love. I wanted the title to have a hidden layer of discovery ... I like the twist of taking a noun and using it as an adjective to explain a feeling one might have, but can’t always verbally express."

This one is called Our Gift and the creature of this piece has this to say about it.
"I remember when we brought our first-born home, and walked into our house. I had an overwhelming sense of fulfillment -- it seemed like our whole house was warm and full of light. When you bring a new baby home, all of a sudden you understand the excitement of being a family – this, now, is your family. It’s the start of something wonderful and new, and that, in and of itself, is a joyful gift."

I can't wait to fill my house with many many more. :)  I want them all!!! hehe..

5.  I am loving that Monday will be the last final Dustin has to take for this semester.  Maybe he will get to spend some more time with us here at home. Only one more class to go for him in the Summer and he will have his Masters Degree!! I'm so proud and excited for him!

6.  I am loving that when I stepped on the scale I automatically dropped 26 pounds after giving birth to my son!! Can't wait to hit the gym again and maybe loose this little flub that is left over!  

7.  I am loving that this week I can start letting my son sleep all night long if he desires!  The boy sleeps so much and for the past 4 weeks we have literally been having to wake him up for his feedings in the middle of the night or during the day.  We have truly been blessed and lucky with our first child.  He sleeps and doesn't  cry that much.  He is pretty easy going.  He is  a HEALTHY little boy and I can't thank god enough for blessing us with this little man!!

Just a few things that I am loving :)

Enjoy!

Dexter Inman

I'm a little behind on this post!!!

Our little man has finally arrived!!!!

Born: March 27, 2012 at 5:45 p.m.

Weight:  7lbs. 6oz.

Height: 21in.

Check out this cutie

Let me try to tell you my son's birth story.  Monday, March 26, 2012 was my once again doctor's appointment to check my fluid levels on the baby being that they have been low.  Well, I get there and my fluid level dropped even lower to a 5 so after some debate and fetal stress monitors and all that lovely stuff my doctor decides that it is time for Dexter to come out and meet all of us!! He instructs me to be at the hospital at 10:00 p.m. that night to be induced!! After arriving there that night they get me back there and the nurse calls in someone to start my IV.  Well, the first try didn't work so she turns my arm and does the back of my arm in a place that I have never had it done before and just tries and tries and tries to thread that needle in.  Let me just say I was in tears and not very happy!!!  Well, that needle didn't go in either so she got another nurse in there and started on my other arm to try to get one in.  By this point I am crying because I was so nervous and I couldn't understand why they were having trouble getting my IV in which I've never had any problems in the past!! Thank the good lord above that the other nurse knew what she was doing and got that sucker in! It may have hurt but it worked!! I was almost at my breaking point!  So after that everything is good and they start the pitocin( or however you spell that)  and I try to get some sleep! Let me tell you those birthing beds are so not comfortable!!!! The next morning they crank my drip up and when I start to feel more and more pain I ask for the epidural!  Those things are amazing and I highly recommend getting one even if it can give you a spinal headache which we will go into later.  So, the anesthesiologist comes in to do my epidural and in the middle of doing it he kept saying something about missing the middle and getting it a little more to the left.. The whole time I am think WHAT!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MISSED!!! THAT IS MY SPINE YOU ARE PLAYING AROUND WITH BACK THERE!! lol... And then yet again he says something about a little bit of fluid coming out and so I may develop a spinal headache!.  Then again I am thinking GREAT Just what I wanted a spinal headache!! Anyways everything else went great with the epidural and it done it's job!  HOORRAAAYYY!!!!! Okay I realize this is starting to drag on so long story short at 5:00 or 5:15 I start pushing and out comes this baby at 5:45 p.m.!!! He is just precious and everything I have ever dreamed of.

Life with this little man here has been great!!! He is not a real fussy baby, cross my fingers and knock on wood!! haha. He sleeps all the time and I actually have to wake him up for the feedings.:)  He sure does love to eat!!!  He eats 4 oz. at a time and breast feeds too!! Sometimes he still acts hungry!!  Breastfeeding is tough and I can honestly say I DO NOT enjoy it! It hurts so bad sometimes and I was literally cringing at the thought of breastfeeding him sometimes! I think he has latch problems.  I should probably go talk to a lactation consultant.  Its been tough from the beginning because I had a spinal headache and it was hard to sit up, but I still did it and then my milk wasn't coming in good and the baby lost too much weight so the doctor had me to supplement which worked great in helping him to gain back the weight and keep it on.  Since I started supplementing it is really hard to keep solely breastfeeding because he just isn't satisfied with only breastmilk.  That is okay! I am still breastfeeding him and supplementing!  I know there is mothers out there that breastfeed solely and have no problem with it and that is great but I am apparently not one of them:(!! I am glad that he got all the colostrum and is still getting breast milk.  No I am not a failure at it because I still try my best with it but its not for me and I will not breastfeed for too much longer.  I want to at least get 1 or 2 months out of it:)!! Anyways off of that rampage.  Dexter was a whopping 8 lbs at his last appointment which was his 2 week checkup:)  His eyes are starting to change a little, but we can't tell just yet what color they will be.  I am hoping for Green like his daddy's!!  Dexter is sleeping in his crib now:)  In the mornings when daddy leaves for work is usually his morning feeding time and after that he lays with mommy and I just love it!!! We tried putting him in the play pen to sleep when he was first born but he would have nothing to do with it.  So for the first 2 1/2 weeks he slept with us.  I know I know I said I wouldn't do it but the boy just would not sleep without me. hahah.  At first he would have nothing to do with the sleep wrap thing either.  He liked to be able to move his arms, but this week he has let me put him in it 4 times:)!! Although, he has to be so asleep that he doesn't realize he is being put in it.  He sure does sleep better in it:)!!  I could use a baby sitter for one day to let me get this house up to par. The down side to living 2 hours away.

Now for some pictures of our little man!!!  can you believe we still don't have any photos of us as a family:(!!! Makes me sad!! We have pictures with him separately but not together.  I will be getting some soon!! I wanted to make some right after but with my spinal headache it just didn't happen!!  Anyways back to the pictures of Dexter....

ENJOY!!

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is there other Mothers out there that have had these thoughts!!

As I sit here at 10:00 p.m. and look around I start to freak out just a little!!!! My reasons are as follows:

• I feel like I have nothing ready for this baby's arrival!! Sure the nursery is almost ready, but I don't have all the necessities that I would ACTUALLY need if he decided to bless us with his presence today(tonight - due date)
• I feel like I need to have the hospital bag packed like yesterday!
• I feel like things aren't moving fast enough!! (not that I'm wishing my time away because I am enjoying these little kicks I am getting as I sit here and type this.  It is the best feeling ever!)

Dustin and I had to go to Babies R Us today to pick up our ottoman and of course I had to have a look around and Dustin was pushing me towards the door and I literally about broke down and cried my eyes out in Babies R Us because I felt like I needed to have everything ready and NOW!! Of course, I held off my buying because I know we have a shower coming up soon.  I am writing to get my stress out or I may go crazy tonight thinking about everything!!

Psssttt... I finished the curtains for the nursery tonight and Dustin put up some things on the walls this weekend!! It is starting to come together!! Shockingly, I am in love with how Dustin did everything.  Not that I doubted his work, but more like I doubted what he was putting up there!! As I look at it more and more I LOVE IT!!  Now I just have to fill in the other walls with stuff haha!!! Oh, and our little man has a name!!!!

DEXTER LADON INMAN

(DEX)

How we came up with this you wonder?  Well, Dexter is the only name that we both agreed on and liked (Well I only agreed to this name if we could call him Dex..lol.. ).  Ladon, is a family name that Dustin is honored to pass down.  Dustin's middle name is Ladon and his dad's middle name I believe is Ladon.  (If I'm wrong I am sorry I am almost positive, but my mind isn't thinking very clearly tonight with all the tears..lol.. )!!! and of course Inman was a given!! 

Hope you enjoyed!! I hate to rant, but I didn't have any other way of getting the feelings out tonight.  My sweet husband is sleeping or I would have went and cried to him!! :) I hope this is a normal feeling and I'm not going crazy for nothing!  Any suggestions?

Goodnight

New used but new to us car!! :)

As you know Dustin and I decided to go on the car hunt for a bigger car that would be more suitable for carrying around a child and all the accessories that go with having a child.  My car would have worked fine, but we would have been all cramped up in it being that it was a smaller car! Honda Civics aren't the biggest of cars out there...lol.. !! Well, I first was thinking that I wanted an Altima and I had the idea of an SUV in the back of my head.  However, once we stated looking we decided that a SUV would probably be better if we would get one in our budget range!! Which I was at first thinking was going to be nearly impossible for me to find one that I actually love and is in our price range.  I am so picky about what I wanted that it just seemed far stretched. Well, Dustin and I go Friday to just look around and see if there was anything that caught our eye. Well there was a Nissan Murano White that had all the qualifications I was looking for minus a few things that weren't that pressing such as a navigation system.  If you remember from one of my previous post that wasn't a make it or break it deal! I am just trying to get rid of my DROID! I wanted to go back to my blackberry! I need the navigation on the phone if I didn't have it anywhere else.  Well, we go for a test drive and come back and the guys go to trying to get us a "deal" !  Well, they go back and forth for a while and they run all the bells and whistles.  In the mean time were just sitting there and it is time for us to go meat Dustin's friend, Andrew, for dinner at Five Guys! So, we were like we got to go we had plans so they send us home with the Murano to drive around and get the feel of it.  Before we left we felt very confident that they were going to give us a great price... and the salesman said something about an interest rate of 2.5 or something like that so we were like okay we will see tomorrow.  Saturday comes along we get up and go down there early and we go to the financing office to go over the numbers and says okay this is a great "deal" we got you this car for 28,999 with your down payment and trade in which they were going to give me 3,000 for at first would be 309? a month with an interest rate of 3.8. oh and it was  a 6 year loan which we were NOT going to be doing!!! I was like you have got to be kidding me.  First of all, your telling me that I could have got that black 2011 Murano that had only 1,000 miles on it that I LOVED for the same price as this one.  This one is not only a year older but it has 16,000 more miles on it!  (Dustin said I was so upset that I was shaking)! I was extremely aggitated because they let us leave there friday thinking that they were going to give us this amazing deal and then they throw this at me!!! SALESMAN!!!!! we go back and forth and they took of like 500 dollars more for the car and said they would give me 3500 for my 2004 honda civic with 143,000 miles on it. They just acted like they would not budge hardly from the price of this Murano!! So in the end Dustin and I were like look we would have to think about this because we dont like being rushed into any decisions.  The guy was like okay look let me keep the Civic over the weekend and let me see if I can get you like 5,000 for the car and we drive the Murano the rest of the weekend.  After getting home and once we start looking at our finances over again and over again.  In the mean time I googled Nissan Murano's and found one IDENTICAL to this one at another nissan place so I call them up and say give me your best offer on this Murano you have for sale and they automatically said 27,000.  I couldn't go down to look at it that day but could on Monday so I told them I would be in there monday to look at it.  Dustin decides to go in there Monday with our plan of we want at the most for them to take the car down to 27,000 because we have another place willing to do that and we want a 5 year loan and our payments to be under 325 a month.  I was not going with him this time because I was done working with these people they had me too upset for my liking!!  I said look we want this car, but we don't absolutely need this car!! It would just be more convenient for us to have a bigger car.  So, whatever his decision was I would be okay with.  I understand the car people have to make a little bit of money but we will not stray from our budget and the price we want it at and if it took us saving more money for 3 more months or so we were just going to have to do that.  So anyways back to the story... in the end they came down on the price of the car, gave us the 5 year loan with a 2.something interest rate instead of the other and gave me 5,500 for my car and the payments were way under 325 a month!!! So, Dustin was apparently please enough so he got the car that day!!! I have to say I am pretty impressed with ourselves!! lol.. We did not stray from our budget and what we had in mind.  Even though it was extremely frustrating dealing with these people at the end of the day we walked away feeling confident in our purchase and now we can rest easy knowing that we're in and a little below our budget!!

Check out our FIRST FAMILY CAR!!!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our first car buying experience as husband and wife. I hope that I can get used to driving a SUV being that I was driving a small Honda Civic.  I also hope that this car brings us many adventures in the years to come as a family of 3!! I also hope it serves its purpose and one of the main reason we started looking for an SUV by being able to use it for picking stuff up and hauling it around...lol.. We don't have a truck so it makes it rather difficult if we need to carry bigger purchases home!

Enjoy!!

My first car looking experience

As everyone saw by my last post Dustin and I are looking for a car for me.  Well, this weekend my cousin Melissa came up and went car looking with me.  We had a great time and even got to eat OLIVE GARDEN!!! We both love Olive Garden and since there isn't one in Gadsden she decided that she would just have to have olive garden... Okay I might have bribed her with it just to get her to drive all this way to car shop with me:)!! May I remind you that I am very picky about my cars.  Well, we get to the nissan place and I go to the used car section and didn't see anything that I liked so we were going to go.  Well this genius of a salesman come up to ask if we found anything we liked and I of course said no. Then he asks can I ask what your looking for so my first reaction is were leaving and then I begin to think well, if I tell him what I want he can find it for me.  So he gets me in there and I go through my spill of the specifics that I would like in either an Altima or Murano and that is when he goes well we have this Murano over here that has everything that your looking for but it is black.  I knew which one he was talking about because of course it was the best looking one over there and we had glanced at it earlier.  It was a 2011 Nissan Murano and only had 1,000 miles on it!!! Well, i was excited but at the same time I was like are you  kidding me only 1,000 miles on this USED Murano!!! Well, he tells me the price and it was 39k so I automatically said nope cant do that at all but thanks. Then he gets his used car sales manager in there and they automatically take off 10k dollars for me but the payments were still at 350-385 range. So I said no thank  you and then we left... Well, I take this paper home to Dustin and start telling him all about it expecting him to just throw it right in the garbage and said no!! Well, he was like maybe... so I was like well maybe if they cam off 10k instantly they would come off of it some more and we might be able to get the payment closer to the 300 range instead of high 300's.  Let me remind you I did not test drive this baby because I knew that I would just love it!! After the conversation with Dustin I went to my appointment to drive the Nissan Altima that I had transferred so I could test drive it.  Let me just say that baby was a beauty on the outside and the inside looked great but it had a little bit of a funny smell and the navigation kept locking up and the whole screen would lock up which was a huge red flag for me so I just had to walk away and say no thank you I will keep looking.

After leaving there and heading back home I decide I would stop back by the nissan place to check out another car and possibly talk this guy down off that Murano!! Well, after looking at the one car the salesman and I wonder over to the Murano and I said what the heck I'll drive it to see if I even like the bigness of a SUV. It was great!! LOVED IT!!! We get back and I told him look I really like it, but I just cant afford it where the price is at now and he said let me go talk to my manager(which they always do) and see what we can do.  He asked me before he left what would be the highest you would want to pay monthly and fill comfy with and I said 300 and he said can you give me 320.  I proceeded in telling him I could possibly but I can't promise my husband would be okay with that and he has the final say so. Bless his heart he was trying so hard!! So he goes off and talks to his manager and comes back they would only take off 1,000 more which brought it down to 28,000 for a 2011 Nissan Murano with only 1k miles on it and it was fully loaded!!! I said can't do that sorry.  Then he started talking about finding me something else so I know that is the lowest they would go when they were gonna let me walk.:(!! That was the best price I have ever seen on a Murano with that low of mileage and fully loaded!!! Even kbb blue book value was 40K!! After discussing everything and lots of budgeting and thinking about future stuff with baby expenses and everything Dustin and I have decided that we can afford it!!! BUT IM NOT GOING TO GET IT:(!! haha tricked ya!! lol.... I am going to keep searching for a Murano that has all of those features but with a higher mileage like 20k so I can get a lower price and get the payments under 300 so we can feel better about getting one!!!! I HAVE TO SAY I WAS PRETTY PROUD OF MYSELF WITH WORKING THOSE PEOPLE DOWN!!! :):):):) I just hope my next car adventure goes as well!!! :) I only got one shot of the Murano and it was before he pulled it out of the space.  It had blond leather seats inside and black on outside! Made for a killer look, but in the end we just couldn't feel good about a 360 car payment. Although, I never once mentioned trading in my car which would have brought it down even further but still NO!! Check it out!!

CAR TIME

The other night while I was sitting on the couch dustin struck up a shocking conversation with me.  This is kind of how it went....
Dustin, "So what are you doing this weekend while I am studying" Me, "probably nothing" Dustin, "you could go look at cars" Me, "REALLY!! Well, I don't want to go look if I am not going to be getting one right now" Dustin, "we can get one if you find the right one.  we were going to get one after the baby was born so what is a few months".

  I still think he is trying to butter me up for some bad news or something....lol.!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!I am going car shopping this weekend.  Please dont rain!! Any advice?  I am looking at either a Nissan Murano or Nissan Altima.  The Murano is what I really want, but they are also more expensive!!!! but on the plus side, 1. more room 2. a bigger back space aka trunk 3. we will be able to travel better in it because we wont have to pack everything in all cramped. 4. we could tow things with it and since we don't have a truck this would be a huge plus!!

We are looking used with low mileage preferably one owner and a good price.

If you don't know already I am very ticky about what I want in a car.

1. I would prefer White!!
2. Lether seats - I know my legs will stick to them in the summer and they will be cold in the winter, but I don't care I love them!!!
3. Sunroof
4.I would liek a navigation system.  I have to look more into this, because if it is free and works great then I can get rid of this stupid droid phone I have and go back to my lovely blackberry which I adored so much!!!! Maybe we will see.
5. Like I said.. low mileage
6. Preferably one owner & no defects of course.
7. I would like for it to look new and unused!! - doesnt everyone!! :)
8. oh, and just a preference not a huge make it or break it deal, but I like the wood grain look with the lether seats.

I know that I am very specific in my wants and hopefully I can find one in the price range we are looking for.  Eventually, maybe I will find something that I just love and is in the right price range. I will not stop until I do... or else I may have to change my list just a little... like I really don't have to have a navigation system. lol. I am so excited, but so scared at the same time!!! I love my little civic and will miss it dearly, but not a lot of room for baby.  I feel somedays as if I'm in a little mario cart just chugging along because it is so small hahaha... cracks me up!

I have 2 altimas lined up to test drive this weekend with my criteria, but I am having a harder time finding the murano's used with my specifics.  After test driving hopefully I can get around to telling everyone how my experience went.  I will aslo be on the prowl for anything that grabs my attention!!

This is one that I will be looking at this weekend.. only prob. i have with it at this moment is the mileage!!
http://www.nissanusa.com/apps/cpo/vehicleDetails?id=309095286&dealer_id=&zipCode=35757&distance=50+Miles&bodyStyle=sedan&vehicles1=ALTIMA&vehicles2=&vehicles3=&startYear=Any&endYear=Any&mininumPrice=Any&maximumPrice=Any&transmission=Automatic&exteriorColor=Any&mileage=Any&engine=Any&drive=Any&onlyPhoto=true&feature0=CD+Player&feature1=&feature2=&feature3=Cruise+control&feature4=&feature5=&feature6=Leather+seats&feature7=&feature8=&feature9=&modelBodyStyle=null&modelBodyStyle2=null&modelBodyStyle3=null

Any advice on car shopping besides don't let them know you like it as much as you really do and try to talk them down?