Happy Monday!!

Happy Monday!!  We had a great weekend!  Izzy and I went to visit our dear friends Lindsay and Myelle Saturday.  We played, ate chocolate chip cookies, and Lindsay showed me how to make hair bows.  She made 6 for me and I made 8 when we got home.  They also sent home a few adorable outfits and jammies, that we always need!!! 

Pretty Princesses!

Lindsay made the top six, I made the bottom eight.

My favorite!

 Mr. Mueller worked on the basement project he is finishing.  Then went to get the rest of the garden shed he scored for free!  What a great deal!  My vision of how the shed would look finished and his were totally different.  We have a huge over sized two stall garage and we still need more storage space. 

This is my vision of the shed!

Sunday Mr. Mueller and I took Izzy to Old McDonald's Farm at Beaver Park.  She was probably too little to appreciate it, but I know she had fun cruising in her big stroller!  We saw lots of farm animals.  They have a beautiful water foul exhibit.  Next year they will have Fennec Foxes.  They are super cute!  At first I thought the picture was of chihuahuas!  I remember how great it was to go when I was younger.  They had a monkey house, big cats and owls.  I didn't see any real hooties but I did hear one...ok, it was just Mr. Mueller humoring me!  (What a sweet husband I have!) I found out later that Mr. Mueller's friend Brad's mom donated the cows and pigs to the zoo.  And if I remember correctly my friend Haley's Dad donated some of the chickens.   The water foul exhibit made me want to take a trip to the water park and float in the lazy river.  I also want to go to a bigger zoo now to see more animals.  I think that will have to wait until next summer when Izzy can appreciate it. 

This is a picture they have showing the history of the zoo.  Look how they are dressed for the zoo! 

Fennec Foxes, ADORABLE!!

This is humorous to me...Mr Mueller didn't want to ride the duck or the cone.

 Notice the dead zebra at the top of the picture?

The waterfall at the entrance of the water foul exhibit.

I spotted a hootie!!!

Ducklings!

Can you see the baby ducks?

After the zoo we went out to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They are getting ready for Jessica's wedding in September.  We helped Grandma sort through more boxes in my old bedroom.  None of it was mine, but we did bring home a wicker laundry basket filled with treasures.  We found a Minnie Mouse necklace, a string of Hello Kitty lights, a Mrs. Potato Head, my old Strawberry Shortcake picture that hung in my room when I was little, a few tank tops and corn, yellow squash and cucumbers from their garden! 

We had BLT's and corn on the cob for dinner.  Delicious!!! After dinner we went for a drive to Sonic for treats and to cruise the car lots.  This is something that Mr. Mueller and I love to do.  I think John and his dad Andy used to do it.  It annoyed me a lot at first and now it's just one of our things, and I really love it!  On the way back we spotted a baby swing on a curb.  We stopped and picked it up for Blondie's Babies!  It was a nice one, but as I put in the bed of the truck the seat the swings, swung and got me in the nose!  Classic Ann!  I am so clumsy!

Baby Izzy slept in her room all night long. She fussed a few times but went back to sleep.  She went down around 9:00 and woke up at 8:00.  What a good night, now if only mommy and daddy had slept that great. :(  Mr. Mueller said he kept thinking about the shed.  I kept thinking Izzy would wake up at as soon as I feel back asleep.


This morning we cleaned out Izzy's dresser and closet.  She has so many clothes.  This task had been hard for me since we had her.  It makes me a little sad she grows so fast.  There was one set of 6-9 month pajamas that I thought looked huge when they were given to us. At the time she was only 5 weeks old.  Now they are too small!!!  She is such a big girl.  It makes me so happy to see all the little things she learns and picks up on.  She can stand alone but doesn't quite have the confidence to do it unless someone is right there! 

All Natural

Well it's been 366 days since my first and only posting!  I really am going to try harder the next 365 days.  I started this to keep a journal to look back on, so here I go...I am going to try and bring you up to date, while I do my daily (hopefully) entries.


Baby Izzy was born right on time!  Her original due date was September 13, they changed it to September 15, but we all just went with the 13th.  It seemed a little more special since that is a month after my sister Jessica's birthday.  We went to the hospital Sunday night the 12th.  I was having contractions all day Saturday and Sunday.  We went to Cate and Matt's Saturday night, I was miserable, but wanted to socialize before baby was here.  I waited and waited all day Sunday until my contractions were 5 minutes apart.  Finally time to go to Mercy Hospital and have my baby.  I wasn't admitted that night.  I was only dilated one centimeter.  I walked the halls and the outside garden with John and my sister Mary for 4 hours. Still no change, so they sent me home.  (Looking back, I am glad, the nurse we had was not friendly and I didn't like the doctor that was on call.)  I was sad.  My dogs, Blondie and Gigi were already at my parents house.  We came home to a quiet lonely house, no dogs, no baby.  I fell asleep about 12:30 and woke up at 4:30.  I had no contractions during that time.  I was disappointed, false labor.  I got up to use the bathroom and they started right back up.  They were more intense now.  I didn't want to go back to the hospital already.  I didn't want to be that lady that is sent home 5 times for false labor.  John convinced me to call Mercy, the nurse told me just to come in and they would check me.  That was the longest, bumpiest car ride of my life!  I could barely walk to the nurses desk.  They checked me, I was dilated to 3 cm!  Yes, I was being admitted!  That was 7:30 am.  The admitted me, hooked me up to a monitor that measured and tracked my contractions and baby's heart rate.  My blood pressure was back to so I had to rest on my left side.  This made it had to for the monitor to track my contractions.  I had to tell the nurse, Sue, when I was having them instead and she timed them.  I tried to labor on the big yoga ball.  That was a joke!  It may work for some women, but it made me feel worse.  I wasn't dilated enough for an epidural but I did get in IV drug that helped me relax between contractions.  I know my nurse checked me about 9 am and I was at 4 or 5, I thought it was going to be a looooong day.  My nurse that day was Sue, I found out when my mom got there she was one of the nurses when I was born at Mercy 29.5 years ago!!!  Super neat! The doctor on call was Dr. Barker.  I saw him early in my pregnancy once.  He came in early that morning and said something like, we're going to have a baby today! It you could have it by lunch that would be great!  He was joking, but I said that worked for me too!!  The IV drug made me feel sleepy, but there was no way I was sleeping.  The contractions were getting stronger but no one could tell because the monitor wasn't picking them up and they couldn't tell from my tone of voice because I was so relaxed.  At 11:00 am, I told Sure I needed to use the bathroom.  As I stood up a gush.  Crap, did I really just pee on myself??? No!  My water broke!!!  I used the bathroom and Sue checked me again.  She said I was at 8 cm!  She had the charge nurse double check, she thought I was at 9 cm.  Time to get Dr. Barker in here! Too late for an epidural, they called the anesthesiologist to try and get her in there, but it wasn't looking good.  I freaked a little at this point.  I planned all along to reply on that epidural to have my baby.  I said I couldn't do it, I threw the cold wash cloth that was on my forehead.  Dr. Barker came in and checked, he said it was time to push.  I pushed two or three times for him.  It sucked at the time, but I could do it again!!!  This part it blurry and no one is quite sure what happened.  The doctor left the room, maybe he thought we had a little more time.  I was having another contraction, I told Nurse Sue, she said just to breath threw it, don't push. (Because the doctor wasn't in there) I said I can't.  I meant I can't NOT push.  When they say you will have the urge to push, you really do!  I remember looking between my legs at her as she said no no no and ran out of the room to get the doctor.  I just kept pushing and out she came!!!  She landed at the end of the hospital bed.  Thank God they didn't have time to take that part of the bed off yet for delivery.  There was a mystery lady in a lab coat, we think the anesthesiologist, and another nurse getting doctors stuff set up.  The lady in the lab coat rushed over and started wiping Izzy off.  She was crying right way and Dr. Barker and Nurse Sue were already back in the room!  They handed me my baby.  I said I can't believe I just did that!!!  I was holding this tiny little girl in my arms finally!!!  Elizabeth Marilyn Mueller was born September 13, 2010 at 11:30 am, 6 lbs, 2 oz, 19 inches.  I only pushed about 5 minutes and she shot right out!  Pretty good for my first baby, if I do say so myself! When I said I was going to have this baby all natural, I meant no makeup, not no drugs!!!

So that is all about her delivery!  I will add more about the last 11 months in the days ahead.  Today is a Friday.  We had a breakfast, toast, eggs and turkey bacon.  I had my yummy fat free coffee, Izzy had some delicious whole milk.  We did some crafting.  I will post pictures later.  A few of them are gifts and I don't want to post them until the recipient gets them.  Izzy is napping now.  This afternoon we will probably do some laundry, clean house and then at home hot pink pedi's before daddy gets home!  Tonight I am hoping we don't have to run any errands and we can just hang out at home and maybe watch a movie. Or some Fiesta Del Sol! Izzy's newest thing is taking her stuffed Minnie Mouse with her everywhere! And she wants to hold the engagement picture of John and I that is in her room. She recognizes her Daddy, I don't think she recognizes me. I am thinner and have very blonde hair, I just tell her it's daddy's girlfriend.  It's not a lie, at the time I was his girlfriend!  I am going to make her a little flip book with pictures.  I love that she can recognize people now.  And love how she hugs and kisses all her stuffed animals and babies!!  She is such a sweet girl.  There is nothing better than two tiny arms reaching around your neck and holding on tight for a big hug!!!