Starting Over

At the pumpkin patch one year ago.

At the cabin May 2010. The first time I knew something was desperately wrong in my marriage.

Visiting friends in Colorado. Still married.

Hankie's 1st Birthday. May 10, 2010

Kimmy's wedding. Three weeks before David told me everything.

Umm. A lot has happened in my life since the last post on here on April 15, 2010. I keep thinking I need to re-enter the blogging world with a bang. I want to create a super-blog about all that has gone on in my life but am having trouble getting the words out. So instead, I just came here. Flip-flops-and-chocolate was the blog I created when I was a stay-at-home-mom to document my musings. I'm now back to work, divorced, and have many new friends and priorities. But it seems there are still many things to laugh about. And so, this post marks my official starting over. Come here to read an adventure of love, sadness, grace, laughter, and joy. Oh and I'm trying to raise pirates in this house, so this blog isn't for wimps. The swashbuckler kind of pirates.

The next several posts will include the few pictures I have from the last 18 months. The boys and I did some surprisingly normal stuff as we moved twice and said goodbye to everything we knew.

Creating...

I've been very busy lately getting back in my creative groove. This includes in my home, with my outfits, and as a mom. It took me until Hank was 8 months old to come up for air for the first time. Now he is 11 months and I'm getting my groove back. I see little glimpses of my former self: the funky styled, in-shape, curly-haired woman with a eclectic house doing fun things with my kids. Pictures to come.

Poop

It truly seems like all I do these days is deal with poop. The other day I counted nine poop encounters including the following:

4 changed diapers for Hank
1 poop in the potty for Tommy that he forgot to flush
1 poop in the pull-up for Tommy during "rest" time
1 poop in the underwear for Tommy at Wonderscope (throw aways)
1 poop by David (in the potty) that smelled up the whole upstairs
1 poop of my own (in the potty)

You can think of me the next time you poop.

Book and Movie Reviews

Here are some reviews of books and movies I've read/seen lately.


4 Stars...Not nearly as good as The Time Traveler's Wife, but still a good read.

Movie: 500 Days of Summer
5 Stars, A Must See

Thermostat Nazi

You may have seen my posts on Facebook lately. In my seven years of marriage I've finally come to terms with something: I married a thermostat nazi. And it is causing problems for us this winter: the coldest winter in Kansas City in 25 years. There are a few things I've noticed about my nazi, and I would love to hear about yours if your fingers are thawed enough to type.

1. Thermostat nazis cannot be duped. They are absolutely undupable. If I try to sneak in an extra degree or two David sniffs it out like a bloodhound. Within 10 minutes of me pushing the up button David enters the living room and is pushing the down arrow.

2. Thermostat nazis like to stick together and brag about their low thermostat numbers. Like a pack of Olympic athletes, David's fellow nazis actually enjoy talking about how they almost killed their children because they waited until June 15th to turn the AC on. It's a competition, and a fierce one to boot. As soon as David learns someone he knows is a fellow nazi their connection to each other becomes deeper than faith or shared experience. I truly believe David and my mom have a good relationship because they both agree that the AC simply MUST go off on Labor Day.

3. Thermostat nazis truly believe that keeping the thermostat lower in the winter and higher in the summer saves money. Now I am no budgeting expert, but I am guessing that a few degrees one way or the other really doesn't alter the bill that much.

I love you, dear, and I will continue to watch TV at night in my down jacket. But please keep in mind that the Nazis lost the war, and you my friend will pay in some other way.

Christmas

Turning 30.

I'm digesting the fact that this is the year I will turn 30. Here are a few things 30-year-olds do:

1. 30-year-olds wash their faces every night.
2. 30-year-olds have their career in place and are starting to thrive in it.
3. 30-year-olds make enough money to travel a little bit.
4. 30-year-olds do not pretend they don't smell dirty diapers hoping their husbands will change them.
5. 30-year-olds dress like grown-ups and know how to put an outfit together.
6. 30-year-olds get up before 7am everyday and jump in the shower, ready to start the day with a smile.

I do none of these things. And now I only have 2 months to get them in place. What are some of your perceptions of grown-ups?

I'm Back.

Sorry for the delay. I've been sleep deprived for about a year. Here are some of my goals for 2010:

1. Cook healthy meals for my family a few times a week. Try new recipes. Cook 1-2 dishes that can be frozen on Sundays.
2. Lose the rest of my baby weight. From Hank and Tommy. I have 14 pounds from both of them.
3. Quit dressing like a dork. I know when I feel funky and stylish and when I don't. So why do I choose clothes that make me feel like a complete geek?
4. Start (or re-start depending on how you see it) my career. I finish classes in May, internship in December. It's time.
5. Drink water.
6. Establish a morning routine that works for our family.
7. Execute and plan a 30th birthday party trip for David and I using every credit card point and cent of spare change we have.

Wish me luck!

Status Update

For some reason this summer I've been thinking more in terms of Facebook status updates than blog updates. Maybe because I am pressed for time and a one sentence blurb just seems easier. BUT I don't want to be one of those people who updates their status all the time. Here are a few that have run through my head lately that I haven't gotten around to posting:

Adrienne wonders where all the burp cloths are when you need them?

Adrienne has the sweetest two little boys. Hank smiles all the time now.

Adrienne is four classes away from her second masters degree. Next stop? PhD by my 40th b-day.

Adrienne loves fish tacos.

Adrienne and David are going to Lyle Lovett tonight. Wahoo!

Adrienne wants to marry Lyle Lovett in her next life.

Adrienne's son thinks the game badmitton is called rabbit.

Smiles!

There is absolutely nothing sweeter than holding a new baby. He melts my heart whenever I pick him up. Hank is a really good little boy. Eating is still easy, and we are working on the sleeping. He sleeps really well when his brother is at school and not yelling "Choo Choo Pie!" all around the house. This morning my little chicken smiled at me for the first time. Looks like we have another happy boy on our hands. I'm grateful.

Weight Loss Woes

I forgot how slow post partum weight loss can be. I also forgot how hungry I get while nursing. I was very strict last week with the WW nursing plan and lost a pound and a half. I know in the big picture that is good, but I was secretly hoping for at least 3 pounds. This week I haven't been as strict with myself and probably won't lose more than a half pound. My biggest problem is my sweet tooth after lunch and dinner. I waste a lot of points on ice cream after BOTH those meals. My goal for the day is to push through the lunch time craving---NO ICE CREAM! Wish me luck...

Update

Hank is 4 weeks old today. Tommy is very slowly starting to calm down and get used to having a little brother. The transition for T has been much harder than we thought it would be. Note to future moms of two plus kids: 2.5 years apart has not been a good space for us. Tommy is just old enough to know exactly that someone new is stealing his attention yet not old enough to express himself appropriately. We spend a lot of the day trying to help him say things like, "I feel very angry (sad, excited, etc) right now." Then we have to show him what to do to express those feelings. When he is excited he is supposed to do gymnastics or jumping jacks on the floor (not the bed) instead of driving trains on Hank. Mad=hitting a pillow instead of biting my leg. You get the idea...

The other main topic of conversation around here is my nipples. Tommy is fascinated that milk comes out of them, that they move when I use my toy (the pump), and that they have owies on the "tips." Main goals for this week are to get Hank on a 3 hour feeding schedule and start the Weight Watchers plan for nursing moms. I've also been easing back into my weight workouts at the gym and trying to learn about a new animal with T each day online. He picks very strange ones like marmosets. He must get that from David.

Why We Chose Henry David

Baby Hank gets his name from my grandfather Dreher. Dr. Henry Dreher is a WWII vet, spent his career serving others as a internist, and is the owner of the fairy tale home in Salina, KS where I created many childhood memories. We recently celebrated his 90th birthday. He is very well-read, pursues intellect, has triumphed in some personal struggles, and is open-minded about religion and politics. He also always let me take home all the quarters in his change dish each time we visited him and taught me how to play poker.

The middle name is David and his dad's middle name (David is actually John David, Jr.) and my dad's first name. We also liked the idea of sticking with the author theme...Thomas is T.S. Lisenby as in T.S. Elliot and Hank is Henry David as in Henry David Thoreau. I'm planning to frame a quote from both authors in the room they will share one day.

Cowboy Post

Scroll down to see a new post called, "A Tale of Two Cowboys." Title of the post is in honor of Cristy.

3 Random Pictures

1. Sweet Baby Hank
2. Labor photo
3. Gotta love the gauze boy short panties

My Baby Story

Here's how the whole thing went down last weekend including a few graphic details:

1. 5am Saturday morning: bloody show. I woke David up because I was so excited that something was finally happening.
2. All day Saturday: light cramping, contractions while at Deanna Rose with Tommy
3. 9pm Saturday night: water breaks...more of a trickle then a gush this time instead of a huge gush. Less than 10% of women have their water break to officially start labor, and mine has broken both times.
4. 10pm Saturday night: drop Tommy off at my parents' even though he says HE is going to the HOP-SIT-AL to have his baby
5. 11pm: arrive at hospital and find out I'm 3cm.
6. 12am Sunday morning: check again after some pretty strong contractions. Only 4cm. TONS of mucous in the bathroom.
7. 3am: Check again---still only 4cm. Start to freak out a little and say things to David like, "YOU got me into this."
8. 4:30am: can't take the pain anymore and order the epidural. Ahhh. Some relief for awhile.
9. 9am Sunday morning: still at 4cm. Dr. orders some pitocin to get things moving. Tommy and my parents come to visit.
10. 10am: Start to feel the contractions again, especially in my lower right back. Wonder if the epidural is wearing off.
10. 11:30 am: check...9.5 cm! So I went from a 4 to a 9.5 in 2.5 hours.
11. 11:45 am: Ask the nurse for a top off of the epidural before pushing and she says no. I decide Nurse Teri does not deserve to have a breast named after her.
12. 12:20pm: pushing, which felt to me like the ultimate crunch workout
13. 12:37pm: HENRY DAVID IS HERE! Since there were no complications during delivery he got to come straight on my chest. He was crying just a little bit and didn't have that much stuff on him. Everyone says he looks big. David cuts the chord.
14. Weigh in: 9 pounds! I knew it.
15. David goes out to tell everyone. My mom comes in to meet him. Tommy, Paul, and my dad come in after I'm stitched up.
16. Tommy is more excited about getting new cars from me as his big brother gift than he is about his brother.
17. 1pm: First breastfeeding. Hank can latch! And he has a strong suck!
18. 2pm: Time to move out of the delivery room and into the recovery room.

A few other things I want to document here so I remember include: Tommy bringing me a carnation the day after delivery with the proudest smile I've ever seen on his face, calling my grandfather to tell him we named our son after him and having him clear his throat and say, "Well there aren't many Henrys in the world," one particularly strange nurse telling me in the middle of the night she needed to check my "weenie," and Tommy telling everyone that Hank was HIS baby after holding him for the first time.

So there you have it. That is my baby story.

A Tale of Two Cowboys

The best description I can think of for what the past two weeks have been like is a wrangler from the wild west. I feel like I'm trying to lasso two little cowboys plus take care of the horse (Norman) and my Roy Rodgers (David). Here are some thoughts and comments in no particular order. Hopefully my randomness can help those who have never been wranglers before (i.e, Julie and Krista who just told me they are pregnant with babies #1!). Oh and my wrangler name is Adie Mae (short for Adrienne Marie, of course).

-Got to love the gauze underwear you get to wear post-partum for a few weeks. They are like the ultimate boy shorts and feel like air against your skin. Ahhhh. I was pretty excited when our nurse gave us a few extra packs of these babies to take home. Sexy.

-I forgot how much blood there is after giving birth. And since I only had a first degree tear this time there isn't even that much. Prepare yourself for the giant maxi pad, ladies.

-Tommy now only wants to be called Thomas. He has been correcting anyone who calls him Tommy. Baby Hank is Henry to him. He is also coping with the change by scratching his chin and biting little holes in his blankets at night. A sticker as a reward when he sits quietly and lets me read to him while I nurse seems to be the only thing that calms him down during feedings. Oh and he also has a new obsession with being naked all the time, wearing only a diaper and a belt with cap guns attached. (I fully admit to encouraging this new habit).

-Upon seeing me with my shirt off, Tommy (Thomas) told me that all the veins across my boobs look like train tracks. He then proceeded to go get Percy, his latest favorite, and try to drive him across my at that time engorged boobs. Ouch.

-Speaking of Marilyn and Louise, they are just as big as last time (36 E-F) but feel much better because Hank can actually drain them each time. He is such a good nurser. That part of things has been totally different than last time.

-Tommy (Thomas) has been really interested in Hank's umbilical chord. When it fell off the other day he couldn't believe it. It is now sitting on my dresser, and he tells everyone that comes over where it is.

-Tommy is also very interested in my "diapers." (See above re maxi pads). Since I am trying to get him excited to start using the potty in a few months, he is often with me when I go. When I reached down to change a pad the other day, he said to me, "Mommy, please no fingers in your poopy diaper." I've taught him well.

-Hank really likes to be held at all times. I'm pretty sure he thinks he still lives inside me. When David holds him he whimpers a little bit. T NEVER did this. Part of me likes this, part of me hopes it stops.

-Total weight gain for this pregnancy was 25 pounds. In the first two weeks with Tommy I lost over 20 pounds, which shows how swollen I was. This time in the first (almost) 2 weeks I've only lost 13 pounds. And Hank was 9, so that makes me a little mad. I'd like to be back within 5 lbs. of my pre-pregnancy weight by my 6 week check-up so I can then start working on the 10-15 pounds I had to lose before getting pregnant.

-Nursing makes you really hungry. I have WAY more cravings now than I ever did pregnant. It's really hard to eat well when you feel like all the calories, water, and energy are getting sucked out of you every 2.5 hours (day) or 4 hours (night).

-I HATE being pregnant. I'd do the first two weeks with a newborn for 80 weeks before choosing to be pregnant again for 40 weeks. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me both physically and emotionally.

-Roy Rogers has been so helpful, and I am working on being nice in the middle of the night. I'm always short and grumpy at 3am and Roy gets the brunt of the agitation. Not fair to my cowboy.

That's all for now. This is wrangler Adie Mae signing off.

Welcome Hank

Henry David Lisenby was born on Mother's Day at 12:37pm. 9 pounds, 20 inches long.

May 15th

It is my prayer for all my friends that don't have kids yet that if one kid has to be late it is the first. Since Tommy was a week early I figured this baby would at least be 5 days early and set my above due date calculator for May 1st instead of the 5th. Now I don't know how to change it, so it's going to say that I'm 43 weeks pregnant when this is all said and done. In reality my doctor gave me the news today that she will induce me on the 15th, which would be 10 days late. I'm just not progressing at all and am at high risk for a c-section or re-tearing if we try to force him out. So May 15th it will be unless he comes before then. Oh and just in case you were thinking, "Man it seems like A has been pregnant for a year," well I have been. I got pregnant May 1st of 2008, had a miscarriage on July 4th, and got pregnant again August 1st. So except for those few weeks in July I could be on TLC for a marathon pregnancy. :)