Evan is four weeks old now. I can't believe it has been one month old already. We are trying to use "Babywise" to get him to sleep in his crib by himself for naps. We are already on a pretty great schedule. He eats about every 3 hours during the day and 4 or 5 hours during the night. He is a great night sleeper and sleeps in the cradle next to our bed. We have no trouble putting him down in that and having him go to sleep, but it is the naps that we are working on. For the first few weeks i would hold him while he would sleep and i would usually sleep too. But, now I need to get things done and can't hold him all the time. The first few times i put him down in his crib, he just cried and cried and then i cried. (i just started this two days ago). Yesterday he cried on and off for 1 and a half hours(with me going in occasionally and giving him his pacifier or calming him down). It was horrible listening to him cry. But, then last night I think he was soooo tired that he slept in his crib from 8-10 without any problems. You are supposed to put them down in the crib while they are sleepy but awake. I usually rock him to sleep or hold him til he is pretty much asleep and then i put him down. It works better for us this way for now and i am okay with it.
He is now asleep in his crib and it has been 30 minutes.. So, we will cross our fingers that he is learning how to sleep by himself. As i am writing this, he is fussing a little. Hopefully he will just go back to sleep...
While he was asleep earlier i actually cleaned out our refrigerator. I have lots of plans to get this house in shape while i am off for 5 months. I get 20 weeks off with maternity leave and FMLA. I don't get paid, but it is okay.. It will be nice to be home that long, but i will probably be ready to go back to work by May.

Now, that things are a little quieter and Evan is asleep i can finally post. Evan Peter Nekrasz arrived on December 27th, 2008 at 5:49am. He arrived via C section due to me not progressing in labor and after they went in to do the section we found out he was wedged in my pelvis and didn't want to come out.(no wonder he was 5 days late). We came home on the 30th due to spending an extra day at the hospital. The C section was a little rough, so they kept me extra. The thing that sucks is that i can't do much. I can't drive for 2-4 weeks, i can't pick up anything heavier than the baby for 2 weeks and then nothing heavier than him and his carrier for 4 more weeks. I can't vaccum(oh well, not to sad about that) and i am not really supposed to bend down much at all..
Grandma and Grandpa Dotts were here since the 15th waiting for little man to arrive. They are so excited to have a little grandson. They have been so much help with him and now they left this morning. It was very sad to see them go. But, we will go visit in a few months. The months will go by fast and before you know it we will be there.
Things with Evan have been going pretty well. We are having breastfeeding issues, but we are working on them(long boring story). So, i am supplementing him with formula as well until he gains some weight. He also likes to sleep at night and we have to wake him up to feed him(go figure). If he was gaining weight and we were not having issues, i could probably let him go until he woke himself up, but i can't let him go more than 3 hours during the day and 4 at night.
Daddy is getting used to having a baby in the house. He is doing great with Evan as well.
We are happy to be home and start to get into a routine. We have even gone out to eat twice since we have been home. Evan did great. We just have to go during feedings. :)

it is the final countdown. Only 3 more weeks until baby gets here(okay 3 weeks and 2 days to be exact). I am getting so excited to meet little Evan Peter Nekrasz. His middle name was his grandpa Nekrasz's middle name. We have almost everything ready for his arrival. Just a few little things left to do.
I have been really sick with a cold/flu this week and have not been to work all week. I have really had a hard time with it since i can't take many drugs to help out my cold. I finally went to the clinic yesterday and the doctor gave me Robitussin with codine. It was a god send last night. So far this morning i am feeling better, but the robitussin has not worn off yet. I am sure i will be ready to go back to work on monday.
We had a nice thanksgiving dinner with Kat and Bengt yesterday.. They cooked some yummy food. It was a nice mellow day. Just what we needed.
i think we are going to work on getting the christmas tree up and the train layout around the tree. it is going to be really nice when we get it done..

Me and the girls got up at 7am(which was really like 8am for them so that is impressive). Usually we get up a lot earlier than that. I have had the whole weekend off to relax and get a few things done around the house. I have actually been pretty productive. We are getting the babies room done slowly but surely.. I put away lots of things yesterday and we put up the curtain valance. I also did a few loads of laundry(some baby stuff). We also put together the cradle that will be in our room for awhile. Today we are going to put together the crib and try and carry up the dresser. If it is too heavy then we need to wait for someone else to help Joe move it. I am now 33 weeks. 7 weeks to go(but who is counting) I am starting to get more uncomfortable. The little one is always doing sumersaults and is so active lately. It is so awesome to feel him move around, but it is a little uncomfortable some times. It is kind of weird to have a hard time putting on socks and tying your own shoes... thank goodness for Crocs...(i am wearing them all the time now since i can just slip them on.
I am so excited to meet our new little one. I have a feeling that these next few weeks are going to go by slowly.. The rest of the pregnancy has gone by sooooo fast...
Last weekend i was in CA for my baby shower that Julie and Robyn put on for me. It was great to see everyone and i got so many cute and special things. I definitely have some wonderful friends. Next weekend, the girls at work are having a shower for me. So, that will be great as well.

well-
we just got back from Hawaii last night. We had a great and relaxing time. We spent a lot of time lying on the beach and just relaxing. We didn't do too much sight seeing since we had been there before. This trip was to be lazy and relax.
I am now 27 weeks prego and getting bigger by the day. It was nice to have a last quiet vacation with just the two of us before the baby gets here. Yes, we are having a BOY!!!!! joe is very excited that it is a boy. I am excited as well, but i would have been happy either way. Joe was okay with having a girl as well, but i know he was really excited about the boy. We just got all the bedding for the baby. My mom bought it for us. It is really cute. We are going with a train theme. The bedding we got is T is for train and I really do like it.
Anyways, I got to go back to work tomorrow. Back to the grind... oh well... pretty soon i will get a good 5 months off after the baby is born.

i am officially starting to feel pregnant. I cooked a nice dinner last night of chicken, potatoes and zucchini and then i could not eat the chicken at all. It made me sick just thinking about eating chicken. That is a first for me. Also, my belly is getting bigger. I am wearing my maternity pants now and they are so much more comfy than my regular pants. I even had to order a few new pairs of scrubs for work so that i will be more comfy and they will fit over my ever expanding belly. I am now just two days shy of the 5 month mark. i am half way there..... it has gone by sooooo fast.

we had our ultrasound last week and baby did not want to reveal him/herself to us. He/she had their legs crossed.. so camera shy... The tech and the radiologist both said "i think i see something" which may or may not mean it is a boy. oh well, we are going to have to wait a few more weeks for our next appointment to see if we can get another ultrasound. The good thing is that it will keep me from buying baby clothes now(saving me money), since i refuse to buy green/yellow things. We have a few themes picked out for the baby's room depending on if it is a boy or a girl

Only a few more days, and I get to go to California. I am so excited to visit. I haven't been to the bay area since December(i think). I get to see my niece for the first time(she is already 4 months old) and i get to see my other niece again.. I sometimes wish we were closer so I could watch them all grow.
Julie's bachelorette party is coming up as well and I know it is going to be so much fun. Even though I will be the designated sober one, I always have fun when there is dancing and friends involved.
As soon as i get back to Washington after the trip, we have a doctor's appointment and an ultrasound. If the baby is behaving we get to find out what we are having. I can't wait to find out what our little peanut is.

i had a doctor's appointment today and everything with the baby is great. But, the bad part is that i have had a cold since friday and now it has gone into my eye and so i had to go to the urgent care clinic for my eye. So, i got to go to the doctor twice today. I have viral conjunctivitis(aka pink eye) from my cold. So, no work for me tomorrow since my eye looks horrible and pink eye is extremely contageous. I can't go to work and give it to all of my patients. I think the hospital would frown on that. I don't feel bad except that my eye hurts. So, i have a day off to relax and maybe go shopping.(who knows)

today has been a nice sunny day. i started out going to Home Depot to buy flowers for the pots on the deck (0930). I came home and then started planting. It didn't take me too long to plant all the pots(7 pots and 7 window boxes). I don't know why, but when i do this task with my husband it takes all day.... he lags. It was nice to do some therapeutic planting.
I ate lunch and took a little break and then put the dogs in the car and we went to Beaver Lake Park for a walk. There is supposed to be an off leash area for the dogs, but i had a hard time finding it. I had only been to Beaver Lake once before and I was not familiar with it. There were also no signs pointing in the right direction. Some other people asked me if i knew where the dog area was, so clearly i was not the only one who was looking for it and couldn't find it. Anyways, we started walking down a trail and it was really muddy. I only had flip flops on, so I decided to turn back.(i think the dog park was down that trail). Maybe next time..... We went back to the lake area and wandered around with all the other people, kids, and dogs..
Now, the girls are passed out on the couch. They are exhausted from their adventure.