Shannon’s World

My weekend started with a text message from Matt stating that Alison was having her baby. . .and less than 90 minutes later, she did!  Ethan John Hunt was born 8 weeks earlier than expected but he is a fighter and doing better and better each day.

After loading up on fruits, vegetables, honey and goodies at the Farmer’s Market.  Jorie and I drove up to Chicago to visit the Hunt’s.  Alison was doing well and looked great after being in labor for most of the night.  We had a good visit with a lot of friends (Ethan’s shower was supposed to be on Saturday, so a few of us congregated in a small room at the hospital and enjoyed some Sweet Mandy B’s cupcakes and drinks, opened some presents).  One of the highlights of the visit was going to visit Ethan in the NICU.  It’s safe to say I’ve never seen a baby that small and it was just so amazing to watch little Ethan lay there so peacefully (and other times not so peacefully – he was quite the grabber!).

After leaving the Hunt’s so they could get some much needed sleep, Sarah, Jorie, Carolyn and I headed to Adobo for some guac and rittas – the meal did not disappoint!  After dinner I headed back to Carolyn’s, where I spent the night at their beautiful new home.  Believe it or not, I’d been outside their house a few times, but this was my first trip inside and it was just gorgeous.

Sunday morning, after getting sucked in to a little Tori Spelling reality trash TV, I headed back to the hospital for another visit with Alison and Matt before heading to Crown Point, Indiana for Eliza’s bridal shower.  It was a fun shower with lots of present opening and great favors (I’ll post about those later).

Jorie and I met up in Merriville and drove back to Indy with some new tunes loaded on the Ipod, thank you, Duke!

For some reason when I got home I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep (could it have been the XL McDonalds sweet teas I’m obsessed with?).  I got home too late to see Miss Libby, so at about midnight I snuck into her room, picked the ton of bricks up (26 lbs of dead weight is hard to work with in the dark!) and held her for a long time just rocking.  She never woke up, but it was the best feeling in the world to hold my sweet girl after a weekend away.

Nana and Grandpa are having a hard time watching Libby’s babbling post while on vacation – try this link:

http://mike.shannonandmike.net/2008/06/26/babbling-in-the-bath/

Libby recieved a present in the mail and surprisingly enough it wasn’t from Nana!  It was from our friends the Lutz’s (Nana’s neighbor).  They sent Libby this adorable outfit and I just love it.  I snapped this picture quickly after trying it on, but I think we might have to get a professional picture taken next week.  Pink and Green don’t get much cuter!

To say your body changes after having a baby is an understatement.  I’m not sure if my body is delayed in going through some of the changes because I breast feed for so long or what but things are getting interesting!  For example, I have all kinds of new hair growth at the front temples of my scalp.  Nothing wrong with new hair, as my Mom said it’s better than losing hair.  Unfortunately this new hair is curling!  You should see me on a hot day or after working out, it looks like I have 2 curly q horns coming out of each side of my head.  Everyday the straightener comes out and I try my darndest to straghten the horns…it’s a loosing battle.

Another problem I am having is acne…worse than when I was 13 acne.  My chin of covered with big, nasty zits.  To make matters worse, Clinique stopped making my favorite acne cover up with zit medication in it – I can’t find my old tube and I have no good cover up to use that also treats zits while camouflaging them  (any recommendations?).

I have found one good product that I “roll” on my chin everynight – Burt’s Bees Herbal Blemish stick has done a good job a warding off some of the little nasties errupting on my chin.  It certainly hasn’t stopped them all, but it’s helped and hasn’t dried out things too much.

My heart skipped a beat on Friday night when I went into Libby’s room to check on her.  There she was – asleep on her stomach with her leg bent and hiked up…JUST LIKE ME!  I sleep the exact same way!  Most nights I hug my pillow in this pose (I checked on Libby Saturday night and she had Bobby Doll and her blanket tucked underneath her with her leg up).

Is it bad that sometimes I wish she’ll wake up at night so I can hold her and rock with her?  I’m sure I’ll get the chance as more teeth come in, but for now (and the past 15 months) one of my favorite things to is watch my sweet girl, my best girl, sleep peacefully.

The picture turned out smaller than I thought – click to enlarge.  Tomrorow I’ll post the hilarious outakes.  Happy Birthday, Mom – we love and miss you!

We bought Libby a helmet this weekend and went on a Father’s Day family bike ride.  Libby did pretty well in the canopy we have that hooks to the back of the bike.  I think the helmet was more of a discomfort/distraction for her.  At one point Mike had to stop, get off his bike and assist Libby as her helmet was covering her face!  Mike took Libby on another bike ride without the helmet and she lasted much longer!  I’m hoping one of these days we can head out for a long ride and not just go around our neighborhood.