Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Memorial Day Weekend
While we were trying to make some headway on unpacking we did break for a couple of fun events. Sunday Ellie and I attended my nephew's high school graduation. It was thankfully short and sweet because Ellie would not sit still for anything! Unfortunately, right at the end of the ceremony when everyone was filing out of the gym it started down pouring. And where were our umbrellas? In the car of course. Ellie at one point had found a small printed paper box in a corner of the gym. She played with it for quite a while and didn't want to give it up. So that box turned into her rain protection as she wore it as a hat as my mom ran with her to the car and I ran dragging the stroller behind me. We were soaked to the skin! My nephew is heading to DeVry university in July to major in Computer Engineering. Couldn't be more proud of this kid!
On Memorial Day we attended our first event in our new town. Even though the forecast called for rain all morning, we set out with as much rain gear as we owned (which was a couple of wind breakers and 2 umbrellas!) and walked the 6 blocks to the parade route with some friends that decided to join us on our adventure. And oh yes, we did get wet! While waiting for the parade to begin we saw some other friends of ours looking for a spot so we flagged them down and had ourselves a nice little party. The kids did awesome and loved the umpteen million marching bands and old cars that went past. We did our best to keep the kids dry by creating a canopy with the umbrellas. Thankfully, the showers came and went but it got pretty heavy at times. By the time we were walking back and it sunny and the clouds were breaking up. We had just picked up a gas grill from a friend so we had a last min BBQ of hotdogs and corn on the cob. Yum! Here are some fun photos of the day.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The worst kept secret
A few posts ago I re-told our infertility story. I know a lot of you read it. I know a lot of you share in that same grief, the ups and downs, the heartbreak. And a lot of you don't. But you have been nothing but supportive and caring of us as we journey down this hard road together. Today is also my 34th birthday. Cold and gloomy as it is, its still a good day. I have a few minutes to update this blog and then the kid will be up.
I ended the previous post with "waiting..." which often seems unending. We did another round of IVF (frozen transfer) on St. Patrick's day. Knowing that at some point this year, and perhaps sooner then later, Eric would have a munch anticipated job change and our insurance for infertility would disappear. So after taking Feb off of all meds and doctors appointments we dove in one more time. God's grace and the luck of the Irish was with us that day and I am happy to announce that tomorrow I will be 12 weeks pregnant with Gradberg baby #2! I was able to see "him" on the ultrasound on Monday only because the Doppler still can't pick up his heartbeat (tilted uterus makes it hard to find it while he is still so little) so they did a quick ultrasound and I got to see him moving his hands and feet around, trying to get his hand to his mouth. He turned and looked right at us! I love these little moments! His heart rate is great at 171 for those who care about such things. Due date is December 3rd*
I am now off of all medications to help sustain the pregnancy and thank God for that. Not all the meds are covered by insurance and I cringed every time I had to re-order. And this folks, is why we can't afford to buy a house! Infertility has really zapped our savings but for our family, it was worth it. This will be our last baby. We had dreamed of having 3 children but the cost is just too high. When these two are older we may still consider foster-to-adopt and possibly with an older child that needs a home but that's a long ways off from now.
And now for the "*" from above. Ellie's labor was a nightmare and absolutely nothing like how I wanted it all to go. She was 9 pounds and was delivered via C-section. I desperately want this baby to be delivered via VBAC. But my doctors have already told me that the likelihood of a VBAC is not great. The potential complications are numerous. They will not induce me at all (Pitocin only if needed to help labor along), if I don't go into labor on my own by Thanksgiving (39 weeks) they will schedule a C-section. Everything in me rebels against the idea of a scheduled C-section. Ellie was 9 pounds at 39 weeks and she broke her own water. I used to firmly believe that babies will come when the baby is ready. But then I have some dear friends who get induced every time because nature does not just take its course and sometimes those babies are big. Anyway, some people have told me to find a different doctor who is more understanding of the desire for a VBAC but with the IVF and the previous C-section I really can't go see a mid-wife. I really need doctors. I won't be so stubborn as to risk my baby. I'm not even insisting on a natural birth at this point. I just don't want another surgery. So we will see what is what come November. They will continue to monitor baby's growth and as before, non-stress tests every week for the last month. We also have an echocardiogram in July at 19 weeks and we will also learn gender at that time.
In comparison to Ellie's first trimester:
-very little nausea
-no food aversions
-extreme fatigue
-early baby bump (been in maternity pants for 3 weeks already!)
-perhaps a boy???? Eh, who knows :)
I ended the previous post with "waiting..." which often seems unending. We did another round of IVF (frozen transfer) on St. Patrick's day. Knowing that at some point this year, and perhaps sooner then later, Eric would have a munch anticipated job change and our insurance for infertility would disappear. So after taking Feb off of all meds and doctors appointments we dove in one more time. God's grace and the luck of the Irish was with us that day and I am happy to announce that tomorrow I will be 12 weeks pregnant with Gradberg baby #2! I was able to see "him" on the ultrasound on Monday only because the Doppler still can't pick up his heartbeat (tilted uterus makes it hard to find it while he is still so little) so they did a quick ultrasound and I got to see him moving his hands and feet around, trying to get his hand to his mouth. He turned and looked right at us! I love these little moments! His heart rate is great at 171 for those who care about such things. Due date is December 3rd*
I am now off of all medications to help sustain the pregnancy and thank God for that. Not all the meds are covered by insurance and I cringed every time I had to re-order. And this folks, is why we can't afford to buy a house! Infertility has really zapped our savings but for our family, it was worth it. This will be our last baby. We had dreamed of having 3 children but the cost is just too high. When these two are older we may still consider foster-to-adopt and possibly with an older child that needs a home but that's a long ways off from now.
And now for the "*" from above. Ellie's labor was a nightmare and absolutely nothing like how I wanted it all to go. She was 9 pounds and was delivered via C-section. I desperately want this baby to be delivered via VBAC. But my doctors have already told me that the likelihood of a VBAC is not great. The potential complications are numerous. They will not induce me at all (Pitocin only if needed to help labor along), if I don't go into labor on my own by Thanksgiving (39 weeks) they will schedule a C-section. Everything in me rebels against the idea of a scheduled C-section. Ellie was 9 pounds at 39 weeks and she broke her own water. I used to firmly believe that babies will come when the baby is ready. But then I have some dear friends who get induced every time because nature does not just take its course and sometimes those babies are big. Anyway, some people have told me to find a different doctor who is more understanding of the desire for a VBAC but with the IVF and the previous C-section I really can't go see a mid-wife. I really need doctors. I won't be so stubborn as to risk my baby. I'm not even insisting on a natural birth at this point. I just don't want another surgery. So we will see what is what come November. They will continue to monitor baby's growth and as before, non-stress tests every week for the last month. We also have an echocardiogram in July at 19 weeks and we will also learn gender at that time.
In comparison to Ellie's first trimester:
-very little nausea
-no food aversions
-extreme fatigue
-early baby bump (been in maternity pants for 3 weeks already!)
-perhaps a boy???? Eh, who knows :)
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Ellie's hospital stay
On Sunday (yeah on Mother's day) just after we got home from church and visiting my mom we put Ellie down for a nap as she was sooo tired. We had cut her morning nap short to go to church but she was fine for the most part. She wasn't feeling warm before church. She felt a little warm to me at that point but I thought sleep was more important then unpacking the Tylenol, didn't even check her temp (mama guilt big time there). She had had a very mild runny nose for most of the week but no other symptoms of being sick. She woke up about 10 mins later having a seizure from a spike in body temp. We didn't know that at the time so we called 911. My bother has seizures (hydocyphalis) so I knew to keep her on her side. Still scared me to death since she was turning blue and sounded like she was dying. By the time the medics got here it was over and she was out cold. They took us to the ER (first ride in an ambulance!) and then everything went nuts. Her blood sugars were really really high which led them to think she had diabetes. Which after 6 more blood tests, she did not have. Then they were worried about other potential unknown seizures since she has bled from her mouth in the night and I didn't know it till the mornings when I got her up. They ordered an EEG. Yeah right, a 15 month old is going to sit quietly and/or go to sleep with electrodes hanging off of her head? It did not go well. Towards the end she was in full scale tantrum and didn't want to be held by either of us. It was enough anyway and previous seizures were ruled out. So the bleeding must be teething related. Then the first blood culture they drew in the ER came back positive. After 48 hours of it growing they determine its strepnumo (sp?) which causes pneumonia (she doesn't have pneumonia) and meningitis. She came close to having to have a spinal tap to rule it out, thank God they didn't, but they ordered a chest xray anyway. Finally the second blood culture cames back negative. Finally she was fever free for over 24 hours and they finally let us come home this morning. Phew! Eric was able to stay with us up until last night which was really nice. She and I were both totally going stir crazy and I had mama guilt big time every time I had to leave. They forced me to leave on Monday, I cried all the way home. So she has antibiotics for 10 days and a follow up with her GP on Tuesday. She is now going to be prone to having febril (fever induced) seizures until she is 6 so we just have to be ready with the Tylenol when she does feel warm.
So after all of that... a mild runny nose virus caused her temp which caused the seizure. There never was diabetes (the high sugar levels were a result of the trauma of the seizure), there never was a previous unknown seizure, and there never was pneumonia. Blood cultures take 48 hours to grow in the lab and we spend the majority of our time waiting to see what the results from those two cultures were and then another day to see which antibiotic would react to it. She had 3 IV doses of antibiotics as well. She was very happy for the most part and not "sick" at all after Sunday. Thankful it was not worse and she was able to roam about her room without wires attached. She was the delight of the nurses station as she played peek-a-boo with them and the other patients on the floor. She did not like hospital food!
We are exhausted and also still planning on moving on Saturday. Eric is off the next 2 days so we will get it all done, I'm sure. I should be packing now I guess...
Pictures!
So after all of that... a mild runny nose virus caused her temp which caused the seizure. There never was diabetes (the high sugar levels were a result of the trauma of the seizure), there never was a previous unknown seizure, and there never was pneumonia. Blood cultures take 48 hours to grow in the lab and we spend the majority of our time waiting to see what the results from those two cultures were and then another day to see which antibiotic would react to it. She had 3 IV doses of antibiotics as well. She was very happy for the most part and not "sick" at all after Sunday. Thankful it was not worse and she was able to roam about her room without wires attached. She was the delight of the nurses station as she played peek-a-boo with them and the other patients on the floor. She did not like hospital food!
We are exhausted and also still planning on moving on Saturday. Eric is off the next 2 days so we will get it all done, I'm sure. I should be packing now I guess...
Pictures!
 |
| Asleep on daddy in the ER |
 |
| EEG |
 |
| Ellie playing, I'm asleep in the background |
 |
| Just found out we were discharged |
 |
| The Ronald MacDonald family room was a pleasant surprise. Daily catered lunches and loads of free snacks |
Sunday, May 3, 2015
15 months!
OK so way past time to brag on my little angel! Our little miracle baby is 15 months old today and most certainly on her way to her terrible two's! She is a bundle of fun most of the time but she definitely has her moments. We recently took her to the zoo but she was less then thrilled with most of the animals and mostly wanted to either be carried around or to run amuck around the zoo. With several dozen bus loads of school children around, we couldn't let her do that too much. We did get some good pictures with the dolphins that I will post at the end.
She doesn't see her doctor till later this month but the girl eats a lot and is getting quite heavy, at least to me she feels heavy. She loves pasta and potatoes and almost all fruit but her favorite by far is blueberries. She was quite proud of herself this morning for taking bites off the banana like a big girl. She also fed herself the strips of grilled cheese I gave her for lunch and not one incident of bit-off-more-the-I-can-chew, so that's good! She loves American cheese and would live on it if I let her. Speaking of cheese...
One of her favorite words to say is cheese. Except she now calls chocolate cheese too. We think maybe she is using it for foods she likes a lot? Not sure. Trying to reinforce that cheese is cheese and chocolate is chocolate. She also says kisses (when she feels like it), sock and shoe, mama, dada, and our favorite, a question, what's this? which she says and points to things. And she says it all the time, kinda strange but we always answer her question properly.
She has also learned the power of holding one of our fingers in her little hand. With that one finger she knows she can lead us to whatever it is that she wants and we will follow her. We do this walking outside a lot too. She seems to think this is acceptable.
We have to spell out bath time because as soon as we say bath she will immediately go to the bathroom and start chucking her toys into the bathtub and trying to get it. Bed time is still a pretty easy routine. Sometimes we read a few books, she still has a bottle before bed (all others have been eliminated in favor of sippy cups), we sing her a song, we say our prayers with her and she folds her hands all by herself. Turn on the sleepy music, kisses, and she is usually out like a light. Also still on two naps a day, sometimes one but she seems to do better with two.
Her bad behaviors: throwing food she doesn't want on the floor, not willing to try new foods unless we practically force feed it to her (then she decides she likes it and will eat it), she will throw a tantrum if we deny her something she wants, turning on the dishwasher, not wanting to get in the car seat when she wants to play outside, and not wanting to be left in the care of a sitter. She is getting a little more mommy and daddy attached these days but usually is ok after a min or two. We also have good sitters that she is very familiar with and she likes. So I think it is just a phase.
Pictures!
She doesn't see her doctor till later this month but the girl eats a lot and is getting quite heavy, at least to me she feels heavy. She loves pasta and potatoes and almost all fruit but her favorite by far is blueberries. She was quite proud of herself this morning for taking bites off the banana like a big girl. She also fed herself the strips of grilled cheese I gave her for lunch and not one incident of bit-off-more-the-I-can-chew, so that's good! She loves American cheese and would live on it if I let her. Speaking of cheese...
One of her favorite words to say is cheese. Except she now calls chocolate cheese too. We think maybe she is using it for foods she likes a lot? Not sure. Trying to reinforce that cheese is cheese and chocolate is chocolate. She also says kisses (when she feels like it), sock and shoe, mama, dada, and our favorite, a question, what's this? which she says and points to things. And she says it all the time, kinda strange but we always answer her question properly.
She has also learned the power of holding one of our fingers in her little hand. With that one finger she knows she can lead us to whatever it is that she wants and we will follow her. We do this walking outside a lot too. She seems to think this is acceptable.
We have to spell out bath time because as soon as we say bath she will immediately go to the bathroom and start chucking her toys into the bathtub and trying to get it. Bed time is still a pretty easy routine. Sometimes we read a few books, she still has a bottle before bed (all others have been eliminated in favor of sippy cups), we sing her a song, we say our prayers with her and she folds her hands all by herself. Turn on the sleepy music, kisses, and she is usually out like a light. Also still on two naps a day, sometimes one but she seems to do better with two.
Her bad behaviors: throwing food she doesn't want on the floor, not willing to try new foods unless we practically force feed it to her (then she decides she likes it and will eat it), she will throw a tantrum if we deny her something she wants, turning on the dishwasher, not wanting to get in the car seat when she wants to play outside, and not wanting to be left in the care of a sitter. She is getting a little more mommy and daddy attached these days but usually is ok after a min or two. We also have good sitters that she is very familiar with and she likes. So I think it is just a phase.
Pictures!
 |
| With a friends bunny |
 |
| With the Easter bunny at church |
 |
| She loves the dolphins |
 |
| This one came and did a flip right in front of her |
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Infertility Awareness Week
So this week was infertility awareness week. There are have been a lot of good articles posted to facebook that say all the right things about infertility. I hope it helps those who have never struggled with infertility to understand, in some small way, what its like to live a mile in our shoes. I've been thinking about the last 4 years and decided to patch this little recap together.
Imagine you are me in the following:
You made a promise to yourself, to God, and to your future husband that you were going to wait for marriage. It was hard, but you did. After marriage you wanted to wait a year before starting a family. You trusted your birth control but was always worried you were pregnant anyway. After 8 months you decided to stop birth control and let the baby making begin. The first month goes by. Then the second and third. By the 6th month, you really start to get worried that there was something really wrong. You start reading more articles. You start counting days, checking your body temp, timing sex, charting it all, waiting, waiting, waiting. You stop buying the expensive pregnancy tests and get the cheapest ones available. Every month you say your not going to test... and you do anyway. Friend and family having babies starts getting much harder. The questions start coming and you don't have any answers. Finally, its been a year. You go to your woman's doctor and tell them your story. They do some blood tests, order some more invasive tests, but eventually run out of tests they can run. They send you to an infertility specialist known as an reproductive endocrinologist. That's when things start to get really scary. More blood tests, more tests for your husband, more questions, more invasive testing. They start you on a very basic medicine to jump start your fertility while you wait for the test results. At this point your terrified of needles and aren't ready to "play God" with your fertility. You have no one to talk to and your ashamed and scared and alone.
Shortly after this first medicated round, your blood tests come back with the worst news possible. Your body is different, its older then it should be. Without some serious medical intervention, you'll never be able to carry and hold your own baby. You sob for hours. Now every time someone tells you they are pregnant you go home and sob and sob and sob. You are mad. At God, at the world, at yourself. Then you find some friends. Friends who have been there. And then suddenly your not alone anymore. You still feel awful but at least not alone. Now that you have to facts, some wise friends, and a clearer head... you make a plan. You get over your fear of needles pretty quick. You get over your issues with "playing God" (because hey, God made the science possible, and he is and always will be the creator and sustainer of life), and you begin your journey.
There is pain, a LOT of money, loss, and fear. Then finally, finally you get the good news. And the good news "sticks". 2 years to the month since you journey started. You are finally pregnant. 9 months later, your daughter is born. She is everything you ever wanted. She is perfect and she is yours, finally. 9 months later you start thinking about #2. You wanted 3 but 2 would be ok too. It worked once surely it will work again right? WRONG. Two tries later, more money, more medicine and painful shots, and your body refuses to get pregnant again. Why? You start asking again. You realize you've put living your life on hold again. You take a break. You get in better shape, start eating better. Start living your life again. And you start to try again and then you wait. TO BE CONTINUED...
Imagine you are me in the following:
You made a promise to yourself, to God, and to your future husband that you were going to wait for marriage. It was hard, but you did. After marriage you wanted to wait a year before starting a family. You trusted your birth control but was always worried you were pregnant anyway. After 8 months you decided to stop birth control and let the baby making begin. The first month goes by. Then the second and third. By the 6th month, you really start to get worried that there was something really wrong. You start reading more articles. You start counting days, checking your body temp, timing sex, charting it all, waiting, waiting, waiting. You stop buying the expensive pregnancy tests and get the cheapest ones available. Every month you say your not going to test... and you do anyway. Friend and family having babies starts getting much harder. The questions start coming and you don't have any answers. Finally, its been a year. You go to your woman's doctor and tell them your story. They do some blood tests, order some more invasive tests, but eventually run out of tests they can run. They send you to an infertility specialist known as an reproductive endocrinologist. That's when things start to get really scary. More blood tests, more tests for your husband, more questions, more invasive testing. They start you on a very basic medicine to jump start your fertility while you wait for the test results. At this point your terrified of needles and aren't ready to "play God" with your fertility. You have no one to talk to and your ashamed and scared and alone.
Shortly after this first medicated round, your blood tests come back with the worst news possible. Your body is different, its older then it should be. Without some serious medical intervention, you'll never be able to carry and hold your own baby. You sob for hours. Now every time someone tells you they are pregnant you go home and sob and sob and sob. You are mad. At God, at the world, at yourself. Then you find some friends. Friends who have been there. And then suddenly your not alone anymore. You still feel awful but at least not alone. Now that you have to facts, some wise friends, and a clearer head... you make a plan. You get over your fear of needles pretty quick. You get over your issues with "playing God" (because hey, God made the science possible, and he is and always will be the creator and sustainer of life), and you begin your journey.
There is pain, a LOT of money, loss, and fear. Then finally, finally you get the good news. And the good news "sticks". 2 years to the month since you journey started. You are finally pregnant. 9 months later, your daughter is born. She is everything you ever wanted. She is perfect and she is yours, finally. 9 months later you start thinking about #2. You wanted 3 but 2 would be ok too. It worked once surely it will work again right? WRONG. Two tries later, more money, more medicine and painful shots, and your body refuses to get pregnant again. Why? You start asking again. You realize you've put living your life on hold again. You take a break. You get in better shape, start eating better. Start living your life again. And you start to try again and then you wait. TO BE CONTINUED...
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Moving!
At long last, we are moving from this apartment. It has been a long 4 years here and we are more then ready for a change. Its been good to us for the most part but the irritating things are just so irritating. After seeing two other potential houses/townhouses we found one we couldn't resist. Due to the public nature of this blog I will not post the city or address. Lets just say its the next suburb over from us. Its also very near that train station and the downtown area.
It is a two story townhouse with a full basement. It is only 2 bedrooms but we are going to make do with that since Eric will have space for his stuff in the basement. We are also loosing our garage and my nice big kitchen. Again, compromises had to be made, the rental market in this area is insanely high and the location of this home outweighed what we were losing.
So we signed the lease with a little bit of hesitation only because the landlord is super anal in his details about the place. He also lives next door, go figure. For example, can't cook with strong smells like curry (we don't like curry but some of my crockpot meals do have a strong smell) and his lease says only 1 nail hole per wall (insane) but we talked to him about that and our regular décor is fine. Everything has to be spackled and sanded and ready for paint when we leave. Any damage we do to the place we have to pay to repair. Basically leave it like you found it, and of course, he is taking before pictures to compare it to when we leave. And that is just a sample. So yeah, a little hesitant but we pulled the trigger anyway. Hoping it all works out ok in the end. Our current landlords were gracious enough to let us out of our lease a month early to make this happen. So new lease starts mid-may and we will move towards the end of May.
Here are some pictures of Ellie checking out the place... now to start packing, ugh...
It is a two story townhouse with a full basement. It is only 2 bedrooms but we are going to make do with that since Eric will have space for his stuff in the basement. We are also loosing our garage and my nice big kitchen. Again, compromises had to be made, the rental market in this area is insanely high and the location of this home outweighed what we were losing.
So we signed the lease with a little bit of hesitation only because the landlord is super anal in his details about the place. He also lives next door, go figure. For example, can't cook with strong smells like curry (we don't like curry but some of my crockpot meals do have a strong smell) and his lease says only 1 nail hole per wall (insane) but we talked to him about that and our regular décor is fine. Everything has to be spackled and sanded and ready for paint when we leave. Any damage we do to the place we have to pay to repair. Basically leave it like you found it, and of course, he is taking before pictures to compare it to when we leave. And that is just a sample. So yeah, a little hesitant but we pulled the trigger anyway. Hoping it all works out ok in the end. Our current landlords were gracious enough to let us out of our lease a month early to make this happen. So new lease starts mid-may and we will move towards the end of May.
Here are some pictures of Ellie checking out the place... now to start packing, ugh...
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Reality shows
I have been adamantly against reality shows for as long as I can remember. Give me a good crime drama (my favorites are the NCISs) or a funny sitcom (by funny I mean Big Bang Theory) any day. But not everything I watch is fiction these days. I love watching Mythbusters, Outrageous Acts of Science, River Monsters, and just found What on Earth. I loved watching Dirty Jobs when it was still on (we don't get CNN anymore so I can't see the new Mike Rowe show) and when I can I liked to watch American Ninja Warrior. And sadly, I tune into Wheel of Fortune. That was it.
I don't watch 19 and counting, teen mom, 16 and pregnant, American idol, survivor, amazing race, or duck dynasty. Or an of the other 100 other silly reality shows that now clutter up my tv listings.
Until now. Now I find myself hooked on The Voice. I always kinda tuned into the blind auditions because I thought it was cool that the judges were really listening to the voice and not caring about what the person looked like or how they dressed. But after that I never followed it because didn't want the "reality show drama" crap. But my treadmill running led me to watch some of the show after the blind auditions. The hosts interactions/drama gets kinda old but I really, really like how they are always encouraging and only offer constructive criticism when needed. And the singers are good. The back stories are kind interesting but not necessary, the guest mentors are kind of fun to see too. Watching established musicians help out the next generation just makes me smile. Corny I know. But soon the "live" shows will start and I think the general public gets to vote. Do I care who wins? Not really. Is it going to start to really annoy me? Probably. But for now I am enjoying the talent and set my DVR to record so I can fast forward commercials. Love my DVR.
Sadly, I know reality shows are the future of TV because they are cheap to produce. There will come a day (possibly in the not to distant future) where we will no longer be able to afford cable. And I'll be ok with that. My tv watching is mostly restricted to when Ellie is in bed for the night. She is so noisy that watching even recorded tv during the day is very difficult. But more and more often I find myself wondering if my time would be better spent doing something other then watching tv at night. I need to exercise, I like to have game nights with Eric, I should read books instead. But sometimes, after a long day of dealing with a baby who is quickly becoming a toddler, the tv is the only thing I want. I just need more balance I think, and all will be fine.
I don't watch 19 and counting, teen mom, 16 and pregnant, American idol, survivor, amazing race, or duck dynasty. Or an of the other 100 other silly reality shows that now clutter up my tv listings.
Until now. Now I find myself hooked on The Voice. I always kinda tuned into the blind auditions because I thought it was cool that the judges were really listening to the voice and not caring about what the person looked like or how they dressed. But after that I never followed it because didn't want the "reality show drama" crap. But my treadmill running led me to watch some of the show after the blind auditions. The hosts interactions/drama gets kinda old but I really, really like how they are always encouraging and only offer constructive criticism when needed. And the singers are good. The back stories are kind interesting but not necessary, the guest mentors are kind of fun to see too. Watching established musicians help out the next generation just makes me smile. Corny I know. But soon the "live" shows will start and I think the general public gets to vote. Do I care who wins? Not really. Is it going to start to really annoy me? Probably. But for now I am enjoying the talent and set my DVR to record so I can fast forward commercials. Love my DVR.
Sadly, I know reality shows are the future of TV because they are cheap to produce. There will come a day (possibly in the not to distant future) where we will no longer be able to afford cable. And I'll be ok with that. My tv watching is mostly restricted to when Ellie is in bed for the night. She is so noisy that watching even recorded tv during the day is very difficult. But more and more often I find myself wondering if my time would be better spent doing something other then watching tv at night. I need to exercise, I like to have game nights with Eric, I should read books instead. But sometimes, after a long day of dealing with a baby who is quickly becoming a toddler, the tv is the only thing I want. I just need more balance I think, and all will be fine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)