Faith & Family

Hacked

2011-04-29T12:51:00.001-04:00

Friday, April 29, 2011

I have a ton of posts in waiting: Easter, Kamryn's 9 month, School Update, Kaleb Updates...

However, I found out earlier this month some people have been taking my photos from here and using them on Facebook and other media outlets. I've never felt like enough people we're reading to have to change my security measures on here... but that time has come.

While the blog is undergoing a total overhaul, I'm learning now how to watermark my pictures. Both B & I considered going private under Wordpress and having readers log in. However, we have both determined we'd like the blog to help raise awareness about those with limb differences and we cannot do this if we go private. We want to use the blog as a platform to educate others, inspire people, help families dealing with initial shock you get sometimes when your child is born with a difference and help them understand how wonderful life can be when you embrace these possibilities. We have already come into contact with so many wonderful people who say, "I feel like I know you already! We read your blog!"

And we want to share, but not everything. So in addition to the security I already have in place (you didn't think that was our real last name right?) we've got to add some more. I'm also working with a blog designer to give us a whole new name, look and button to grab. So stay tuned...

Do you have any helpful hints? I'd love to hear from you!

Kaleb's Day Out

2011-03-31T13:30:00.000-04:00

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Back in January we decided that even though Kaleb hates being seperated from his ~~shadow~~ sister it was important to do something fun with just him each month. In February we ordered pizza, stocked up on popcorn & ice cream and rented a few movies. We dragged his mattress into the living room and had an amazing night. The kid has an uncanny ability to keep his eyes open way past his bedtime.

This month we decided to take a trip down to the Cincinnati Museum Center. The last time B & I ventured down there I was just barely pregnant with Kaleb:

We had such a blast that we thought our little monkey would enjoy it too. The museum has a couple of different sections, including an amazing children's set up.

A gigantic tree house :) his favorite!

Climbing, Climbing, more Climbing

Yeah, B followed him everywhere. Thank God the man is in shape.

He kept clogging the tube pretending his left hand was stuck.

Not funny!

Building Blocks

Riding the fake Metro with Mommy!

Paying for his groceries... yes that's all meat. Boys.

I'm going to show him this when he

doesn't want to help B in the yard when he's older.

He kept saying, "Playin like George Mom!"

(as in Curious George, his favorite episode)

After hanging out in the Children's Museum all morning we decided to take a bathroom & lunch break. Can I please say how thankful I am that I didn't even have to ask B to take Kaleb? He scooped him up, headed to the bathroom for a diaper change & met me back in the lobby for lunch. Apparently our gigantic toddler exceeded the weight limit for the changer so B had to hold it up with his leg... the entire time Kaleb saying, "I going to fall Dad. Help! Help!"

We decided to venture into the adult sections of the museum after lunch and although it wasn't as "hands on" Kaleb enjoyed it just as much.

DINOSAURS! (We hung out here forever!)

Pretend riding on of the old street cars

My boys :) I love them.

We made a quick stop in the gift shop before we left...

... and we ended up walking away with Sid & Buck from Ice Age.

His favorite!

It was such a fun day, we'll have to do it again this year. They have so much more to see & do. We didn't even begin to get into all the different areas.

And no, he didn't fall asleep on the way home like every other child in America. What do you have to do to wear a kid out these days?

And just for kicks... I took this picture of Kamryn yesterday.

Yep, she's becoming a very green-eyed girl. Who would've guessed that?!

... More updates soon!

Transitions

2011-03-14T14:31:00.000-04:00

Doesn't it just seem that way? That life is one big transition? You learn to live with your partner and get used to it, add a baby to the mix, maybe a new job, a few moves, oh what's that? Life isn't crazy enough, yes let's add just one more baby and off you go...

When we sat down in late 2010 and had the "talk" about setting goals & figuring out a plan to help build a better future for our family we knew that it would take work... so that's what we've been doing for the last 2 months I've been absent from my blog. Figuring out schedules, student forms/aide/registration, doctor visits (but thankfully for no sickies!), working, house rearranging... It's been go-go-go constantly.

Sure, I have time to myself in the evening to blog but no computer access. I'm still waiting on a decent application for my phone to blog from- but they ALL suck right now. I have time at work with the computer, but no time to sit and bang out an entry. Thankfully, we have to make a computer purchase for B to be able to do his school work (Finally a valid excuse!) so if I can hold out a little while longer... then my blog will be up and running again.

And just to keep you hanging out waiting... how about some updated pictures of the kids? And our sweet baby Kamryn is already crawling, talking up a storm, sitting up, eating food... how did that happen? And Kaleb can identify all of his letters, shapes, colors & count to 20... and still growing like a weed!

:: le sigh::

Big girl :)

Still the BEST sleeper. Ever.

Our version of a double stroller.

This only works if 1 or more of your children are part monkey.

Kaleb has started to dress himself and he has excellent style as you can see :)

More Updates to come...

Kaleb is 2 years, 5 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old.

Kamryn is 7 months, 3 weeks, 2 days old.

Love & Prayers

2011-01-11T08:40:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Kaleb climbed up the back of the chair to see his sister...

And imagine my surprise when he bent down and gave her a sweet kiss:

He is SUCH a sweet boy. I'm so glad I didn't make him get down {which was my first instinct, since I was cooking at the time} because I would've missed this incredibly sweet moment between my kids.

I'm still in awe of how they are together. He always gets an immediate response from her whenever he is near and when he actually talks to her or kisses her or pats her back or rubs her head and says, "Good Boy Sis!" it's like her whole entire day has been made right. How can a 2 year old have such an impact on a 5 month old?

Because God is so good.

Please take a moment and say a few prayers for these people:

All those killed in the Arizona shooting this week. I have stopped countless times to see the news covering the youngest victim of this tragedy, just 9 years old, and it makes me sob every single time. Please pray for those family & friends touched so close to home my this senseless act of violence.

My Aunt's Aunt Connie, who always treated us more like her nieces, was taken to the ER this past weekend. She has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Please pray for Aunt Connie & her family. She is undergoing surgery to try and remove the tumor soon so some prayers for that would be great too.

And although I heard about this tragedy a few days ago I cannot seem to stop thinking of this family and how much they need our prayers right now. Brie was a young mother of 2 girls and pregnant with a boy when she was killed the day after Christmas in a car accident. Please pray for her baby boy, Curran, who they we're able to deliver but is in critical condition. This family needs extra prayers please.

{And Side Note: Kamryn's FIRST tooth has broken the surface. Kaleb didn't get his first until about 7 months... so she's a good 2 months ahead of her brother. Maybe NOW I can get her to eat some solid food? Just maybe? }

Kaleb is 2 years, 3 months, 2 weeks & 3 days.

Kamryn is 5 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old.

He's Here!

2011-01-07T21:11:00.001-05:00

Friday, January 7, 2011

Lane Christopher

January 7, 2011

7 lbs 12 ounces

19.5 inches long

Both Jess & Lane are doing wonderful. She delivered almost exactly 12 hours after checking into the hospital. Both Kaleb & Riley chanted, "Baby Lane! Baby Lane!" all night, so I'm guessing they are pretty excited to meet the new little man in all of our lives.

And all three of them are doing wonderful...and having a blast.

Kaleb & Riley are 2 1/4.

Kamryn & Lane are both officially outside babies: 5 months, 2 weeks & 5 days apart.

Miss Independent

2011-01-05T09:49:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

I have few long, detailed post's I'm working on... but just for fun...

Kamryn is developing her own strong and fiercely independent personality which includes an amazing ability to self soothe. Normally, she'll drift off with a pacifier and lately she's lost it before drifting off {because YES we do just lay her in her bed and let her do the work, VERY PROUD OF ME on that one!} And since she can't always find that paci....

Our little thumb sucker, Oh no! She takes the edge of her blanket and rubs it on her cheek while she sucks on her thumb and drifts off to sleep. Look how peaceful... sigh... I know I'll probably regret it later but for now it's the sweetest thing ever.

She also took big strides this weekend when I left her bottle next to her and ran off to check on Kaleb (who was being suspiciously quiet) and come back to this...

She even mastered turning her head while eating. I haven't let her try it again because it's my job and I'm not sharing. I love feeding her and rocking her and loving on her.... and I'm not giving that up.

And she still loves her big brother sooooo much....

She is just much smarter about it these days... hahaha.... sucker!

And surprisingly, Kaleb always laughs. He thinks the hair-pulling is hilarious.

For now, at least.

**************

And since we are in January that mean's Jessica's due date is looming around the corner (the 9th). She went 2 weeks early with Riley so I know she's frustrated about her lack of an outside baby yet. But, hey, boys are extra stubborn. They are inducing her Friday morning at 4 am... so Lane will be here this weekend!

And that mean's Kaleb and Riley will have their 1st Weekend Sleepover because she's coming here while her ~~parents~~ Mama has that baby. {Sorry Brian, you know it's all Jess!} So everyone please take some time and say some prayers for a quick & easy delivery for Jess & Lane.

Kaleb is 2 1/4.

Kamryn is right between 5-6 months.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T23:06:00.001-05:00

Monday, January 3, 2011

2011, sheesh, where does the time go? Brian and I decided to spend a quiet New Years Eve at home this year. And surprisingly, it wasn't a very hard decision at all. Kaleb was on night #2 at my grandma's house having been spending ALL his time with "Don", my grandpa. They tried to let him see the ball drop but my grandma said grandpa and Kaleb both fell asleep about 11:15 p.m. They must have been tired because Kaleb has an unnatural ability to fight sleep like no other toddler I have ever seen.

B ran out that evening and came back with Red Lobster take-out for dinner. Oh my gosh, yummy. Little Miss was at home with us, but she was lights out about 8:30 and our little sleep-champ didn't stir until the next morning. So it was just the 2 of us, surprisingly quiet around here, we settled in and watched some movies in our pajamas. We had the best time:

We grabbed Kaleb's Toy Story comforter to snuggle up with, we missed him so much.

B made a stop for some delicious white wine, he did great.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their evenings. I have so many goals and plans for this year... and I am looking forward to each and every one of them. I love this time of year being ridiculously type A personality. There hasn't ever been a year I can remember not putting detailed goals to paper and this year I might have gone slightly overboard.... But that's a post in itself.

Kaleb will be 3 in 2011.

Kamryn will celebrate the Big 1.

{And again I forgot and I'm reminded her birthday will always fall with the year, I love that}

Merry Christmas: Part II

2011-01-02T12:57:00.000-05:00

Sunday, January 2, 2011 {Happy New Year Everyone!}
..................................................................................

Saturday, December 25, 2010

{side-eyes alarm clock.... 8:26 am}
8:26 AM? How in the world can it be past 8? The sun is up, Christmas morning, my house is quiet and peaceful. I throw my leg over Brian, say a quick prayer and slip back to sleep wondering what the heck is taking my kids so long. Don't they know it's Christmas!?

I open my eyes an hour later to B whispering "Merry Christmas" in my ear (we have a baby in the room remember? I don't think we've talked in a normal tone in our room since July). We get up, check on our STILL sleeping babies and grab our respective choices for morning caffeine. After another half hour of chatting and checking email and prepping some delicious cinnamon rolls... still no kids up.

At this point B is becoming slightly annoying with his constant stream of, "Can I wake Kaleb? Can I wake Kaleb?" When I turn to tell him, "No!" for the 100th time, Kamryn stirs. I'm not sure if she was awake but B ran back so fast I didn't have time to object. We did our morning routine washing her face, applying lotion (dang you winter weather!), swapping pajamas (because both of my kids sweat when they sleep) and eating her morning bottle. Right when she burps we hear Kaleb's tiny feet scamper across the kitchen floor.

We both jump up quickly than I thought we could move shouting, "Hurry! Hurry! Run, Santa CAME! Hurry Hurry Hurry!" We didn't worry about grabbing the camera...so lost in the moment but I can show you EXACTLY what his face looked like...

This was later that morning at my mom's... and this time I had time to prepare. Of course, Santa came to Muck's for him too. He must have been a good boy.

He dug into the few displayed presents with eye boogies still fresh, rubbing his puffy eyes, staggering having not yet gained his balance completely. And the entire time I felt as though my face just might have cracked from the joy I was feeling, permanent grin plastered on my face stealing quick glances at B, watching his face mimic mine.

We let him check out those unwrapped gifts, marveling at each one, appreciating each toy screaming out it's name, "BLOCKS MOM!!! BLOCKS!!" We scoop him quickly, changing his diaper and throwing on his pajamas. {Yeah, he refuses to sleep in anything but a diaper and sometimes a t-shirt, but forget pajamas. He wants nothing to do with sleeping in them.} And then it was back to the opening...

{He even opened her gifts, she didn't seem to mind}

{He was really getting the hang of it, see that paper flying?}

And about an hour later, Kaleb wouldn't acknowledge our presence, for he was so deep in new toys he couldn't stop for even a second.

So we headed into the kitchen to pop those previously mentioned cinnamon rolls into the oven, relaxed and enjoyed watching Kaleb & Kamryn enjoy all those new toys.

Around lunch we headed over to my Mom's to open gifts, have brunch and enjoy some family time {in our pajamas, of course}.

Mimosa's {Yummmmmy!}

My WONDERFUL parents. Love them.

They had gifts lining the entire basement {with Kaleb having more gifts than O & I combined ha!}

We, of course, had to shop for our Suede & Satin.

They are also good gift openers, looks like Kaleb was picking up some techniques.

Sophie is the BEST $20.00 chew toy, ever.

Opening :)

His Auntie O always ROCKS in the gift department.

We left my parent's that afternoon completely exhausted, gave the babies a nap and headed over to my real dad's side of the family. My camera batteries died and we didn't stop for more. My dad is 1 of 5 and I've lost count of all the cousins, step families and marriages {and forget about Brian even being able to remember anyone's names}. He generally makes a straight path to my cousin who lives in Georgia bonding over their year long stories of hunting, fishing and everything southern. Their are so many people and kids that I often lose B for hours sometimes, chatting and catching up and showing off my sweet babies.

We got home that night around 11:30, tucked into bed, and we all slept past 10 am the next morning. It was such a wonderful, overwhelmingly happy Christmas. You just haven't LIVED until you've had a Christmas witnessing the innocence, joy, and indescribable happiness that comes with having children.

We are so very blessed.

Merry Christmas: Part I

2010-12-31T16:10:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 31, 2010

I'm hoping everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did this year. Starting on Christmas Eve Eve (that's the 23rd, if you we're wondering) begins our three-days of Christmas celebrations and traditions. I love mixing new traditions with some from when B & I we're growing up and we realized this year we actually have a lot of them (and even more we can't do until the kids are a little older!) Yeah, we have talked about it because we just love Christmas that much.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

We we're very lucky this year that this begin the first day of vacation for everyone. Since this was a tough year for most (including us) financially we decided to skip the whole "here's your gift and the receipt so you can return it for cash on the 26th" and made everyone goody baskets. (Yes I decorated these basket's from nothing...even the bow. I loved the result!)

We spent the entire day Thursday baking 8 pans of brownies, processing 16 jars of butter (Honey Walnut & Garlic Herb), 4 gigantic batches of buckeyes and 8 loafs of bread. Yummy. Brian is becoming such a kitchen-nut butting into my corner, taking over MY recipes and adding dashes of his own creativity. I love everything but him standing in my darn corner, it's mine and I'm not sharing. We watched Christmas movies and danced around the house with the kids blasting Mariah Carey's infamous Christmas CD. That night the kiddos hang their stocking and the elves make their appearance...

Friday, December 24, 2010

My grandparent's started this tradition with my mom and uncle back in the 1960's. My parent's did it with us... and I love it! All December my Mom & Dad would exclaim suddenly, "Did you see that! It was an Elf... I just know it!" or they'd move stuff around on our dresser and tell us the Elves we're watching for Santa... just to make sure we we're being good. As a reward, you wake up on Christmas Eve morning with stocking's full of goodies...

For us girls, we always got bows, hair clips, nail polish... things to help us get ready for Christmas' Eve festivities. Little man made out with one of those freezer cups, a dinosaur sandwich cutter, Toy Story Fruit Snacks (which he proclaims as, "CANDY!"), a Mickey Mouse magic wash cloth and a book.

We had plans for dinner at my Grandma's with my family that evening so we adjusted the kid's nap time, in hopes of a peaceful evening.

It didn't work.

Hi, my name is Ericka and I had a Christmas Eve melt-down which included not eating one bite of dinner with my family, tears and breaths that came out in huh-huh-huh's.

Kamryn was set to go down for a nap around 5:30ish for about an hour (this is usually when I'm making dinner so K-man colors & she naps) and every time I tried to take her back I was sucked into the... "just one more minute... wait I didn't get a turn... but she's being soooooo good!" Did I mention Kaleb & Kamryn are the only people under the age of 21 that attend? So after being passed around during her nap time and someone in my extended family insisting they could quiet her down while I listened to her across the basement whining...

I ended up with a SCREAMING baby right smack in the middle of dinner. I excused myself to my grandparent's room in hopes of quieting her down and letting her drift off to sleep. Kaleb, who had been snacking on actual candy they had displayed was full of sugar and wanted NOTHING to do with sitting at the table. Brian missed dinner too, attempting to wrestle our 2 year old away from the candy & breakables without him crying so no one at the table thought he was beating him.

At this point, Kami is going nuts and it's been well over an hour. Nothing I did worked... she was too upset. Brian came in and tried to switch me but that didn't work either. I took her back and at this point the family is breaking up from dinner and heading down to get ready to open presents. I finally caught a break in the crying when my mom poked her head in and asked if I need help, I shook my head and gave her look of panic, hoping to say if I open my mouth to talk to you she'll freak out again. She backed out...

Five minutes later my Aunt & Grandma poked their heads in asking if I needed help waking the baby and sending her into a full-on melt down. And it reallllllly made me mad, I handed the baby to my mom... made my way to the drive-way and cried my eyes out. Oh, the joys of Christmas.

I took a deep breath, talked to B, headed back in to a quiet house thanks to another 20 minutes of crying with my mom finally getting her to nod off. I did learn one big gigantic lesson, if I would've followed my gut and mother's intuition that told me to take my sweet baby back and lay her down at 5:30 I could've avoided the whole mess. I know my kids and this was so out of the ordinary for our girl. She NEVER shed's a tear, ever.

I contemplated not writing about this event, blocking it from my mind and pretending it never happened. But it did and when Kamryn's daughter has her Christmas/Easter/Birthday melt-down we can happily read this entry together and laugh. Because at some point or another, your kid is going to do this to you.

We carried on and opened presents and enjoyed the rest of our wonderful Christmas Eve (Yes, wonderful even with the meltdown's)

Before we left for my grandma's...

Kaleb entertaining his sister.

My girl DIGS the pretzels.Yummy.

Kaleb took this picture (Yeah he's good!) and got her to smile like that. She realllly loves him :)

First remote control car... Of course, a huge Ford F150 replica.

He was a natural gift opener :) Sweet boy.

We got home close to midnight. Both kids stayed awake for the 3 minute drive home. We plopped our now giggling baby girl into her crib and she put herself to sleep. I straightened up while B put down Kaleb, telling him the story of The Night Before Christmas and that when he woke Santa would have left him prizes.

Brian & I stayed up until 2:00 am arranging the tree and furniture and camera... And of course the BIG GUY himself made an appearance and added to our gifts.

Most of those gifts we're for K-man, as Kamryn doesn't understand at all what is going on this year. We enjoyed a glass of wine together and just knew our kids would have us up at the crack of dawn to open gifts...

It's a Wrap

2010-12-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Well, my Christmas is ready... for my children that is. Brian and I spent a very productive, baby-free Monday picking up our gifts and wrapping everything together. Here are a few of the things under our tree this year:

Mike the Mower {He is going to love this!}

I'm surprised he doesn't already have these but he is crazy about the wooden blocks he has, so I'm excited to see his face when he gets these:

And his love for everything cars & trucks coupled with Mickey Mouse? And a Toy Story shaving kit. Daddy's side kick is going to be thrilled!

And some of Kamryn's stuff:

Oh and we cannot forget the tools set:

So we set off with almost 20 gifts to wrap, sheesh. B was, of course, amazing.

And after 1 quick tutorial on wrapping, Brian's creative side came out. See.............?

And I just happened to have talked to Santa today and he let me in on these 2 secrets:

A Police Cozy Coupe {He will FREAK out}

And a Sophie the Giraffe for Miss Thang...

And I happen to have heard that their winter wardrobes will be stacked thanks to:

And now that they have been sent and have started to arrive at their destinations, I believe it's okay to post these WONDERFUL cards I got from Shutterfly:

Rejoice Lord King Religious Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create unique Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I love the inside. It has a few of those Christmas pictures I was telling you about a while ago. I am so excited to celebrate with my family and friends this year. Last year was a tough year for us and we are over-joyed and claiming God's presence in our lives as the reason we are so blessed this year.

Just 3 days to Christmas...!

Weekend Recap

2010-12-20T08:06:00.000-05:00

Monday December 20, 2010

We had a great last weekend before the gigantic Christmas weekend coming up. We have a few last minute Christmas gifts to get together, some baking to do, a little crafting and a TON of wrapping. Good thing I have the entire week off to accomplish all of that... and since we have MORE snow coming in tonight B & I are headed out today (minus the kids & holiday rush) to finish up.

After hearing for 5 months how Kami is "Soooo like her Father!"

I just want to point out, she looks like me too :)

See? Like her Mama.... Thank you.

I guess it doesn't matter... because she's so stinkin' adorable on her own!

And her obsession with hand hold has only gotten worse...

But we did get in some quality crafting time this weekend

(Kamryn looks less than interested, I think she nodded off right after this pic)

I am really looking forward to the pre-Christmas festivities this week!

Kaleb is 2 and some change.

Kamryn turned 5 months YESTERDAY!

{Random Side Note: Today is my 1/2 Birthday... I have no idea WHY I always notice this day but it's time to start counting DOWN to my next birthday. And exactly 10 years ago TODAY I was taking my driving test to get my Temps. Where in the heck did the time go?!}

Kaleb Updates

2010-12-17T20:33:00.000-05:00

Friday, December 17, 2010

Kaleb... where to begin? The kid learns something every single day. He is talking up a storm describing everything he see's asking, "what's this?" all the time. He gets out of bed every morning and when he comes out he always says,...."Morning Mom" really nonchalant, like he is just casually strolling through. He climbs up onto the couch and cuddles up with a blanket for a few morning cartoons. He needs a few minutes to wake up every morning before carrying on with his normal breakfast/vitamin/brush/dressed routine.

When he wants a glass of juice, water or milk he will carry his cup and the actual jug up to you and asks, "Drink Mommy, please, Mmmm shank you." He can carry on full conversations, actually making plans with my mom once before I knew anything about it. Little stinker. He is into a few movies right now: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, Mickey Mouse & Tigger/Pooh. He's starting to play along with his Mickey movies yelling out colors, singing along and asking for Toodles. He usually watches a movie while I'm doing dinner each night and it helps him calm down and unwind. Sometimes he even asks for, "Popcorn Peeese!"

The kid is insanely curious... almost dangerous. He can open any door, climb in cribs, dressers, toilets, closets & dryers with ease. Several times he has gotten into the pantry or refrigerator and taken something into his room without our knowledge... oh, the messes I have cleaned up in the last 2 weeks. I almost caught the kitchen on fire because I failed to check inside the toaster before using it. Nice..... I need to look into safety locks pronto.

He loves to play trucks, tools, blocks, read, color, play playdoh, shoot baskets, toss ball and drag huge plastic laundry totes from room to room with random toys in it. I couldn't resist snapping a picture when he was using his "Pat" so realistically:

And doesn't he look so old here? Like he's ready for school :(

Oh and talk about extreme? The kid has no temperature gauge. We've had 3 accumulating snow falls in the last 2 weeks here in Cincinnati and Kaleb has taken full advantage of playing outside in this weather. This was the first snowfall at my parent's:

Once we figured out what a nut he was for the snow he got an early Christmas present from my parents. Full snow gear from head to toe!:

Brian and Kaleb played in the snow for HOURS! Finally B dragged Kaleb in, kicking and screaming, promising to take him out again the next morning. The next morning Kaleb was asking for "Snow! Snowmen! Snow Annnngels!" bright and early. Brian's only comment was, "I have been waiting 2 long years for him to be ready to really play. This is AWESOME!" And off they went...

He is now attempting to sing songs too, "Tinnnnnnnnklllee, Tinkkkkle Star, I wonderrrrrrr, Up derrrrreeee, Diamonddddddd skkkkkyyyy!" He has the sweetest attitude constantly asking Peeease, Thank you and Welcome. He asks for "Mommy Kiss.... Oh and hugs too!" He does that all day. He'll kiss Kamryn then tell me, "Mommy kiss her, Daddy kiss her..." until we've all taken our turn. My little love spreader :)

He is getting better and better at counting. When he's with my mom they go over it with him and we do the same, now I'll catch him counting his trucks, blocks and dinosaurs when he thinks we're not paying attention. He has memorized pages out of our favorite books and when we are reading he will do those pages. He loves saying, "I did it! I read it!" We are still struggling on colors but he has correctly identified a few green things this week correctly, on the first try. Trust me, that's progress.

Christmas is going to ROCK for this little man in just a few short days.

And he will be exactly 2 1/4 on Christmas Day.
Kamryn is days shy of 5 months.

Kamryn & Stuff

2010-12-16T18:59:00.001-05:00

Thursday, December 16, 2010

I know I have one gigantic update that needs to be done and to make it easier I’m going to divide it into two, one blog for each child. Ladies first :) my sweet baby girl will be 5 months in a few days. She’s rolling both ways, talking up a storm, sleeping like a hibernating grizzly, drooling like crazy and giving us a few premature grey hairs these last few weeks.

About a week before Kamryn’s routine 4 month appointment she developed a few unexplained fevers but had no other obvious symptoms. We did fever control and got her into the doctor right away. I thought maybe the ears? No, not red at all. The doctor confirmed by observation of no symptoms. She still had a ravenous appetite, an abundance of wet and dirty diapers and a very happy overall attitude despite the fevers.

She sent me that same day for blood work and to get a urine specimen to rule out infection and the chance of UTI (urinary tract infection). As soon as I heard those letter’s I cringed. Seriously, I did. I have watched my poor sister suffer for YEARS with constant UTI’s… I mean constant. Come to find out we have a family history of a condition called urinary reflux.

With normal urination, the bladder contracts and urine leaves the body through the urethra. With vesicoureteral reflux, some urine goes back up into the ureters and possibly up to the kidneys. Reflux exposes the kidneys to infection. In children, particularly those in the first 6 years of life, urinary infection can cause kidney damage. The injury to the kidney may result in renal scarring and loss of future growth potential or widespread scarring and atrophy. Even a small area of scarring in one kidney may be a cause of high blood pressure later in life. Untreated reflux on both sides can, in the most severe instances, result in kidney failure requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation. (I got that info here).

Yikes. So the plan is basically clear this UTI with antibiotics and then schedule her for 2 tests, a VCUG and renal ultrasound. You can read about the tests on that same site above. We go this Tuesday for those tests. When I took Kamryn to the hospital for her repeat cath (to make sure the UTI had cleared) we must have grabbed some sort of 24-hour bug. By 6 p.m. that night I was hugging a toilet bowl for the first, and with hope, the last time this winter season. It started around 5:15 pm when I was trying to make dinner. I noticed something was really wrong when I was resting my head inside the freezer to cool down. I told B to take over and so began my night in the bathroom...

I think I took 146 baths and ran us out of hot water over and over and over again. It was the ONLY thing that seemed to ease the stomach cramping. Kamryn slept all night in her crib and Kaleb was in bed with Brian, so they all shared one room. When I finally felt okay the next morning around 5:45 Brian got up to give the baby her morning bottle. She took all 5 ounces and immediately threw the entire thing up. She had a fever so poor Brian had to step in again.

I called my mom to let her know Brian was going to drop Kaleb on the way to Children's with Kamryn. Fever and vomiting in a 4 month old needed a check, for my own piece of mind. I wrote every detail I could think of on a card and gave it to B with our insurance card. Bags packed they headed off by 6:30 am into a cold, snowy-rain-sleet mix of a morning.

I took some medicine, said a prayer for B and the babies and headed off to sleep for the first time in 36 hours. My dad decided to ride with B to the ER so I'm sure you can imagine the hilarity that ensued with this dad-grandpa duo taking baby girl to the hospital. Oh. my. gosh. Brain said by the time the 3rd nurse came in she asked him who Kamryn's PCP was and he couldn't remember her last name, she started laughing and told him, "You're doing good dad. It's okay, she was just here for a cath, we'll just use that information." She said they VERY rarely see dad's doing this type of heavy lifting when it comes to the kids. I'm pretty proud of B.

She was fine. She had the same thing as me and got sick randomly over the next 6 days. Seriously, like every 3rd feed she'd be sick. But the doc said it was normal and we all survived. It's kind of insane what daddy's will do for their girls. I love it.

Kamryn had her 4 month appointment and got a great report. She was in the 70th percentile weighing in at 14 pounds, 7 ounces. Kaleb was already 17 pounds, 9 ounces at his 4 month appointment {88%). However, Kamryn is holding her own in the height department at 25 1/2 inches which was off the percentile page {99+%} and Kaleb was 25 3/4 {81%}. I have some long babies, thank you Brian.

Kamryn has such a fun, bubbly personality. She is smiling constantly. She wakes up cooing and talking, never a cry or scream. She is fiercely independent already, using her legs to thrust herself upright into sitting position. See....

She is always doing that! In her swing, hi-chair, boppy, play mat... everywhere! Since our stubborn daughter insists on sitting up, I wish she would go ahead and actually learn how to do that so I don't have to worry so much.

We got the go-ahead to start solid foods back on her 4 month appointment. We have tried a few things and she honestly hates every second of it. She spits everything I've given her back out over and over again making a yucky face, squirming around, doing her best to sit up. She did enjoy a bit of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving so I am optimistic. I think I might give her a break these next 2 weeks and then start over fresh. As many of you know, I am unrealistically picky. Like, to the point I'm annoying and an inconvenience. Ugh, I pray I do not have children like that, it's a curse.

Kamryn is still my ultimate sleeper, going down around 9:00 pm. She wakes only once at 6:00 am to eat, and finally we hear her singing over the monitor around 10:30 am... sometimes 11:00 am. Yeah, she's that good. She then is usually back to sleep by noon, taking her 1 of 3 naps for the day. They last about an hour, sometimes longer. I frequently find her asleep on her mat, in the swing or hi-chair. We just carry her back to bed, she sleeps like a grizzly. Frequently, Kaleb is dancing, singing, whistling, shouting, clapping, stomping, rattling and talking up a storm around her. She is unfazed.

She is teething now. It is horrible, plus the recall on those teething tablets I used so much with Kaleb means less comfort for Kamryn. Poor girl. If she wasn't drooling or gnawing, you'd never know it. She loves baths. She is nuts for her daddy. She will sit with Kaleb all day long, laughing, watching him wherever he goes. She has the worst case of stranger anxiety ever. I mean, it's bad. I hate that for ~~her~~ us because sometimes Mama needs a break too =)

She is growing like a weed and is such a joy to have around. Seriously, I am very blessed! We have some awesome new toys to give Kami at Christmas and I'm so excited to see her learn and interact. She is starting to turn into this little human with her own unique personality.

And I am loving every minute of it.

Kaleb is almost 2 1/4.

Kamryn is just days shy of 5 months.

{Update: I had this ready to post Sunday, but just now got my computer to upload the pictures. Kamryn did wonderful at her testing :) We got a call from our doctor later that evening with the results. Basically Kami has a very mild version of the reflux and she should out grow it by 6 months. To prevent any further infections while it's growing she will be on a very low dose antibiotic constantly for 6 months, until we can retest and make sure it's gone. Don't worry, I reviewed all my concerns of everything from long term effects to developing immunities and I'm confident this plan will work well for our buggy. Thank goodness. Prayers answered!}

Christmas Cards

2010-12-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 9, 2010

One of my very favorite things to do is look at beautiful pictures of my sweet babies :) So, of course, for Christmas I feel the need to scramble around my computer...usually Scrapblog... trying to put together a card and send it off to be printed (with lots of pics of those pretty babies). This year, Shutterfly, has decided to make my life a lot easier with a ton of printable cards... just ready for pictures of my kids :) Yay!

I love the idea of a year in review card here... I mean, we did have a pretty big year. (Welcome Baby Girl!)

or this one. oh........ or this one. And I just love this one.

I'll be sure to let you know what I decide. But after my invites are sent out...

Who wants to see the Christmas card they are getting on my blog before they get it in the mail? Not fun at all.

This is Kaleb's 3rd Christmas & Kamryn is a first timer.

Singin' Jesus

2010-11-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

Monday, November 29, 2010

I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break. We spent our break as a family spreading our hungry-ness over 3 dinners in 2 days (including one that I made so we could snack on over the long weekend). Yummy.

I have so many updates to post but I wanted to share a Holiday story about my sweet baby boy that warmed my heart yesterday.

Kaleb's bedtime routine has changed a bit in the past few weeks, we are trying to transition out his nightly cup of water, in hopes of an easier time potty training in early 2011. Instead, Brian sings old gospel songs to him while they hold hands. It is so stinkin' sweet and Kaleb's new favorite part of bedtime. (I have tried to sing these songs to K too and his exact words to me were, "Mama where Dad? You, shut it") Yeah, my voice is that bad.

On Sunday we spent the day picking out our live Christmas tree and hauling it home (Griswold style, yes, right on top of our car).

We cranked up the Christmas music and spent the day decorating the house. As Kaleb was helping me put up our Santa in the kitchen a song (as many do) came on about Jesus.

He looked up at me with these huge, sweet, blue eyes and said, "Mama.... dey singin' Jesus!"

Yes, sweet boy they're "singin' Jesus"...

I don't know if I could've had a prouder moment... until the end of the song when he said, "Amen."

Kaleb is 2 years, 2 months, 4 days and really loves Jesus :)
Kamryn is 4 months, 1 week and 3 days.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T09:00:00.002-05:00

Thurday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

Spreading some Holiday Cheer from our Family to Yours!

Giving extra Thanks & Praise for my beautiful, healthy babies.

I'm Back... Again

2010-11-24T14:01:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I cannot believe how long it has taken me to sit down and do another blog entry. My life has seriously been in over-drive the past few weeks and I'm so ready for a slow down. Every night before we go to bed Brian and I are making "game plans" for the next day instead of just following our normal routine. It really stinks, I'm tired, and I'm so ready for the Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday break that is Thanksgiving.

I had some really awesome holiday portraits to share with everyone we got done of the kiddos. However, JC Penney, has now changed their policy and I cannot save the pictures anywhere on my computer to show you. They want me to send everyone a link so you can edit or purchase pictures of my kids. Um.... not an option. So not only will we not be returning to that studio... my readers will have to wait for me to pick the pictures up and scan them in the ol' fashioned way. Sorry, I know your bummed. Me too. But I do have some adorable kid pictures to brighten your day right before the Holiday weekend.

I mean, everyone loves adorable babies :)

So the term "wrapped" takes on a whole new meaning with Daddy's little girl.

Saturday Morning I found them like this.

It's okay if you want to nom-nom-nom her cheeks.

Snuggle Buddies!

Kaleb can finally use the head-phone to watch the in-car DVD player

{Translation: No more Mickey Mouse playing 24/7! Yay!}

**The glasses we're his touch, of course, my cool kid always.**

My happy, happy 4 month old! Yikes.

Kaleb is 2 and some change

Kamryn is 4 months (gasp!)

I Survived

2010-11-16T11:35:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

What an insane past 10 days I’ve had. Seriously, insane.

1 Baby Sprinkle, 1 Birthday, 1 hair appointment, 2 cakes from the bottom up, a ridiculous amount of catered food, 4 doctor visits, 1 ear infection, 5 unexplained fevers, 1 long day of testing for 2 members of the family, 3 prescription medications filled at different times, an insane amount of gas and 6 trips to the grocery store later, I survived… but just barely.

I already had a packed schedule. I knew the month of November began a kick-off to our holiday season that was going to leave me begging for a warm bath and glass of wine. I knew my sweet sister was turning 22, I was hosting a baby sprinkle for Jess & Lane, and helping make cakes & food for both events. Thankfully, my amazing friend, Dani was able to get me in to fix my dark-brown mess back to blonde, just in time.

Then the chaos erupted. Kaleb woke up with a fever last Saturday morning and since I couldn’t get into his doctor we rushed off to urgent care and I had his antibiotic in him by noon. I was feeling over-confident at this point, thinking, “Yeah, I caught you ear infection before Kaleb even noticed and ear infections aren’t contagious so double awesome!” That night Kamryn got her first fever ever … that’s where my memory becomes fuzzy because I switched into auto pilot sleeping about 5 and half hours each night . And if you were wondering if I’m one of those people who can function on no sleep, the answer is yes (although before this week, I would’ve said no).

The mere fact that I kept my house standing after the past 10 days deserves an award in itself. I did it with a massive sinus cold/sore throat/chest congestion simply treating my symptoms with over-the-counter medications as needed. I was at the pharmacy so much between my OTC stuff & the kids scripts that my pharmacist, Bob, and I are on a first name basis.

But my kids didn’t get my sickies (a special thank you to the Clorox wipes & Lysol spray), everyone is on the mend, the parties went great, I never missed a day of work and I’m looking forward to the rest of this holiday season.

I have a few blogs in the works about some of the more detailed events of the past 10 days so look for them this week!

Kaleb is almost 2 and ¼ years. Kamryn is 3 months, 4 weeks and days shy of 4 months.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T13:23:00.001-04:00

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween! We had a very successful Halloween this year. I managed to finish Kamryn's hand-made costume about 3 hours before trick or treat and I was sooooooo happy I took the time to do it. Now that I know what I can make, my mind is going crazy thinking of all the tu-tu's and fun outfits I can bang out. Plus, my dad found me sewing maching and dropped it off (of course, right as I was hand stiching the last part of her dress) but now I can cut the time in half for any future projects.

This is what I started with... 3/4 yard. And 2 yards of the black tule for her tu-tu.

I really didn't even need that much...

And the finished product!

Minnie & Mickey Mouse... I love it!

Big Olivia &Little Olivia

{I know, I just can't help call her that when she holds her!}

Ready to head out :)

He rode in style and waved to everyone as he drove.

And just a little comparison to BOTH of my babies first halloween, in the same outfit:

Kaleb- 1 month (Oct. 2008)

Kamryn 3 months (Oct 2010)

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. Can you believe it's November 1st?

That snuck up really quick.

Mini-Monsters

2010-10-29T13:18:00.001-04:00

Friday, October 29, 2010

In honor of this Halloween weekend, I thought I'd do a post about my mini-monster's and the way they offer up "tricks & treats" for Mommy and Daddy.

Trick : Standing on things you shouldn't, to reach things you shouldn't be reaching.

Treat: Kamryn Plays Along {Our Sweet Baby Love Bug!}

Trick: Leaving Kaleb alone for 10 seconds and coming back to this....

I officially hate pasta & it's ugly red sauce.

Treat: Is that Kaleb? Or Harry Potter Peterford? Hard to tell :)

Hopefully, Kamryn won't be too scared this weekend.

Because she has such an amazing BIG brother to help keep her safe!

Hope everyone has a very SAFE & Happy Halloween!

Kaleb will be enjoying his 3rd Halloween this year.

Kamryn is a first-timer!

Riley Turns 2

2010-10-27T12:26:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Last Thursday Riley turned 2. Yes, just 3 weeks shy of her partner-in-crime. So Saturday she had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party. I just wanted to share some cute pictures of these 2 enjoying her special day:

Riley Faith :) Love her sooooo much!

"Kay-Kay" {as Riley calls him} celebrating with his orange balloon!

DOES THIS KID EVER STOP JUMPING!?

No. He doesn't.

Friday I got the chance to go birthday shopping for Riley by myself {rare, I know}. Instead of zooming through the aisles trying to keep Kaleb's hand inside the cart I got to browse the toys slowly trying to think of the perfect gift for Riley. As soon as I headed down the first aisle I realized how very different it is on the girl side of the toy store. Holy Barbies, Babies and Bottles Batman! I am so excited to shop for this stuff with Kamryn- you really forget all the neat stuff available for little girls.

I settled on a little boy baby doll (since she will have a brother arriving in a few short weeks) Yes, just a few weeks Jess! We also got her the "magic" feeding set. You know, the one where the milk/juice disappears when you tip it up. Love those and I think Riley did too. She was carrying it around before the party was over.

Kaleb lost interest from the start and was playing "tttttttttttrrrrrrractor" with Riley's great grandpa the whole time. See him driving it on the table?

Boys. You never realize how different they are until you have one of both. I'm really sad that I didn't get a picture of the amazing cake that Jess made. However, Kamryn was having a melt down during cake cutting so I was otherwise preoccupied.

Happy Birthday Riley! We have loved watching you grow into such a sweet and caring little girl. Can't wait to see what this year has in store for you!

Kaleb and Riley are both officially 2.

Kamryn is 14 weeks old today. Lane is almost 30 weeks in the belly.

Halloween Bash

2010-10-25T11:20:00.001-04:00

Monday, October 25, 2010

On Saturday night Brian and I spent our baby-free night at a Halloween Party. I was really excited this year to spend some adult time with my parents (who are usually the ones watching the babies on our free nights). We spent some time brain-storming about our costumes and finally settled on them:

Brian went as Bret Michael's (The lead singer of Poison, most recently won Celebrity Apprentice)

And Brian's version...

And I went as Snooki {Nicole} from the MTV show Jersey Shore:

And my famous tan & hair bump...

We had a blast with my parent's who dressed up too:

Penny lives on an old farm and converted the horse barn this year. It looked amazing:

How you can tell a caterer was in the building:

Me &My Mom

Penny {She was a Bed Bug} & Kelly {She was the Orkin woman! Loved it!}

I cannot even lie though... We left the party before 1 am. Not even 5 years ago Brian and I probably would've just gotten started. Even my parent's outlasted us... but then again they didn't have 2 small children to drain their energy all day.

Even little man got in on the action Sunday morning. He was watching Toy Story like this! :)

While we had a blast without our children we picked them up early Sunday morning and spent the whole day cooking, cleaning and relaxing. It was such a fun weekend- we cannot wait to get the kids dressed up for Halloween.

Did I mention I love this time of year yet? I'm just saying.

Kaleb is 2 years & 1 month old.

Kamryn is 3 months, 6 days old.

Pumpkin Carving in Pajamas

2010-10-22T12:50:00.000-04:00

Friday, October 22, 2010

I apologize in advance for my back-to-work but lack of post's happening lately. I don't know how many of you are in the catering/food service business but for obvious reasons {Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years} 4th quarter is our busiest season ever. And we are gearing up for that now... Plus, we are open for lunches daily and now that the weather is getting colder we are getting these insane lunch rushes. I can't complain though. I love my job. I love that I'm home by 2 pm everyday and that gives me plenty of family time.

I am very excited for our upcoming weekend plans. Tonight we are putting the finishing touches on our costumes for Halloween. Every year my mom's best friend {and we all know Mom's BFF's become more like Aunts when you grow up} has a ridiculous Halloween party. Of course, in the true Halloween spirit you must come dressed for the occasion. Brian and I always get a huge kick out of picking something going on in the media and then making our costumes. It's so much fun to sit and brain storm and feed off each other's ideas. {Totally random side note: I've noticed a ton of guys this year who simply refuse to participate with their significant other's during this holiday and that makes me really thankful for Brian who isn't afraid to dress up and have some fun with me.} Saturday we are going to Riley's big 2nd birthday bash and then the kiddos are off to my grandparent's and we are off to our party with my parents. I am so excited to have a baby-free night AND get to hang with my parents... that NEVER happens.

Sunday we are going to watch The Bengal's bounce back from the lack-luster season they are having and possibly do some shopping for our family photo's we are having taken next week. Sounds like a very exciting weekend to me!

Last Sunday we got up and made some breakfast and decided to do "Pumpkin Carving in Pajamas." Kaleb loved it so much we are talking about doing it every year. Here are some photos from our outing:

First, we have to draw on it. He told us he wanted his pumpkin to be "happy!"

He wasn't sure at first... but he got over that real quick.

See? All smiles.

I guess we carved too early for Kamryn.

Teamwork :)

He wanted to clean out Kamryn's baby pumpkin by himself. He did a good job too!

That's some serious concentration.

I love that my camera has a timer :) because then I get great pics like this!

{Sorry about the just woke up look- we we're in our pajamas!}

I just thought I'd throw in this one of my whole family {even the puppies got in on this one}

I'll be sure to take tons of pictures this weekend and catch everyone up next week!

Kaleb is 2 years old.

Kamryn is 3 months, 3 days old.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-19T13:49:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

We had a fun-filled weekend that started with a trip to Shaw Farms Saturday morning with the Shankford's! The farm was so much more than a pumpkin patch. They had an awesome character village, petting area with tons of animals, rides, food, live bluegrass band and corn maze. Riley and Kaleb might have been overstimulated by all of the action because it was extremely difficult to get either one to stop for a decent picture. Nevertheless, it was a great time and I know the kiddos enjoyed themselves!

This was the first picture I took and the only one he agreed willingly to stop for :) Love these colors!

It looks like Kaleb and Riley we're protecting the bridge from intruders. Hey, at least they worked together.

Kaleb loved running around in here. Next summer, this kid needs a playhouse!

Such a sweet picture... too bad he was pulling all the buds off the Mum's.

Both of my sweet babies :)

Patiently waiting to get on a ride. Kaleb has been really curious about noses lately.

They we're "dwwwwwwwiving" this ride (He & Brian are in the very front)

Me &Kamryn, Riley & Jess {Our first picture with our daughter's...love it!}

The sun was in her eyes on the hayride so Kaleb said, "Hat Mom eyes..." Always lookin after his Kami-bug.

Our pumpkin

These two are a riot! They did this all by themselves.

As you can imagine with two 2-year-olds, 1 newborn and 1 pregnant Mama it was an exhausting day. I cannot wait to see how much Kamryn and Lane enjoy themselves next year.

What a wonderful life we live.

Kaleb is 2, Riley will be 2 this week.

Kam is 3 months and Lane is in his 3rd trimester.

Welcome Fall

2010-10-18T13:41:00.000-04:00

Monday, October 18, 2010

Let's ask Kamryn how much Mommy loveeesssssss fall?

Just a "little" bit, she would say, because we love decorating!

And making baskets like this one for work {yes, yes I did make that!}

Or snuggling up outside with a warm blanket....

Ah, welcome fall. Oh how I've missed you. We did lots of fall activities this weekend including a trip to the pumpkin patch so look for updates this week!

Kaleb is 2 years and some change.

Kamryn will be 3 months tomorrow! Ah!

I need to Vent

2010-10-12T11:35:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Parenting is stressful. You really underestimate how much someone will need you constantly. I mean, you never realize when you are pregnant that after this baby comes you probably won't ever go to the bathroom with the door closed again. You stress about breast vs bottle, bedtime routines, too much sugar, eating right, potty training, temper tantrums and doctor's appointments. I find myself constantly wondering if we're doing enough? Then you get an example of some horrible parenting and realize, "Yeah. I got this."

We live in an apartment on the top floor where you share a common entrance. We only have 1 other family on our floor so it stays pretty quiet up here. Saturday morning Kaleb and I got up early (around 9ish) when I heard a girl's voice. I ignored it for a few minutes and then went to investigate. I saw our neighbor's daughter playing on the landing right outside our door. She is 5 months older than Kaleb. When I asked where her Mommy was she told me inside. I knocked a few times with no answer so I went ahead and opened the door. Her parents were asleep on a mattress on the living room floor. I was extra quiet when I picked her up and put her back inside the living room and told her to please stay inside until they wake up and then she could come over and play with Kaleb later.

I wasn't even inside the door when she came running back out. My mom mode kicked in... what do you do in the situation? I can't leave her in the hall. She could fall down the stairs, get abducted, choke, ANYTHING this girl is 2 years old people! I brought her into our apartment and gave her a snack while I tried to call both parent's phones. Nothing. So I marched over to her parents house and beat on the door for a few minutes. Still nothing.

Now don't get me wrong, I have caught a few extra minutes on the couch while Kaleb played quietly on the floor or watched cartoons. But to have someone inside your house? or your daughter outside the house? Ugh. I was stuck.

So I put her back into her house and told her to go wake up Mommy while I knocked on the door. She didn't wake her up but it did finally get the mom's attention. While I was beating on the door, the little girl was trying to open it from the inside while I held it closed. Her screaming (because she couldn't get back out) finally woke them up and I heard the mom lock the deadbolt. So I knocked harder.

She finally answered and had that embarrassing, "I found your child wandering the halls and I've been keeping her company while you nap in the livingroom" talk. Nice. I just cannot understand that happening. You have children, forget to lock the dead bolt and never notice they are gone?

Yeah. I'm going to go a little easier on myself from now on in the parenting department.

Speaking of bad parenting... I'm sure this guy's parents aren't too proud right now. Or maybe they are, who knows?

That is Chase Utley, second baseman for the Phillies. And a cheater.

The Cincinnati Red's finally made it to the playoffs after 15 years of waiting. If you do the math, I was 10 years old the last time they even went to a playoff, let alone WON the World Series (that was 1990, if you were wondering and I was only 5 years old). Being the die-hard baseball and football junkie I am this weekend was spent watching them lose to the Phillies. And we deserved to lose based on the way we played with a ton of errors and not a lot of hitting.

And that is just fine. I am proud that they made it in the first place. We are a very young team and it was just our luck we played the World Series winner last year. However, in Game 2 the Red's had an awesome 4-0 lead. Our lead slowly slipped away heading into the 5th inning and we were down 3-4 with Mr.Utley representing the tying run.

That is Chapman. Our rookie pitcher who on average throws over 100 mph. He pitched one to Utley high and inside... in the confusion the umpire was under the impression Utley was hit by his pitch and gave him the base. But after reviewing the tape, it NEVER hit him. NEVER. The sound the umpire heard was the ball tipping off our catcher's glove. AND Utley NEVER corrected him. He just took his base, knowing he didn't get hit. I mean, if you get hit by a 102 mph fastball (which is what that particular pitch was clocked at) you would know it.

Utley went on to be called safe at 2nd base (after review he was out) and there were a few arguments he never touched 3rd as he was heading home to score the tying run. Obviously, that one error on the umpire's part could've changed the game or even the playoffs. If you believe in karma, Chase Utley has it coming.

Come on Utley. You are a WORLD SERIES champion. My son wears his Phillies hat (that we got a Shriners) around everywhere. You don't get a lot of chances to cheat in baseball and that is exactly what he did. And what does that teach all those doe-eyed boys dreaming of being there one day? That cheating is okay, as long as it wins you the game and you don't get caught until afterward.

If that we're my son, we'd be having a very long conversation about the clear-cut difference between right and wrong. Because there are things in life more important than winning a game.

Shame on you Utley.

Okay my baseball/bad parenting vent is over. Whew. I feel much better now.

Kaleb is 2 years old and hopefully if he decides to play baseball will be more like Jim Abbott than Chase Utley.
Kamryn is 2 months & could care less about baseball right now.

The Small Stuff

2010-10-11T13:25:00.001-04:00

Monday, October 11, 2010

Thankful.

That is what I feel every single time I pass the front door. The first time I walked by a few days ago I couldn't help but smile to myself. Why? 4 coats, 4 hooks and 1 big happy family.

It reminds me of how FULL our cup is, even though I don't always feel that way. It reminds me that just 2 short years ago there we're only 2 coats hanging on that rack... and without God it would probably still be that way today.

And I just cannot imagine my life without my wonderful children or my amazing better half.

So I am thankful each time I pass my coat rack being reminded every time of how VERY MUCH we already have been blessed with... and gives me HOPE for all that is to come.

Kaleb is 2 years old and counting.

Kamryn is 2 months, 3 weeks & 1 day old.

Kami-Bug

2010-10-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

Thursday October 7, 2010

Can you believe it's been 11 weeks since I had Kamryn?!

You forget how fast they change. It's like you blink your eyes and your sweet baby girl is smiling at her daddy.... (And my GOSH does she look like him!)

She is my #1 BEST sleeper. She sleeps anywhere and everywhere, it doesn't matter. She still sleeps in her crib at night but sometimes she naps in her swing, hi-chair, bouncy seat, carseat, or couch during the day. She gave me my longest stretch of sleep the other night from 9:30p-6:30a. And again last night.

She loves the water. Loves it. So I guess she is like her Mama like that :)

I told my mom when I was pregnant I wanted to get her attached to a "lovie" so that she will use it to go to sleep instead of her bottle (cough cough KALEB) So she got her this sweet Minnie mouse and I think we've found our "lovie"... (Seriously, she loves this thing)

And one of her favorite things to do is sit and 'talk' with her brother. As you can see, Kaleb goes NUTS when she coo's and oooo's at him

So far, Kamryn hasn't had many issues. She's healthy and growing (almost 12 pounds now 65%) and she is busting out of her 3 month onsies because she is 24 3/4 inches long (99%+). She sleeps. We have her feeding down now and figured out what works best with her reflux. Thankfully watching Jess with Riley & her reflux gave me a heads up on what to look for and we got it worked out quickly. We only have minimal spit up these days.

Okay, so maybe we should be calling her Olivia. Let me count the ways she is like her aunt:

1.) Loves to sleep. My sis still has a hard time getting out of bed before noon.

2.) Long long long legs (this trait must have skipped me! boo!)

3.) Soooooooooooo cute

4.) Her eyes are turning blue (so they are this purpley-gray right now, love it)

5.) Big Olivia had long dark brown hair for a LONG time when she was little. I think she turned into her blonde self around 8+ months

6.) Oh the attitude. It's going to be bad. When we don't get Kam her bottle fast enough her cries come out in these grunts and it literally sounds like she is yelling at you to "hurry it up!"

Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I cannot believe I have a GIRL. I have a daughter. I was getting ready for work this morning and I heard her talking away in her crib. As soon as she saw my face she smiled so big that her pacifier fell right out of her mouth. Now THAT is a great thing to see first thing.

Oh, how we love you Kami-bug.

Kaleb is 2 years old.

Kamryn is 2.5 months old.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

2010-10-06T13:40:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, October 4, 2010

I'm back........!

We'll to work that is, which means more time for blogging. I'm only here part-time for now (but we'll have to talk more about that in a future post).

Our sweet boy turned 2 last Saturday so we have a whole day of fun-filled activities for our ~~baby~~ big boy.

Kaleb and his daddy :) Ready to get going!

First stop: Chuckie Cheese (He was a first-timer!)

Giving this guy a hug before heading to the next ride (He's so sweet!)

Our Family of 4

Tools! Tools! Tools! (He sleeps with these things!)

Mid-day Birthday Nap (He requested Daddy to sleep with him- No problem!)

He climbed up ONTO the table and lifted the glass lid OFF his cake before his dinner was done!

So his cake got fingered up but we sang :) And he blew out that candle like he's done this for years...

And of course, the best part..... Eating It!

I cannot believe that exactly 2 years ago, our world was rocked by one tiny little boy:
9/25/08

And then celebrating his first year of life..

9/25/09

And then watching him learn and grow....

9/25/10

Happy Birthday Buddy! You have changed EVERY single life you have come in contact with over your 2 short years. You have taught everyone more about what it really means to live. You have strengthened our faith in God, our family & shaped our future in ways you won't ever understand. You are an amazingly sweet big brother, jumping at every chance you get to kiss and love on your Kami-Bug. We are so blessed to call you son.

We cannot wait to see what this year has in store for you Kaleb.

A Lil bit of everything

2010-09-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

Friday September 17, 2010

The top one is Kaleb around 2 months & the bottom one is Kamryn a few days ago. I really think they look alike and I am so curious to see what Kamryn will look like in a few months!

My sister, Olivia, recently got the chance to go to Hawaii. One of her close guy friend's is stationed on the base there so she jumped at the chance to visit. I just wanted to share a few of her amazing pictures.

Beautiful :)

I was so proud =) She went hiking (this is soooo not an Olivia thing)

Big Olivia :) Love that.

A few people asked me if and when I am returning to work. Yes, I am returning to work but we're taking it slow. This week I worked a few hours on Wednesday and I'm going to be working a few hours today. It's SUCH a nice change to get out of the house and be productive (especially because today I'll be in the kitchen at work- I love being creative with food!)

I have also started filling out my FAFSA and looking into some local colleges with graduate programs or even getting another degree all together. I'm just not sure yet. However, Brian and I both feel that this would be a great time to continue my education depending on how much financial aide I qualify for today. They have sooo many adult education programs that helps working mothers/fathers manage their time better. And of course my boss is perfectly fine with me continuing my education (because she's still a Mom first- and who doesn't want their child to continue their education?)

I ~~like~~ love school. Love it. I love learning new things. I've always said if I had unlimited money I would be a "career student" and get as many degrees as I could. I'm sure people think I'm crazy with 2 babies, working and possibly going to school. However, I can cut out of work for any classes or take a few night classes and let my children hang with their Dad or go to the grandparents for dinner. I have a great support system. Now is the time- wish me luck! I'm hoping to find a program and school that fits our family and be enrolled by January.

And in other news... Survivor is back! Actually Fall is here so a ton of our favorite shows coming back on soon. Brian and I sat down to watch and found our favorite right away:

Her name is Kelly. And she is the first of her kind on Survivor...

See her on the far left? Yep. She was BORN missing her left leg. Brian and I we're careful to watch her during the challenge and of course, she really did great.

I'm not sure how long she'll last though because the other team members we're talking about if she made it to the end she'd get ALL the sympathy jury votes. Even though it stinks, that is true, she just seems a little more amazing than anyone else on the show.

Either way, she's still our favorite. And kudos to Survivor for allowing her to be on the show and break down those barriers. I love seeing people like our bug doing great things! =)

And tonight is our FIRST night since Kam was born TOTALLY BABY FREE! Can you see the smile on my face? Hope everyone enjoy's the weekend!

Kaleb is 1 week from 2.
Kamryn is 2 days from 2 months.

Kaleb Updates

2010-09-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

During this maternity leave I have gotten so much more time in with Kaleb. I cannot believe how quickly his development is coming along at this age. Every single day it's a new word or phrase. In the past couple of days it's been:

"I can't reach it!"

"I can't see it, it hiding?"

"I'm go hide Mama!"

"That scared me!"

"Sit down please Daddy."

Of course, can't sounds like tant and reach is wwweeeeach so it sounds so sweet when he says something new. We took him 2 weeks ago to his new pediatrician. I don't think I could've been a prouder Mama. Kaleb has a pretty extensive history so we had to spend a few minutes explaining everything he's been through in his 2 short years. First, he SHOOK HER HAND people. Reached out and asked, "hand?" and then said, "Meet you" (which is nice to meet you) with the biggest grin. She told him that she wanted to look in his mouth and he said, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and stuck his tongue out. When she asked if he could identify at least 3 body parts Kaleb launched into pointing and yelling his parts out loud and she couldn't stifle her laughter as his grabbed his crotch and yelled, "WEE WEE!" Before she could stop he turned around and yelled, "Hiney!"

After she finished she asked Kaleb if he wanted a sticker and he responded, "Yes ma'am." After he picked out a Mickey sticker and pointed out every character on it he said, "Shhhhhhhank you." Unprompted. I could've cried tears of joy. He finally called someone ma'am instead of sir (although I wasn't complaining about that either- 'sir' was close enough for me!) She turned to us and said, "Wow. Good job. I mean, really, good job. He's incredible." I was so happy Brian got to accompany me to the appointment. I don't think he would've believed me if he hadn't heard it himself.

As a parent, it makes you feel like maybe you're doing alright. Just maybe, the little things don't matter. That letting him watch a few video's isn't hurting him and he's not drinking too much juice and we are playing all the right games and he's turning into a well rounded young boy. ::sigh:: And while I'm so happy and proud it makes me so sad, he's growing all too fast.

Look how big he looks :)

Love that smile!

Drinks with an open cup, No problem!

He even knows to take it back to the table when he's ready

He is a master at the stairs

( I love the popped collar- that he does himself)

I stumbled upon this (those are my glasses) after I was done getting his bath ready.

And he is constantly kissing "Tamawennnnn" He even knows to put his arms next to her and not ON her.

It took a while.

This picture makes my heart smile : )

Aunt O took him to a local park.

And while he's making such amazing developmental strides his attitude and actions have changed also. The temper. Oh, the temper is bad. It usually involves throwing himself on the floor, making himself a wet noodle and screeching. "Time Out" still works but he developed a viral infection last week that caused a bad fever and rash so we got off schedule. And he was one cranky lil' man. I am no longer phased by tears in the store because it's the only way he'll learn he cannot have everything no matter how many times he asks, "have it please." Sometimes learning is not so fun.

Overall, I'm loving this age and looking forward to our little guy turning 2!

Kaleb is soooo close to 2.

Kamryn is almost 2 months.

The Taste 2010

2010-09-13T09:55:00.000-04:00

Monday September 13, 2010

I sincerely apologize for my lack of blogging lately. I might be the only blogger who started out with a computer and a few months ago it kicked it (but it was from my college days so I can't complain). I can think of about a million reasons why a new computer isn't something we NEED but dang... do I WANT one. For now, I have to skip between Grandma/Work/Olivia's computer for my blogging needs. Which means, I am hand writing a lot of my entries and retyping them......So much fun.

This week I have a TON of office work to do so I will be in and out so I'm going to try and blog each day. Wish me luck! For now, I have some Taste of Colerain 2010 pictures to post.

The Taste of Colerain took place the first weekend in August so these pictures are over a month old but just too good not to share. We won "Best of Taste" this year for our Loaded Baked Potato Bites. Yummy. You can see a description and picture of these here. I was only 3 weeks post c-section but I still showed up and worked (but not those crazy hours like last year). Kam had to stick with me the whole time- thank goodness for such awesome weather!

Me, My mom and My daughter. I love that!

Kaleb & his "Muck"

My mom and Kaleb accepting our award

He sure was proud...

Brian & Kamryn

Overall it was a very successful weekend. I have a couple of post's coming up this week about what we've been up to and what the kids are doing now (hint hint: Kaleb turns 2 in just a few short days!)

Kaleb will be 2 in 12 days.

Kamryn is 8 weeks old today.

It's a....

2010-08-28T09:31:00.003-04:00

We got some amazing news on Monday morning. News that deserved it's own blog post.

This is Jess & I. August 2008, pregnant with Kaleb & Riley. In fact, you can read about Jessica, Riley and the other Brian throughout this entire blog. Here is the post when we found out Riley was a girl. Or Here is where I wrote about her arrival. Or Here is where I wrote about what Jess means to me.

This is Riley & Kaleb when she was just a few HOURS old.

Brian & Brian holding Kaleb & Riley.

Finally! We have outside babies :) Just 3 weeks apart.

The babies first Christmas together. December 2008.

First Christmas

1st Annual Shankford-Peterford Christmas

Spring is here- April 2009

Motoring into Summer.... Swimming buddies!

Heading into Toddler-hood together...

And these day's they are just like an ol' married couple...

Oh how I love those babies.

But we worried. How would Riley be affected by Kamryn? Now it's 2 on 1. Brian and I begged and pleaded and I'm sure we prayed for The Shankford's to get pregnant after we found out about our impending arrival. And our wish was granted...

This was us 2 days before Kamryn's arrival, Jess is about 15-16 weeks here.

And we found out Monday that they are expecting a healthy baby

BOY

And now our Shankford-Peterford family is complete (for now, possibly forever). Kamryn's counterpart will make his arrival this December (possibly January) and Jessica and I will have made the journey together BOTH times.

Now Jess and I have each other and our daughters (Riley & Kamryn) to take shopping and for pedicures and do all kinds of fun girly stuff. And Brian & Brian (the best friends FOREVER) will have their son's (Kaleb & Lane) to take fishing and hunting and camping and four-wheeling.

So Congrats to the Shankford's... we cannot wait for baby Lane to get here and make our families complete! Love you guys.

Kaleb and Riley are almost 2.

Kamryn is almost 6 weeks and Lane is 20 weeks in the belly.

Mark this Day Down

2010-08-27T11:24:00.000-04:00

Friday, August 27, 2010

Last night... this is what it looked like at 9:30 p.m. in my house.

I know her ear looks smashed, I did fix it right after I took the picture. I promise.

Yes, that's right. BOTH of my children we're fast asleep in their respective bedrooms & beds. And at just over 5 weeks old my daughter slept all night in her crib. That is the first time ANY child has spent the night in that thing since we bought it over 2 years ago. The best part? I fed her when I got into bed at midnight and she slept until the alarm went off for Brian to get out of bed at 6:00 am this morning. She might have slept longer, I guess we'll never know! Either way, I am very happy with that length of time. She slept through the night! Kaleb was probably 6 months before that happened. Who would've thought that babies sleep better in their cribs!?

I do have a "1 Month" post for Kamryn with all kinds of updates but that camera with those pictures is in my car. I'm sure I don't have to explain why a simple act of running out to my car, while home alone, with both children is NOT an option. In fact, Kaleb locked Brian and I out on the porch the other day with Kamryn inside. It only took him 10 seconds of prompting to unlock the door but it was so SCARY! We didn't even know he could reach that lock. Now we know.

The past couple days have been our first's at home with just the 3 of us (Me, Kaleb & Kami) while Brian is at work. Usually, Kaleb went to a sitter or we hung out at my mom's or with my sister because of the c-section (and the ban on lifting Kaleb). Now that we are home I don't know why I didn't do it sooner! It is the best and we are already into a pretty good routine.

After Brian leaves in the morning Kaleb comes in and gets in bed with me in Daddy's spot. He gets a diaper change, refills his cup and we go back to sleep until 9 am. I feed Kamryn while Brian is getting ready for work and then we all snuggle in for another 3 hours of sleep. I love this part of the morning. It's so quiet and I can hear both babies sleeping. Love this time. Love it.

We all play and eat and watch movies and all kinds of stuff until our nap at 1:45. I will put Kaleb down in his bed and lay with him for about 1 minute. I tell him, "Mommy is going to go check on Kami. I'll be back" and he stays put while I lay her down. By the time I get back to check on him he's asleep and that usually gives me 2 hours of baby-free time during the day when both kiddos are down for a nap. I should sleep or eat or work out or read during this time but lately I've been cleaning.

But it's for a good a reason.... September 1st is right around the corner and that mean's it fair game on Fall decorations. I am pumped. So I'm doing the "fall cleaning" where I clean closets, rotate some clothes, organize toys and such. I am almost done. Thank goodness. I also took this time to move the packnplay to the livingroom and transition Kami to her crib. And I am soooooo glad I did.

Kaleb is so good with her now. He can even hold her for long periods of time and tells her stories.

Or just give her snuggles.......

Oh how I love my sweet babies. How could I have ever imagined life any different? We have a very exciting fall/winter coming up with Kaleb's 2nd birthday in September. My grandma, Mom, Jess & Riley all have October birthday's. Halloween. Aunt Olivia's birthday and thanksgiving. And don't even get me started on Christmas. This is going to be the best Holiday season EVER.

Kaleb is just a few weeks shy of 2.
Kami is 1 month, 1 week and 1 day old.

Pictures

2010-08-18T13:01:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We took the kids to get their pictures done (disaster!) but not because of my children. The photographer, studio, EVERYTHING was horrible but my kids. We did get a few shots that I like but we only spent about $30.00 bucks. I am searching now for someone to take our pictures in a non-studio like setting in October.

My sweet baby girl.

Piggy's.

Big Brother & Little Sister

Kaleb & Kamryn

She's lookin' at him like, "What are you doing?!"

I am working on announcements now and Kam will be a month old tomorrow. SCARY! I'll post some more updates tomorrow.

Kaleb is almost 23 months old.

Kamryn is 4 weeks, 2 days.

The Million Dollar Question

2010-08-09T13:06:00.000-04:00

Monday, August 9, 2010

So the million dollar question, was is easier to go from zero kids to one kid? or from 1 kid to 2 kids?

Brian and I agree, 110%, much easier to go from 1 to 2 kids. Hands down.

Now, don't get me wrong. Situations like this, still make me cringe.

Because when you have 2 babies, you just cannot be everywhere at once. And because they aren't twins (which I'm convinced I could handle easier than one GIGANTIC toddler and one tiny baby) you have to interact with different activities all at the same time.

I miss Kaleb, in so many ways. Kamryn is an extension of me right now. Where I go, she goes. Which means a lot of the rough and tumble boy games Kaleb likes to play are out of the question. And he is SUCH a boy.

But it's getting better and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel....

Kaleb understands better now after 21 days of always hearing, "Be nice! Easy! She's sleeping. No, don't do that!" He holds her hand and kisses her piggy's. Sometimes he tries to give her real food or take her bottle or get in a suck on her pacifier. However, we have figured out little tricks too.

If she's napping and we are across the house in the living room (and since the Angel care monitor is SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE) we'll put her down in the pack n play and drape a blanket over the one mesh side. Kaleb runs and plays and has no idea she's there because if he did, he would be adding toys to it trying to get her to play. We make sure her bouncy seat is up on the kitchen table or counter. We just cannot ever leave them alone in a room together and that is the hardest part about 2 under 2.

On the plus side, it has MADE me be a better mother. I put her to nap in her crib or the pack n play. She is great at self soothing and waits patiently for me to pump or get to her because I just cannot be everywhere at once. I really don't think I could live without my Moby wrap (thanks Jess!) because it allows be to hold her or nurse her and still hang with Kaleb or wash dishes or throw in a load of laundry.

Summer is difficult. We are all over the place. Kaleb is staying the night with my mom, his Aunt Olivia, Grandma Luther and his Mamaw all the time. We ask after a visit, do you want to go with mommy and daddy or stay with _______? He almost always wants to stay. He's such a lucky boy to have so many wonderful family members to stay with during these summer months.

But come fall the poor guy is going to be shocked back into reality with a whole new routine for nap and bedtime. And from all the sleep training books I've read I can start transitioning Kamryn into a routine at about 6 weeks. I know it's what both babies need to stay happy & healthy this fall and winter. Plus, this whole no routine thing is very hard on me(and Daddy too!)

For now, we are just enjoying our two wonderful kids.

Look Alikes

2010-08-04T12:02:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, August 3, 2010

So the more time I spend with Kamryn then more I see her brother. These are NOT the 2 pictures I wanted to use but I forgot my other memory card, with all the good pictures of Kaleb at 2 weeks. Either way, my babies look alike. And I love it!

Kamryn's Birth Story

2010-08-03T18:50:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, August 2, 2010

We spent Sunday July 18, 2010 getting the last minute things together for our baby girl, packing hospital bags and having some fun with Kaleb. We took him to the mall and spent some quality time during our last day as a family of three. After his afternoon nap, we packed up everything but the kitchen sink and dropped Kaleb off at my grandma’s for his 4 day vacation. Brian and I spent the rest of the evening hanging out, going over our check list (of course, I ALWAYS have a list or two!), grilling out and spending some quality time together. We knew we had to get up at 4 am but our nervous energy kept us up until 11:30 pm!

We set off for the hospital at 5 am, calling to wake up my mom and Olivia along the way. We arrived at 5:30 and they sent us to recovery to get settled in. I was in the exact bed I recovered from my section with Kaleb. I just smiled to myself, determined to not let my nervous energy take over my mind. As we went to check in and get my IV started the nurse noticed that I was 38 weeks, 6 days. Since Kaleb’s birth, The Christ Hospital, put a rule into place that said if you were not 39 weeks they would not do a planned c-section or induction without a written note from the doctor with the reason why you need the induction/section. If it wasn’t sufficient (IE: pre-e, low fluid, ect) the hospital refused. In the 6 months they had the rule in effect the NICU has been grossly over-staffed because they no longer have 2-3 day stays for babies just taken too early. Obviously, the rule was needed and effective. The nurse even told us that some doctors have SWITCHED hospitals! Ugh. How irresponsible! Either way, they had to call Grim at 5:30 so he could write my note from home (even though I was just 1 day shy) and he had it in their system by 6:00 am so they could start my IV.

I have never in my life not had an IV take on the first try. I’m not afraid of needles and I have awesome veins so I didn’t think there would be any problem. After my nurse tried twice she called IV therapy. The IV therapy nurse tried twice and blew one of my veins and I bled so bad they had to change my bed sheets BEFORE my surgery! I don’t know if I have ever seen Brian so upset. He was not happy with the staff even though I was just fine, even helping pick out good sites. Finally, another nurse got it on the 5th attempt. Brian had to take a coffee break after that, poor guy.

My mom, sister, MIL, FIL and BIL, Donald, arrived at the hospital around 7. They came back to our room and hung out for a bit. When Doc arrived and went to get dressed Donald prayed over me and we all held hands. It felt so nice to have that this time. They took Kaleb so fast that no one made it down in time except my parents and sister. They took me back before Brian and the spinal was seamless. No pain. It wasn’t even uncomfortable. I, of course, said yes to 2 residents assisting in the section. I made BFF’s with our anesthesiologist since he is the person you spend the most time with during the hour long process.

Brian came in and guess who followed him in? Pam! She was our scrub nurse. She sat at the foot of the operating table and kept giving Brian the thumbs up. Of course, we talked with her and doc about Kaleb since they both knew how far we had come from the day. Brian held my picture and prayed with me both before and after she made her appearance.

At 8:15 am I started to feel the worst pressure. I knew she was about to make her appearance. I remembered it helped me to continue to breathe during the pressure if I made grunting noises. So I did again. Then at 8:19 am I heard her cry. Oh Lord, what a beautiful sound.

I held my breath. Moment of truth. Dr. Grim leaned over the curtain, “She’s perfect Ericka!” Then it was like a chorus as they passed her to Pam, “Ericka, seriously, she is PERFECT!” Brian left my side to go take some pictures while they cleaned her up. She just kept crying. And I loved it. And then I cried. A lot.

She, just like Kaleb, took a gigantic gulp of fluid right as she was coming out so she was a little pale and gurgling. Brian scooped her up and brought her over to me. He kept comforting her and I just kept saying, “No no please. Let her cry!” I just needed to hear that sound over and over again.

As they were closing up Pam asked to take her over to the nursery to get cleaned up and she’d meet us in recovery. I looked at Brian and he said, “I know. I know. I’m going… Love you babe!” and off he went with our little girl. Just when I thought they we’re gone he stuck his head back in and said, “Hey doc, take care of my other baby while I’m down here!” The whole OR started laughing, including me. I could only lay there and thank God for Brian, Kaleb and our sweet baby girl.

Just as promised, they met us in recovery where I got to nurse right away and besides a quick trip around the room to our visitors she laid skin to skin the entire time. Even when I started getting really itchy (a wonderful side effect of the spinal) I refused to give her up.

We spent the next 3 days in the hospital and had some visitors including our sweet baby boy (twice!) who immediately understood she was a part of our family. Brian took him to get some food on his first visit and they took Kamryn for her heel prick while he was gone. When he came back in he ran to her crib and asked, “Sissy? Baby sissy? Where Mama?”

Each night, they nurse would come into our room and ask if we wanted to send her to the nursery for a few hours. Each night, we said, “No way! Are you kidding?” and I can only assume NOT having Kaleb in our room his entire stay made us this way. Or maybe we just love our kids that much.

What a different birth story I have with Kamryn. I can only thank God for all his wonderful blessings and both birth experiences.

Kaleb is 22 months, 1 week, 2 days old.
Kamryn is 2 weeks & 1 day old.

2010-07-28T19:52:00.000-04:00

Monday, July 26, 2010

It's been one week with our beautiful baby girl. One week. Wow.

The time has flown by and each day I learn more about our little princess and her personality. She fits in so well with our family that I often look at Brian and ask, "You feel complete right? Like you're whole all of a sudden?" It's like a small piece of our perfect puzzle was missing and now she's here. The feeling is so overwhelming, not understanding HOW your world will be rocked, from the first time you hear that cry. 8:19 am, one week ago, everything changed.

I am so in love.

We are so in love.

I am working on her birth story right now but besides a few pre-birth issues with me everything has been seemless. After everything with Kaleb's tough birth and NICU stay it is shockingly quiet with Kamryn. Yes, it looks like she's going to be Kamryn. Kaleb walks around calling her, Tammy, which is supposed to be Kammy. And thus, she is our Kamryn. Although, we have called her by both names because they all called her Olivia in the hospital. And big Olivia just refuses to call her anything but Olivia. We have quite a few months before she will recognize her name so we'll keep playing with it and see what happens. For now, I have a Kaleb & Kamryn. And I love it.

I got to nurse before she was an hour old. I was in Heaven, as you can see.

Kamryn is the BIGGEST sleeper I have ever met. Seriously. The only problem I have had with breast feeding is that I cannot keep her awake! The lactation consultant even had to come in and teach Brian ways to keep her awake and eating. I pump after each nurse to try and stimulate my supply and keep it up (because of the breast reduction). Again, everyone was genuinely surprised at how much I am able to pump with her, so far. With Kaleb he outgrew my supply at 8 weeks and then we did half for a while but I never got to nurse him. It was all pumping. Oh, what a difference it makes.

I'm not going to lie. It's hard. My breast hurt a bit but it's nothing like most women complain of, so I do feel lucky in that aspect. I hate not knowing if she is getting enough to meet her needs. I hate that having the reduction means my supply won't be normal. I pump and Brian bottle feeds her 3-4 times a day too because I want to know she's getting a good amount. Thankfully she does good on both breast and bottle. She even sucks on her pacifier like a pro.

This morning we had her 1 week appointment and she's down exactly 1 pound from her birth weight. Her doctor wasn't really concerned but told me she wanted her up and nursing every 2 hours. Right now she's every 3-4 hours. It's been 6 hours since we left the office and I still cannot get her to eat that often. From the bottle or the breast. She is pretty sleepy still and only has about 1 wakeful period per day. I am really committed to breast feeding her so the pediatrician's office has a RN who is also a certified lactation consultant. We're going back on Wednesday so just Kamryn and I can meet with her and learn some new techniques and get some help with her feeding schedules. I mean, who complains that their baby sleeps too much! What a strange problem.

Kaleb has taken to his sister so well. He loves on her and plays with her toes. I don't think he really understands what a baby is and how they communicate. He sat over her the other day saying, "Hi. Hi. Hey. HEY. HEY! Tttttammmmy!" and after she just stared at him he started yelling at me, "Mama Tammy talk!!" He also likes to swipe her bottles and get in a few drinks, lay in her carseat and lay under her play mat. Most of the time, he just ignores her. I guess she's just not that interesting!

I'm working on a birth story now. And lots of pics. And lots of stories. But for now it's back to my beautiful babies!

Kaleb is almost 2, I think. The days run together right now.

Kamryn is 1 week old.

The Name Game: Part II {Baby Girl!}

2010-07-20T10:00:00.002-04:00

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

What's in a name? I'm sure for each family it is very different. For Brian and I, it's pretty straight forward. We are very family-oriented, traditional, religious.... but modern. Now that you are confused, let's start with her first name:

Olivia

Obviously, this is my sister's name. Our daughter is named after my sister. Brian's idea, no joke. Olivia has always been our "first born" so to speak. When B and I started dating she was just 16 years old and has grown up with our relationship. She moved into our first condo at 18 when she was commuting back and forth to Wright State and it all started there... movie nights, break ups, getting ready for big parties, staying in, broken hearts, illness... We did it all together. Brian and I cleaned her room, helped her with homework, did piles of laundry she'd bring home and grocery shopped for her favorite foods. I have to say that is one of the things that made me fall in love with B even more. The way he took care of 'us' like we were two halves of the same whole. He got our bond, he got that no one came before her, he got that he was supposed to protect her too. He did a great job then and he still does now.

Growing up, my parents divorced when I was really young. It made Olivia even younger. Those first few years of every-other weekend, divorce drama, separate lives, separate families created this bond between us. We NEVER slept in separate rooms or even separate beds until I left for college. We always had our own room and after mom would tuck us in and the coast was clear we'd knock on the wall and she'd sneak in to my room. Every. single. night. We asked to share a room for years and my mom always said, "No as soon as I do you'll want them back to being separate." We never did. When she would come home to the condo I slept in her bed sometimes and she kicked B out of our bed sometimes. Now she just likes to sleep with Kaleb.

Besides the fact that Olivia is my sister the name is also biblical. No, the name isn't a character in the Bible but...

its meaning is "olive tree." Yes, Olivia, while not in the bible is a biblical name having the meaning derived from the Bible. The olive tree is a symbol of fruitfulness, beauty, and dignity in the scripture. There is also that important story about Noah's Arc. The dove that bring's Noah the branch signaling the end of the flood? A branch from an Olive Tree. This was another reason the name Olivia sealed the deal.

And finally, while I do not practice with my degree I spent countless hours in college minoring in English Literature. I loved studying English but facing-facts that the job market just wasn't open to an "English Lit" degree I chose it as a minor.

Being that I spent countless hours studying (and actually enjoying) Shakespeare it would be fitting that he is actually the first person to actually use the name Olivia in his play "Twelfth Night" from 1599. I love that little fact about her name.

So let's review:

Olivia is my sister.

The name is biblical.

It was created by one of my all-time favorite writers.

Okay... so having a baby O and a big O could possibly get confusing. Except for the fact that since 1999, I haven't called my sister Olivia for any reason. It's always been "O" and that caught on at school and they started calling her that... it just stuck. Their will be no variations on the name... no Liv, Livy, Libby. Yuck. Just Olivia or "baby O" as Kaleb likes to say.

Kamryn

This name started out as our first name, Kamryn Olivia, which is beautiful. However their is NOTHING about this name that is special to us. We just like it. We always have. The "K" in Kamryn is obviously a nod to her brother "K"aleb (which originally came from my mom, Kim). Once we looked up the name and found out the meaning was, "crooked nose" it sealed its fate as a middle name.

The name stuck from the time we found out we were having a girl as Kamryn Olivia until Brian sat up one night and said, "We have to change it." Looking back at all the thought and time that went into Kaleb's name (you can read about it here ) it just made sense that although we loved to have a {Kaleb & Kamryn} we just wanted her name to really MEAN something to us. And switching it to {Olivia Kamryn} does that for us.

Now what will we call her?

Kaleb has already started calling her, Kammy, and that is perfect for both Brian & I. When I think of a Kammy I picture this perfect little girl with blonde hair, chubby cheeks and blue eyes just like her brother.

Since I am actually writing this on July 2, 2010 I cannot tell you what she looks like or what we've started calling her so I'll update you when I get back to blogging soon. But I'm pretty sure what Kaleb decides will go... and how cool is that? {She can thank us later that we ruled out Bob as a name suggestion, thank you Kaleb}

Kaleb is just 5 days shy of 22 months old.

Kamryn is 1 day old. {You have no idea how strange it is to write that while she squirms in my belly!}

She's Here!

2010-07-19T12:36:00.000-04:00

Olivia Kamryn Peters

July 19, 2010

7 pounds,13 ounces

20 inches

She's perfect and healthy. Mom & baby are doing great :)

Mother of 1: Checking Out

2010-07-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 16, 2010

This is my last post with one outside baby and one inside baby. Oh. My. Gosh.

My doc appointment this morning went great. The scale in the doctor's office is digital and I can only really see it if I lean over and check over Jami's shoulder. When Jami was putting all my stats in the computer this morning I asked her, "Give it to me straight, what have I gained this pregnancy?" I'm pretty sure I almost fell off my chair when she said,

"1 pound."

I immediately started arguing because I saw the scale once and after I calculated it was closer to 11 or 12. She checked each weigh-in and said, "Nope, you must've read it wrong. Just 1 pound. Oh and your BP is great too!" 120/70 to be exact. I cannot believe when I leave the hospital next week I will have LOST weight. I will lose all my pregnancy weight PLUS some. Can someone please pinch me? I have been touched by the pregnancy fairy with this baby.

I got my order's for the hospital too. We have to be there at 5:30 am, no breakfast. Surgery is schedule to start around 7:30 so she'll make her debut early. Kaleb was born at 8:31 am so she won't be too far off. I'm scared but I'm excited.

I ran and ran and ran yesterday in the stifling 94 degree heat and got every single thing we might need for Kaleb and this new baby. And the stuff I might need post delivery, yuck. And I have to share this deal with everyone I got yesterday at Target.

I was looking for a basic baby girl bedding, nothing fancy. Kaleb NEVER used his $200+ dollar bedding and I'm just not going to drop that kind of money again. Char & Jess both tipped me off that Target has the mix & match bedding so I thought I'd try my luck. If not, she was going to be snoozing on Kaleb's zoo animals for the first few months.

I really liked this Tulip bedding and I was able to find ONE last bedding set on sale for $44.99. That was already a steal, since it was originally $74.99. I opened the whole package and noticed the crib sheet was missing. Thankfully, they had the exact one for sale individually so I got a manager to throw in the sheet and take another 10% off the bedding set. I got the entire thing for close to $40.00 dollars. And it looks so awesome against the cherry wood of her crib.

I cannot believe I have this weekend and I will be a mother of 2. A SON and A DAUGHTER.

I am so overwhelmingly blessed. And I cannot wait to meet my sweet little girl.

Aunt Char is going to be guest blogging with all her stats so look for an update on Monday.

Kaleb is 1 year, 9 months & 3 weeks old. And he's about to be the BEST big brother ever.

Our baby girl will be here in 3 days.

No News

2010-07-15T12:23:00.000-04:00

Thursday, July 15, 2010

No new news on the baby front. Still holding steady, counting down the days, 4 to be exact. I'm crampy and uncomfortable but SHOCKINGLY no swelling still. My rings are currently rolling around my fingers right now and I know when I try and wear them into the c-section I'll get busted and have to give them to Olivia to wear around. Thank you little girl. Thank you. Mama appreciates the ZERO water weight.

The crib is up. Her clothes are washed. The fridge, freezer and pantry is stocked. However, I have a 2 page list with 4+ stops on it and I have to get it done with NO help from Brian until Saturday after 3 pm because of work. Dang work! Doesn't it know I'm going to have a baby?!

I am very pleased with everything I have together already for Kaleb. It's honestly the HARDEST part of this entire thing. I hate having to leave him overnight, for more than one night. We haven't ever done that! I already have his Medical Consent to Treat during the week we'll be in the hospital, notarized, just in case of an emergency. Sure, I know they will treat him in very urgent situations. However, I remember getting stitches a few times and having to wait for my mom to come to the hospital because they wouldn't let my Step-Dad sign. Brian can make it back to where Kaleb is in less than 30 minutes but if he's in pain that 2 page paper gives a history and a notarized consent to treat. Score for the prepared Mom team!

I also attached a list of the medications he's allergic to, the proper dosages for his weight with Tylenol & Benadryl, important information about his medical history and his insurance card. Oh and did I mention the GIGANTIC list of numbers I printed from my cell phone all the way down to my in-law's, Christ hospital and poison control. Okay, score one for the OVER prepared Mom team!

Hey, better to be over-prepared than under prepared right? And with a c-section that is 4 long nights without my boy. Although, he will be down to visit us a few times so it's not like I won't get to see him. Can you see me talking myself up here?! Reassuring myself he'll be okay? He won't REALLY miss his Mom?

Cause I'll miss him. And my hormones are out of control.

I cried the other night, really hard. When Kaleb asks for a Popsicle it comes out, "Super Mom! Peaaaaase!" I burst into tears imagining him screaming at my grandma, Super! Super! Super! and no one being able to understand his wording for Popsicle.

Yeah, it's time for this baby to come out and my emotions to go back to normal.

Kaleb is going to be just fine without his parents because he's almost 2.
His sister will be here in 4 days!

Christmas In July

2010-07-13T11:11:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Yeah, that's right. My kid looks like Ralphie.

And I love it!

We have always said that he had a striking resemblance to the boy from A Christmas Story. Each year when we put up our decorations we watch that movie & the original Grinch (No, Jim Carrey versions Brian! The original is ALWAYS the best.) We said it last year and then last night when he put on his new "fake" glasses we laughed so hard we couldn't see straight!

Brian is currently teaching him to say, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

I think we just might have to do our Christmas card with this theme this year. Ah, my sweet Ralphie.

I mean, Kaleb.

The Joy's of Summer

2010-07-12T10:56:00.000-04:00

Monday, July 12, 2010

One week from today we will be holding our baby girl. That is completely unreal to me. I don't feel that pregnant. Maybe because I found out so late? I am uncomfortable and move extra slow but nothing that is screaming, "Get this baby out!"

Brian had to work the ENTIRE weekend until 9 p.m. which was really hard on me. I really missed his help and really got a good understanding of how much he really does when he gets off work. Thankfully, my mom was able to come over and take us to the grocery store Saturday and I took FULL advantage of the help. We had 2 carts full of food and next weekend I should only have to run out for milk and some drinks. That was a big help to get the grocery off my list!

On Sunday, I was hanging Kaleb's comforter on our porch to dry in the sun when I saw (what looked like) a honey bee land on his middle finger. I knew that if I provoked it there was a good chance it would sting him or me. Obviously, I'd rather it be me but being allergic to bee's and being really pregnant is not a good option either. Thankfully, it flew away immediately but Kaleb's face when he turned around was horrible! I knew right away he had been stung, even before the screaming started.

I picked him up and ran into the house (nothing like a bee to get a pregnant lady really moving) the whole time he's screaming, "Mom! Mom! Owwwwwwwwwwww!" and holding his chubby finger in my face. He had 2 stinger marks and now I realize it wasn't a bee!

Yellow Jackets look like Honey Bee's with no fuzz, sting repeatedly and don't need to be provoked. I never thought I'd wish it was a bee:

I let him play in the kitchen sink, the whole time the cold water rushing over his finger is helping the pain, but when he pulls his hand out of the water he keeps saying, "Owww Mama.... owwwwww!" I get on the phone with my mom and tell her to get to a pharmacy NOW because the Benadryl I had here I chucked when that recall came out a few months ago.

Thankfully, she got to the drug store and had to get the 4+ years old Benadryl because they had pulled everything else. Thank goodness my kid weighs a staggering 37 pounds because the pharmacist okay'd an entire teaspoon which took the swelling down immediately (after letting him play some fun games with a few ice cubes).

I let him stay away until Brian got home from work because my energy was zapped. Brian was surprised he was up but was very happy about it! They ate a big bowl of ice cream before he put him to bed.

Thank goodness Kaleb is not allergic because this was our test! He's gets more like Brian everyday. I have high hopes my fair-haired child will be an outdoors-man like his dad and not have to worry about sun-burns, bee stings and snakes like his Mom.

1 week until little Miss makes her debut. 7 days.
Kaleb is 22 months, really tough & NOT allergic to stings. Thank you Lord!

Overcoming Our Past

2010-07-09T14:46:00.004-04:00

Friday, July 9, 2010

This morning's visit went well again. My blood pressure was outstanding, still no swelling, minimal weight gain and no protein! Woo hoo! She has slowed down considerably so Doc did a NST (non-stress test) which went awesome after Dr.Grim got me some orange juice to get her going. All healthy and measuring right on track!

This pregnancy has flown by so quickly. My "worry" ticker has been set on low and I have just enjoyed each moment watching Kaleb grow and develop during the past few months. I haven't been stressed about anything and this pregnancy has actually been (dare I say) easy?

The past two weeks as I drift off to sleep each night I have tried to "prepare" myself for the birth of our daughter. I went in to my birth with Kaleb with no standards, just hopes, of a health baby, good APGAR, minimal tearing, quick recovery, good latch on for breast feeding....

I never in a million years would've predicted what happened that day.

And I'm scared now. Really scared. I like my life. I love my son. I love Brian. I remember looking back at the Eviction Post each time I went to write Kaleb's birth story and felt angry. I just wanted to delete it and my blog and each memory of happiness during my pregnancy that led me to believe we'd have this awesome birth experience and come home a few days later with this healthy bouncing boy.

God has such healing powers. I spent minimal time being angry or upset and moved on so quickly to understanding and acceptance. We really felt (and still do) that we were chosen by the Lord to have Kaleb, in all his glory, with just one hand. God has amazing, phenomenal, outstanding things in the works for our boy. We believe that with every single inch of our being.

When I was about 6 months pregnant with our daughter we met with a genetic counselor. After speaking with her, she informed us that we had the same chance of any other "normal" couple sitting in the waiting room of our daughter having something wrong. I felt safe and secure and confident in the Lord's plans for her life and no matter what, she was ours and made in His likeness and we loved her already. We counted her fingers and toes on the ultrasound and made silly jokes about how "uncool" she was going to be next to her extraordinary brother.

And now that's all I can think about. It's everything that occupies my mind right now. Healthy baby, healthy baby, healthy baby.... no more surprises, no more surprises, no more surprises... Please. Begging. Pleading. Praying myself to tears at God for just a normal delivery for us. Please.

I was so upset a few nights ago that I sat down to my computer and reached out to Emily, a mom I met on Superhands. Her older son, Noah, was born like our Kaleb. And about a year ago she had Luke, his perfectly healthy baby brother. She was so quick to write me back and calm my fears. She, also like us, had a quick, unplanned c-section with Noah and found out about his hand on the table. Luke came via-scheduled c-section, healthy and happy. However, her feelings we're so parallel to mine those last few days that she gave me some scripture that really helped her ...

First, one so basic I could've quoted it to you from my sleep. "For I know the plans I have for you say the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

So simple. So powerful. God knows exactly what he is doing and His plan's for our this family are "good" and will give us "a future" and "hope."

Second one is from Psalm 139 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well".

I know I have heard this scripture many times and if the first one was too broad this one sure narrows it down! God put this little girl together just the way He wanted her to be... in His likeness... in His image. It makes me feel better... and at ease about the entire process. In order to keep those feelings and stay in my stress-free zone Brian and I created this picture to take into the operating room:

It's already printed and waiting in our hospital stuff. I know all the things that we went through with Kaleb's birth we're horrible... and scary.... but looking at that picture of our sweet little guy now makes every terrifying second worth it and keeps us going.

My support system will waiting the morning of the 19th, come what may, good or bad. My mom and sister. Char and Cody. My brother-in-law is coming down early to pray over us with my SIL, Jennifer. My sweet mother-in-law and father-in-law. Pam (a few of the other NICU nurses from Kaleb's birth) although I'm sure they could just come into the OR if they wanted :)

And of course, God will be with us the whole time. Say some extra prayers for our awesome little girl.

10 days until we meet her.
10 days and we become a family of 4.

Random Acts of Kindness

2010-07-07T10:50:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I love waking up in the morning and stepping outside and having a hard time breathing. This type of weather is almost too hot to even be outside during the mid-day hours. I feel so sorry for Kaleb during days like these, being couped up in the cool air conditioning set on 68 degrees, eating popsicles and watching movies with his dad. Oh wait, I don't feel sorry for either of them! Brian has to go back to work tomorrow but those boys have been having themselves a great time the past few days.

Last night at about 10:30 after moving from the bed to the couch to the recliner to the glider I just started crying.

"Are you alright!?" Brian jumps up from the couch.

"Are you alllllllllllllllright!?" Kaleb jumps up from the floor.

I started laughing hysterically because Kaleb is just too darn cute and he is mimicking the concern on his Dad's face. I just CANNOT get comfortable. I was sweating, she was moving around like she was auditioning for Cirque Du Soleil and I was trying to limit my fluid intake so I could get a good night's sleep so I was parched.

Brian and Kaleb set off to work (yes I put my 1 year old to work at 10:30 pm!) and they came back with the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. A gigantic glass of freezing cold water, the fan from Kaleb's room, my feather pillow and the foot rest from the glider. And how can I forget the lavender lotion?

They put the pillow behind my head, gave me that big ol' glass of water, propped my feet up and Brian told Kaleb... "Okay we talked about this, Mommy isn't feeling good. She needs snuggles." Ever so gentle Kaleb climbs onto the couch and lays his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms around my belly and says, "Snuggles Mom. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, snuggles." As if that wasn't enough to make me feel better Brian gets on the floor and gives me the most amazing prenatal massage I have EVER gotten in my life. Kaleb even rubbed some of the aromatherapy lotion on my legs. By the time the news was coming on I couldn't keep my eyes open and told the boys I was going to bed since I was really relaxed.

I kissed Brian and told him to get booger in bed soon and headed off to my freshly laundered sheets. As soon as I got in bed Kaleb came in and climbed into my bed whispered, "Nite nite Mom. Snuggles," and started stroking my face until his little hand went limp and he drifted off to sleep.

I have the most thoughtful, caring boys in the entire world. I cannot wait to see them with their little girl.

Kaleb is SUCH a sweet boy.

Baby girl will be here in 12 days, if this heat doesn't drive her out first!

Uncomfortable

2010-07-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

So I reached that stage last night, officially. I am uncomfortable. I got up 3+ times to go to the bathroom. After the 3rd time I turned my alarm clock around so I would stop taking mental notes about what time I was up. Let's just say if this little girl needs to eat every 2 hours when she get's home her mama's schedule will be ready to go! That is the only positive I can see in this whole cannot get comfortable, up to go potty, check on Kaleb, grab ANOTHER drink because I'm thirsty again (repeat whole cycle) for the ENTIRE night. "Why don't you limit your fluid and not drink anything after 7 pm?" my grandma asked me. Well, maybe because I crave water after 9 pm? I have tried to not walk down the hall and pop open the fridge to see that gigantic water pitcher calling my name but it does. So I answer the call.

This weekend was all work. I know how excited Brian was to run, clean and work all weekend but we did take a small break on Sunday to let Kaleb swim with some friends and watch a wonderful fireworks show. Unfortunately, my camera lost its juice as soon as we pulled into the cookout so no pictures. Olivia got this picture with her phone because my ultra-cool kid just needed to wear her shades around THE ENTIRE NIGHT. He would pull them down a tiny bit to walk up/down stairs. (I think this is the picture I'm going to bring in with my to delivery because I am so in love with that face- it's so Kaleb & his outgoing personality)

I'm not sure I really nested that much with Kaleb because I am a ultra clean person anyway. How do you tell if someone is nesting who would scrub toilets, stock pile laundry and wipe down baseboards anyway? This weekend happens and then you know.

Brian went to get another load of baby stuff from storage and I set off to work. I turned on "A Bug's Life" which is Kaleb's new obsession since he has taken notice to the bugs on the patio. I poured half carpet cleaning solution (that goes in our actual carpet cleaner) into a cup with half hot water and got down and scrubbed each and every individual stain in our living room carpet with a tooth brush. Then I busted out the actual carpet cleaner and leaned over it every few minutes and really put my weight into vacuum part to deep clean everything. It looked amazing wet but I was sure as it dried at least one or two of those purple popsicle stains would surface. Nada. My carpet looks brand stinkin' new. Brian and I had words when I explained to him HOW I got everything out but when I let him smell the carpet cleaning solution he walked off mumbling something about ..."dangerous chemicals"... but it really doesn't have a strong odor or fumes so I felt just fine about the entire thing.

I dipped all of Kaleb's hard plastic toys into a bleach/water solution and let them dry in the sun. I took apart his high chair and scrubbed it on the porch with the same bleach/water solution. The cover went into the washer on the hot cycle with... you guessed it.... bleach/water. I scrubbed down baseboards, cleaned out cabinets, sanitized and put away each and every bottle/pacifier I could find. I did an unreal amount of laundry. Okay, now I KNOW it's nesting. And the worst part? I am actually excited to get home today to start the rest of my cleaning list.

You would think with all this running around and cleaning I would actually fall into bed at night and sleep like a baby. Nope. It just makes me move slower to the bathroom.

13 days.

Just 13.

Kaleb is 1 year, 9 months, 1 week & 4 days old.

Happy Holiday Weekend!

2010-07-02T13:50:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 2, 2010

As this holiday weekend approaches I thought I'd share a few quick pics from our 4th Celebrations in the past:

4th of July 2008 (pregnant with baby Kaleb in this one!)

4th of July 2009

My adorable little man (with corn on his face!)

It looks like my 2010 picture will be with a gigantic baby belly again. Now, I know everyone might think they see a trend here but rest assured for the next 4+ years I will be enjoying icy cold adult beverage this weekend which means this will be my last 4th of July baby belly for a while.

Hope everyone enjoy's this holiday weekend! Be safe :)

Kaleb is old enough to actually enjoy the holiday this year.

Baby girl will be here in 17 days.

July is Here!

2010-07-01T12:29:00.000-04:00

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Hellllllo July! This month I will get to meet my sweet little girl so just for fun we did our predictions:

Madame Zaritska, using her mystical powers, has the following prediction:

The day you deliver, outside will be foggy. Your baby will arrive in the early morning. After a labor lasting approximately 30 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and will be 21 -1/2 inches long. This child will have light green eyes and a little patch of red hair.

I did this with Kaleb and got a bit of a laugh out of it considering the questions are what's your favorite color, what's the weather like now and so on... and nothing about your actual pregnancy or previous. Obviously, we know our GIRL will arrive in the early morning because it's scheduled that way. I'm not so sure about the red hair considering neither one of us have this in our immediate fam but hey, you never know!

Here is the one I did for Kaleb:

The day you deliver, outside will be hazy. Your baby will arrive in wee hours of the morning. After a labor lasting approximately 9 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and will be 18-1/2 inches long. This child will have dark brown eyes and a little patch of brown hair.

I have no idea what the weather was like the morning of Kaleb's birth, normal, I guess. He arrived at 8:31 am so not exactly wee hours. My labor actually lasted about 12 hours so she wasn't far off on that. Surprisingly enough Kaleb weighed in at exactly 7 pounds, 7 ounces but with blue eyes and 21 inches long.

I made a list of everything we still actually need to get from the store before she's born and thankfully, that list is not long. I do have a pretty hefty "To Do" list that I am sure Brian will appreciate when I get off work today. I have all of my hospital bag, baby girl's bag and Kaleb's bag list's done too. They surprisingly make me feel better, tucked away in my manilla folder labeled {Baby Girl's} Birth. Now if I can just get some of those things marked off my list's I will be a happy camper.

Yes, to those of you who ask, {Baby Girl} does have a name. No, we aren't sharing or posting about it until she is here. Her name is personal to us. It was decided a long time ago and I don't want anyone to make a face, ask a stupid question or "suggest" a different name. It really makes me mad just thinking about it now. If someone told me they we're naming their unborn child, Harry, I wouldn't ever dream of saying:

"Oh I went to school with a Harry. He was so weird..."

"Oh... Harry. Cute. Don't you like Henry? Kinda like Harry but better"

"Oh Harry from Harry Potter. How about Ron? That name was in that book too."

"Oh Harry like after your husband, won't that get confusing. Having 2 Harry's in the house?"

"Harry... like H-A-R-R-Y? That spelling will really mess him up..."

And the list goes on and on and on... Kaleb was going to be Elijah forever. Eli for short. I cannot tell you how many people either suggested other biblical names, pronounced it wrong, told me how calling him Eli would be confusing for him in Kindergarten when they call Elijah on roll call. In the end it aggravated us so much I started to hate the name. I never encountered anyone that said, "Wow what an AWESOME name. I love it." because if they did that would be their kids name and then we'd be "name stealing."

So, no, you can't know her name just yet. Don't worry, I have the post explaining all our meanings and things behind the name set to post when we are still in the hospital so everyone will know why {Baby Girl} is actually { }.

Kaleb is 21 months & some change.

Baby girl will arrive this very month. Scary.

36 weeks 2 days

2010-06-30T12:20:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

First things first, a very Happy 30th Birthday to the love of my life, father of my children and better half of me. I know how excited he is to turn 30 today but he got his wish (minus 19 days) of 2 kids before he hit middle-aged (something I swore would not happen), so Happy Birthday babe, this gigantic belly is your gift from me, enjoy.

So today is the most pregnant I have ever been. EVER. I feel like I've hit some secret milestone and everything I have known up until this point in pregnancy is moot now. My body never "prepared" itself for Kaleb's birth because he came too early (thank you pre-eclampsia) and now that I am thus-far not plagued with any such condition I feel... strange.

And suddenly in a panic. Her bed isn't set up yet, I have about a hundred loads of laundry to do, a few more things to pick up, a hospital bag to pack, a Kaleb bag to pack, a house to REALLY clean and a master bathroom that has been at a stall for about 2 weeks. Brian assures me by this weekend I will have no more worries and her bed, boxes of stuff and my house will be back together.

While I feel cautiously optimistic about this goal....I am a planner and organized and NOT a last-minute type of person.

However, I do feel really good about Kaleb and his ability to adapt to the change that is about to take place. He has grown so much and his intelligence is unreal to us sometimes. He asks for what he needs, tells us when he's gone to the potty, signals for 'nite-nite' when he gets tired. He can do all the stairs in our apartment on his own and get in/out of the Trailblazer for me. How awesome is this kid?

He came to visit us at work yesterday. His Mama Kim "Muck" gave him pop.

He cruised around the kitchen with his pop in hand. Didn't spill a lick of that pop or chew on the cup!

He sat at Mommy's desk and did "work" as he calls it (actually just ate all my M&M's)

So Daddy took him home and gave him a big bowl of soup to try and prevent any future tummy aches from the sugar overload he got at work! He even eats with a big spoon like daddy!

I have an appointment with Doc again today since he'll be out for my normal Friday appointment. On the plus side Brian gets to come to this one. I'll post some updates tomorrow.

Kaleb is 21 months, 5 days.

Our little girl will arrive in 19 days.

{Baby Girl's} SPRINKLE!

2010-06-28T11:18:00.000-04:00

Monday, June 28, 2010

Yesterday our amazing friends, Cody & Char, threw our new arrival a "sprinkle". It was so much fun and we got a ton of stuff we needed for our little girl. I think it really hit me this weekend that I'm going to have another one and this one is going to be a SHE. Being boy-obsessed for the last 2+ years really takes its toll on your "girly" side and I'm happy to have a reason to bust out the purple and princess stuff.

Kaleb is getting so big and independent. He loves his Sharrrrrrrrr and Unc Turtle's house so I really feel like I didn't see my boy the entire party. It really did "sprinkle" during the party so Kaleb had to have a bath about 1/2 way through the party because he was a muddy mess. What can I say? Boys will be boys! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

Mmmm cake flavors were chocolate with strawberry filling. Amazing.

Me & Olivia

Riley & Kaleb giving some kisses :)

The little mud bucket

And we're all clean now!

Ava, Kaleb & Riley (notice K drinkin from the cup he stole from Char)

My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures of the adults at the party. I didn't even get in one with Char or Brian or our little family before Kaleb got dirty. My mission is to take a ton of pictures in the next 21 days. Stay tuned :)

Kaleb is 1 year, 9 months & 3 days old. He's going to be a big brother in just 21 days.

Kaleb vs His Sister

2010-06-25T13:10:00.000-04:00

Friday, June 25, 2010

Since this week has been all Kaleb I thought I'd drop a few more details about our sweet baby girl. I went to the doctor this morning and my BP was 119/69. Dang, that feels good. I am still hovering around a 12 pound gain for her which they don't seem to be worried about. I only gained 17 with Kaleb so I guess we're right on track with weight. I am so very thankful that is one thing I don't have to worry about with my pregnancies. And I am alllll baby. This was taken just a few minutes ago:

And if you weren't convinced by that picture. Here is one of JUST baby girl at 35 weeks, 5 days:

I know she has dropped because I can breathe again. Dr.Grim said she is head down and in position too. However, she looks so high in my belly compared to Kaleb.

Please forgive this stupid pose of B & I but it's the closet I could find to how far along I am with her. In this picture I was EXACTLY 36 weeks with Kaleb and about to be induced. My belly looks way more like a basketball and a lot less like a football {as baby girl makes it look}.

Oh and another thing my sweet little angel does NOT give Mommy in the heat: SWELLING!

My cute feet this morning with baby girl... :) and her monster of a brother that did this to me:

Our sprinkle is this Sunday and I am BEYOND excited. I even told Dr.Grim about it this morning and if you know me, I am so not a talker. Char is the ultimate party planner so I am so happy to see everything. She's kept me up to speed on the cake and food and other yummies. I am so looking forward to this weekend and then we are in panic mode.

I am having some on and off contractions which are really crazy. I never had those with Kaleb. I never dilated past a finger tip and the only contractions I had with Kaleb I saw on the monitor but couldn't really feel. When I was leaving the office this morning Dr. Grim said, "Hey make sure you give me a call if your water breaks or your contractions become regular!" I really just wanted to turn around and say, "DUH!"

Last night Brian and I we're talking about imagining what she looks like: her face, her complexion, her hair and her smell. We both agree, we just cannot do it. I can't see her face. Because how can Brian plus Ericka not equal this:

I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Kaleb is exactly 21 months old today.

25 days until we meet our new addition!

Shriners: Part II

2010-06-23T13:38:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I know I was supposed to post this yesterday but we got really busy at work and each time I went to update I kept reading about the first part of our trip. You never imagine when you have a child HOW much your world revolves around them. I mean, how many hours did we spend playing with rocks that day? Or watching him play with that darn door stopper? Or letting him roam the halls and explore? And the thing is, most of the time, I wouldn't trade it for those fancy dinners, margaritas, concerts or nights out (before Kaleb)because he makes life worth living. That is something you'll never experience until you have a child. And I thank God every single day that I have a partner who enjoys rocks and door stoppers and hallways just as much as me. (Love you B!)

:: back to the trip ::

We (as in Brian and I) got up bright and early to shower and get stuff ready so we could have plenty of time to eat some breakfast before we got on the road. Thankfully our hotel put up the most amazing hot breakfast and Kaleb enjoyed entertaining the retirees on their golf trip. (He is SUCH a ham!)

Here we are on our way!

Thanks to Char's awesome planning our hotel was about 10 minutes from Shriner's. And thanks to Brian's GPS it was no-fuss and we arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We we're directed to a huge waiting room with lots of other parent's and kids. Of course, the first thing Kaleb went for in the toy room was the Cozy Coupe car.

I had to use the zoom on our camera because he REFUSED to come back to where we were sitting. The kid sure isn't shy!

Did I mention it was the MOST amazing play area I have ever seen!?

The best part of the trip happened in that waiting room. Brian and I talked about it all the way home to Kaleb. He met Ben:

When Ben first noticed Kaleb he said yelled to his mom that Kaleb's hand was, "Like mine! Like mine!" I think my heart melted in that moment. Sure, we know people who have children with hands like Kaleb on facebook or through Helping Hands or Jim Abbott but this was the first time Kaleb has seen anyone his age, in person. We did manage to get the boys together for a few more pictures.

So... my kid was stingy and didn't want to get out of his car.

Are those not two of the sweetest faces you have ever seen?

We sat with Ben's parents for a while and chatted. They are such wonderful people! They adopted Ben from China when he was 19 months old. He's 3 now. It made Brian and I realize that although Kaleb doesn't notice his hand now, he will soon. And that means we move onto a new stage with him on understanding and dealing with being a little different. I think meeting and being in contact with people like Ben will help tremendously.

We even exchanged contact information including blogs (Brian was really excited about this- he has a hard time believing other people blog!) Read about her amazing family here: Our Adoption Blessings or I added them to my blogroll on the side. What an inspiring family!

After meeting Ben & his family we we're off on our next adventure. It included these awesome wagon's to wheel the kids around the hospital in:

We headed off to x-ray. I wasn't allowed back because I am pregnant so Brian and K went back alone. Yikes. I could hear Kaleb screaming in the waiting area and Brian singing, "BOB THE BUILDER!" at the top of his lungs. Ok, so my child HATES being held down. I can understand that. When they emerged Brian was sweating and his face was red. Kaleb was giving the x-ray tech an awful look and his eyes were wet and puffy. If I thought I could get a picture of these two without getting in trouble with them I would have!

We got to be in the Camel room after our xray. We met with a PA who took the works on Kaleb: history, diagnosis, measurements, EVERYTHING. Did I mention Kaleb weighed in just below 37 pounds!? We were told the doc and prosthetic team would be in soon so we did our very best to keep K entertained which included:

Running the halls (Aren't they beautiful?)

We lost our shoes in the wagon!

During our wait we also got to meet the PR director for Shriners. She gets 'google alerts' each time Shriners is mentioned by someone and when I wrote our entry about getting the chance to head down she read it! She even recognized the shirt I took [baby girl's] 25 week picture in because I was wearing it at the hospital. Thank goodness I updated with the date of our trip, she knew exactly where and when to find us. It was such a pleasure to meet her and it was like she already knew us. (At this point Brian is totally in shock because the blog has been mentioned 2 times in an hour- He just might get it now!)

We met with the doctor and prosthetics team soon after. We had been here for 2+ hours and Kaleb was less than compliant and kept trying to escape the room. His stickers managed to keep him entertained while we discussed everything with his doc.

Basically, right now the prosthetics on the market aren't anything worth fitting him for because he would have to take his focus off actually doing something to get his prosthetic to cooperate. She compared it to taking Kaleb's cup and attaching it to our hand. Because we cannot feel where the cup begins and ends kids become frustrated quickly and toss it in the toy box. Also, because Kaleb doesn't need this hand to do anything (unlike missing a leg) it's just a big hastle for him and often leaves the child frustrated. Most parent's chose to fit at this age for purely cosmetic reasons and that is just not us. His hand doesn't bother us one bit.

She explained our best bet is to take the next 2-3 years and figure out what Kaleb is really into hobbies, sports, art or music. Once we know what he really likes doing we can bring him back and see if they have a prothetic or even other devices that can help him play, explore, paint or whatever even better. Sometimes they can help, sometimes they can't.

What I really enjoyed was how they broke down the stages Kaleb will go through with us. What ages he'll ask questions or become frustrated or ask 'Why me?' They gave us a couple of booklets to help with this stuff and they are nice to have around. As far as PT/OT? She doesn't think he'll EVER need it, ever. He's so far advanced and such an explorer that he'll just continue along that path as long as we keep encouraging. If we get stuck on something like when he ties his shoes they will bring us back down and teach Brian and I how to do it and we can teach him (although we already did our research on this and can both tie our shoes one handed). I think it's safe to say we're ahead of the curve. Whew.

The best part for us? The mechanical prosthetics that become options when Kaleb is high school/adult age. They are very heavy right now so it's a no-go for kids but if he wants to be a surgeon or jet engine mechanic or anything he might need two hands for Shriners can fit him for the mechanical one. And who knows what they will have 15 years from now when that time comes? Simply amazing.

And because Kaleb is a lifetime patient we don't ever have to worry.

What an amazing trip. Cannot wait for our next one!

Kaleb is apparently old enough to drive.

His sister will be here in 27 days. Maybe he can drive her home from the hospital!

Shriners: Part I

2010-06-21T13:56:00.001-04:00

Monday, June 21, 2010

I am happy to report we made it to Lexington and back in one piece! The trip was amazing, from start to finish, and I am just sad that it couldn't last longer. However, we had a very busy weekend with Father's Day and my big 2-5 to celebrate so we'll have to plan another trip soon.

Brian and I left work after the lunch rush at exactly 2 pm on Thursday. {I am a schedule nut so I had our entire course planned and for the first time in our relationship Brian actually appreciated everything!} We picked up our Boogie, stopped for some last minute supplies at Walmart and we we're on I-75S by 2:25 pm.

He had his Tigger glasses ready for the ride down!

But I think Mommy's were more comfortable. He has a gigantic head like Brian and I :)

We borrowed Brian's parents Taurus so that my car's air conditioning could get fixed plus it's much better gas mileage. However, no DVD player and a 2 hour drive left Kaleb extra crabby. We had to stop for me to go to the bathroom {shocker! I know!} and then I had to ride the next hour in the back seat with Kaleb singing the Tigger & Pooh theme song over and over and over...

I was very thankful to get my Trailblazer back with AC and our built-in DVD player {Which I will never take for granted again!}

We had the most amazing hotel which was shaped like a big square with only 2 floors. Our particular room had this awesome sliding glass door that opened up to the outdoor pool. We wasted NO time getting our bug into the water!

I don't think they would've figured out the floaties if I wasn't there with them :)

Oh, how he loved the water. Don't let that tight seal on his mouth fool you. He loved drinking it too!

We had the entire indoor area to ourselves so we let K jump off the edge over and over.

Of course, he had to show us how he goes under water :)

These two :) Oh how I love them.

He has to have everything to match his Daddy. He walked for a long time like this!

Around 7 {baby girl} was telling me it had been entirely too long since our last meal so I got the boys out of the pool and we got ready to head out to dinner. We had an awesome restaurant in our hotel with reasonable pricing but the hotel clerk gave us a 20% off coupon for a local steakhouse so we headed down and it was sooooo good!

The restaurant sat us in what used to be the smoking section, wayyyyy in the back. The best part? It was booths and booths of kids in booster seats or hi-chairs. Can you guess what kept Kaleb entertained most of the time? The kids!

We could barely get his attention for a picture.

When I did get a picture I got this and I'm sure he was thinking, "Mom you are SO annoying!"

I love pickles without being pregnant. Being pregnant makes it worse. Even the boys loved munching on these!

And our sign that dinner was over and it was time to head back to the hotel!

After filling up Kaleb was in a surprisingly good mood and spent some time exploring when we got back to the hotel. {I cannot leave these pictures out- he enjoyed this too much!}

He was obsessed with this thing!

He kept screaming at it, "EASY! EASY!" when it would really get going.

{I think this is a sign we use this phrase in our house too much!}

The kid is in love with rocks. This was right outside our hotel room.

And in his pocket they go ...

{Thank you Brian for teaching him this weeks ago- I love finding them during laundry day!}

Whoops! Down he went :) He does have a bit of mommy's sense of balance!

Yes, his daddy let him bring those rocks into the bed to play with them

{and in exchange Mommy got a whole queen bed all to herself!}

They had a blast with those silly rocks!

He managed to stay awake for a little while and watch the Laker's win the NBA championship.

{I know you cannot tell but he was very excited!}

And he's out .....

Around 6 in the morning I hear, "Mama!" I sit up to see him standing in bed with his dad {who is snoring away}. "Nite nite Peeeeease!" he says to me. I grab him and tuck him in bed with me and he goes right back to sleep! Brian said that he was under him the whole night, rolling around like a gigantic dog in the bed. I guess Kaleb is used to having his full bed all to himself at night.

Part II will actually document our trip to the hospital. We just had too much to share!

Kaleb is 90 weeks old.

Baby girl is 28 days from arriving!

Thanking God

2010-06-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Firstly, I want to thank God for working for us and through us, even when we don't realize it. Last winter, Brian got up to go to the bathroom around 2 in the morning. I heard this gigantic boom that woke up me, Kaleb and Brian's mom upstairs. My first thought was someone was trying to get into the house, I had no clue where Brian was so I put the baby back to sleep and ran upstairs to check on my MIL. We searched the whole house when Brian came walking up the stairs really slow, looking disoriented. The back of his head was swollen and bleeding from a few large cuts. As he was standing to go to the bathroom he became dizzy, passed out and the force of a man who is 6'2 (225 pounds) broke the bathroom door, with his head.

We cleaned him up that night and the next day attempted to make him appointment with our doctor to get it checked out. His stubbornness paid off and we never got around to scheduling him an appointment. Fast forward 6 months and he is having really bad headaches, his head is shaking (violently at times) and he is throwing up more than me. I scheduled him an appointment with his primary care doc but it's been years since he's seen them so he had to wait 2 weeks. Yesterday, he was having pretty bad neck pain after getting sick all night so he headed out to the ER. Thank God he did.

The head injury we never got checked out a few months ago caused some very serious swelling in the back of his head and base of his neck. The MRI images were scary! The doctor was actually surprised that he walked around and worked for as long as he did with this severe of a concussion. Thank God we got him checked, on the proper medication to reduce the swelling and he goes back to the specialist Monday. The doctor was really worried about the pressure in his brain and said that any recent mood swings or behavioral changes could be attributed to the swelling. Wow. I am thanking God every single second of today.

Thankfully, Brian got the all clear to head to Lexington still (as long as I promised to monitor him) and I will be doing the driving. This time tomorrow we'll be headed on our mini-vacation and we are so very excited! The hotel is beautiful with an indoor and outdoor pool, restaurant and even horses. Kaleb is going to have a blast.

This is also my birthday weekend. I turn the big 2-5 on Sunday (which is also Father's Day!)

Kaleb is 20 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old.
Baby girl will be here 33 days.