Snippets.

Small confession: my husband and I are bird nerds. And by that, I mean we like to "bird watch"- you know, the hobby usually meant for senior citizens? Senior citizens we are not, but living less than a half mile from a greenbelt and having a lake in our backyard, we see tons of unique birds all the time and we love observing them. Imagine my excitement when I opened up our back door blinds last Friday morning and spotted this graceful beauty:
A bald eagle! I couldn't believe it- I've never seen one in the wild before, let alone in my back yard. I ran to find my zoom lens to snap a picture, and he stayed for about a half hour (he was munching on a dead goose) before flying away.

We are still doing really well at home with a new little one. Cameron loves her so much (maybe a little too much!) and kisses her all day long. Though it's still early in the game, I seem to be far less sleep deprived this time around too. Boy, do I love my babies.

Part of my unwritten, unofficial new years resolutions was to completely go through my closet and get rid of everything I don't wear anymore. I also wanted to get rid of all my pregnancy clothes (and normal clothes stretched out by pregnancy). I ended up getting rid of about 1/3 of my stuff and I'm ready for a new wardrobe- thankfully I have a bunch of gift cards and cash from Christmas and birthday saved for this purpose! It feels good to have so much stuff gone that has been collecting dust over the years.

I am so ready for spring (can I get an Amen?)! I can't wait to see my bulbs sprout up soon, and more importantly, I'm ready to stock up on these little pieces of heaven:Can I get another Amen?!

January 10, 2011

I had been waiting anxiously for this very date for about 7 weeks- when we decided it was best to go ahead with a repeat scheduled c-section in order to meet our daughter. As the weeks got closer and closer, I got more excited, but I also grew nervous because there was a snow storm looming in the forecast for the night before and day of Kylie's birthday. I didn't want to have to drive to the hospital or get Cameron off to grandmas in those conditions. 4-8 inches, they predicted.

Its about 20 minutes to grandmas and 15 more back the other direction to the hospital when there is no bad weather. Some of you northerners may be laughing at a mere 4 inches of snow, but we aren't constantly getting snow storms in Kansas and people forget how to drive when it does, especially the first storm of the winter season. What should have taken less than 45 minutes took us about 2.5 hours. Traffic was bumper to bumper (literally in hundreds of cases) but we arrived safely at the hospital with minutes to spare for our 9:30 am check in.

At 9:30, we were given a small amount of paperwork to fill out, and then a nurse came to get us and take us to our room. She started the IV, and a slew of other medical staff were in and out to ask and answer questions. It all seemed to go very quickly and I was getting really ancy to be rolled into the OR so we could get this birthday party started!

A little more than an hour later and minutes before surgery was scheduled to happen, the nurse comes in and informed me that my doc was currently delivering another baby at another hospital. I was pretty irritated but more so because I hadn't eaten or drank anything since dinner the previous night and it was nearing lunchtime. My husband will be the first to tell you that a hungry wife= a cranky wife, so imagine my predicament. I was ready to have this baby and envisioned a huge Jimmy Jon's sandwich ready and waiting for me in recovery. Wishful thinking. So there we stood with no real timeline at that point, just waiting for the call from the doc that she was in route to my hospital.

At about 12:30 pm (what seemed to be days later) we got the green light to head to the operating room for surgery. I got on the table, received the epidural, and the team of nurses and doctors went to work. At 1:16 pm on a very beautiful and snowy day, Kylie Kathleen entered the world with a sweet and soft cry. "Look at her hair! " I heard someone exclaim. It was dark, curly and there was a lot of it! The tears began rolling and there was no stopping them. They took her and cleaned her quickly, and passed her off to dad while they finished my surgery. I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. I am so in love- with her, with Cameron, and with my husband.

We stayed in the hospital for the next 48 hours and were home by Wednesday afternoon. I am recovering really well; and though I notice great improvement in pain every day, handling Cameron was very difficult the first 4-5 days home. I can't lift him yet, and I've just started to be able to have him sit in my lap because my incision is still fairly sore. That said, I am completely off all my pain meds as of yesterday. I was really hating how the side effects made me feel, so I stopped taking them and am doing great without them!
Overall, we are adjusting to being a family of 4 really well! It probably helps that Kylie sleeps so much right now- so we are all getting great sleep. I'm not quite ready for this honeymoon phase to end and reality to set in yet. Cameron loves to kiss her and say "hi" to her all the time. I hope they will be good friends through life.
Here's a pic before church this morning- and yes, my boys dress alike quite frequently. I think it's so cute. =)

Oh, this is love.

Friends, meet my sweet baby Kylie! She arrived yesterday via c-section at 1:15 in the afternoon, weighed 8lbs 4 oz, and is 20 inches long. I was a little surprised she weighed so much even though she was about a week early! She is so awesome and beautiful- and she looks just like Cameron did when he was born, only she has much more hair!
I am recovering pretty pretty well (just very tired), and it looks like we'll be heading home tomorrow. I've got tons of pictures and I'll post more when I get home and settled, but for now I'll leave you one of my favorites from my phone. :)
I love these babies with all my being!

A rough start.

Oh, 2011 did not start great for me. At about 3 a.m on New Years morn, I woke up feeling nauseous, and consequently spent the rest of that night, and all the next day hovering over the toilet. I felt like death. And after all that talk about how my 27th year was going to be so fabulous! Blah.

Around noon on New Years, my gut instinct told me I should probably head over to labor & delivery to make sure that me and the baby were OK. As I had suspected, I was severely dehydrated and was the lucky recipient of an IV bag full of liquids and a dose of Zofran for the nausea. Until last night, I hadn't eaten anything- and I'm just now regaining my appetite. I felt SO stressed yesterday because we have so much to do this week (last minute cleaning, hospital bag packing, etc.) and all I could think about was laying in bed. I took 5 naps (yes, 5!) and today, I feel much better and have most of my energy back. I have no idea what I'd do without my husband, who totally took over caring for Cameron as well as me.

As odd as it may sound, I enjoyed being in the hospital and wished we were there for the "real thing". When I was in labor with Cameron, I had the sweetest nurses and Saturday's experience was no different. It just made me all the more anxious for next Monday! We are doing anything and everything to make time pass quickly, even squeezing in a few last minute dates this week.

Happy New year, everyone!