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!

27

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be 27 years old. In foresight, it seemed like an age where I'd have life figured out, a nice little career, be married (and possibly a kid or two), and love my life. I never liked being in my early twenties. I felt there was always a stigma of overall immaturity attached to being young and in college. People always were telling me to "go out and have fun," and I did- but still, I wanted to be a stable 27 year old with everything in place.

11 days to go!

Today, I am 27. And while I can't say that life is completely figured out and have everything into place, I feel like I have everything I need, nothing more and nothing less. I feel like I'm in a great place in my life, with much to be thankful for. This isn't the picture I envisioned for myself at 27; in fact, it's so much better than I ever thought possible! Sometimes I feel so unworthy of God's blessings in my life.

Today was such a perfect day. The weather here in Wichita reached 70 degrees- can you believe that? Pretty rare for one of the last days of the year.
We have really missed all this crazy weather that the rest of the states seem to be having the past few weeks. I spent the gorgeous day with my two favorite boys who took me to lunch at my favorite spot, and then to the Zoo (which seemed to be the hot spot for everyone in the city- it was packed!). I am also the proud new owner of one of these:
A KA Artisan stand mixer! I was shocked! I had mentioned to Jon a few times that I was considering purchasing a KA mixer on Black Friday if there was a good deal out there. I didn't find one, but was so surprised to unwrap one this morning!

Hope everyone has a great New Years!

A few pregnancy notes + a bump picture

I haven't really documented much on my 2nd pregnancy, so I figured I'd jot down a few notes before this baby is here!

I have a little less than 4 weeks left! I have a c-section scheduled for January 10th and I'm really excited. My doc actually gave me the choice between attempting a VBAC or another c-section, but given the 48-hour (can anyone beat that?) labor I had with Cameron, I chose the latter. After much discussion, we both agreed that I probably wasn't a good candidate for the VBAC route. I had a great and quick recovery with Cameron, and I hope that it will go as great the second time around too.
Last night we got dressed up and went to dinner and the Trans Siberian Orchestra. It felt good to get out of yoga pants!


I have gained significantly less weight this time around. I gained 48 lbs total with Cameron, and so far I've gained right under 30 lbs, with less than a month to go. I don't anticipate 20 more pounds in that time frame... though I have been consuming a lot of ice cream shakes lately. My husband seriously makes the best mint M&M shakes, ever. There are no words to describe them, and I often lick the inside of the cup completely clean to get every last drop.

In general, I 'feel' smaller with this pregnancy than the last one. I won't lie, I feel huge, and I'm definitely uncomfortable, but I feel much smaller this time. Maybe that means I'm not going to have a 10 lb baby! If I had to guess, I think she'll be right around 7 lbs, especially since she'll be about a week early.

I'm going to miss my skin after I give birth. I have had the smoothest, most perfect and acne free skin for the last 9 months. I haven't had skin like this since I was in, oh... 4th grade? It's been awesome. But I'm also not holding my breath that it will remain that way. Even in my late twenties, I still have skin like a teenager.

While I don't particularly love being pregnant, I'm in a bittersweet stage right now, knowing that this is the last time I'll feel a baby inside. I'm also very happy that our little family will be complete! I say this 50 times a day, but I am so incredibly ready to meet my daughter. I think I'm more anxious to meet her than I was with Cameron! Not too much longer!

December 5, 2010.

Cameron's 2nd birthday was such a great day! We started our morning with breakfast at one of our favorite little cafes; we stuffed ourselves and headed off to church. After church, I ran to get a few balloons for Cameron's party, and headed home to finish prepping the food for the party and a little last minute cleaning.

We had 30 family members at our house to help celebrate his birthday. Boy did the house feel small! Thankfully there was a Dallas game on, so a lot of people hung out by the big screen downstairs which helped relieve some space upstairs. The food was great, and Cameron got so many great gifts.
I may not be able to decorate a cake to save my life (remember my anniversary cake disaster?) but I love decorating cupcakes and think these turned out super cute!

I used the logo I created for the invites to use on top of the cupcakes.

The menu: sub sandwiches (not pictured) fruit kabobs, chips, and cream cheese pinwheels (not pictured). Everything was really good!

I made little bags of coal for everyone to take home. I took mini marshmallows, covered them in melted baking chocolate, and then tossed them in Oreo crumbs that I crushed in the food processor. I didn't have a recipe, and had never made them before, but they were such a hit! I figured making them would be a similar concept to the Chex Mix puppy chow that everyone loves.

Opening presents!

After the party, we went out to look at Christmas lights, a tradition we started last year on his birthday. He loves looking at lights! I think I may have been more tired than anyone else and by 7:30, I was ready to come home and get into bed. We all had such a fun day, and I still can't believe my baby is two!

Closing thoughts on Cameron's 2nd year.

2 years ago today, my due date had already came and went. Little did I know that it would be 5 more days before we would meet our baby boy. Little did I know that I would spend 48 hours in active labor before we met our baby boy. And little did I know that I'd have to have a c-section in order to meet our baby boy.
These last 2 years have been so awesome. We have been blessed so much having him in our life! Oh how this boy entertains us; to say he is the light of our life would be an understatement. Jon and I spend so much time laughing at him, and with him. He's smart. And he's funny.
The other day Cameron and I were in the check out lane at Wal-Mart. He was being quiet and well behaved, but the cashier mentioned that he looked very ornery. I laughed, because he absolutely is and he gets that "look of ornery-ness" from his dad. He is so much like him and that's quite alright with me. =)
Since Cameron's switch from the crib to his toddler bed, he now gets himself out of bed in the morning, opens his door, then opens our bedroom door, yells "hi momma!!", climbs in our bed, gives me a big hug and kiss, climbs over to dad, says "hi dadda!!!" and gives him a big hug and kiss. I can't imagine a better start to the day. He is very generous with hugs and kisses, and loves to snuggle.
I can't wait for him to be a big brother. The other day we swaddled his monkey and pretended it was baby sister. He held "her", carried her, body slammed her, and even fed her milk.
Once he gets past the jealousy I think he'll have towards his new sister, I think he'll be so glad she's around. I love him so much, and it's hard to imagine loving another baby the way I love him.
Sunday, his actual day of birth, we'll be having a party for him. I can't wait!
He's about as obsessed as humanly possible with trains right now, so we're doing a train themed part. I designed these invitations, and the little logo on them will also be on a few other party items as well.
I'll definitely have (and share) a lot of pictures after the party!

Around the homestead.

We're getting a little closer to finishing the 3rd bathroom we started. When we initially started, I wanted it done by Thanksgiving, and I set such a quick finish line because I didn't want this project lingering over our heads at Christmas, or worse, during the arrival of our new baby. It's not looking like we'll finish by Thanksgiving, but we'll definitely finish it for the weekend after, for Cameron's birthday party.
Jon's friend who has been an invaluable handyman through the whole process, has somewhat bailed on us this week for a nice paying side job, so we're trucking along without him. (Note that when I say "we", I mean "Jon under my supervision." Ha!) "We" cut all the tile and have it laid out- now it just needs to be set and grouted. "We" are doing a pretty good job for never having done it before! After the tile is set, all we really have left is to place the toilet, vanity and fixtures. I'll sure be glad to have this project done, as our basement has just been a mess since we started.

As a reminder, here's where we were:
And here's where we are now:

I'm totally aware of the horrendous picture quality of these; I had my zoom lens on my camera and was too lazy to switch it out, but you get the idea.

As soon as the tile is set, I want to repaint the walls. I had picked the neutral color with the notion that we were going to put dark/cherry laminate flooring in instead of tile. We had quite a bit leftover from our kitchen project, so I thought we could use it up. At the last minute (after we'd already painted) we decided to go with tile, and it happens to be pretty much the same color as the walls. We're almost there though, and I know how we'll be spending our holiday weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday hustle and bustle!

This year, much like last, is turning out to be a busy holiday season! And since 3 out of the 4 members of our family (me, Cameron and soon-to-arrive baby sister) have birthdays within 3 weeks of Christmas, I don't anticipate any lack of business or activity around the holidays for years to come!
This weekend, I'm co-hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law. This is her sixth baby, so we're having a diaper shower since she doesn't need much else. I decided that there was no better time to attempt my first diaper cake- and I think it turned out pretty cute! There are definitely things I'd do differently (construction wise) but I'm very happy with it seeing as how I didn't follow any sort of direction.
Eek- I didn't realize it was a little off-centered until I took a picture. Oh well! I love the bear up top. I got it at Hobby Lobby and thought it would compliment the cake nicely.

We've got a lot going on in the G household; I'm trying to finish up a few things in the kids shared room, the downstairs bathroom is coming along well, Cameron's birthday planning (3 weeks!), Christmas shopping (90% done!), and decorating (I started pulling out a few things today). I don't typically decorate until Thanksgiving, but I'm over my fall decor and anxious for a change. The Christmas tree won't go up until the first week of December though.
How about you- have you started Christmas shopping or decorating?

Weekend snippets & pictures

Sunday morning before church, we headed to a local park so I could take some fall pictures of Cameron before all the leaves fall off the trees. I got quite a few shots that I love- and these will most likely serve as his 2 year pictures since his birthday is just 5 weeks away!
I'm not a fan of pictures of myself these days, but I like this one Jon took of us. It required a bit of doctoring but the lighting is fun.



Can you believe it's November already? It's starting to get pretty chilly at night here, so I'm going to put our Christmas flannel sheets on the bed this week. =)

Cameron got his first pet this weekend- a blue betta fish! His name is Alex (which is also the name of his 5 year old cousin who lives a few houses down). I love this tank, because it's small, but is still filtered and has a night light. I also think the quiet hum of the tank will be soothing when they sleep at night- especially for baby sister.
Cameron was a gorilla for Halloween this year! I found the costume at Kid-to-Kid (a second hand shop) for just $10 bucks. He really didn't care so much about the costume- but he didn't want anyone touching or holding his pumpkin bucket.
This one was taken last week, when he kept the hood on for more than one second. The sprinklers came on, and he decided to test it out in the water.

He was pretty mad that we kept trying to put his hood on and take pictures. This is the best we got last night!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Construction Zone: a few project updates

I mentioned last week that we were going to put a 3rd bathroom in (in our basement) and we are now going full speed with that project! This is the current state right now; and while it doesn't look like much (okay, so it doesn't look like anything), you should know that this room was FILLED from the floor to the ceiling with junk, boxes, Christmas stuff, and just crap. Clearing all that out was a feat in itself! There weren't even the 2x4's you see- It was just one, big open room. So the past few nights, Jon and his friend have been working on the plumbing, electrical and constructing the walls.

Meanwhile, I've been at a few wood related projects myself.

I finished the bookcase I started back in July, and I also decided to squeeze in one last project before this baby comes! I wanted Cameron to have a table for his trains, so I made him this play table that can also be used for legos, drawing, and other crafty type things for the kids. This will be his main Christmas present- along with some new train tracks and stops to add to his collection.

A little edge to prevent toys and trains from rolling off.

This was definitely my quickest project to date- from cutting the lumber to finish took about 2 1/2 hours. Both of these pieces are ready to be stained! Here's PBK's version for $349 (yikes!)- my version only cost roughly $60 (after I finish the carts).


What's nice about the size of this table, is that it fits the Thomas the train mats you can buy for those specific tables, since the tables are exactly the same size. Perfect! I'm going to build the carts that slide underneath the table too, since I have so much scrap lumber. But after that, I think I'll take a break for a little bit. It's funny the looks I get from construction-type workers buying stuff at Lowe's- like "what on earth is this huge pregnant girl doing in the lumber section?" I just smile and keep on pushing my lumber cart. I've become quite a regular at Lowe's- building has definitely become an addiction and hobby!

Why Hello!

Wow, it's been an entire month since I have blogged! I have been keeping up with all my favorite blogs, but I've really left my own on the curb for awhile. Here's whats been happening around our house:

About 3 weeks ago, we were hit with a massive hail storm. Usually when we get hit with hail, it's pea sized, and lasts for about 5 minutes. This time, it lasted nearly an hour straight, and we got hit with softball sized hail. It was pretty insane. At one point I insisted we all go into the basement in case a hail stone came through the ceiling (and they did at a few homes). Everyone in the area is getting an entire roof replacement- even new plywood; we had about 13 holes in our roof.

Since we're going to have a little insurance money left over from all the damage to our home from the storm, we're going to put in a 3rd bathroom (in the basement) in our house. Hopefully we'll have it done in the next few months! I know this will be an attractive extra to potential buyers when we sell our home in the next few years.

I am about a week from my 3rd trimester! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. To be honest, I haven't really had time to think about being pregnant up until this point, though I'm starting to get to the uncomfortable stage where breathing becomes a luxury.

I'm really excited for the holidays to get here. I can't wait for Christmas (probably because I'm due a few weeks after!) and I've already got a good start on my Christmas shopping.

As crazy as it seems, we're going to have a 2 year old on our hands VERY soon! I'm already in the planning stages for his birthday which is less than 2 months away.
This weekend I am FINALLY going to finish the bookshelf I started many months ago (yeah, my husband doesn't believe it either). It's been sitting in the garage for so long, and I probably only have a few hours worth of work on it. It's now or never!

Thanks for reading! =)