Christmas

It was a fun filled holiday, and Emily will even still sleep in her own bed after we got home. She got to spend time with cousins, meet a couple second cousins that are her age, and all in all a busy week! The cutest thing was how much Blaine adored her. He had to hold her a few times and get his picture made, although I used Mom's camera and so I don't have all of those. Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

White Christmas??

There is a 25-50% chance that there will be a white Christmas in my part of the universe, although earlier the weatherman said it would only be enough to cover the ground and be pretty...exactly what I mean when I say white Christmas. I'm hesitant to even think that would be nice because I remember the Christmas of 2002, driving up 65 along the beautiful Buffalo River and in the Ozarks. Beautiful, and very dangerous in icy turned blizzard like conditions. There is this motel there...one I'm not sure I would give rave reviews to. The only heat is a window air conditioning unit that didnt really work. The only TV got one channel and everyone was blue on it...not blue like sad, blue like in Smurf colored. That is the only night I've spent along the Buffalo that I havent really enjoyed. I woke up early to the drip, drip, drip of melting snow....melting snow so I crawled out of bed (I was fully dressed, even in my coat!) and went out to my car and continued on. It started snowing again about the time I crossed the state line...but 22 hours (normally a 4 hour drive) after I'd convinced my boss I needed to leave before the snow, I safely arrived home. Now tomorrow they are predicting a nice assortment of weather...if it looks bad, I'm simply staying put. Its not like I'd be alone this time around...I have my husband, my daughter and of course my funny looking puppy. (she's had half a haircut...yes, half...she looks like my Barbies that I gave haircuts to when I was little....good thing I didnt become a hairdresser!)

I am waiting on an inspector to come...he said sometime on MOnday but he didnt know what time...I assumed by 4, after all he works for the state and I'm sure will be heading home before it gets too late! And then later this evening I have a lady coming by to check out my daycare...so pray that both counts go well! And since chances are slim that I'll post again before Christmas--Merry Christmas to all! and in the words of Tiny Tim "God Bless Us Everyone"

Videos

I finally got these on the computer...its hard to catch her grinning on video when I'm home by myself. Kendall doesnt know how to use the camera:)
This was last week

cute baby

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=942262&x=.jpg click here to vote in the cute baby contest!

Sisters

Ok, so when I was growing up, especially as a teenager there were certain things I felt expected to do because my sister had done them. For instance, she worked at KFC, so I worked at KFC. Don't get me wrong, we were VERY different, still are, but when it came time to pick a college, I wouldn't even consider going to school where she was at because I wanted to make sure I was doing something she had never done. Then I fulfilled many dreams I'd had...spending an entire summer in Yellowstone, three total out west, somewhat living out the song, "Wide Open Spaces" forgetting that I ever felt like everything I did was because my sister had done it.

I have a lot of time to think of these things and got to thinking about the irony of it while feeding Emily late last night. The ironic part. My sister had gotten married on May 19. When we were deciding on our wedding day (which was based almost 100% on the date of departure for the cruise we wanted before prices went to summer rates) fate once again put me back in my sister's footsteps, however the marriage part seems to be working out much better for me. And then we decided to have a baby. And her birthday is the same as my sister's oldest. Strange how things work out isn't it?

And now that wonderful little girl I have is sound asleep...I'm missing my opportunity so I need to go.

Daycare, anyone??

As I've written a few times before, I am (hoping) to open a daycare and stay home with my daughter. I had another inspection today...almost have all the requirements met. The final stage is starting out to be quite a challenge. I need some kids to watch or it isnt a very successful daycare. And the lady that does the inspection doesn't recommend any of the current providers in the raymore area. So.....that is my current predicament. Now I need to get my little one laid down and the spitup off my shirt.

Bedtime on Christmas Eve

Ok, so I've been saving this story up since I started my blog to share with you. I've got to preface this by saying a year before, my mom, my husband and I went outside the windows of my sisters house and my mom said "Ho Ho Ho" I think she was supposed to sound like Santa. My husband and I had to do everything in our power not to laugh so hard that the boys heard us because it was so funny a Santa sound. That was two years ago. Ok, so last year, my oldest nephew was 6 and they lived next door to my parents. It was Christmas Eve. My dad was working. The boys had spent the day down at Mom's with us, and from breakfast, the guys had been checking on Santa's progress as he made his way around the globe. Everything was going well until about 7 o'clock. That's when Santa made it to North America. Now, when you are 6, you don't have too great a concept of distance, the only thing you know is that you are supposed to be asleep or Santa won't come. So, we are having fun sitting around when my husband says, "Hey, Santa's getting close, he's in New York." If you've ever wanted to see two little boys go from hyperactive to traumatized in an instant, that is the sentence that did it. He's close, how close is that. Panic sets in because they are at Grandma's wide awake and not at home asleep. A geography lesson of how Santa had to cover the east coast and south America too, using anything we could find as a globe, and the boys tried to act brave but you could tell they were worried. So we decided we would have to call Santa to confirm that the boys had at least an hour before he would be arriving. Remember my dad, who is working at this time and doesn't have a clue about the events that have taken place. The kids are sitting right there, we couldn't explain to him what was going on, but when he answered the cell phone, Grandma said, "Hi Santa" initiating the conversation. Luckily "Santa" caught on very quickly and put on his Santa voice to talk to the boys and assure them they had time to get to sleep although they shouldn't wait too long. So, confident that Santa wasn't going to miss them, they headed home, and along the way the 6 year old said, "You know, Santa sounded a lot like Grandpa, but different. He didn't sound sick like he did last year." Oh, the innocence of children.

Yes, Santa did arrive with lots of gifts!

And yes, they do realize that Christmas is really about Jesus. We were going to Silver Dollar City three years ago on Christmas and talking about what we were celebrating and Blaine wanted to know why we celebrated for so long and everyone put up all the lights. Then he said he knew why. It was because it was Jesus's birthday and since He was God's son we needed to celebrate it for a whole month and that was why we did everything we did in December.

What will this year bring? I guess all we can do is wait and see!

More Cousins

Emily has now met all but one of her cousins. The boys got to come see her this weekend, and although she doesnt do much right now, Cameron said she was awesome. I kinda think so too. Soon, I will be putting up a Christmas story about bedtime and Santa Claus. Stay tuned, it is very funny--although don't let your kids read it, it will give away Santa's "tricks":)

Emily's first trip

Last week we loaded up the car with nearly everything but the kitchen sink and went to Texas to visit family. Emily's aunt and cousins were very excited to get to meet her and hold her. She got held all day and got used to going to bed between 11 and 12. So now guess what time bed time is? Anyway, it was definitely different travelling with a baby, but she did great, only crying when she was hungry and needed to stop and eat. So here are a few pictures from last week. Lauren and Emily

Playing with Daddy

Andrew and Emily

addition

trying to put olan mills pics on here, let me know if you can see them

Naptime

Last Week

Typing is hard to do while holding a baby. Which explains why it has been almost a week since I posted. Not to mention that I've been feeling better and trying to get caught up on some things that hadnt gotten done since the baby arrived. Then there is trying to start a daycare, a much needed (and very expensive) trip to Walmart. And of course, the free pictures at Olan Mills. I must say they get you with those "free" pictures. They do give you those, but then the kid is just so darn cute in the others you end up buying more. I think they will be online in a couple weeks, at which time I'll share them with you. It was an adventure taking her to get her pictures made, mainly because we went to the wrong Macy's first. So then by the time we got to where we were actually supposed to be it was later. She did great during the pictures but when they were done she was HUNGRY. I admit, we still dont have this breast feeding thing down very well...so the thought of covering up and feeding in public was a little daunting. We did manage, and the only other person around was the photographer and she didn't mind. I managed to keep a blanket over us the entire time. Hopefully soon, we get the breastfeeding thing all worked out! I still think it will be weird to feed in public, and will go where I'm not watched too much, but at least I wont have to wonder if I'll even be able to get her on anywhere close to right when I cant see what I'm doing!

Church

We actually made it to church yesterday, for the first time since the baby has been here. I put a really cute outfit (guess what, it was pink:) on her, a bow on her head and we headed off. She slept through the entire service which was wonderful. We had been worried that she would be fussy or get hungry or something but she was great. I didnt get her ready to go quick enough to get her picture before we left and as soon as we got home we went for a diaper change...which ended up in a big mess, complete with a mess all over everywhere so i had to put her in different clothes and so we didnt get a picture. tomorrow I can drive (yippee!) so we are going to go to walmart. later on this week we are going to go to babies r us and olan mills (free picture package) providing the walmart trip goes ok. There are some things I am wanting to get at babies r us that will make holiday travel much nicer, plus just some things that I think would be nice to have for every day.

Now it is bathtime. First Emily, then if she goes to sleep, me.

Surprise...Baby Pics!

Ok, this picture is from Saturday, but it is actually not a horrible one of me so I thought I'd go ahead and post it. And this one was cute too:)

We were playing on the floor the other day and she just looked so cute so I took her picture.

All bundled up and ready to go. This cute little sweater fits her perfect right now but won't for long.

Check out the shoes! They didnt stay on long but they were cute.

More Pictures

Since the baby has arrived, I admit, I havent exactly used creative writing skills for my blog, but the baby is so darn cute, pictures are just better;)

She had her first bath the other night. She didn't seem to mind too much but I think the air was a little cold on her, which made her scream a little, but if i kept her somewhat covered she was ok. I dont blame her, I dont like to be cold either!

Cousin Rebecca enjoyed holding our girls. I'm not sure which of the three of them was more relaxed!Here's a picture of Big Emily and baby Emily from Saturday.

A busy Saturday

Emily had lots of company this weekend. Aunt Diane and Rebecca came on Friday to take us to the doctor, and then Rebecca got to spend the night. Sixteen year olds have a much greater ability to stay up late than 29 year olds! Although it was nice because I actually got some rest while Rebecca held her. Then yesterday was a very busy day. Big Emily and Jason came by to see her, and helped me out a great deal by taking Bootskitty's things to my sister so that I dont start crying every time I walk past them. Anyway, they got to see the baby for a while before my in-laws showed up. Then Diane and her family came. Here are some pictures that Diane took yesterday. I will have some with Big Emily and ones we took later. Today, Drew and Edith stopped by, with casseroles and cookies and the works, which will be a great help! We were hoping to make it to church, but we were simply too tired and not quick enough at getting everyone ready to get there today. By next week I'm hoping to feel good as new and be able to get around a little faster. For all of you out there (Amanda, Megan, Steph...) that I know have had cesareans, how long till the pain stops? Part of it is alleviated by being naked where nothing is rubbing, but I'm not used to hurting and I'm ready for it to stop!

It's been a long day, my diaper is wet, I'm hungry and tired!

Rebecca, are you sure you know what you are doing??

There's a dog with really bad breath on the other side of me!

I'm so tired! I like it when Grandpa holds me!

Goodnight everyone!

Things that now excite me

Before becoming a mother, I never thought I'd get excited by getting three uninterupted hours of sleep, only to wake up before the baby ready to go check on her because she'd slept so long. Never had I gotten excited over eating an entire meal while she sleeps. And never did I think I wouldnt really care if I had to get up with her from sleeping or eating because she is the most precious thing in the whole world. I've only got a week and a half until I can drive too. I hate being dependent on other people to have to take me places. And it is very exciting to get back into pants that dont have the word maternity on them anywhere!

One Down Two to Go

Yesterday the fire marshall inspector came to the house (only 24 hours late. He'd written it down wrong but at least he came). We have to add a few smoke detectors and fire extinguishers and if we are going to use the basement, we have to add a door. That is just a little bit of an undertaking, but we'll see. We are checking into what it would take to get that done. In an hour, the lady from the sanitation department is coming to do that inspection and then next wednesday the lady from the state is coming to do that initial inspection. I'm sure they will all three have to return, but at least we are making progress. We got some signs ordered for advertisement, now we just have to see how it all works out.

Before she comes, however I need to put some diapers in the washing machine, some dishes in the dishwasher and pick up a few things, plus I'd like to feed teh baby to keep her satisfied during the inspection. Then later we have to go to the doctor for a week checkup for the baby and while we are there, the doctor is going to check my incision too.

And typing isnt getting anything done. So I'm going.

A hard day

Boots was a great kitty. I'm gonna miss him.

Here is a picture of the baby from yesterday.

Lessons

The last eight days have been very educational, I've learned some very important things.

Lesson #1: Sneezing while someone is cutting you open makes an incision that takes much longer to heal.

Lesson #2: When people say that babies may eat every hour or two, they don't mean that the baby will eat and wait two hours. They mean two hours or less from the start of one feeding to the start of another.

Lesson #3: Sleeping while sitting up is better than not sleeping at all.

Lesson #4: Pets are wonderful, but the amount you love them is nothing compared to the love for your child.

Lesson #5: Having a sick pet when hormones are going crazy should get my husband lots of sympathy. He's great for putting up with me! (If you don't know, Boots kitty, my cat since I've been "grown up" isn't doing well at all and I'll actually be amazed if he makes it much longer.)

Lesson #6: Cloth diapers aren't as bad as everyone says.

Lesson #7: I did vote absentee, although from the election results almost everything went opposite of what I voted. However I do live in a state that was only a few thousand votes different on the presidential election.

Lesson #8: People that are supposed to come to do inspections don't always arrive on time (22 minutes late and counting...and I have the baby asleep, but she will probably be waking before long, I hope he hurries up!)

Lesson #9: Pain doesn't matter whenever you are holding such a precious gift in your arms.

Lesson #10: Ten pounds isn't much! Many things in my life weigh more than that and I'm not supposed to pick them up...It is hard!

Lesson #11: Watching my husband hold our daughter is my favorite sight in the world.

Ok, I haven't uploaded photos for today, maybe later, I'm still hoping the inspector guy (daycare inspection) comes soon....hope he didnt forget about me!

Baby Pictures

Kendall's Baby

We have noticed that in nearly every picture since we got home with the baby also has a schnauzer in it. No new closeups yet, will have soon.

The Things We Will Never Understand

There are many things in this life we will never understand, why bad things happen to good people but then there are other questions too. Why God chose to give us such a perfect little girl to raise, is something that we are very thankful for, but don't completely understand. Nine months went by so fast, and I can't believe how beautiful she is. I'm tired and sore, but I wouldnt trade her for anything! So now, the moment you've all been waiting for...more pictures. I havent gotten them all off the camera yet so as I feel up to it and am not busy feeding I'll probably add more.

Home

I just got home this afternoon and will try to post pictures in the next few days. Email if I havent sent you the link to her hospital pictures and I will.

Pictures, Very Soon

I probably won't post anything for the next few days. The baby is not exactly being cooperative, in other words, she doesn't like standing on her head. Therefore, sometime around one o'clock tomorrow afternoon, she will arrive, via a c-section. So whenever I return home, I will have pictures. So pray for all of us tomorrow!

Organization

The time has come that I have to stop procrastinating and actually organize my house. Yes, it will be a good thing before the baby comes, but that isnt my motivation. Since we've decided to try to get licensed for daycare, they require inspections, the first of which is Wednesday (as long as baby cooperates). My husband is sick today so we stayed home from church and he is resting. I rested for a few minutes, but the list of things I've got to get done motivated me to get off the couch and get something accomplished. I started last night with the hall closet (medicine on bottom shelf, bad idea) and now have made it to the master bathroom. The cabinet in there is a disaster so I've been attempting to straighten it. And as far as shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste go...the baby might be a year old before I have to buy any more:) I had good coupons combined with sales, but I think I'm now set for a while. Kendall and Boots kitty are both "helping" me...thinking that empty shelves are where they are supposed to be. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it did make me stop to consider what I wanted to fill that space with! Now I must get back to my cleaning project!

Mysteries

Ok, maybe someone out there can tell me the answer to this question. My sisters-in-law got us a very nice pack n play. Last night I assembled it just to see what it looked like and so that I could go ahead and dispose of the box. Went together no problem, putting up and taking down the main part was easy. But I did have a little problem. I figured since it was called a pack and play that the accessories...the bassinet, changing table, tray thingy and mobile would also pack. But I havent figured out quite how to pack them yet....I havent given up but if you have any advice/experience with this, please let me know. Because right now, the majority of it isn't very compact. I also assembled my stroller last night. I didnt have the batteries (it told me it needed AA when it really needed AAA) so I wasnt able to test out the Ipod port on it (what will they think of next!). It went together fairly easily the only problem with it was that the toy steering wheel that it was supposed to have was not there. I've already contacted the company via email and if they dont respond fairly quickly I will be calling them. Not that it absolutely has to have the steering wheel, its the fact that it was supposed to be there and isnt. Anyway, I couldn't help myself. After I got it put together I had to push Kendall around the house in it. She thought that was a lot of fun. My husband just looked at me, grinned and shook his head. Oh well, Kendall enjoyed herself....except now she probably thinks she should be the one using it, not the baby!

Week 38

I have one request. Please...DON'T ASK ME HOW I'M FEELING. I never have made a good patient. I really don't like people to continually ask me how I'm feeling. It really bugs me, maybe its not logical but its true! Think about it. I've got about a 7 pound child in me, of course I don't feel like running a marathon but I'm not just going to spontaneously combust either. And don't worry. We will notify people once she is here, so you don't have to worry about not knowing. For now, I'm still working, and plan on continuing to do so until the day she arrives. I'll get off my soapbox now, and finish getting ready for work. Even if she's two weeks late (the maximum that they'll let you go before inducing) she'll still be here in less than a month.

The Right as an American

There are many things in our political system that seem totally screwed up, but one right that we undeniably have is the right to vote. Ok, so normally this wouldnt be a problem, but you all know when the baby is due, and there really isnt any way to tell if that just might be the day that she decides to make her appearance. I didnt want to be stuck in the hospital, not getting out and getting my vote in. We live in a state where that one vote might really matter...and I want McCain to win. Actually, I just don't want Obama to win. So anyway, I drove the 13 miles south to the county courthouse yesterday adn cast my vote. Now I still hope that I'm not in labor at the hospital the entire day on election day because my dear husband has to vote too and he can't get to the courthouse to vote absentee and we didnt think about it early enough to vote by mail. Because I'd hate to have to send him on a mad dash back over here to vote and then back to the hospital!

And I hope all of you will get out there and take advantage of getting a vote in who the next leader of our country will be!

A Babysitter???

Ok, so that isn't exactly how he worded it, and no, I'm not talking about after the baby is born, but that is what my reaction was whenever I (finally) convinced my husband that it would be ok if he went four-wheeling with a friend next week. They will only be one hour away and in the age of cell phones, I'm really not all that worried. But evidently he is because he made sure that the fiance of the guy he is going riding with would be available to come and stay with me while they are gone. I may have looked at him kinda funny when he suggested it, but at least it is a friend of mine, so we'll have fun, except for the slight fact that I'm not too ambitious about doing anything these days!

Pictures from the Shower at Work

As promised, here are pictures from my shower at work, courtesy of one of my coworkers.


This picture is of the table decorations that were on the food table. We definitely weren't limited by only having a cake to eat at this shower! Everyone went all out with "heavy" appetizers which was great considering it was my dinner as well as dinner for most of the people attending the shower.
This is me (I think you knew that) with my boss and the voluteer cutting the cake is the one that made it. The rest of everyone was scared to cut the cake. And nope, don't remember what we were discussing but yes, it required me to talk with my hands.

Top view of the cake.
Side view of the cake.

The Cutest Cake Ever

Ok, so I never even thought about taking my camera to work yesterday. I knew they were having a baby shower for me, but I didnt realize how much I would want my camera. Have you ever watched the food network cake decorating contests? Occassionally I'll turn one of those on when I'm cleaning house and I'm sure this cake could win that competition. Not only was it adorable, it fit. The shower was at a nature center, the outdoorsy stuff is what I enjoy, so they made it work. Imagine a tree canopy of four trees. This would be the top.

Now underneath these four trees was a pond, complete with fish and ducks. Around the pond were flowers and all sorts of woodland creatures, even little lady bugs, and they all had little pink bows. Interestingly enough, the cake came about becuase one of the volunteers mentioned back in August that she occassionally does a little cake decorating. So when it came time to put the shower together they asked if she would make the cake, and she was very happy to do it. I'm amazed is all I can say. (I'll post pictures of the entire cake whenever I get them from one of my coworkers who actually did bring a camera yesterday. You guys have got to see this!)

And while I'm on cakes and cake photos, here is a picture of the diaper cake I got on Sunday. It is a little cockeyed becuase I started to take it apart before deciding to take a picture. My sister in law took lots of pictures but I havent gotten them yet.

And last, but certainly not least (my belly that is!) is week 37. I'm ready for the baby to be here for many reasons, right now the main one being so that my ribs are no longer used as jungle gym equipment by our little acrobat!