Christmas 2011

This year we had our First Christmas as a Family of 3! Even though Zoey slept through most of her first Christmas, it was so nice to be home together just the 3 of us! We got dressed up cute for Christmas Eve and went over to Ryan's Parents house for the afternoon to hang out and then eat a nice ham dinner. Christmas Morning we slept in a little bit and then opened up presents. Zoey was so spoiled this year and had tons of presents for her first Christmas! We love her so much!

                                   She looks so peaceful when she sleeps! Such a good little girl!

 Look at all of those presents! She slept the whole time that I opened her presents for her. She got tons of cute clothes, stuffed animals and even her first KU outfit! YEAH! Rockchalk Jayhawk KU!

Life with a Premie Newborn

 Well, even though right now I should be huge and have our little one still in my tummy, I'm very happy to have her here with us! I love this little girl so much! They say you have this unbelievable love for your children that you can't describe, you just have to experience and I so understand that now. Ryan and I would do anything for our Zoey Marie!

   Daddy and his 2 babies! Franklyn is so protective of her and every time she cries he runs right up to her and sniffs and licks her, like "it's okaye Zoey". It's too cute! He does have his moments where he is jealous, like when she eats and he wants to be petted too while you are feeding her and he will try and lay on her to get your attention.  
    We have been back home for about a week now and are trying to get a routine down. She had a strict routine in NICU and we have tried to stick to that but, she has had some other plans, so we have had to adjust to her and what she wants. We try to feed her about every 4 hours, but there are times when she is screaming at us that she wants her food NOW! Ryan and I have really lucked out in having such a great baby. For the most part she really only cries when you try to change her diaper and she's hungry. That little girl HATES to be naked and her Daddy says good, she can stay that way. LOL  We have tried to soak up as much hugs and kisses as we possibly can because for the first 3 weeks of her life we couldn't really do all of that with her hooked up to so many machines and it's just not the same as when you are home on your own couch cuddling with your girl. We've only had 1 night so far where she only wanted to be held the whole night and cried every time she was put into her bed. I think that sometimes it's just too quite for her at night because she is used to the NICU where there was constantly some noise with machines alarming at you or other babies crying.
  I don't know what I expected as at stay at home mom during my maternity leave, but I feel like I can't seem to have enough energy to get everything done. Sleepless nights, all hours of the night feedings, dirty diapers, I expected all of those. I guess I do have to realize that not only did I have a preemie baby 7 weeks early via c-section, but I also had pregnancy heart failure which most women don't have the added stress of and the added loss of energy that comes with heart failure. I guess I just feel like since I'm home and only working at couple hours twice a week that I should be able to take care of Zoey, keep up with the crazy amounts of laundry, dishes, cooking dinner every night and normal house work and get it all done. But what I'm finding out is that isn't the case at all! I'm doing good just taking care of Zoey and keeping up with the laundry for her and us to make sure we all have what we need to wear when we need it and my energy level is shot. I know that right now my primary concern is taking care of Zoey and I should be happy as long is she is taking care of, but its hard not to want to do it all, as crazy as that sounds. I know that in time I'll get everything done and get a routine that works well for all 3 of us, but until then it's all just a learning process.

                                  My favorite outfit of hers! She's such a hoot in her Owl outfit! LOL

Her first bath at home and she hated it just like I knew she would because she was naked. Oh well, she has to get clean some time.

I do have a dumb Mom moment for you. Yesterday I took Miss Zoey to work with me while I made some insurance phone calls for a couple hours. It was time for her bottle and I went to make her bottle and measured her formula in her bottle. I shook it up and went to put the nipple on the top and realized that Mom had FORGOT to pack a nipple in her diaper bag!!! Way to go idiot Mom and oh Zoey let Mom know I was an idiot the whole way home. Like I said, I'm still learning! LOL

Update

Well, as of tomorrow I have been in the hospital for 2 weeks! Yuck! I'm so ready to get out of here. I am still a little bit weak, but I can now walk up and down the walls and down to see Zoey without having to have Ryan wheel me around in a wheelchair. We are planning on me getting out of the hospital tomorrow am!!!!!! I'm praying that is true. I've been taking so much medicine for my blood pressure and for my heart and they have been giving it to me all in the mornings and the last 3 days its made me feel so sick afterwards. They finally today decided to change it so that I don't take all of my meds all at once and we figured out the medicine that's making feel so sick and hoping to change meds so that it doesnt make me sick any more. The cardiologist has decided that I will have to wear a heart monitor vest thing for a little while that will shock my heart if the need arises. I'm not really looking forward to that one at all, but it sure beats the alternative. I've got a beautiful baby girl that needs her Mommy AND Daddy!
 Zoey has apparently decided that she too is ready to leave the hospital!!!! In just 12 short hours since we saw her last night she has gotten rid of her IV, gotten her feedings up from 20mL to 24mL, learned to suck on her pacifer and get upset when she looses it out of her mouth, and today they are going to start bottle feeding her. It is so exciting to see her doing so awesome!!!! The only other criteria that she needs in order to move down to the next level is keep tolerating her feedings, and get off of the billy light for her skin jaudice, and gain another pound. She can do it and her nurse today is saying that it looks positive to happen in the next couple of days. We are hoping so! We are all 3 so waiting and praying that we can all go home soon, okaye make that 4 because I know that Franklyn wants us home too. He has only seen me once in the last 2 weeks and that was only for a min. when I got to get wheeled down to the lobby in the wheelchair just to say hi. I know he feels like we have forgot about him since he is staying with some friends of ours, but he will soon know we didnt leave him and we will all be together as a family soon!!!!

Our First Family Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year we were suppose to be in Kansas City visiting family, eat too much and Zoey still all nice and cozy in my tummy. God had other plans for us. Instead Zoey was here in the hospital in NICU, I was in the hospital recovering from heart failure and Ryan was on his way back to Little Rock after having to go back home to tie up some loose ends. Our first family Thanksgiving turned out exactly how Ryan and I would have wanted it, we just didnt know that until it happen. Ryan got to the hospital at about 4pm and we went downstairs to the NICU so we could spend time as a family. When we got there she was finally put in some clothes and looked so adorable in a cute little elephant outfit.

So looks just co much bigger in clothes and even more adorable! We got there and Ryan was able to change her diaper for the first time and lucky for him it was a dirty one. He didnt care, he was just happy to be able to start being a dad. It was a great Thanksgiving Day present!

 Ryan changing Zoey for the first time. She was very squirmmy and made Dad get her outfit all messy. It's not so easy change a premie that is hooked to all kinds of wires, but he did really well. Then it was time for my Thanksgiving Present..........

 I got to hold my baby girl for the first time in my arms on Thanksgiving! Talk about being in heaven!

She is our everything and she's only been her for a week and we haven't even really gotten to be her parents yet! While we were there, she had her eyes open almost the entire time.Its like she needed it as much as we did to have that time together as a family for Thanksgiving.

 We just can't get over how cute the pandas are on her. Our little Panda Bear :)

Look at those pretty eyes. The first time we really got to see her with them open for longer than a couple of seconds. If you were to tell Ryan and I that for Thanksgiving we would have the best time ever and it would be all because of a some amount of time that we were just us, our family of 3. We still need to get a family picture as we have yet to be able to get one. Hopefully it will happen soon.

The Unexpected

It has been a crazy roller coaster for our family in the last 2 weeks! Ryan, Zoey, and I have been through unexpected hospital stays, an ambulance ride to Little Rock, Zoey's grand entrance, ICU and NICU visits and heart failure all in the last 2 weeks. The craziness all started on Monday November 14th when I woke up with what I thought was cyst pains, thinking it had burst or something was wrong with it. Ryan went to work and by about 5:30am I was in tears because the pain was that bad. When he got home at 6am when headed to my Dr.'s office to get it all checked out. They ended up sending us to the hospital because my feet were swelling worse, and I had other symptoms that were signs of preclampsia. We got admitted to Labor and Deliver and had lab work done and Dr. ordered a 24 hr urine test because my first test came back crazy high with protein and my blood pressure was crazy high. I pretty much hard core failed the 24hr test big time and the decision was made to transfer me and Zoey to Baptist Health in Little Rock by ambulance because she would most likely have to be delivered and Harrison didnt have a NICU for her. The Dr. in Little Rock did an ultrasound and checked her out and she was doing great. Just her Momma was getting very very sick and fast. We decided to do another 24 hr urine test to test my kidney and liver functions and took steroids incase Baby Girl did come and her lungs would be stronger. But all we could do is wait and give her another day in my tummy. After the 2nd failed test, we decided that Zoey had to come out and booked a c-section Thursday morning at 11:30am. ZOEY MARIE KAYE made her appearance into this world on November 17th, 2011 at 12:10pm weighing 3 lbs. 15oz.

Ryan watched the whole c-section and removal of my cyst and left ovary. I was so surprised on how calm he was and how he watched everything happen. I was told that I might have to be on magnesium sulfate for my blood pressure and as long as I was on that I couldn't go and see Zoey. Ryan had to bring me back pictures see I could see how pretty our little girl was. My worse fear since I found out I had a cyst that would have to come out was that I'd have to have her by c-section and then not get to see her for a day or days. Well, that's exactly what happen!!!! I couldnt see my baby girl for 2 days in person. Talk about something hard for a new momma, knowing you gave birth to a beautiful little girl and not getting to even see her. The first 2 nights I just sat up in the middle of the night just staring at my computer with the pictures I had of her.

These were the first pics I got of my baby girl and starred at for hours. Finally at 4:30pm on Friday, 1 day after she was born I got to see her face to face. She looked so perfect, even with tubes on her. I could finally rest that night knowing she was in good care and just getting to see her. Luckily, her Daddy kept a close eye on her while I couldn't. She also had other family members there to watch her and tell her how pretty she is. Spoiled already, yes she very much is!!!!! Ryan left to go back to Mountain Home on Saturday afternoon in order to get some clothes and stuff for us since we were now going to be living in Little Rock for atleast a month with our baby girl in the NICU. She came out pretty healthy for being 7 weeks early. She has had to go on a ventilator the day after she was born, but came right ofIf of that 2 days later. Her lungs were just still so not matured. By Saturday night I was feeling really very well and even got up and took a shower and just hung out with my Dad and Kelly and were able to just relax. At 2am I got up to pump for Zoey and I had a really heavy feeling on my chest. I thought it was just my milk coming in and that it was normal. I decided that I just couldnt pump at that time and would do so in the AM. I told my nurse and decided to go back to sleep. At about 3pm I had a hard time breathing and my nurse put me in some oxygen, but again I tried to go back to sleep. At about 4:30am when the nurse came to check on me I went to the bathroom and came back to bed and couldnt breathe at all. The nurse was there and called the Dr. and that's when all hell broke loose. I seriously thought I was going to die in that room. My chest hurt, I couldn't breathe and by now the oxygen mask was the only way I was able to breathe at all. Nurses, and Drs came in, an xray machine was rolled into  my room and I was terrified to be left be myself. My nurse called my dad who was in town still in a hotel, so I had someone there with me. Ryan was 3 hrs away and knew he couldnt be there and needed to not be alone and knew how freaked out he was going to be since he was 3 hrs away from me. My dad came up to the hospital and finally I felt a little more calm, still worried how everything was going to turn out. Being 26 years old and not being able to breathe was the worst thing I've ever felt in my entire live. Knowing my husband was 3 hrs away and my baby girl was downstairs fighting for her own life and I was helpless. Ryan rushed to Little Rock as soon as he could and ended up getting a state trooper police escort to Little Rock from Mountain Home. Seeing his face as soon as I could was both the best and worst feeling that day. I was so happy to see him, but I also knew it was killing him, because now his wife was in the ICU and his daughter in the NICU and there was nothing he could do for either of us. We found out that I had basically congestive heart failure and fluid on my lungs!!! At 26 years old I had pregnancy related heart failure! It came out if no where, I had no previous symptoms or heart problems my entire life. But as soon as they figured out what it was and I started getting heart medicine, the extreme high blood pressure that I've had all week, went down. I was in the ICU for just over 24 hrs before being transferred back to another normal room.
Ryan has been the most amazing husband through all of this. He has taken care of me in every way possible. He has been a better nurse to me then any other nurse at the hospital, nothing has been too much for him to handle to take care of his wife and he has been the one to talk the nurses into taken me to see Zoey every chance that he can. I absolutely couldnt have asked for a better husband through all of this. He has paid attention and knows exactly what mine and Zoey's stats and number are and what they mean. He has known what was going on with me and Zoey and its been nice still I havent been in the state of mind to do so.
 Zoey has being great, she got off of the ventilitor that she was put on for a couple of days. She got moved to a better bed and got moved to the step down unit in the NICU yesterday. She is handling her feedings really good and they keep moving her up in feedings every day. This adventure has put Ryan and I through a lot and we have come out with a stronger relationship and marriage because of all of it. We definately are looking at life a whole like differently than we both did 2 weeks ago.

31 weeks/ 32 weeks

These are my feet and cankles today. I'm 31 weeks in this picture and this last week I feel like my body is falling apart! I first noticed these lovely things last Wednesday when I went to take off my socks to get into the bathtub and I couldn't believe my eyes. I've been tall and thin all my life. Yes I know, hate me all you want! So to see this was quite a shock and I still have 2 more months to go. I think I may turn into that girl in Willy Wonka that turns into a Blueberry and has to be rolled out the door. Pretty sure now that once I reach January, Ryan will have to roll me so I can get around. I had another Dr's appt for my cyst last week and yes it's getting bigger and so is the baby, so as you can imagine there is becoming less and less room in my belly for both of them. I had another ultrasound because my cyst was finally causing me problems, and we found out the Zoey's head is right up against the cyst and she is bouncing her head off of it like a bouncy ball. She is not liking having to share her space with something else and momma isn't liking the pain it's causing me from every time she hits the cyst with her head. The Dr. went ahead and booked me for a c-section for January 3rd because of the size of the cyst and how with everything dropping at the end, it won't be possible to have a natural birth. I'm kinda bummed because I was really wanting to have her naturally but after talking about the risks and what's best for Zoey is the c-section so that's what we are going to do. We've been trying to do what's best for her especially with this cyst getting bigger, because most Dr's would have already done surgery and taken the cyst out but we want to wait until she's a bit bigger because he'd have to take her out too. So for the next few weeks I will just be living with a heating pad to help me with the pain.
 I've now hit the 32 week mark and along with it stretch marks have finally appeared. :(  I asked Ryan this afternoon if we could take down the mirror in the bathroom and he told me no. I have decided that I've gotten to the point where just looking in the mirror just depresses me. From my face swelling up in the mornings, to my new found stretch marks, and my belly button that if I was a turkey, I'd let you know that I was done! LOL All the not so fun 3rd trimester things have hit. The only thing getting through it is knowing that in only 7 WEEKS we will have our little girl here and I can look back and laugh at all of this. Right now, not so much. I'm definately ready for Thanksgiving and hope the next 2 weeks go by fast! Ryan, Franklyn and I will be traveling to Kansas City to see the family for Thanksgiving and I can't wait! We haven't been to KC in just about a year and we haven't been there for Thanksgiving for about 5 years! Crazy, I know. We usually go home for Christmas, but with Zoey's arrival so close to Christmas we are going to go for Thanksgiving instead. Right now a holiday where all you do is eat, is like a pregnant woman's dream! Yes, I don't know if I'm more excited about the food or the family time. Well, I've been to depressed lately with getting fat all over to take a pic of me so I'll wait til Thanksgiving to get a pic of me and my growing belly!

28 weeks

A lot has happen in the last couple of weeks so let'see if I can catch everyone up. First, Ryan turned 27 on September 24th and we spent the afternoon fishing. He got me a pink fishing pole, like I wanted, way back in May and haven't had the chance to try it out. That and well, with having such bad morning sickness, the thought of getting on a boat to do anything took some time before my tummy could handle it.

Here is my first fishing experience and I'd have to say I pick it up pretty well. It actually was fun and you can't see it in the picture too well but I had a pink lure to match.:) Yes, I love pink! And surprisingly the baby's room isn't pink. I'm 25 weeks in this picture so I say it was Zoey's first fishing trip too.

 This week, on Tuesday I had another ultrasound to check on my cyst that's growing bigger than anyone would like it to. It was nice to see our baby girl again and see just how big she is getting these days. She had her feet up by her face, but we got to see her face a little bit better this time. I think from the pictures that she has her Daddy's mouth. Also, getting bigger we found out is the cyst that I have growing on my left ovary. The Dr. found it at 7 weeks but it wasn't that big and hoping it would just go away on it's own, but at my 20 week ultrasound we found out that it had reached 7cm so Dr ordered another ultrasound this week. At this one it measured 10.23cm! It is seriously bigger than her head! Not exactly what we wanted to hear, since he said before if it gets to 10cm it will most likely have to come out. We went back on Thursday to find out what the Dr. wanted to do. We all decided to wait another month and then check it again and go from there. If he does surgery to take it out there is a good chance that I could go into preterm labor so we are trying to wait as long as possible so that our baby girl has more time to grow before she makes her entrance into this world! I do still have a chance of losing my ovary with the cyst being so big and might have to have a c-section to deliver Zoey when the time comes. I know that God has a plan for us and this baby girl and know that know she is suppose to be here she will and it will happen the way he decides. So we are trying to think positive and pray that she stays in there and no surgery for Momma until at least Dec.

 On to some better news this week, my 1st baby shower was this weekend! So my mom and youngest sister came in town from Kansas City and my childhood best friend and her parents and little girl came in town from Memphis, Tn. It was so nice that they all could come in town and celebrate my baby girl and get her room together. It was such a great shower and I actually had people show up! If you've known me for awhile you would know that I have a hard time with my parties and people showing up. Ryan says since the party was actually for Zoey that's why people showed up. But whatever the reason I don't care I had a great time! She got some great stuff to get her room started and looking more like a baby's room instead of a room with baby stuff in the corner piling up. I actually feel like I could bring her home now, except for the whole I want her to be full term before that happens.

                                                     My Super Cute Baby Shower Cake!

                                                                   Proud Parents To-Be
I'm so happy my husband ended up staying at my shower! He came up to check out my mom's tire and ended seeing that there were cute babies there that he just had to hold and play with and so he stayed and played! He is going to be such a good Daddy!!! I'm surprised he didn't end up stealing one of the babies he was holding and playing with. They were all girls, so he was getting plenty of practice for his own Baby Girl.

 It's hard to believe that she is going to be that small to fit into those tiny clothes, but she will sure look cute.

 The awesome diaper cake that my mother in law made for me. I'm so lucky to have such a creative MIL! She made this along with booties, mittens, hat and a sweater for our little princess. It all looks so cute!

          The bookcase that my grandpa made for me and has been saving to hand down to my little girl.

 It's starting to look more and more like a baby room and will be all ready for when she's ready to meet us.

It was a great shower and a great weekend with family and friends. After the shower we got to go to dinner with my childhood best friend and her parents and catch up. It was like we've never been apart. She did offer Ryan and I some advice that she has learned with her own little girl who is 2 years old now and a complete ham. I've learned that it's very nice to have friends that have recently had babies and can give me some great advice and tips on what really works and what doesn't.

24 weeks

It's been a few weeks since I'm updated the blog. I've gotten so bad at taking pics and then even worse at getting them uploaded to the computer. I'm finally got some new pics to share I'm finally posting a blog with some pics again!

Here's the baby bump at 24 weeks! And no that Mountain Dew in the picture is not mine. I've done really good at trying not to drink caffeine and that's just too much caffeine for me and baby. A couple of weeks ago Ryan and I finally opened the box with the stroller and car seat in it. Ryan put the stroller together and Franklyn decided that it was for him. He's just too darn cute!

                               He also liked the car seat and decided that he wanted to try that out too.

I've started working on Zoey's room and getting stuff ready and done that I've wanted to start on since we found out that she was a girl. One of my friends' helped me make her a tie fleece blanket that is light purple and turquoise. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but it turned out really cute and exactly how I wanted it to. We've also started buying a box of diapers every couple of weeks so that we will have a stockpile when January comes. I got her curtains that I want to put up in her room and a bookshelf that I plan on putting together some time this week. Ryan and I have also started to refinish the diaper changing table Ryan got for a steal at a garage sale earlier this summer. We have just started to sand it and still have a ways to go but rain has got in the way this weekend for it to be completed just yet. I'm hoping to get Ryan to cut out and make Zoey's letters for her wall sometime this week. I still need to figure out exactly what font I want them to look like first. I'm trying to get a jump start on things right now since I have an extremely crazy October coming up. I'm out of town for a conference one weekend, have work events 3 of the weekends, have my first baby shower in the middle of the month and have 3 JA events going on. Oh, on top of having the biggest fundraising project for Junior Auxiliary, Frosty Festival, that I'm in charge of to work on and which takes place the first weekend of November. I'm completely busy the month of October!!! So I have the rest of September to work on baby stuff and the rest of November after Frosty Festival to work on stuff and I want everything to be done by the beginning of December. I don't want to have to stress over getting stuff done at the last min. and try to rush around doing things 9 months pregnant. I'm a huge planner and so that the plan, but who knows how things are going to end up playing out. That's what makes it bad for people like me who love to plan everything, because with pregnancy and a new baby, there's no planning! Zoey will come whenever she's ready and all this mommy will be able to do in January is wait until she's ready! In the meantime, we've got a lot of stuff to do to keep us busy until she grows a little bit bigger, okaye probably a lot bigger in the next 4 months.

This is Zoey's ultrasound pics that I turned into a scrapbook page. She had her arms covering her face the entire ultrasound. She wasn't quite ready for Mommy and Daddy to see her face just yet. I guess she figured that since she let us see that she was a girl that was enough and all we needed to see. She definately already has her Daddy's personality. He hates having his pictures taken and that's the same way she was being with covering her face. Also, she has started moving like crazy. I got to feel her move for the first time on August 13th, and on September 14th I got to see her move from the outside with her kicking my tummy and it moving. It was so crazy and cool at the same time. She kicked me up higher than she has been before so that really surprised me. Ever since then she has been moving like crazy. Doing flips and kicks, if I didnt know how clumsy her mommy is, I would say she's going to be a gymnast or soccer player. LOL

Baby Bump at 23 weeks right after the Fair Parade.  I was talking to my mom on the phone and she said that she wanted a current bump picture of me, so Ryan decided to take one while I was still on the phone with her. LOL I was wearing his sweatshirt which you couldn't get a good look of my baby bump so I showed him my bare belly. Not the best picture, but a good action shot of the belly bump.

This one is kinda blurry because I tried to take the pic of my bump be myself before I asked Ryan to take it for me. Well, that's all I got for now. Off to fold all of the laundry that I washed all day, then hopefully a relaxing movie.

20 Weeks

Well, we have only about 3.5 days til we found out whether Baby Kaye is a girl or boy! We were suppose to wait until Thursday, but I received a call from the Drs office this week asking if we could move it to Tuesday. Move it up 2 days? Yes Please!!!! Even though we swear it's going to be a girl, we will get to officially know on Tuesday! I am excited to get so see another pic of Baby Kaye and hear that tiny fast heartbeat again. It will also be so cool for Ryan to actually get to hear the heartbeat for the FIRST time. He has missed it every other time, so I'm really looking forward to him getting the chance. Maybe it will finally feel more real for him once he does, since I'm the only one that gets to hear and felt everything so far.
 In more good baby news, I got to feel the baby move for the first time last Saturday. It is the craziest, yet coolest feeling ever! I was lying on the couch and the baby kept moving for like ten mins. It was awesome and of course made me cry, gotta love preggo hormones! Since then, I've felt Baby Kaye move a lot this week. I finally got to take a nice relaxing bath this week and the baby either hated it or loved it, because the baby moved the entire time I was relaxing in the tub. If Baby Kaye is anything like me or their grandma, they will love bath time.
I've only taken one baby bump pic recently and can't seem to download it on the computer, hope I can soon though. It's been hard about getting excited to do so when I feel I'm still so small at 5 months and have my husband and everyone else telling me I''ve hardly gained any weight. My pants don't button anymore and my shirts are all tight on me, so to me I know I've gained weight and have a little bump, but its still there!  Oh well, as long as this little canolope in my tummy is happy and healthy, so am I. :)
 The preggo cravings have officially hit full force and it is so weird! I haven't craved anything weird combined like most preggo women say they do. I've just been craving things and I HAVE TO HAVE THEM! I mean obsessive to the point nothing compares or tastes good to I have what I'm craving and spent my days thinking about food until I eat what I crave. I've never had that feeling before. I literally cried one day because I was craving a Chicken Fajita Roll-up with Mexi-Ranch from Applebees so bad and the closest Applebees is Branson, 1.5 hrs away!!!  I even tried to make one myself for dinner because I couldn't get it off my mind and had to have it and it so wasn't the same! Its been the only downside about being pregnant in a small town, they dont have all of the restaurants that I'm craving food from. You think baby would know that and only crave food I can actually get, umm, nope! If I could get some Chik-Fil-A, that would be amazing too! I did have a craving for a sno cone last week and luckily got one of those and yesterday I was craving country fried steak and my wonderful hubby came and took me to lunch to have that! Country fried steaks are usually so huge and I could never finish one all by myself,but yesterday I ate almost the whole thing and boy was it delicious!!!! And crazy thing was, after about 2 hours later, I was hungry again! LOL Well, it is so nice to know that I'm actually getting cravings and want to eat, because a few months ago I was really starting to wonder if I'd ever like food again! Ryan has been so great with my cravings and tries to satisfy them, if they are possible and in Mountain Home's reach. LOL I went to the store last week and bought bagels and cream cheese and told Ryan he could have some and he replied, "No, I didn't want to eat them in case it was one of your preggo cravings this week and didnt want to lose a hand." LOL Well, I'm not that bad with my cravings, but at least he was nice enough to think of me first!

Preggo Cravings

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm having any pregnancy cravings and the answer is yes and no at 17 weeks this week. The only things that I have been craving have been normal and nothing crazy. Ice Cream I think I crave everyday. If I could have ice cream everyday I would. We have this new frozen yogurt shop that just opened up a few months ago and I LOVE their white chocolate mousse frozen yogurt and so does baby! Also, Skittles have been a big craving. I don't think I can go to the gas station or grocery store now and not pick up a package of Skittles, any flavor seems to work too. I liked them before but I didn't eat them all that much and I want them way more now. I did have a week over the 4th of July where I was wanting fried pickles for every meal, but that only lasted a week. Besides that I really dont have anything else that I've really been craving. I do have foods that I cant eat anymore that I use to. Eggs, mustard, and corn are the 3 things that I use to be able to eat and really like and now I just can't do it. It's really weird how your taste buds change when you are pregnant along with everything else. I just figured I'd share a bit since I seem to get asked that question alot. We are just in the waiting stage now, counting down the days til we find out for sure whether Baby Kaye is a girl or a boy! 25 days that is and counting down......

16 almost 17 weeks

We found out last Thursday that we will finally get to find out whether Baby Kaye is a boy or girl on Aug. 25th. About a month away and yet that seems like forever. Ryan and I both have already decided that Baby Kaye is going to be a girl, while we will be happy with whatever God has picked for us, we would be very surprised if we were told that its a boy. Ryan's going to be a great dad no matter what, but seeing him have a little girl wrapped around her little finger will definately be priceless!
 I got to hear the heartbeat again on Thursday at that appt. and I cry every time I hear it. I think that I've decided that I need to record it next time I get to hear it, that way on my days where I'm just miserable from being pregnant, I can listen to that and it makes everything worth it. I've definately had a very hard pregnancy. Between severe morning sickness, 6 hospital visits to get IV fluids, fun aches and pains, no appetite, and lack of sleep already because I can't get comfortable. I've had it rough. Getting to hear the heartbeat and knowing how great it will be to hold that little one in our arms in January is the only thing getting me through it all!
 I really haven't gained all that much weight since I've been so sick, every time I start to get a bump it seems like I get sick and lose it. :( I am starting to notice how my clothes just don't wanna fit anymore. I'm in the in between stage where my clothes don't wanna fit and yet I'm still not quite big enough for maternity clothes. I'm hoping to go maternity clothes shopping in Branson to get some stuff to get me by next month. Right now, I'm living in Ryan's t-shirts at night because they are the most comfortable thing I can wear right now. Now, if only I could just get away with  wearing those to work. :)
 We did get some really good news this week! My Dad called and he wanted to get us something for the baby and he saw this car seat and stroller set and thought it would be perfect for us! Ryan and I saw these pics and it was exactly like what we had been looking for in both, so here they are in pics of course. We should have them in a couple of weeks! Baby Kaye just now has a ride home from the hospital and something to ride in to help Momma lose a that baby weight that I;m to FINALLY get! LOL YEAH!

                      And look, that stroller even has a beer holder at the top for Ryan! LOL

12 weeks

It has been amazing how much better I have feel this last week! Getting to 12 weeks and the end of my 1st trimester also seems to be the end of being soooo sick! Thank goodness for that!!!! I'm finally started to feel like a real person again and I couldn't be happier! Time to move on to actually enjoying this pregnancy like I've been wanting for so long. :) I will actually be 13 weeks tomorrow and I decided today that I'm OFFICIALLY Pregnant! LOL Yes, while I've been pregnant for the last 13 weeks, but today I had to eat 2 lunches!! Yes, you read that right, 2 lunches! I ate the lunch that I had brought from home and the snacks I brought for the afternoon and was still hungry so I went and got a burrito from Taco Bell. I was so excited!!! I know that I sound like a pig, but after 12 weeks of hearing the word food or seeing food, and just wanting to puke, its so nice to be wanting food! Ahh, the little things that excite me in my life as a pregnant woman! LOL
I wore a swim suit for the first time 2 weekends ago and I've gotten to the point where I just look fat instead of pregnant. I took my sister Cammie, who was in town for the week last week, to the pool last Thursday and of course past these super skinny beautiful teenager girls who looked alot older than they really were. And we past them and I of course I could just feel them looking at me thinking I was too fat to be wearing the 2 piece suit that I was. I wanted to walk past them and say, "I'm pregnant, not fat!" LOL I know that I should have just cared less, but hey I'm like most other women, I care!  I know that in just a few short weeks I'll have my bump and you'll be able to tell that I really am pregnant and not just fat!

10 weeks

This week I'm 10 weeks along! So much for me started to feel better with my morning sickness, I was doing so well too. Woke up Sunday am and got sick and by Monday I couldnt keep anything down again. By Tuesday afternoon I was back in the hospital getting IVs of fluids again. I'm learning that some day are just going to be bad with morning sickness and some days are good. It comes and goes and you never know whats in store for the day. I'm hoping that since I'm getting closer to the end of my first trimester that I will soon have morning sickness be a thing of the past. Ryan and I have really gotten excited lately with starting to get some things for the baby. Ryan seems to be a pro at yard sale bargain finding and has found some great deals for us. He already found a school desk for the baby, a lil early I think,but hey when Baby Kaye starts school Baby Kaye will have a place to do homework. Ryan also picked up a diaper changing table. It needs a new paint job and it will be fun to redo it together:)
   Ryan and I did get a chance to go to a cookout last night and hang out with some friends. It was nice to be able to get out of the house for a little bit and do something besides feeling sick and being at home. I'm trying to make sure and push myself to get out and do things so I'll feel alittle bit better. I think I actually ate more last night then I have since I've been pregnant! I was pretty happy about it! I still haven't gotten a little bump yet, I seem to just be losing weight with getting sick and not feeling like eating much. I am definately ready to start looking pregnant along with just feeling pregnant!
I'm hoping that this week goes by fast, my sister Cammie is coming to visit again this year for a week started on Friday! Ryan is going to pick her up in Branson and I'm so excited! I love hanging out with my sister and we all had so much fun last year when she came to visit so I'm really looking forward to her visit! She will be here in Arkansas for a week and then my mom, grandpa, nephew and my other sister will be here to visit for the weekend!!! I cant wait!! I love my family and I don't get to see them enough, but thats why when I do it makes the visit that much better!

9 weeks

I am 9 weeks as of two days ago and Baby Kaye is about the size of a small strawberry! I'm finally starting to feel better and not feel like all I can do is be attached to our couch! Yeah! Its been a tough couple of weeks, two weeks ago I landed myself in the ER from being so dehydrated. I think in one day I literally got sick about 25 times!!!! I couldnt keep anything down and so I called the Dr. and was told to get to the ER for an iv of fluids. I then went and saw the Dr. the next day and again had to go and get iv fluids. I was beginning to think I wasnt going to be able to keep anything down and then after the 2 ivs I was finally able to keep some food down. Sonic Ice has become my favorite thing lately! I think that we could invest some stock in Sonic this pregnancy with all the money they will be getting from us. LOL It least they have half price drinks from 2-4pm daily! Its actually just been the last couple of days that I've been craving any food at all, but for the most part I'm still not very hungry and have to rely on the clock and my wonderful husband to make sure I eat when I should. I gotta keep this baby getting bigger! I thought I was starting to show a couple of weeks ago, but it probably was just me bloating and then with me being so sick I've been losing weight instead of gaining any. The Dr. says thats normal, but hopefully I'll start getting my bump here soon.:)  

It's a Blueberry!

I am 7 weeks pregnant as of two days ago and I've read that our baby is the size of a blueberry this week! Hearing that, I can't help but laugh but it makes me think of the movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where they are in the factory and Violet chews the gum and it tastes like blueberry cobbler and she turns into a giant blueberry. Her dad then goes, "I have a blueberry for a daughter!" LOL Well, we don't know what we are having yet, and while Ryan's hoping that its a boy, I still think its funny and its what came to mind when I read it was that size.
     So far all of this baby has done is make me sick and I mean litereally. Morning sickness has hit me and hit me hard! And whoever named it morning sickness had to be male, because mine has been more like all day sickness. I'm nauseous all day and all night long, but morning time is definately the worst time when I actually get sick. I'm so hopefully that this phase will quit by the end of my 1st trimester like most people say it does. It's been a struggle just to go to work everyday, but I'm done it and haven't missed a day yet! I totally get why pregnant women get so cranky, you have 50 million things happening to you and your body why wouldn't anyone be a lil cranky? I usually feel the best between 3pm-5pm, so I have a couple of good hours. I know that in January when I'm holding that cute little baby in my arms all of this morning sickness will be worth it!!! Today I've just started to show and I'm going to wait until next week to take and post any pics. I'll be 8 weeks and it will be Memorial Day weekend so hopefully a good weekend.

We're having a Baby!

Baby Kaye's due date is January 6, 2012!!!! I'll keep updating my blog with pics and details soon!

Our New Home

We've spent the last couple of months looking for a house to rent instead of the apartment we were living in. After 1.5 years of a having to go to a laundry mat and noisy music late at night, it was time for a change. We looked at a house to buy, but after the pro's and con's were weighed out the place we got ended up being the best thing for us. Things have a way of working out because our new home just landed in our lap. We went to look at it one night on our way home from my brother in law's house and with in the next hour we were putting a deposit down on it! :) It all happen so fast that we ended up having 2 homes for about 2 weeks until we got to move everything into our place. The huge rain storms or floods that we received over the last 2 weeks made it a little hard for moving in. It took us about a week to move everything in between rain storms. It is so nice to finally be moved in and have our new place that is much quieter and located at the end of a County Road! YEAH! Just outside city limits, and we love it!

 The rose bush in front of our house! They are so pretty, and hopefully I can cut some of them off soon and bring them inside to make our house sound pretty.

                                             Our Backyard that Franklyn gets to run around in.

We have a carport right next to our house. Its been nice because of all of the rain we've gotten lately.

                                            Our Living Room as soon as you walk in the house

 We have a big wide open kitchen. It actually doesnt have all that much cabinet space, but I like the wide open feeling to it. I'm also getting use to have a gas range instead of an electric one.

Yes, we have only been here for less than a week so I still have boxes in my kitchen floor. Those are the boxes that have stuff in them that I dont know where to put it all yet.

                                         Our Bathroom with nice big oval bath tub to the right.
                                                      (can't figure out how to flip pictures yet)

                          Ryan's Man Cave, electronics and tools, what more can a guy ask for?

Our Gas Range and washer and dryer at the end of the hallway. Our bedroom is right next to the washer and dryer and it's a bit messy so there are no pics of that, sorry! LOL

   Well, that's our new home for now. I've still got some decorating to do, but happy with what we have so far!

Our Weekend

Well, this weekend was definitely one full of ups and downs. Friday night I convinced Ryan to take me to Arena, which is a sports bar here in Mountain Home, to watch the KU/Richmond basketball game. I've only gotten to see one other game this year and that was at Thanksgiving when we were in New Mexico. Ryan's not a big sports fan, but every now and again he watches a KU game to me, because he knows its important to me. The game was pretty good and of course they won so that was nice. I seriously got a couple dirty looks from some young guys because I was in Arkansas and probably because I was a girl paying attention and cheering every time KU scored. Ryan and I met a really nice businessman that had family in town and ended buying our drinks the rest of the night. Needless to say I was suppose to be the one driving home, but that didn't exactly happen! LOL What can I say? FREE Drinks and well we luckily have really awesome upstairs neighbors who gladly came and gave us a ride home. :) 
  Saturday morning came and I got reminded that boy I'm sure not in college anymore! LOL We woke up to it being cold and rainy and I was so happy to just stay home and not doing anything. Well, almost not anything. I didnt manage to make my neighbor's 3 year old daughter a birthday cake. I got a whole bunch of cake decorating tools for Christmas and still haven't had the chance to use them, so I jumped at the chance to be creative and use them this weekend. She is really big into Tinkerbell and all of her Fairy Friends, so that was the kind of cake that I made.

I was pretty happy with the results and I knew that even if the cake turned out to be a total fail, that it was for a 3 year old and all she cared about was how it tasted. I finished the cake and Ryan and I spent the rest of the afternoon/ night watching movies and staying inside our nice warm home, while it poured outside.
   Sunday I got up and went to babysit at church like I do every Sunday. I babysit a little boy who just turned one and he's really a baby anymore because he won't let me hold him anymore, except for a bottle and then he's down again. He just started walking and aww talk about a kid being proud of himself! He is just too cute. After church I came home and we talked about going to Ryan's parents to watch the KU game, but decided to stay home and I watched it on my phone with 30 second auto-refresh button so I kinda was watching it. I think I'm happier that I didnt watch it in person, because I was already yelling at my phone while Ryan sat on the couch laughing at me! I think that's all I'm going to say about the game, because seriously, NOT BEING ABLE TO MAKE FREE THROWS, WHY DONT YOU JUST HAND THEM THE FINAL FOUR! OH WAIT YOU DID! Okaye, I'm done! :) I then make us some yummy lazagna for dinner and we headed for an early bedtime to end our weekend. I think it was a bitter sweet weekend.