A few of my favorite things (pictures that is)

Ok... 2 weeks and 3 days have passed in little Kate's life. She has already had some pretty big changes! So to update you on our life, I'll include a few of my favorite pictures (you can thank me now... cause I've become a little camera happy.... I hope all first time parents understand what I mean!)

One of Kate's favorite things in life is men. I'm very afraid for those teenage years! She just LOVES her daddy! Every time she hears his voice she turns to look at him. She also is a sucker for Grandpa's voice... few things put her to sleep better than testosterone and a warm manly chest!

Kate and Grandma are best buds! She loves to poop and pee for her too! lol. They also like to hum back and forth... and fall asleep to Josh Groban (another man voice! I guess she has good taste!) Grandma gave Kate her first bath...our water bill is going to increase for sure when Kate is a showering teenager (I don't know where that trait comes from...)

Puppy love came extra early for little Kate. Too bad for her it is literally excessive love from Chance. He just adores her! He constantly checks on her by looking in her crib and licking her feet whenever they are visible.

Kate is so alert. She will turn to the source of voices, grab things around her hands, and roll from side to side in her crib. I can't believe how fast she is growing and it has only been 2 weeks!

This was my view of my girl for the first week and a half. THANKFULLY my view has changed significantly. I can now say I think my spinal leak is healed, and I am up and around. It is easier to change a diaper when you are vertical!

Kate celebrated her first holiday. This is Christmas Eve, in her first Christmas pj's. This is also one of our first family photos. These mugs were from my baby shower, and fit the situation perfectly!

Then Christmas came! Yay for presents that she couldn't open but will enjoy the gifts from inside. Next year will be much more entertaining. She spent most of the morning sleeping. But that outfit sure was cute! Also, on Christmas Kate had her first long car ride and her first visit to Ohio. We are now chilling with Grandma and Grandpa in 'the heart of it all' while Jon is unpacking our things in TX. Leaving TN was sad, but Kate is experiencing her first move. Another first coming soon will be a plane ride.... wish me luck!

First Sunday at church. We made sure to put a bow in her hair just for daddy... he is a little obsessed with all her beautiful hair! Kate already has Jon wrapped around her tiny fingers! She was amazing at church. Only had one feeding and diaper change, and she slept the rest of the time. Too bad that won't last forever...

Kate has started to hold her head up! She just keeps getting it up higher, and holding it there longer! I'm amazed at her strength. Also, the first cross-eyed-but-still-totally-cute shot. It makes me laugh every time.

And one more because she is just TOO cute. Kate is a bundle a joy. Now if we can convince her that night time is for sleeping and not being awake, things would be perfect!

Kate's Story

Here we are, 6 days after my little Kate decided she was ready to make her first appearance in this world. I am still down for the count. Sadly, I have a spinal leak from my epidural that is forcing me to stay laying down except to go to the bathroom. Hopefully this leak will heal on its own in the next 2 weeks... or so the doctors say. I'm still waiting. But, in the mean time, I am laying on an air mattress in front of my lap top so I can get online and tell all of my dedicated readers Kate's birth story. It may not be all that exciting to everyone else, I might be more doing this for my own memory, but here it is anyway!

It all started Dec. 9th:

I decided I was sick of being uncomfortable. I called my good friend Bri and asked her if she wanted to have a day at the mall to encourage my labor to start. I had no idea how effective that day of walking would really be! I guess wishful thinking really works sometimes! I got home from the shopping adventure at 2ish, and took a nap. I then woke up with some painful cramps at 3. I started watching the clock and had these cramps every 10 minutes for the next several hours. The rest is pretty normal labor story. I timed contractions ALL day and ALL night. By 5am on the 10th my contractions were killing me, but still 10 minutes apart. I decided I was sick of watching the clock and wanted a doctor to look at me and make sure everything was ok. SO I woke up the hubby and headed to the hospital. We were both expecting them to tell me I was a wimp and send me home to tough out the first stage of labor, but when the doctor checked to see how dialated I was, I was a 6! My contractions didnt get closer together till the VERY end of labor. I guess that is good for me to remember the next time I do this (which may in fact be a VERY long time from now!). So they checked me into a room and tried 5 times to get an IV started. I look like someone beat me up now! Anyway, IV finally in, they asked if I wanted an epidural. I was so exhausted from not sleeping that I caved.

So in comes the epidural man... this is the only interesting part! He looked young to me, and I was really hurting and tired....so I started to get him to talk as much as I could. I asked him how long he has been doing this procedure and he nervously asnwered 6 months...then quickly assured me that he had done plenty though. I laughed and told him that I wasn't worried at all and promised him he would soon be one of my best friends! Oh the irony! So he does the epidural the first time. I thought he was done.... then he asks the nurse to page his supervisor. He did it wrong and needed help to fix it. I wasn't worried at this point... it was just another needle stick. So in comes his supervisor, and walks the first guy through how to fix the mistake. They tell me not to move at all-- and I don't, untill they hit a nerve that makes my whole body jump without my permission! Scared the crap out of me! Finally they get the stinking thing in there right and they exit. Im feeling sweet medicated relief. The doc breaks my water to speed things along, and says she will see me soon. So Jon and I get to take a nap for maybe 2 hours. But then I started throwing up. Yes... it isnt enough that I threw up ALL 9 months of pregnancy, I threw up at least 6 times during labor. I dont get how... all I had in me was ice chips! Ok enough complaining... moving on!

Long story short, I stayed at an 8 for over 6 hours! Way too long if you ask me! But then finally Im aloud to push. I didn't know it was possible to feel so exhausted. Seriously delivery was a total out of body experience for me....It all seemed to pass in a haze that was from being so tired. But out comes a perfect little girl 2 hours later. The cord was wrapped around her neck, and they had me breathing oxygen cause her breathing was struggling at the end... so that freaked me out to say the least, but everything worked out fine. She came out and I felt so happy! Oh and seeing Jon hold her and talk to her for the fist time: my favorite memory of my husband in my entire life. Every time he is with her I melt!

So I continued to throw up a few times after she was born, and I had a migrane and my ears were ringing. That is how we found out (the LAST day we were at the hospital) that I have this beautiful spinal leak. The doctors told me to drink as much caffiene as possible and wait it out... I've never been hopped up on this much Mountain Dew ever!

Wow Im writing alot. But Kate is a perfect baby! She eats great, and mostly sleeps great, and is the cutest baby on the planet! If I could get my spinal leak to heal everything would be flawless! It makes it hard to be a first time mom when you have to change diapers laying down....grrr! Im trying to be patient! My mom and Jon have been making everything so much easier on me though, Im so blessed! So thats my long story. If you are still reading....Im sorry. lol.

So here is a funny picture to reward you for reading this far!

Kate Lynn

So here is our baby! We are so excited to finally meet her sweet little self. For now that is all I will write (I still have only slept maybe 6 hours since the 9th.... Im kinda dead!) And yes some of the pictures need to be rotated, but just turn your head for now.... Im that tired!
I almost forgot the stats: 7lbs. 8oz, 20.5 in long. 26 hours of labor, 2 hours of pushing, one precious little girl and tired parents later!

Contractions...

SUCK!

That is really all I can say... I've been having them every 6-10 minutes since 3pm today. I guess I'll head to the hospital in a short while. My water hasn't broken yet, but these contractions are killing me! Hopefully the next time you hear from me I will have Kate!

NESTING!!!

So I have been fighting with this nesting phase of pregnancy for awhile now... since we weren't sure what state we were going to have the baby in it made things a bit difficult. But FINALLY we found out that we will be in TN for at least awhile longer, I was able to get everything ready for Kate to come! So I went a little crazy..... I (with lots of help from my amazing hubby) deep cleaned the entire apartment. We are talking about moving all the furniture and cleaning behind them and washing walls. I havent been this sore in a long time! But it looks and feels great! We also made room in our extra room for Kate's crib and changing table. Thanks to my mom we have a super cute, original crib set. I just love it! It is so soft and cute! I cant wait to see my little girl sleeping in it. So instead of putting up boring pictures of all the work we did, I'll just post one of the cribset. I think we are now officially ready for Kate to come whenever she is ready (as long as that is sooner rather than later.... I'm thinking next week sounds good...Im done feeling so uncomfortable!).