Me and my first baby....

I am stealing the from Emily's blog http://www.missemilylynnspeaks.blogspot.com/ , who stole it from Jess at The Wilson's house blog http://thewilsonshouse.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the inspiration gals.


This could be long......


Me and My First Baby


1. Were you married at the time? Yes, had been for about 5 years.


2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? I cried and laughed all at the same time. Preston and I went and looked at the test together and we cried when it was positive, this was at the end of a LOOONNNNNNggggg road of miscariages and infertility so it did not even feel real, I will never forget that day, it was August 26th.


3. How old were you? 29


4. How did you find out you were pregnant? two home pregnancy tests, several betas and a few ultrasounds


5. Who did you tell first? Emy was the first to know after Preston (since he was there) and then my Mom... we were all excited, but scared because of past losses and also the possiblity for high order multiples, due to the meds we used to get pregnant.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes, I figured, I had to wait long enough to get pregnant, I was not waiting any longer to find out anything I could about this baby!


7. Due date: May 7th, due to the fertility method used, the due date was pretty much garanteed 40 weeks from implanation.


8. Did you deliver early or late? on time:) May 7th!


9. Did you have morning sickness? I felt pretty lousy from 6 weeks through about 24 weeks, but then felt pretty good, just not much of an appetite the entire time. I wound up losing weight being pregnant.


10. What did you crave? Salads, apple juice


11. Who irritated you the most? People who boasted about feeling no morning sickness.....


12. What was your first child’s sex? She is a girl


13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? None, I lost 20 in total


14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Yes, we had bleeding here and there and then one night (at 17 weeks) a huge rush of blood. We were diagnosed with Placenta Previa and I was on -off and on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy and got lots more ultrasounds.... which I did not mind!


15. Where did you give birth? St. Ann's Hospital in Westerville,Ohio


16. How many hours were you in labor? 21.... clock starting after I got to the hospital, my water had broken earlier in the day, but it was so faint, I did not notice, until that night when it gushed out of no where.


17. Who drove you to the hospital? Preston


18. Who watched? Preston


19. Was it vaginal or c-section? Vaginal, other then my labor stauling, it was uneventful. Just really long.


20. Did you have pain relief? Nubain, which I did not like because it did not dull the pain, just made me feel wierd. I got an epidural, but it wound up bottoming out my blood pressure... so it made me feel like I had to vomit (after doing so) the remainder of the time I was in labor.... YUCK


21. How much did your child weigh? 7lbs. 5oz.


22. What did you name him/her? Kaiya Elizabeth. Kaiya was a name I had heard 3 years previous (to describe a baby african rhino belive it or not) because it was the swahili (sp?) name for "long awaited child". It was perfect, the middle name is after Preston's grandmother who raised him and had passed away 2 years prior.


23. How old is your first born today? She is almost 2 1/2.

Here she is about an hour after she was born....


And here she is today....

Kaiya and her stuff....

It just keeps accumulating.... this is all the things she has to have in her crib as well as back downstairs with her each day.....

My girls' favorite sleeping spot.... on Daddy's side :)

5 kids under 4, 2 adults and the Columbus Zoo - no problem:)

Em and I had the bright idea to take the kids to the Zoo last weekend because Dora was making an appearence. We had no clue what to expect from all of the kiddos.... but we did great!! Aunt Emy bought all the kids stuffed snakes (and Kaiya her beloved Clifford) and that started us off just right. After about 2 1/2 hours, we decided to try and find Dora.... we discovered that it was about a 2 hour wait to meet and get your picture taken with her.... so we waved bye bye to Dora and headed to the car after an exhausting, but such fun trip to the Zoo with my sis and ALL of our kiddos! We felt like rock stars when we left.... no one was missing, only a few were crying and all were in one piece! YAY US:)

A photo story board....

Going.....

Going.....

GONE....

The Financial Crisis....

I have never been a huge fan of politics, I have tried to get interested, but I just cant. I feel like other then voting and being vaguely aware of the issues, I have little to no control over what happens and there are so many things happening behind the scenes that it is difficult to trust anything and feel like you actaully have input... and particular what happens to me. My family has been effected due to the soring gas prices, rising cost of food and everything else for that matter, the horrendus fall out in the housing market making sure if we were to ever sell our house we would have to take a massive loss..... and then it hit me directly last Monday when I lost my job due to a company wide lay off. Please forgive me Mr. Bush if I am not a fan of your thoughts on the financial crisis and your plan to "fix" things by putting more of OUR tax dollars on the line. The problem is - in the next few months....I dont know which candidate would be the right person to "fix" our government.... by the time it trickles down, nothing seems like a good choice.

OK - political rant FINEESHED.

We call her the Cassie Whisperer.....

Some people have a way with babies... Em is one of them.... but she has a major way with MY baby... it is too bad she has kids of her own and cannot be at my beckon call when ever my Cass is sad or wont sleep.... Emy is Cassie's "person" that is for sure. Her are just a few of the pics....

Giddy Up!

Need I say more.... hee hee, God Bless little Austin - he is so posable....

I love when my girls make each other laugh...

The one thing people dont tell you about having a second child (or third, fourth, etc.) is how amazing it is to watch them interact with each other. Granted I am usualy seperating them from mini slap fights or biting incidents... but when they are both laughing and smiling at each other.... it makes them all worth it!

My little beauty

I know every Mama in the world thinks their baby is beautiful.... but I have the pics to prove it:) I think she is so striking and just the sweetest, most adorable little thing... Ya, I am a bit baised.

Kaiya loves her Grandpa.... and his glasses....

She has always thought Grandpa was a pretty cool dude.... but when they wear their glasses together... he is even cooler!

Who needs a double stroller....

Dont try this at home.... unless you have a camera :P

Happy Birthday my sweet Char Char!!!

Thanks for letting us celebrate your birthday with you sweet Char Char... it was so nice to visit you at Fort Rapids and have some cake! You are such a sweetie and I cannot believe you are actually 2! WOW - to quote you!

Kaiya in her glasses....

We are still battling here and there - but she has been wearing them a little bit each day - she needs them resized, since she has grown 4 months since getting them.... but we are coming along.... our eye doctor will tell us if she still needs surgery first week of November....

Warning... big updates....

If you dont like pictures of my family... now is the time to click to another site:P I am going to update as long as my imenpending headche will allow...

Getting better and better.... although my laptop is now ill!

Things are going good, again thank you for all the love and support! I have not been on much because my laptop has not been getting wireless for some reason.... so all we have is the old school desktop! :P

As soon as the laptop is back in order, I have all sorts of wonderful pictures and some nice stories!

My niece Hannah started Pre-school today!
My nephew Char Char will be 2 on Friday!
My Kaiya is starting to wear her glasses!
Cassie is running!
Lots of playdates, lots of wildness, playgrounds and Friday Fort Rapids with the Replogles to celebrate Charlies 2nd birthday... I will update. Love you guys! Lots of pics to come:)

Coming back... slowly but steady

Hello my amazing friends. First, may I just say, thank you so much for the amazing, non-judging, kind, consistant and loving support. Your thoughts, prayers, emails and messages over the past few days have really lit up my world and helped so much. I am gettin better slowly. I am praying a lot and trying to hard to get my priorities straight and correct. Life is never a sure thing, that is for sure, but I know that life is also what you make it, and I am the first person to say that the one thing in this life you can cnotrol is yourself. I am trying to get my outlook more positive. I also found out that I was fighting off some sort of flu bug, so not all of my phsyical symptoms where from the medicine change and stress, which was a big relief - so some of the pshyical stuff is getting better. Life is not perfect, I know that, but I have a lot of amazing blessings surrounding me.

On Wednesday - I took Kaiya and Cass with me to the doctor (to discuss my medicines)... Kaiya proceeded to have one of the worst temper tantrums I have ever seen in the waiting room in front of another family with two children. As embarrassed as I was as I desperately tried to calm her down, I worried too that I was adding to it and making her more upset by the stress the entire situation was creating.... after about 30 minutes, I started to sob.... I could not help it - the Grandmother that was there with hre daughter at the doctor's appointment came to me and put her arm around me (as only grandmothers can do) and said, sweetie, I have raised 3 boys and seen lots of tempers, that was a doozy, but sweetie, dont you ever feel embarrassed about your children or apologize for their behavior, you are their Mother and the reason you are so upset is because you care so deeply for them.

Her words in the waiting room meant more to me then anything at that moment. As I stood up to see the doctor, she gave me a big hug and told be that God gave me my girls because they were meant to be mine and to never question if I was a good Mother, because the tears rolling down my face were proof enough....

That turned a lot around for me. The kind words of a total stranger, combined with the loving and supportive words of my friends and family. My Mom and sister and been constantly at my side dealing with my very up and down personality and never getting upset with me or frusterated. Just being there. Em is invaluable to me. She just takes me anyway I am and that is it - she does not judge me, hurt me, provoke me or upset me, she is just there. Mom does the same.

Preston is great, he doesnt always know exactly what to do, but he always tries and that is what is important in my book.

Thank you all for listening. I will post some pics with my next post of my sweet girls. We are actually mkaing some headway with Kaiya's glasses... and I have the pics to prove it - she is darlin in them!!

I love you all and thanks for reading - God Bless and prayers being said for lots of you!