Playing catch-up...

Mission to blog more and on time: FAIL


Now it's time to catch up on my thankfulness :)

November 3rd: I am thankful for my in-laws. Even if we don't always see eye-to-eye they are wonderful and I know they would do anything for us :)

November 4th: I am so thankful for both my health and the health of my family. Kinsley had a nasty cold, which was stressful enough, I cannot imagine how tough a real health concern could be! Even with the struggles my family has had/is having, we are generally a healthy bunch. :)

November 5th: I am lucky enough to have two amazing grandparents.  They are great influences on all of us and they are wonderful parents to their six children and wonderful grandparents to their 19 grandchildren AND all their great-grandchildren! I miss my Adams grandparents all the time, but that makes me treasure the Ely ones all the more. :) I'm also so thankful that Kinsley has four wonderful grandparents :)

November 6th: Happy Election Day! Of course I am thankful for my right to vote, but I am also thankful that all my friends (even the ones who are WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG) have the right to voice their opinions on the election :)

November 7th: Thankful that the correct candidate won :) And I'm excited to see what the next four years bring.

November 8th: Although it might sound repetitive, I am very thankful for my family, both immediate and extended. And especially for my sister-in-law, Cheylyn, who rode to Reading and back with me on Tuesday so I could vote!

November 9th: I am thankful that I could sleep in every morning this week!

November 10th: One of the aspects of my life that I am most thankful for is my dear, sweet, tiny, loveable baby Kinsley Charlotte. She is the cutest, tiniest, sweetest baybee I have ever met and I love her with all my heart and soul. I am so thankful that Brian and I were blessed with such a great baby. She has always been such a joy and so easy. I don't know what I ever did without her :)

Second day of thanks

Today I am thankful for my wonderful parents.  Kinsley and I are spending two weeks with my family while Brian is in St. Louis.  I had forgotten how much I love spending time with my family, specifically my Little Mom and Dad.

Growing up we always had everything we needed. Did I recognize it at the time? Definitely not! But now that I'm a mom myself I realize how hard my parents have always worked for us.  They gave up so much of their time and things they may have wanted so Lana, Raymond, Emily and I could have things we wanted or needed. 

Thank you so much for all you do and have done, Little Parents!

A Month of Thanks

Happy November! :) Trying to kill two birds with one stone here, blogging more and doing the whole month of thanks thing.

Today I am thankful for my wonderful husband. Since Kinsley was born, Brian has stepped up in every aspect. He's a champion at putting her to sleep, changing diapers (when they're not TOO bad) and supporting me.  If it weren't for his great new job I wouldn't have been able to spend this time with Kinsley. He is also an amazing best friend and support in every other aspect of our lives. 

Love you sweetheart!

Our growing girl

My original plan for weekly pictures was to do what they've done at Young House Love.  But neither Brian nor I are especially good with the camera or PhotoShop. :) For now this is what you get.  Hopefully someday we'll edit them, etc, but they're cute for now.  Enjoy!

 June 13th, one week. Pants compliments of Gwen.

June 20th, two weeks. Ducky pants from Aunt Lana.

June 27th, three weeks. More compliments of Gwen pants :)

     

July 4th, four weeks.  Happy 4th of July!

July 11th, five weeks.  Such a sleepy girl!

Hey, guess what! I HAD A BABY!

Yeah that whole pregnancy thing got in the way of me updating... about my pregnancy. So here's a mini-rundown of how it all went.

• 99.999% of the time, I enjoyed being pregnant.  The heartburn only got bad at the very end. I felt great, I looked great (if I do say so myself) and my pregnancy was textbook perfect. (Just like my little baybee <3) I think I only gained about 25 pounds. I stopped weighing myself and paying attention when they weighed me at the office.  I felt amazing so I wasn't going to get myself down :)

Yeah, I got kinda huge. But still cute :)

  

• The biggest issue I had was the killer yeast infection I got the very last weekend I was pregnant.  We didn't discover what the real problem was until the night before the sweetness was born.  Which meant there wasn't anything they could/would do until after the c-section.  There was much suffering and little sleep the night of the 5th but I didn't think I'd sleep that night anyway.
   



Here I am looking especially lovely, thanks to the yeast infection pain and the contractions and lack of sleep. Isn't my husband sexy in his scrubs?!

• The c-section went super well.  Brian watched the.whole.damn.thing. Shocking, I know.  I thought for sure he would just stay by my head, blood and guts and all that but he did a great job.  And let me tell you, spinal anesthesia = the most AMAZING thing in the world! My anesthesiologist was the best.  He talked me through the whole thing and offered me any and every drug I wanted. :) And the best thing about the c-section?



Kinsley Charlotte Aldrich
7 pounds 6 ounces
18 3/4 inches long
Born at 12:58, Wednesday June 6th, 2012

• She is wonderful and perfect and makes me want to stay up all night watching her sleep.  She sleeps, well, like a baby. :) In the cliche sense.  As in if we don't wake her up, she will sleep for anywhere from 3 to 5 hours at a time.
   
   
• Everyone loves her and we've had a ton of visitors...

• The only problem? She is jaundiced.  Like pretty significantly.  Not so bad that she had to be readmitted to the hospital, but bad enough that she has had to be on a bili-blanket the last two days. Basically my baby is a glo-worm.  But she is the cutest glo-worm in the world <3 Brian and I are both a little sleep deprived.  We have been getting up to feed her every two hours to nurse and change her diapers.  The best way to get rid of jaundice is to nurse like crazy and keep her on the bili-blanket.  The only problem is that the blanket makes nursing harder because there's a huge tube coming off her side.

I can't figure out how to flip this picture. Deal with it.

• I've been pumping so Brian can feed Kinsley with the bottle because it's easier for her to drink from a bottle and it's good bonding time for my baby and her daddy. He has been wonderful and supportive and I couldn't do this without him.  He has had this week off and it's been great having him at home.  Next week should be interesting since the beeblet and I will be on our own.

I love love love love LOVE being her mommy <3 And I can't believe she's already a week old!

Pictures :)

From the front....

Honestly, I don't think that I look that pregnant.



Until I turn to the side...

Hello baby! :) Like I said, up 18 pounds (so far) some days it looks it, other days not so much. :)

Baybee Update :)

In list form...

• My ankles have started to swell. :sigh: But only in the heat and/or if I'm on my feet for a long time.  Or I haven't had enough water.  But it's only my ankles, my fingers have been perfectly fine. Rings still fit perfectly fine :)
• My baby shower was amazing :) We got lots of great stuff and are well on our way to being prepared for this baby to get here in SEVEN WEEKS!!!
• We've found a dresser for FREEEEE! It's the dresser that both Lana and I used, in turn, at home. There's a mirror to be mounted above it which will be a lovely distraction for the beeblet.
• We went to Ikea on Saturday and found a ton of awesome stuff.  We walked out with just a dresser (for our bedroom) and a bookshelf for the living room. 
• New Furniture Plan
• Billy the Bookshelf will be moving to the left of the television.
• The table that is currently next to the TV will be moving next to the desk.
• The bookshelf that is currently next to the desk will be moving to the RIGHT of the TV.
• The cube thing that is next to the TV will be moving to the baby's room for clothes, toys, blankets, towels, etc
• One foof chair will move to the baby's room (perfect for time outs, when we get to that point) and one will stay in the living room.  Probably next to our new buddy Billy.
• Baby is kicking up a storm!  Starting last week he/she learned that it's fun to flip and kick and dance all day long :) We're pretty quiet at night though. THANK GOODNESS!
• My blood pressure is still FAN-TASTIC.   Like 117/70.  (Normal is 120/80) And I've only gained 18 pounds.  Woo hoo! Dr. Lamade said things couldn't be going more smoothly :) MAJOR sigh of relief.
• I am SO sick and tired of people asking me what I'm going to do if I go into labor.  Simple answer: Brian and I will jump in the car and drive like hell to get to Williamsport.  Yes, I know I'm taking a risk by driving 2 hours to the hospital.  Yes, it is a risk I'm willing to take.  I am confident that if Dr. Lamade thinks I shouldn't be far from the hospital we'll move in with the Killians. I am having the baby at 38 weeks, not 40 so the risk of going into labor is reduced.  Yes, I know there's still a risk. Please stop asking.
• UPDATED LIST.. WOOT!
• Find a cute shower invitation
• Send out said invites for March 24th
• Create and carry out a menu for the shower
• Pick out a crib for baby to sleep in
• Assemble the crib
• Realize that the crib should not be assembled in OUR bedroom, but instead in the second bedroom. The baby won't sleep in it right away anyway and will sleep in the pack n' play in our room.
• Clean out the second bedroom--I feel like this will never be finished!
• Reassemble the crib in the baby's room/guest room
• Find a dresser/changing table for the baby--there's been some progress on this one. My parents have a huge dresser we could have. The only problem is that the dresses is lower than I'd like (we're aiming for around counter height) and we don't have an easy way to get it from the parents' garage in Susquehanna County to our second floor apartment in Berks County! Progress is progress though, right?
• Write a letter to the school board requesting FMLA for next school year--turned this in today!! SOOO exciting!
• Clean/reorganize my classroom so my sub can find things!--I will not be attending the 8th grade field trip to Baltimore this year :( so that day will be perfect for organizing/cleaning my room. My desk drawers (5 out of 6) have already been reorgainzed, now it's just on to the last drawer, my two filing cabinets and the (dreaded) closet!
• Attend my baby shower on March 24th BEFORE the risk of being put on travel restriction
• Buy any other "must haves" before the tiny one shows up--including (but not limited to):
• pack n' play for the bebe to sleep in 
• milker pump so when I go back to work in December/January the tiny one can still eat :)
• crib mattress 
• waterproof EVERYTHINGS! Crib sheets, pack n' play sheets, changing pads... 
• bathtub, so my baby isn't stinky 
• covers for the mombo and boppy 
• seat covers for the Equinox. Beige interior + baby messiness = unhappy daddy :) 
• sling! I already have a Moby, but Emily loved her sling so I'm going to try that too. 
• Clothes to wear while I'm in the hospital and for the trip home. 
• Nursing tops/easy in-out tops. 
• One super cute, super girly outfit and one super cute, super manly outfit for when we come home 
• Paint the baby's room <3 I think we're going to go with a light green like the border of the blanket from Amanda and Steve. That or yellow... or light blue... :) I'm HOPING Frank and Cathy can help with this next weekend.
• Pack a hospital bag. I'd like to get this done, or at least a good start on it, soon. I'm only FORTY-NINE days from C-Day and paranoid that this baby will want to be early. OR that something will be found at an appointment and I'll be put on bed rest. 
• 3-Hour Glucose Tolerence Test. Failed the 1-hour one, wah wah wah :( But only by a few points. So during Spring Break next week (WOOT!) I'll be spending one day with Dr. Lamade and one day at the lab here. If two of your three blood draws are high, you're official GD.  Only one of mine was high. So I passed, woot!
• Enjoy some just-the-two-of-us time with the hubsters. Other than cleaning/orgainizing time! This doesn't have to be JUST the two of us time either, I just mean couple-y time. Know what I mean? No, get your mind out of the gutter, not THAT kind of couple-y time! ;) 
• SLEEEEEEP! The third trimester funk has hit me and it's a struggle to not nap during the day.