GIVEAWAY!!!

The Vintage Pearl is giving away 5 $100 giftcards for Christmas!! I LOVE their stuff.  Head over to the website and enter for your chance to win yourself a wonderful gift! 

The Vintage Pearl

It's been a few weeks since I've blogged because I have been a very busy mommy.  Kaylee is three weeks old today.  I can't believe how fast time is already flying by.  I see her changing every day and can't seem to come up with a way to slow things down.  Our first couple days at home were pretty rough of course.  A tired mommy and baby plus late night feedings and recovering from delivery made us both a little stressed.  Dustin has been so much help and very patient with my constantly changing emotions.  We are all finally settling in and figuring things out.  We are so thankful for all the visitors and thoughtful gifts we have received.  Our family and friends have been such a huge help and their advice has been priceless.  We hope you all  have a wonderful holiday season and we'll see you soon!

Sweet Little Kaylee,

In three days (or something close to that hopefully) you will arrive in this world. I already know that you are special and I have not even met you yet. You are our first child, and we are so excited to see your beautiful face. Our brief peeks into your world are just not enough anymore, I am ready to hold you with only a blanket separating us and to see your beautiful smile.

We have already formed a bond. I have seen pictures, heard your heartbeat, and received many kicks to my ribs. And yet you are a mystery to me. I don’t know who you will look like, whether or not you will have your dads hair or my eyes. I don’t know what your personality will be like, what your favorite toy will be, or what you‘ll be when you grow up. And still I fall in love with you more each day. I love those little feet that are constantly dancing across my stomach. And that little butt that is sitting just under my ribs making it hard for me to breathe. I never imagined I could love you this much already. 

It has been such an amazing journey getting to know you these past nine months. At times I have felt that my body has been taken over and I have no control. I treasure the feeling of your movements and the blessing it is to have a tiny life grow inside of me. I am going to miss having you all to myself. When I am exhausted or achy, I remind myself why I feel this way and try to be thankful for every moment. You seem to think bed time is playtime and you get to really moving around when we are riding in the car. I already feel like you are a daddy’s girl. When he talks you usually respond. Of course you do that when the dog barks too. :)  I can’t wait to see your daddy holding you in his arms. I can’t wait to watch you sleep. I can’t wait to hear your noises and see you learn. I just can’t wait. 

Little one, I love you with all of my heart already. You are a blessing from God and you have so many friends and family waiting for your arrival. Our lives already revolve around you. Getting ready for you, cleaning and organizing for you, shopping for you! Although I am tired and wobbly, and ready to see the face that I can only imagine right now, I will patiently wait for you (for a few more days).

Love, 

Mommy

This is it!  The home stretch.  I feel that we have waited so long for this moment and at the same time that it has come so quickly.  The doctor plans to admit me to the hospital Wednesday night and induce Thursday morning.  I am so ready to meet this little one, but I can admit that now I am SCARED!  We are going to be responsible for this miniature person.  We are bringing her into this big, scary world and now we have to do our best to protect her.  I will keep you updated (or mom will for me)!!  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers these past few months.  We are so blessed!

Last Friday's doctor appointment was pretty uneventful.  She checked my cervix and I am still at one cm.  I am getting anxious and ready for this part to be over with, but I know she needs to be in there a little longer.  I am pretty much a zombie these days.  Sleep is almost impossible due to frequent visits to the bathroom, a massive stomach, leg cramps, back aches…..you get the point.  Also I have a super protective husband that gets nervous when I don’t wake up often enough, so he wakes me up to make sure I’m alright.  This was cute the first couple times, now it is very annoying!  I love the man, but I NEED sleep!  I was counting on these last couple weeks to sleep before Kaylee starts keeping me awake all night.  We have a very busy week scheduled.  Between Dustin and I we have four doctors appointments, three birthday parties, one hair appointment, and our normal work schedule.  Hopefully she'll wait until next week to make her appearance! :)

We are finally finished with the nursery.  We have the dresser and closet loaded with tons of pink clothes!  We have cutesy things hanging and sitting around everywhere.  And she has two baskets of shoes ready for when her feet are big enough!  This little girl is SO spoiled.  

This morning was my 37 week checkup. My bp was 102/62 and Kaylee's heartbeat was very good still.  I love hearing from Dr. Litherland that my weight is EXCELLENT!  :)  I am dilated 1 centimeter and my cervix is soft.  That doesn't mean too much at this point except that my body is getting ready, yay!!!  They gave me my flu shot today as well.  I have never had one and am not looking forward to being sore later.  I have enough aches and pains already.  The end is in sight though.  I am officially considered full term now, so Kaylee can come any time. Although my body is ready and she is ready, my house is not.  We have never been such procrastinators!!  We can't seem to get anything finished.  I am so tired and Dustin is tired when he gets off work.  This weekend it is supposed to be rainy and yucky outside, so that means we have no excuse not to stay in and get Kaylee's nursery finished.  Wish us luck!! :)

I saw Dr. Litherland again today.  We are starting to spend quite a bit of time together.  It is very reassuring to hear that things are going alright.  I went in with quite a few questions today.  I think since I am getting so close to my due date, I am starting to worry more.  So here is what she told me…My BP is 106/68,  Kaylee's heartbeat was 160, she hasn't dropped yet, my cervix is still closed (TMI?), she isn't worried about the amount of amniotic fluid-it just makes taking measurements a little harder, my weight gain is still going great, and she estimates Kaylee's weight at 5.5lbs.

Kaylee is still super active.  I don’t know how she finds room in there to do somersaults, but she does.  I am getting so big that it is really hard to get comfortable.  I can stand for a bit and then have to sit down for awhile.  Then that starts to hurt, so I stand again.  I am starting to keep Dustin up at night as well.  I guess we are getting some training in for when she gets here.  I still have one fat foot that grosses everyone out-maybe I can work that into a halloween costume.  My hips are killing me and I am eating Tums like candy.  :) 

Dr. Litherland gave me the go ahead to go to St. Louis tomorrow.  I am excited to get out of Springfield one last time before she gets here, but sort of dreading the drive.  I hope I don’t drive Dustin and Charlie crazy with my pit stops!  I have all the essentials already packed to go though…Gummy Bears, Hot Tamales, Nacho Cheese Bugles, and Reese’s Pieces.  

We have the nursery so close to being finished.  We have to paint the dresser and get the rocking chair, but that is the last of the furniture.  I have the entire next week off, so I plan to finish some of the projects I have started, hang things on the wall of the nursery finally, and maybe get our hospital bags packed eventually.  We have the car seat in the car and the diaper bag ready.  Now we are just waiting patiently.  Only 4 weeks left!  We can't wait to meet this amazing little girl that has already changed our lives so much!