Thankful Tuesday: Take Two!

Here goes another Thankful Tuesday!

I'm really liking this whole Thankful Tuesday business. In fact, you could say I'm thankful for it!

Okay...that was a bad joke. I apologize. Pretend I never said it.

Anyway, It's a lot of fun sitting down and thinking about what you have to be thankful for. It's amazing how many things you can think of, even on a bad day. Making a list will turn your day around, I promise!

Here's a sample of things I'm thankful for this week:

1. Kellen rolled over last night. Now, I am NOT thankful that I missed it (my Mom was watching him for a few hours), but I am thankful that my little man is so strong! He was on his tummy and pushed himself up then wiggled til he was on his back. Who knows when he'll do that again...

2. Speaking of my Mom watching Kellen, she did that so I could swing by the Conservatory for a show. I'm so happy that I can go to shows and enjoy them again! When I was pregnant I was usually too nauseous/overheated/grumpy/uncomfortable to enjoy watching bands play, even if they were some of my favorites. It was miserable! This time around, I got to watch Jerry Roush's new band, Glass Cloud, and they were awesome! I stood front row to take some photos, and Jerry kinda missed the speaker when he was trying to stand on it and stood on my back instead. Good thing I'm tougher than I look! ;)

3. We finally got Kellen's photos done! They no longer qualify as newborn photos, but better late than never! lol Whitney and Ray came over a couple weeks ago to do them originally, and Kellen was just NOT going to cooperate. He was wide awake, cranky, and wiggly the entire time. They came back yesterday and he did so well! He was out like a light for just long enough to get some cute photos of him laying on his tummy, then he woke up and let them take some cute photos of him holding his head up. I'm so excited to see them all!

4. I cannot stress how thankful Shaun and I are for all the gifts we've received for Kellen. I feel horrible that I've only gotten about half of my thank you notes done, but just know that you'll get your note soon and we're thankful from the bottom of our hearts!! There are so many things people have given us that we just can't live without, many of which I had no idea I'd need. Then there's also the beautiful handmade gifts I've received. I'm so grateful that so many women took the time to make Kellen something special.

5. One of the things I'm most thankful for this week is Kellen's smile. He grins ALL the time now! Sometimes you can see his dimples and it just melts my heart. He's even giggled a couple times! Each time he smiles I feel like everything in the world is just perfect.

Mommyhood Goals - Round 1

I've got a plan! It's a good plan!

...this means it may not last long. But it's a good plan!

What's the plan? Here's the plan!

Stage 1: Find synonyms for the word "plan." Reduce usage of word "plan" to avoid sounding silly.
Stage 2: Realize I always sound silly. No shame.
Stage 3: Come up with a list of goals every month of Kellen's first year, and at the end of the month revisit my goal list to see how things went. :)

Okay, we've got a plan! Now I just need some super-worthy goals. Here's what I have for this month so far:

1. Get crafty, but start slowly. My craft list so far includes burp cloths, fancy washcloths (you'll see what I mean when I finish some and post photos. I found a cool tutorial but I lost it...so no examples for now!), cuddly blankies, and Boppy covers (check out some cool ideas and a pattern here). I'll have to work my way up to the Boppy covers, methinks!
2. Be more diligent about couponing. Thankfully I'm already doing fairly well with this! For instance, I have a fairly pricey (and necessary) purchase I'm planning to make at Babies R Us now that we have our tax refund, and thanks to a 20% off coupon I'll be spending $215 instead of $270! Go me!
3. Keep Kellen's room organized. Sounds simple...but I'm not a neat freak by any means. I'm just lucky if my clothes make it out of the laundry basket and into the closet before I wear them and put them back in the dirty laundry! Yet again, doing well so far. I'll let you know how that goes!
4. Document everything. I want to be sure every moment of Kellen's first year is recorded in some manner! Between my baby calendar, which is a good alternative to a baby book for someone disorganized like me, photo albums, and the ever-handy Instagram, this goal is well underway. :) Along with this goal, I'm going to try to post a photo blog each week so you can keep up too!

It's Thankful Tuesday!

 Since I have a lot to be thankful for, I'm stealing my friend Amber's Thankful Tuesday blog theme. :) Speaking of which, you should check out her blog here and her photo blog here. Lots of cute photos of her adorable kiddo!

This week I'm thankful for...

1. Our first month with Kellen. It's been one crazy and fun adventure for sure. He is such a sweet, precious baby and I can't imagine life without him. He's growing entirely too fast for my liking. I want time to slow down so I can enjoy having my tiny baby longer!

2. Time with friends. Last week Kellen and I got to spend some time with the lovely former support staff ladies (and he decided to misbehave...*sigh*), then we headed down to Droverstock with Mom and saw some USAO peeps. It was fun catching up with everyone! I haven't gotten to see many friends lately, so that was some much-needed friend time.

3. Maternity leave. Today is the last day, and it seems like it lasted 5 days instead of 30. I get to work from home for a month, which is great because honestly, a mental breakdown would probably be in the forecast if I had to go back to my office without him tomorrow. Even though I'll be home with him I still have ambivalent feelings about it. I'm blessed to be able to do that and thankful to have an income, but I also want nothing more than to dedicate every waking minute to my baby boy. It's a tough situation for me, knowing that eventually I'll have to spend over 8 hours a day away from him.

4. All the wonderful deals I've found lately. Finances are always tighter than skinny jeans on a chunky emo kid around our house, so having a baby in the mix makes them even tighter. Thankfully, I've found loads of great coupons to help with some of the more expensive things I need for him (Babies R Us in particular has some good'uns), and I've also started religiously checking out blogs like Money Saving Mom. How did I not know about such websites before now??

5. A great Easter weekend. Shaun, Kellen, and I went to church then headed down to Cement to celebrate with the Ladymons. I was really thankful for such a fun first Easter for Kellen, and especially that my in-laws' foster children were able to take part in a Christ-centered family's Easter. Who knows if they'll have that chance ever again.

Time flies when you're sleep deprived and having fun!

I'm currently laying on the couch with a sleeping baby on my chest. Every time I put him down he wakes up and cries. Good thing I love cuddle time with my Kellen! Plus it gives me time to blog.

My lil' man will be 3 weeks old on Monday. I can't believe he's so close to a month old already! Time never seems to pass slowly when I want it to.

The past [almost] 3 weeks have brought many funny and/or sweet moments. I think sitting in our rocking chair with Kellen and singing every hymn I know while he goes to sleep is one my favorite things in the whole world. It definitely makes up for all the moments when Kellen behaves less than stellar. ;)

As far as less-than-stellar behavior goes, today has been pretty full of it! Whitney and Ray came over to do some newborn photos [very belatedly, so they're not even really newborn photos...obviously I'm not the greatest at scheduling lately lol], which means Kellen spent a good portion of the time naked. He peed on me twice, on Whitney's blanket once, on Shaun once, and then he rounded out his bodily function-fest by pooping on my jeans. I think a couple of months ago I would've found this horrifying, but today it just made me laugh. I like to think I'm handling slightly gross bodily functions fairly well! I was worried that I wouldn't.

Speaking of ways I've surprised myself - I've become one of "those" parents. You know them. The parents who post 5,000 photos of their kids every day. Yeah, I was seriously pestered by those types before I had a kid. I promised myself that I wouldn't be one. I wouldn't flood Facebook with pictures of my kiddo! Buuuuut it looks like, despite my promises, I've failed. Let's face it, my kid is too darn cute! If anyone dislikes seeing so many photos of undeniable cuteness, they can unsubscribe from me. :)

Well, that's about all my sleep-deprived brain can come up with for now. I've definitely got some blurry days going on lately! Thankfully Shaun and I seem to handle lack of sleep better than most...or maybe Kellen is sleeping more than most newborns do. In any case, I haven't done anything incredibly goofy yet! Don't worry though, if I do anything too crazy you know I'll share it. :) I can't help but tell on myself!

{2 weeks}

Kellen will be 2 weeks old tomorrow night. Time flies when you're trying to savor every moment!

These past two weeks have taught me a lot. I dove headfirst into motherhood with the notion that anything I expect will probably turn out totally different, and I was right. For starters, everyone's "if you think you're tired now, just wait til he gets here!" proved totally wrong. I'm definitely tired, but not like I expected. Kellen sleeps at night. Not as much as I'd like, but sometimes he'll sleep for 3.5 hours at a stretch, which is awesome!

Kellen also doesn't cry very much. There have been a lot of fussy babies in my family, so I halfway expected him to spend a good deal of each day wailing. You can imagine my relief that he's a quiet little guy!

One of the things I did expect is how much Shaun loves our sweet baby. He's already the best father I've ever seen, and I'm getting teary-eyed just typing that. Having a partner in this parenthood stuff who is patient, loving, and kind is such a blessing.

What I love the most, though, is how my entire perspective on life has changed. It's hard to describe to anyone who doesn't have kids, but the way I view everything, from church sermons to songs to free time at home is different. Somehow a baby brings everything into focus. I feel I understand God's love a fraction more than before, because my love for Kellen is a dim mirror of God's love for me.

This new adventure is by far the favorite I've ever had. It's a tiring, sometimes confusing, always expensive adventure, but it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Shaun and I are so blessed to have Kellen. God's given me the best family anyone could ask for.

3/12/12

Kellen Daniel
Born at 11:33 on March 12, 2012
Weighing 8 lbs, 4 oz

My sweet baby boy is finally here, and he's already a week old! Time is already flying, and I'm not sure I like it. I want him to be my teeny little guy for a bit longer than he probably will be.

Last Monday Shaun and I went in to Deaconess at 7:30 a.m., where they induced labor. I originally decided against being induced, but my doctor would be taking a few days off and wanted to be sure she was there for the birth, so I agreed to it. Thank God I did! Turns out Kellen was bigger than anticipated (the doctor guessed 6 to 7 lbs), so any longer and I might've ended up getting a C-section or an episiotomy at the very least (yuck). I've been praising God that my doctor needed vacation time to move into her new house!

During the first few hours of labor, which lasted about 15.5 hours, the nurses and doctor monitored my contractions, asking me how much they hurt on a scale of 1 to 10. When I repeatedly said 1 or 2 they kept calling me a trooper. :) Apparently I was talking and relaxing through contractions that leave other women breathless. Then in the afternoon they broke my water and all that changed. I was still able to talk through most of the contractions, but I've been told my face turned some interesting colors. I'd already settled on having an epidural, but I didn't realize that the contractions would triple in pain right after my water broke. I wanted my epidural NOW!

The hilarious anesthesiologist made a point of telling me repeatedly that I had the perfect back for an epidural and that he was used to working with the "great white American buffalo." All the silly banter made the process pretty painless! After that it was smooth sailing, and while many women swear by the beauty of a natural birth, I couldn't be happier with my decision to have an epidural. I remained calm and clear-headed while I pushed and I was able to thoroughly enjoy my first glimpses and touches of Kellen much more than if I'd been in unnecessary pain.

Future mommies, I highly suggest Dr. Alward and the team at Deaconess for labor and delivery. Their birth center is unparalleled in the OKC area. All the doctors and nurses are as sweet and helpful as can be, and the lactation consultant works wonders. Add in the really nice rooms and calming atmosphere and you've got a winner!

Well folks, that's the story of the day Kellen arrived. I'll have more blogs on Kellen and some of our special moments for you soon! I'd appreciate everyone's prayers as the three of us are embarking on this journey as a family. Everything from Kellen's continued good health to finances to just learning to be godly parents has been on my mind lately. It's a lot to take in!

More week 38: Pregnancy brain

Brain no worky.

To be fair, my brain is working...there's just some sequencing off somewhere. I've heard of pregnancy brain, but this is ridiculous. For the past eight months, I've forgotten to do plenty of stuff, but not quite like this week. I usually forget an entire task, but this past week I've done surprisingly well remembering to get everything done...with the exception of one tiny (but important) detail.

First it was my three cheese chicken and pasta. I put all the ingredients in my skillet, Wanda (yes...she has a name. She is my favorite skillet of all time, so she deserves a name), turned the burner on two notches past medium and slapped the lid on, just like I always do. A few minutes later I noticed it wasn't bubbling like it should, and it took me another minute to realize it was because I had turned the knob the wrong way. Instead of medium high, I had it set between low and medium.

Possibly the same night (I really don't remember), I had just put a small load of Kellen's stuff in the laundry when I realized I'd forgotten to put in a few new onesies. I ran (read: waddled) back to his room, grabbed them, and ran back to the washer. I opened the lid...and saw enough water in there for a leprechaun to go swimming. I had forgotten to reset the load size, so instead of "small," it was set on "extra large." -.- Not a big deal, but highly annoying.

Fast forward to tonight...when I started frustrating myself to no end. Mom and I ran some errands and ended with a trip to WalMart so I could pick up cookie ingredients. I double-checked the recipe, declared that I had everything I needed, and headed home. Around 7:15, when I decided to start baking, I realized I'd forgotten something: eggs. I read the recipe twice, I've made this type of cookie a hundred times...yet I forgot one of the most important ingredients. *sigh*

Shaun kindly went to Braum's and picked up some eggs for me and I got started baking. I was putting the first batch in the oven when I realized that I set out the salt, but I never put any in the dough. I decided maybe it wasn't important and went ahead with my cookies.

Turns out they taste just fine, but apparently pregnancy has stolen my ability to tell when cookies are done. The first batch literally fall apart on my cookie rack. And when I say "on" my cookie rack, I really mean "through" my cookie rack. Cookies pieces everywhere.

So here I sit, drowning my sorrows in some nice cold milk and eating broken cookie pieces. I'm pretty sure I've had about 1/3 gallon of milk, but at least I'm not drowning my sorrows in what I really want: cookie dough. I think this is why I haven't baked much in the past few months. I can't handle the temptation!

I suppose Shaun was right when he recently told me "I know what a man's job is in pregnancy. The woman eats for two, the man thinks for two. In my case, anyway" At the time I wasn't so amused, but I have to admit he's right.