December Fun!

I have to say that this was one of my favorite Holidays!  Kellen was SO much fun and SO into everything that had to do with Christmas!  I also knew that this was the last Christmas for Kellen as a "only child", so I wanted to make sure that it was a pretty special one.  Over the last few years we have started some traditions and it is so much fun to continue them each year and also add to them each year!  Since we were adding to our family this year and last year Kellen actually got board opening gifts we decided to slim it down this year.  At first I felt guilty because he didn't have a whole lot under the tree, but when you add gifts from all the grandparents & Aunts & Uncles he was super spoiled, umm, I mean blessed with all the fun things he got!  So here we go with what our Christmas Month looked like...

November 29th ~ A few years ago we started the tradition to go Christmas Tree Hunting (well shopping at Home Depot, but "hunting" sounds more fun) with Uncle Andy & Cousin Ansley!  We meet at Home Depot and will pick out the best trees we can.  :o) It was so hard this year because last year we had the most beautiful tree and it was hard to find something that was just as perfect!  After some debate on size we loaded up the two trees on my Explorer and headed to Uncle Andy's to drop their tree off!  Then it was back home to get our tree in just the right spot!  Here are a few pictures...

 November 30th ~ Pictures with Santa!  Last year we were blessed to be able to go take pictures with Jason Pendley.  The experience was amazing.  No lines, the Santa was amazing, and Kellen loved it.  So this year I emailed Jason to see if he was doing it again.  At first he was not sure, but after a couple emails he finally said he was going to do it!  :o) I was not the only one asking!  Another reason I love doing this is Jason donates all the money to a needy family or this year he donated it to some needy children at his Son's school.  Anyways here are a few pictures of Kellen & Santa....

This year Kellen asked for a "REAL" car & a car wash!  Ha!  Thank goodness he changed his mind a little and just asked for some cars!  :o)   So Santa brought a Hot Wheels car track that goes on the wall!

December 1st ~ Decorating the Tree & The Woodstock Christmas Parade! This was so much fun and a new tradition that we hope to continue each year!  All the floats had lights on them (It was a night time parade).  Kellen enjoyed it, but did get a little tired since it went on for so long!  But we ordered a pizza from the Italian place on the square and ate it while the parade went by.  It really was a lot of fun!  Here are a few pictures from decorating our tree...

Love this sweet Boy!!!

December 19th ~ Kellen's Christmas Party at School!  I am an awful parent and did not take my camera and so all the pictures I did take are on my phone.  I will try to get Matt to help me get the video and the pictures off my phone and put them on here!  :o) It was so cute.  They sang 3 songs and it was so fun to watch the kiddos!  Then we went back to his classroom and they (the kids) exchanged gifts (books) and ate lunch.  they aslo gave the parents the cutest gift of a Christmas tree made out of hand prints.  It was so cute.  Kellen is still loving school and I love that he loves it!  He is learning SO much and is such a smartie pants!  

December 23rd ~ Lights of Life at Life College.  Kellen loves the lights and we will drive through it several times.  Before we went he asked if he could go see the dragon in the pond that waves his tail.  He remembered it from last year!  I could not believe it!  He loves looking at all the lights.  We noticed this year that they had a petting zoo and pony rides, but none of us were dressed and I was wearing slippers!  Ha!  Next year!  

December 24th ~ Christmas Eve...Our tradition is to spend Christmas Eve together as a family.  We started out the evening making cookies for Santa (we used the break can bake & added sprinkles). Then we enjoyed a yummy dinner of  Loaded Bake Potato Soup & Cornbread!  While we ate dinner we watched Santa on the computer to see where he was!  Kellen loved this part...he still asks if he can watch Santa on the computer...we have told him Santa is on vacation and in Hawaii!  Ha!  After we finished up we opened up our gifts!  This year we tried really hard to keep it under control!  Kellen's favorite gifts this year were books!  Here are a few pictures...

Daddy's Falcon's Apron

 

A red tractor just like Grandpa Steve!  Thanks Nana! 

Cookies For Santa!  Yummy!

December 25th ~ Such a fun day!  We woke up and Santa had come!  He ate all the cookies and only left crumbs!  And he left presents in our stockings!  Kellen was so excited!  And Santa left a Hotwheels Wall track and that was WAY cool!  of course Kellen and Matt had to set it up before we left!  We ate a small breakfast and then got ready to head of to Meme & Papa's for a Christmas Brunch!  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Amanda make some yummy French Toast Bake & and Egg Casserole that were so yummy!  Then let the spoiling begin...Kellen got so many fun things!  Aunt Amanda got him BOB books and I have to say that this is probably one of Kellen's favorites!  I can't believe he is actually reading them and loves to read them to us!  He is so proud of himself!  :o)  After we finished up there the boys headed to the airport to pick up Grandma Keeta!  After everyone was home we went for round 4 of gifts with Grandma Keeta!  Kellen got a scooter and LOVES it!  He is on it everyday!  Here are some pictures...

After all the Christmas celebrations were over and Kellen was tucked into bed, Grandma Keeta & Nana helped us take down Christmas!  Knowing that Miss Quinn was joining us the next day I knew that the house needed to go back to normal and I wanted to make sure that we could spend the entire next day with Kellen and hanging out!  It was such a fun holiday season and I hated to see it end, but I knew that the next day life was changing as we knew it and I was flooded with all types of emotions.  But all in all I could not wait to meet my little girl!  So next post...Quinn's Birth Story!

Quinn Update...

I feel so bad that I have not documented Quinn's pregnancy as I did with Kellen!  I have done one thing that I regretted not doing with Kellen and that is getting maternity pictures taken.  With Kellen I did not want any pictures taken and afterwards I felt really disappointed that I let my insecurities get the best of me!  I know that I don't feel beautiful when I am pregnant, but it is pretty neat to document that moment in our lives!

Here are a few updates from the last few appointments...

November 5th ~

In hindsight this is when some of the craziness started with my Dr's office!  It was a normal appointment where I went in and they checked all the normal things.  I was 32 weeks and measured in at 35 weeks so we discussed her size and the probability that she will be just as big as Kellen!  At the end of the appointment I was told that the office would be merging with another Dr's office over the week of Thanksgiving.  I was not able to set another appointment due to my appointment falling in the week that they were merging so I would be called at a later date!  I left with an uneasy feeling because I am such a planner and I like to know the next step! :o) But I figured I would be called with in the next week and all would be fine!  WELL....

I never heard from anyone so I called them late the next week knowing Kellen was out of school during Thanksgiving week and if I was going to have an appointment I needed to find someone to watch him!  I was told they were not taking any appointments and my Dr was not even in the office any more during the merger.  And I would probably not hear from anyone until the week of November 26th!  WHAT???  You mean I am just skipping an appointment and you are not sure when I will be seen next!  After that phone call I was so upset about being unsure about everything!  I called my mom and asked if I would be totally crazy if I wanted to change Drs at 34 weeks???  We decided that I was overreacting a little bit, but did have the right to be a little unsure about what is going on!  The next day I got a phone call saying the merger was delayed and I would be seen on the 19th (the day I should have been seen), but it would be by the midwife and not my Dr.  The only experience I have with the Midwife was early in my pregnancy when she walked in and said "So you're interested in a water birth" and me looking at her with a crazy look on my face and saying "umm NO"!!!  She walked out and I was seen by my Dr!  But at this point I was like whatever...I just wanted to check and be able to hear her heart beat!  

November 19th ~

I was able to drop Kellen off with a very good friend to watch him and told her it should take too long...WELL I was wrong.  I walked into the Drs office and it was packed full!  I was there for 2 hours just to have a 5 minute check!  Ugh!  I hate waiting!  It was pure craziness!  There was one person working the desk and the back and then just the midwife (who happens to be a talker)!!!  But all in all everything looked fine.  Quinn's heartbeat sounded great!  The midwife did tell me about a lot of women that have given birth to 10 lb+ babies naturally!  I felt a little ambushed, but just listened to her and smiled and nodded.  I understand that a c-section is MAJOR surgery  but Matt and I decided a long time ago that we are more worried about the baby and my health than trying to push out a BIG baby!  One of my biggest fears of going natural is pushing for hours only to be told that I can't do it and end up in a c-section anyways!  The midwife said the merger was being delayed till after the New Year due to the differences in the practices and how they do record keeping!  The new practice does everything in the computer and my Dr still hand writes everything in our records.  So they said it was going to be a bigger challenge than they thought!  So the plan was to wait till after the New Year and then merge!  Sounded good to me...that way I would have had my baby and be done!  I was also told that at the next Appointment I would be scheduling the c-section!  I have been asking to do this since Late summer due to the fact we have family coming in and scheduling Christmas & someone to be with Kellen!  :o)

November 28th~

Time for another ultrasound...we were so excited to be able to see her again!  AND see how BIG she is getting!  With Kellen he didn't move a lot during the ultrasounds so with Quinn I started drinking some caffeine before hand to make sure she is moving!    WELL....once we got in there the tech kept going back to her heart and looking at it...after about the 4th time I started to get a little nervous.  She did all the measurements to see how big she is and it looked like she was about 7 lbs 1 oz...yes that would be the size of most normal babies at birth and I was only 35 weeks!  They also said that was an underestimate, because her belly was a little on the bigger side!  She didn't get any really good pictures because she had her face buried in the placenta, but I put the one she did get below!  She finally said that she wanted to talk to the Dr because Quinn's heart rate was a little high!  So the Dr came in and took a look at it.  The first time the ultrasound tech looked at it is was in the 190's, but then had come back now to the 150's the other times.  The Dr decided she would like to monitor me for the next 20-30 minutes so she could get a better picture of her heart rate.  So I was hooked up to be monitored.  The nurse was super nice and we got to listen to Quinn's heart beat for about 30 minutes.  In the beginning it was all over the place and was getting up to the 180's and then would go back down.  The Dr came in at one point and asked, "Did you smoke ore drink caffeine before you got here"?  I said "I had a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte" (which has below the daily suggested amount of caffeine).  After about 30 minutes Quinn settled down and her heart rate went back to normal!  The Dr contributed it to my Chai Tea Latte!  :o) But it was nice to listen to her for a while!

December 3rd ~

A day where I was actually excited to go to the Dr since we were supposed to be scheduling Quinn's debut. But it turned out to be just a normal appointment except I got the do the GBS test...for those that know what that is then you know what I am talking about!  It was a short and sweet appointment, but I left super disappointed after being told that we would schedule Quinn's debut at my next appointment!

December 12th ~

A day I would love to rewind and change what happened.  Many people have heard the events of this day, but I thought that I would document it and document it after I had some time to process everything!  It was supposed to be THE DAY that we finally got to schedule Quinn's c-section!  It started off as a normal appointment with checking all the fun stuff like my weight, my blood pressure and of course peeing in a cup!  Then I was back in the room waiting for the Dr.  She walked in listened to Quinn's heart and measured my belly...the we talked about how big she was getting and that she is going to probably weigh in around 10 lbs as I am measuring in at 42 weeks!  We talked about tying my tubes (which I am not doing...I just can't make that decision of having no more babies...all though if you ask Matt we are DONE)!!!  Then we she looked at me and said, "well we have some good news and some bad news"!  My heart starts racing at this point and every bad thing starts racing through my mind!  She continues, "you are in the home stretch and everything looks great, but we are closing our doors for the time being...my midwife is pregnant and having social issues and I am having some family issues in Louisiana that I need to take care of...would you like me to recommend a Dr or would you like to find your own"???  SAY WHAT???  I was able to mumble out that I would like a recommendation since I had NO idea where to begin!  She asked where I would like to give birth and what was close to us.  I had no problem with not going to North Fulton after our tour and the nurse said that she hoped I would go into early labor and not make it in time for a c-section.  So we settled on Northside...Kellen was born at Northside and we really did like it there.  She recommended her Dr that did both of her c-sections and she said she does a fantastic c-section and a lot of Dr's choose her as their Dr.  So I walked up to the desk and was told to have a seat while I waited for them to copy my chart and give me the Dr's info.  At this point I was trying not to panic.  I am 37 weeks and supposed to be giving birth in a matter of 2 weeks.  I am supposed to be making phone calls after this appointment and telling people when Quinn would be making her way into the world!  But I am not I am literally waiting for them to copy my chart  and I am now on the search for a new Dr!  I just can't wrap my brain around it!  Why???  Why would you do this to someone who is hormonal and about to give birth!  Why???  So the receptionist handed me a packet and looked at me and said "Good Luck"!!!  REALLY!!!  That is what you tell me!  I made it all the way out of the office and called Matt to tell him what was going on and almost made it to my car when I totally melted down!  I hate change....I don't deal well with change...and I am even worse when I don't see that change coming!  I was a total mess.  Matt couldn't talk as he was walking into a meeting.  My mom could only talk for about 5 seconds before she was walking into a meeting and then I made phone calls to about 5 people and got 5 voice mails (I only left one voice mail since I only made it half way through before I became a bumbling mess) so I gave up and cried all the way home before I got a phone call back!  The rest of the afternoon was a whirlwind!  There were so many supportive people that listened to me and offered advice and help with Dr referral's   One of the families at my moms school went above and beyond trying to help me find a Dr.  The nurse at my moms school who also has worked at Northside knew of the Dr that my Dr recommended and said she was SO sweet and that I would love her...so that is who I called.  The receptionist was so nice and had a calming sense about her...she had me laughing by the time I got off the phone with her!  I made appointment for December 20th and that is when I will also schedule my c-section.  Through out the week I have had so many feelings...Anger, being the main one and a lot of nervousness about the unknown.  But now I am pretty much at peace with it, because maybe this was supposed to happen and I am better off with a new Dr even though it happened in the craziest way!  I know that she has to come out and if I end up in an emergency room with someone random delivering Miss Quinn then so be it!  :o)  As long as she gets here safe and sound and I come through it safe and sounds I don't care who it is!

Honesty...

I can't believe that November is gone and December seems to be going just as fast!!!  I have to say this has been the fastest pregnancy ever!!!  So I decided that I have to be honest and thinking about how my life is going to change in a matter of 2 1/2 short weeks scares me to death!  I (and I hate to admit it, but Kellen is picking up this trait) am SO afraid of change!  Don't get me wrong I am SO excited about Quinn's arrival and she is the answer to a lot of prayers!  :o)  BUT the idea of how much "change" is coming is enough to totally put me in denial that she actually has to come out of her warm place!  :o)  Our little family has a great routine and I know that will change...I also know that we will find a new routine and I will realize that I am worried about absolutely nothing.  BUT that does not stop the worry & fear of the BIG CHANGE coming!  I think I am more worried about Kellen and his routine being totally turned upside down and having to deal with the repercussions from him and a newborn and recovering from a c-section all at the same time.

I do remember having similar feelings when I had Kellen, but I also remember that they disappeared the minute he was put into my arms!  Everything just came naturally!  So just because I know our life is getting ready to change I decided to document what our days are like so I can remember what life was like before Quinn!!!  Believe me we live a pretty boring life, but this is more for me than anyone else...

On non school days....we don't wake up to an alarm (unless we have something I have to do and actually have to be there at a certain time and all made up), but our alarm is an almost 4 year old little boy that will crawl into bed with us and snuggle!  I treasure this time, because he is in such a good mood and full of "I love you's" and kisses!  How could anyone not love to wake up like that!  :o)

Then it is the normal showering and getting ready!  Getting Kellen dressed these days is like wrangling cattle (and yes I have actually done that so I can truly compare the two things)...The other day, Matt was attempting to get him dressed and Kellen says, "Daddy want to play a game...It is called catch Kellen and get him dressed"?  All being said as he is running in circles (naked) on our bed!!!

Breakfast time in our house consists of Kellen eating and watching cartoons and me eating and catching up on Facebook  pinterst, and the blog world!  We started the very BAD habit of watching TV while he eats a long time ago...it was the only thing that made him stop long enough to sit still and eat and lets just say we have not broke this habit yet.  :o)  I figured once he is older I will start the whole family dinner thing!  :o)

Of course Kellen will usually finish breakfast before me so he gets in some play time...he is really into cars right now and we have rug from Ikea with roads on it that will entertain him for a bit and then he will move onto something else.  We are still working on the whole pick up what you played with before moving on....We are trying really hard to work with him on picking up his own toys and I do have say since he started school he has become a little better, but it is still a fight at home.  Usually our living room looks like a war zone in the first couple hours of the day!

After breakfast we will run errands or I will do things around the house such as the dishes or laundry and such!  These days the house seems to stay in the state of "messy" because I just don't have the energy to keep picking up and do all the daily tasks that need to be done!

We will eat lunch...most of the time it consists of "Peanut butter and Jelly time" as Kellen calls it.  I am really trying to branch out on his eating, but he is just like his daddy and can eat the same thing every day for 365 days a year!  Yuck!  I need variety!  :o)

After lunch we have started having snuggle time on the couch since Kellen decided to give up his naps.  So we will turn on a movie and snuggle in on the couch....These days more than likely I fall asleep on the couch and he will sit there watching TV or playing on my ipad.  He is also really into playing PBS kids on the computer.  We have really struggled with trying to set limits on computer time and other rules!  We are still trying to figure out the whole parenting thing out...since we have a little boy that is trying so hard to turn into a BIG boy!  :o)

Our afternoons really do consist of snuggles, playing and many times a few tickle fights thrown in!  :o)  I love Kellen's laugh and watching him change is just amazing!  He has a wild imagination and has really started to talk to all his toys and tell stories!  Matt gets home around 5 and then Kellen is all about his Daddy and LOVES spending time with him!  Matt has been so great about letting me veg on the couch or get a few other things done while he makes dinner usually with Kellen asking to help!  :o) Then it is Bath time...Kellen really is a daddy's boy and has a hard time when it is my turn to put him to bed.  I guess Daddy is a lot cooler than Mommy!  :o) They will serve imaginary ice cream to each other, pretend dogs, & whatever else that Kellen can imagine!  :o) Then it is lights out and we usually don't hear from Kellen again!  :o) He has been having a few rough nights...about every morning around 4ish he will talk in his sleep...one night he was laughing and said "that's silly"!  Some mornings he cries out in his sleep about monsters!  He has also picked up his snoring like his DAD!!!  :o)

Kellen is still loving school.  He goes Monday, Wednesday, & Friday!  He LOVES it and I love hearing his stories when he comes home!  It is so fun to hear him talk about some of his friends now that he is learning their names!  He really does have the biggest heart and I get notes home saying how he helped out a friend in class or played with a little one that speaks very little English!  :o)  It warms my heart every time I think of how sweet my boy is and how BIG his heart is!  He is learning so many things... especially songs and I love hearing him sing them and with Christmas coming he is learning some great little stories to tell!  It is SO cute!

Thankful

This year we have SO much to be thankful for!  The two top things on the list are my little ones!

Kellen keeps me laughing daily!  He is so much fun right now...I wish that there was some magic spell to put him under to keep him this age forever!  The things that come out of his mouth makes me laugh all day!  We have our struggles with him, but most of the time it can be fixed with food or sleep!  Ha!  He takes after his mama!

Then there is Little Miss Quinn!  We are are so thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far and that she continues to grow and grow!  She is a mover too...I think that the bigger that she get the less room she has and the more stretching she does...when I sit down she almost rebels and pushes back!

I have had a couple of Dr's appointments and all is good!  I got to see the midwife this week (my Dr was out for the day)....she felt what position Quinn was in and estimates her to be about 4 1/2 to 5 lbs...which I guess is pretty average!  We go for an ultrasound next week to check in on her so it will be interesting to see what they say!  I think the midwife was trying to talk me out of a c-section in her own sneaky way...I wanted to tell her to save her breath!  My biggest fear in going that route is to go into labor and be in labor for hours only to find that she is too BIG for me to push out and end up in a c-section anyways!  I know what a c-section is all about...I know it is major surgery...I know the healing time is supposed to be longer than the natural way!  I promise anyone that has any doubts about my (and Matt's) decision that I have thought it through and this is what I want!  I don't feel like I am being robbed of any special moment because I don't push out my babies!  That is a little bit of a sore subject with me...can you tell???  We decided to take a tour of the hospital again since we will be giving birth at a different hospital than we did with Kellen.  I can't say if it was a good thing or a bad thing!  The hospital is great and the NICU is wonderful (if Quinn needs to go there).  The hospital is a great choice if you want to go the natural way...they have the lowest c-section rate in the South East and they are very proud of that fact!  So me coming in with a scheduled c-section counts against that rate!  The nurse giving the tour made a little jab at us and said she hopes that I go into early labor and end up in a natural delivery!  Needless to say it didn't sit well with me!  I am all for natural births, but I grow BIG babies and Matt and I decided a long time ago that we feel for the babies safety and mine we will stick with c-sections!  Okay done with my tangent!

I am so thankful for my supportive Husband that is willing to go along with my crazy ideas and put up with my (more than not these days) craziness!  He works so hard to give us everything that we need and want!  :o)  To be able to stay at home with my kiddos is truly a blessing!

I am thankful for our family and friends!  A couple weeks ago they totally spoiled us and threw us a shower for Miss Quinn!  I don't know if I can say thank you enough for all that they have done and do for us!  They truly are our "village" that help us through life!  :o)

 

I am thankful for so many other small things in my life that I could continue to write and write, but I will close with saying the small things are some of my favorite things like Kellen's giggle, Matt and Kellen playing on the floor, and then there is Starbucks!  I am so thankful for Starbucks Chai Tea Latte's!  :o)

I hope that each and everyone of you have a great Thanksgiving!  :o)