3 months old!

her favorite show!


classic cars and bluebell ice cream at first irving:


self portrait time while daddy babysits:


kai and pepaw on mother's day:


you lookin' at me?


can you believe my mommy put a bow on me??



get off my mat!!!



i guess you can stay - but if that arms goes up in my face one more time...


i think i'll just chill after all



that's some good milk



i will say this - the past three months have gone by SO much faster than the three before Kai was born... something about that last trimester...

my first mother's day was swell... shawn put some photos in frames for me and gave me some little thoughtful things and spent the afternoon with me instead of working on the house... we also hung out with our families.

we're headed to galveston tomorrow for our first family trip! i'm so excited... check back next week for some photos (and hopefully some fun stories)

oh yeah, we took kai to her first concert, but the pictures are on the other computer... i'll post those next week too... it was awesome!

Many people have asked what the baby's middle name is, or maybe given us a strange look when they hear what it is. It is not a common name but it is a living memorial to Shawn's mother, Candy, who passed away when Shawn was 7. His aunt Deanne wrote this poem about her after her death, and his Grandma shared it with us a few weeks ago. Some of you undoubtedly know the story of Shawn's mother, and I still learn new details daily. I love visiting with Shawn's grandmother because she tells us stories about Candy. The poem below talks about her life after a major accident in which she was run over by a car. She survived and as you will read recovered beyond any doctor's prognosis. As my first mother's day approaches, I find myself thinking about how our life would be different if Candy was still with us, if I had ever met her. I wanted to post this as a tribute to Kairi's paternal grandmother, and namesake, who is only able to be with us in spirit.

CANDY


They said she would never be able to walk again...
but she did.
They said she would never be able to hold down a job or live on her own…
but she did.
They even said this 27-year old should be put in a nursing home…
but she did not go.

This young woman of conquest was not overly athletic,
overly ambitious, or
overly educated.
She might even appear to be quite average,
but she was not.
She had atremendous will to live,
to thrive,
to be made whole again.
Her spirit is an inspiration to me daily.

I saw her just 12 hours after the accident.
Was this the same girl I had known my entire life?
I wasn’t even sure at first.
It was not the body I had known.
This one was hopelessly damaged.
It hurt to look at her.
My honest hope was that the good Lord
would take her quickly
and not let her suffer...
not let me suffer.

She had a different hope, however, and she did live.
She came out of the coma
and was with us once more.
Her will to live was so strong and sure
…a miracle to me…
pure determination to her.

The machines that pushed air into her lungs were at last unplugged.
The tubes that fed her were disconnected sometime later.
She was truly on her own.

Her legs,
useless for so long,
were urged on by her deeply committed will not only to live,
but to thrive.
Month after month of painful therapy and her perseverance made
that pair of misshapen legs move once again.

She left the hospital after nine long months.
She found a place to live that met her special needs.

A large department store even allowed her to work with the public.
She would greet her customers
with the throaty rasp of one with a tracheotomy,
and would walk in her own special way
towards the cash register to ring up their purchases.

She had made it!
She had accomplished her goal!
She was thriving.

Without warning, the Lord took her away.
He took her away from me
and you who never had a chance to know this person with so much life.

Her enthusiasm was infectious.
Her love of life well documented.
I am so proud to call this
woman of determination my sister.

nearly 10 weeks

here are her stats from our 2 month exam:

height: 22 3/4 inches - 75th percentile

weight: 12 lbs 8 oz - 97th percentile

head: not sure, but 50th percentile (must not take after her big-headed mama!)

other highlights of parenthood to infant kai:
-increased interest in things that make noise (fishtank, tummytime mat, people)
-lots of smiling - she's a pretty happy baby which is a total blessing!
-occasional laughter - doc says most babies don't start till 4 months, so we feel pretty proud (she assured me breast is best!)
-sitting up - she's gone from laying in my lap to practically sitting up a couple of times - talk about strong abs!

here are some adorable pics of her in her bumbo seat (on loan from the schweers - thanks so much!) check out those cheeks!

totally two months

we've had a busy couple of weeks!

we visited with my side of the family the weekend before last for my nephew's birthday - kai hung out with her cousin ryan for a while:



then mid-week we visited with shawn's grandmother:



this last weekend kai got to hang out with her cousin aj:



and tonight, in honor of earth day - i tried to catch her smiling - but it didn't work out and the flash is so bright you can't really read her onesie - but it says "lil tree hugger"



we have our 2 month check up tomorrow - and the first batch of cloth diapers should be arriving any day! i returned to work (not too happy about that one) last thursday and shawn's been working so hard on tiling the kitchen and hallway and back bathroom... it's nearly finished, we'll post pictures when it's done! hope everyone's well... leave us a comment or drop us a line anytime!

sweet seven weeks

can you believe it??? seven weeks already... we went to Dr. Dominique for my 6 week post-op appointment...

unfortunately, I think Kai remembered her as the "awful person who pulled me from my warm mother's womb"



and here's the adorable bath photo:



and asleep in my favorite baby-gap-flower-child-jumpsuit:

a girl's gotta shop!

shawn and i signed up for childbirth education classes prior to baby... at our first class i was surprised to see a couple of former classmates (go IHS)... little did i know that the wife of one would become a dear friend...

the first time we hung out was an afternoon trip to babies r us after i took maternity leave but about a week before i had kai.. it was the 13th... the whole time, annie joked about how scared she was my water would break while we were out and about... she was due 5 weeks later.

we got home and annie left my house to go home...i got a phone call about 15 minutes later and since i didn't answer, a text message a few minutes later "my water broke!"

needless to say, annie gave birth to magnolia that evening (and I was a tad bit jealous!)

these days, you'd hardly know noli was 5 weeks early! she and kai have already become BFF - sporting matching strollers and the question "are they twins" every 15 minutes while shopping



on another note... here's our new dining room chandelier - rehabbed by my very handy husband, donated by the andersons:

baby and bunny

we had our one month check up friday - well, it was really 5 weeks because we switched pediatricians and they couldn't get us in last week... so here are her new stats:

22 1/2 inches long ..... 11 lbs 7 oz.... things are good!

my two baby girls:



mommy, i'm so tired of this dress!



trying to eat daddy's nose!



our "professional" posed easter pic:




i'm such a doll!

one marvelous month

so "technically" i'm a day late - but to me, it's still Kai's one month birthday! everyone seems to want to know her sleeping habits... so here's a normal schedule in the day of our lives:

12 AM - settle into deep sleep until...

3-4ish - rouse for feeding, settle sometimes quite quickly back into sleep until...

7-8ish - rouse for midmorning snack - mom tries to stay awake but joins me rather quickly in midmorning nap

11:30ish - rouse for lunch - mom stays up for good after this feeding, i usually fall asleep just as dad is getting home for lunch which gives mom time to take a shower and get me ready to run errands if we need to

3-4ish - rouse for mid afternoon snack - it's a little harder for me to fall asleep after this meal - i like to check out our house, especially the ceiling

8 ish - wake up for late dinner - sometimes i stay awake after this feeding until the next one - i'm a party animal!

11ish - midnight snack and sleep (i've let mom and dad sleep till 5 a couple of times!)

here's me waking up from a nap today:


aren't i cute?

also, her belly button has completely healed and i wanted to take a picture, because let's face it, i'm her mother and think everything about her is adorable... but do you know how difficult it is to get a picture of a newborn's belly? i can't use the flash because it's way too bright and if i turn it off, she squirms too much for it to take a clear picture... but take my word for it, it's precious

we should've gone for her one month check up this week, but we're switching pediatricians and the soonest they had was next friday - i'm anxious to see how much the little monkey weighs... hmm... maybe i'll do a poll...

well, expect some more pictures after sunday, being easter and all - until then sweet dreams:

always read carefully

i try to teach my 5th graders this lesson daily... maybe i should spend more time teaching my husband!

we went to whole foods last night because i wanted to check out their selection of baby products (more on that later)... and because we needed groceries...

i took shawn with me, which i usually don't do, but it's nice to have an outing with the baby and feel like a family... so he came. we were in the meat department and he spots a brisket out of the corner of his eye... the price tag says 8.99... shawn's like, that's a great price for this... so i'm like, well get it then...

let me mention that he is totally excited about his brisket... we're checking out and he picks it up, looks lovingly at it and says, mmmm grass fed beef, this is going to be good... i'm like, where does it say grass fed? and he's like, i don't know...

so we check out and our grocery bill is over $200! ok, feel a little guilty - but some of that was diapering stuff and well, i hadn't spent any money in over 2 weeks... so i didn't feel so bad.

as we're heading for the door, shawn says, i should've read the price on that brisket more carefully... and i'm like, why? was it 8.99 a pound? shawn kind of awkwardly grins, yeah... it was like $29 or something...

turns out the price was printed on the meat - just like it usually is on packaged meat - 9.99 a pound x 3.9 pounds = $39.76!!! all the way home, shawn felt sick to his stomach - this is a man who thinks $4 a pound for ground turkey or beef is a lot!

so we'll be eating 40 dollar brisket this weekend if you'd like to join us... but please, bring a side - we can't afford potato salad!

kairi the social butterfly

my brother got married on saturday...so kai had her first party!

resting up in the car on the way to the reception, isn't she adorable?



with the bride and groom, uncle matt and aunt rita



our first family photo



representin' the crooked I

two weeks today

time flies doesn't it? well, it crawled by when i was waiting for her arrival, and now it goes too fast... each day she changes... i can't believe how different she looks already from two weeks ago! i figured i needed to type up her birth story soon, because each day the memory fades a little more and more... i suppose it's nature's way of keeping up reproduction! here goes:

*disclaimer - may be some gore involved*

2.21.08

6:00 - woke up eager to get ready to get to the hospital

6:45 - pretended like my water had broken, rushed to hospital (one exit down the freeway)

7:00 - arrive a Baylor Irving, Labor and Delivery, check in

7:30 - Dr. Dominique comes in and breaks my water for real, very strange feeling... find out there's meconium in water which means baby has had a bowel movement in utero, freaks me and shawn out a bit, but no big deal to everyone else

8:00 - contractions begin - not too bad, kinda like a period... nurse comes in and says, ok, we're going to begin pitocin

9:00 - 5:00 - time becomes foggy/irrelevant - pitocin makes the contractions worse, they give me Stadol - makes room spin, makes pain disappear and makes Shawn a god

Stadol wears off, torture nurse returns with more pitocin

contractions start to take my breath away - shawn no longer a god, in fact, becomes cops-watching-wife-neglecting-doofus with his hat on crooked

ask for epidural and cry alot because of pain and feeling of defeat, i look at shawn for a moment and see a tear streaming down his cheek - no longer a doofus but a sweet husband who just doesn't know what to do

anesthesiologist arrives and the horrendous experience of an epidural begins - the first time she stuck the needle in my spine and started "routing around" i could feel everything quite painfully but not as painful as the contractions in my right hip - strange sensation... she says, ok, i'm just going to find a different spot... puts bloody needle on bed beside me which makes shawn queasy - he has to leave room so he doesn't pass out... she does it again and it takes, tells me to lie down... about the time my blood pressure drops to like 70/40 and the baby's heart rate dropped to i don't know what and i start vomiting and feeling like i'm dying and begging someone to help me... they stabilize us and leave us be for a couple of hours... only complaint is that i'm numb from the neck down instead of the waist down.

at a couple of points, they check my cervix for progress... at 3 PM i had made it to a 5... they came back at 5 PM and i was still at a 5, my contractions had pretty much stopped... so Dr. Dominique was called and I was prepped for a c-section

5:30 - enter torturous anesthesiologist again - she gives me the drugs via IV and the nurse makes me drink some stuff that's supposed to keep me from vomiting... they wheel me out and through the halls to the OR... getting queasy, anesthesiologist asks if i get motion sickness alot - no - hmmm - we get into the OR and i start vomiting again - all the stuff that was supposed to keep me from vomiting - all over my cheek and shoulder... lovely

we make it into the room and i make an interesting observation - all of the people working on us are women, not a man in the room... i was very impressed that they could move me from bed to bed with no men... girl power! i digress... so they strap me to the table and all the sudden i can't swallow... FREAKS me out... the anesthesiologist is like, it's ok, you don't need to swallow and i'm like, i can't swallow, i can't swallow! over and over again and then start trying to get free from the table and she's like, ok, here's something to calm you down... thank you!

5:55 - so i just kind of drift in and out of consciencious until shawn comes in... they start cutting and before you know it

6:02 - we hear a baby crying and then we see her... shawn says "i feel like i'm dreaming" and all of the sudden we're parents of the most beautiful baby girl in the world... just like that. crazy how that is.

in case you forgot what she looked like then:



and here she is today:





this is one of those, you have to look at from far away....me trying to be artsy again

some more pics

I don't have as many as i thought... but here are a few:

Kai with her god parents, Kari and Rob:

One of my favorite things:



Mama likes to try artsy angles, but i just like my hand:





Noli and Kai, 8 days apart:

on the drip

so, i went to the ER Friday night... they were really good about getting us in a room pretty fast so Kai wouldn't be exposed to all the nasties... turns out i had some kind of "oma" which is basically a collection of blood that might have been infected... so they put me on an iv with antibiotics and did some blood work... and sent me home... the pain was significantly better upon leaving the hospital, and i haven't had it since... so i'm assuming i did have an infection... still on antibiotics, going to follow up tomorrow... but things are better... i guess i just assumed it was part of the healing process...

i'll post some more pics of the baby tomorrow - and maybe get around to her birth story sometime this week!

pain

say a little prayer for me... i've got to go to the hospital tonight because i'm having some pain in my abdomen... the incision is fine, but i could have an infection inside or a hernia. i'm in a lot of pain when i walk, and the pain medicine doesn't help... i'm scared because i don't want to leave the baby and am worried about nursing, so we're waiting until the middle of the night so hopefully the ER won't be as crowded... and i certainly don't want it to be a major ordeal.. i'd like to be healed so i can give 100% to my baby girl!

thanks for all of your kind words and support!

one week already!

Well, baby Kai is one week old today and had a busy first week of life!

She's learned how to eat... been to the doctor's office...had tummy time... gotten her first bath (wasn't too crazy about that one)... had some explosive diapers... and stolen her mommy and daddy's hearts.

Two little glow-worms...


Daddy's little girl


Tummy time closeup