First Christmas (Part 1)

Santa Claus at Bass Pro Shop
My First Christmas -- This outfit was one of cousin Brayden's first Christmas Outfits (he would have been 6 months old at that time and it fits Alivia at almost 4 months! Ha!)

My Beautiful Girl at her First Christmas party!

It gets better...This Christmas Dress was my niece, Ashleighs, that she wore for her first Christmas...she was almost a YEAR OLD! And it fits Alivia at nearly 4 months old! She's a healthy girl! And looks as cute as her cousin did when she wore it! : ) Bittersweet that my other girl is all grown up and my little girl is growing up just as fast!!

She kinda looks like a thug! A darn cute one I might add! ; )

The first of many Christmas celebrations

We start the celebration of Christmas with a vengeance! : ) We began celebrations this weekend with the 2nd annual Kern/Jaschen Christmas and Kern/Cox Christmas. Brian, Becca and Meliah spent the day with us on Saturday. We were glad to make it happen after an essentially emergency surgery for Aunt Becca and were ecstatic that she was a "trooper" and was able to travel to see us. And more ecstatic that she listened to my request that she wasn't to do ANYTHING! We had a great day and enjoyed spending time with the family! Alivia was spoiled as ever receiving wonderful gifts that she will grow to use for months to come! She received a move and crawl ball and was sitting in my arms with her butt on the floor...she actually scooted on her butt towards to the ball trying to get closer! It was incredibly cute!!

We finished the busy weekend with the Kern/Cox Christmas enjoying a few hours with Nick, Sabrina and Brylee. They gave Alivia a cute ball popper....the Elefun Popper that Brylee showed Alivia how to use. Adorable! Nick and Sabrina gave each of us a thoughtful gift remembering Angel as well and will forever be appreciated!! We enjoyed visiting with them for the evening and wish that we could do it more often! Life is so incredibly busy for everyone it's hard to have enough time but I find myself more and more telling myself that I we need to MAKE time as good friends are hard to come by.

This weekend is only the beginning to a very busy week preparing the "real thing" of Alivia's First Christmas! I have the entire week off of work this week and as much as I would love to just stay home all week with Alivia I find myself as busy as I am if I am working and will probably welcome the return to work after getting everything I want to get done (or trying to get it done would be better stated) this week.
We start the crazy week off with Alivia's 4 month check-up! 4 MONTHS!!! AHHH! It's insane to say that she is already 4 months old and continues to amaze us in the things that she learns!! The biggest thing....she rolled over today!! She is 4 months old today and she rolled over from her back to her belly...twice. She had a tiny bit of help getting started in the direction and she did the rest. Thinking it was a "fluke" we rolled her back over and she did it again! Made this Mommy cry (of course!) We of course heard that most babies roll from belly to back first so our baby girl is "original" as in most cases : ) Her smiles can make any bad day better in an instant. She continues to laugh more and more. She is getting stronger each day and sits with little assistance for short periods before toppling over.

Jay and I are convinced that we will never receive as good of a gift as we received last year when we found out we were pregnant again. Alivia is the greatest gift that we could ever ask for and are thankful for her each and every day. We are anxious for our very first Christmas as a family. We wish everyone a wonderful and safe holiday and a happy new year in the event that I am not able to post again before ringing in 2012! Be grateful for your friends and family, never take them for granted and know the good things that you have in life!

Merry Christmas with Love!

Merry Christmas Angel Girl

Hello Angel Girl: Merry Christmas! I find this time to be very bittersweet as I continue to miss you and always thinking about you and how we should have a one year old to celebrate and make the holidays fun. At the same time, we enjoy your sister's first Christmas and know that we will never get as good of a gift as we received from you last year when we found out we were pregnant again. You are on our minds and many others minds as well. I struggle at times that it seems like some think that Alivia is a "replacement" of you and that you are "forgotten" but that will never be the case! You will never be replaced and we will always think of you every day. Your sister is a blessing and we love her unconditionally. You both have very special places in our hearts and minds and we could never imagine replacing you in the least bit. Aunt Becca speaks of you often and reminds me that it's important to remember that you are always with us. Our good friends Nick and Sabrina got us very special gifts this year reminding us always that you are also our girl and Alivia has a special Angel for a sister. We know that you will always look after her and us. We miss you sweet girl and love you forever! I wanted to write a quick note reminding myself that it will never be taboo to mention you and you will never ever be forgotten or replaced in our hearts and minds.
Merry Christmas with love from Mommy, Daddy and Alivia!!

Alivia's First Thanksgiving

Once again, three weeks after I compose a post I am finally going to get it posted! Sabrina mentioned that eventually I will get to the point that I will learn to post the "verbage" and not wait for pictures; well I will take that advice!

So here we are following the first of the holidays! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time goes...a 1/4 of the way through December already and Alivia is nearing 4 months!


What's gone on since our last post? Our weekends continue to be as crazy as they were pre-Alivia so it's hard to keep track of it all. We had a Kern family get-together on 11/12 where Alivia was able to meet her Aunts/Uncles/Cousins from the Kern side, many for the first time. The following weekend we traveled to Aunt Becca and Uncle Brian's house to stay for a night while Aunt Becca had a scope done. We played with Meliah on Friday until they got home from the procedure. We then continued to Villisca to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for a short visit. They love to see her and Great Grandpa even got to hold her at his own request! : ) After our visit we traveled even more down to Nana and Papa's house for the night and Mommy and Daddy left Saturday while Liv had an overnight with Nana, Papa, and Ashleigh while we went to a concert with Brandon, Jenny, and Allison where we met up with Katie & Erika on Saturday night then the Baptism class on Sunday to prepare for Liv's baptism that we are planning in January. We were very anxious to pick her up on Sunday and get home after yet another looong weekend for peanut! : ( She has become quite the trooper in being shuffled all over...she is learning the ways of our hectic lifestyle!
We ended our weekends on the run in November this past weekend with the Thanksgiving holiday. Alivia's first Thanksgiving went well and she was able to meet more family that she has not gotten to meet yet and see others that haven't seen her in awhile. We had dinner at Great Aunt Martha's on Thursday afternoon where she got to finally meet her Great Grandma Seibert and other Aunts/Uncles/Cousins from the Seibert side. We spent the evening at home until Mommy went Black Friday shopping with Sabrina that night after Liv went to bed. The following morning we packed up and headed to Great Grandma's house where we had dinner with Nana, Papa, Ashleigh, Aunt Amber, Uncle Chris, Aunt Heather, Uncle Chad and Alexander. We got there early enough to watch the first Hawkeye vs. Nebraska game but unfortunately was not in the Hawkeye's favor this year. After a long weekend, we were all happy to be home on Sunday and more than ready to stay there for awhile (or at least a couple of weeks until it's time to travel again!) We ended the first Thanksgiving weekend with putting up the Christmas tree and lights. Alivia loves to watch the lights!! : ) Mommy can't wait to start putting her gifts under the tree!!
This past weekend was Mommy's company Christmas party and Liv stayed the night with Aunt Jenny, Uncle Brandon, and cousin Brady! And Brady was extremely excited!! : ) (I think Aunt Jenny might have been a little bit too!) ; ) We picked up Liv on Sunday and Jenny had her all dressed up in Brady's first Christmas outfit and brought this Mom to tears! It was absolutely adorable! Sunday was cold and rainy and ended up being an R&R snuggle day for the family.
Alivia's milestones since our last post: She has currently taken a liking to sitting in a bumbo chair. Jay and I started pulling her up to a sitting position and since we have done that she no longer wants to lay down. She wants to be active and gets frustrated when she can't figure out how to do it! She does very well in the bumbo chair. Another one is her rolling to her side last Saturday to see a toy that she wanted to look at. This enacts that we get out of the habit of leaving her laying on her changing table or couch because I don't foresee it being too long before she gets herself all the way over! She continues to chat with anyone that will listen and loves to be talked to.
With that, we are gearing up for Alivia's first Christmas. While we know it won't be the excitement for her that it will be next year so her Mommy and Daddy will have to be excited enough for her! As with most holidays it will entail a lot of running around and traveling but we are most excited to wake up Christmas morning as a family and see the exciting things that Santa brings her and most of all to wake up in our house and enjoy Christmas morning together!

I'd like to think that I will get another post together before the holidays but at the rate that I am going I am not sure there will be one so I end this post wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas with lots of love!!

Alivia's First Halloween

Alivia was a pig for her First Halloween (the cutest pig I've ever seen I might add). This choice doesn't go without a story as mentioned in prior posts as our little girl snorts just like a piglet! She has since the day she was born and continues to do so when she is revving up to show her angry side. We also experienced a squeal from our piglet when Daddy got her to giggling and she let out a squeal just like a pig! The costume choice suits her well as she also eats just like a little piglet! : )

2 Month Family Photo Session by Becky Henry Nissen ~ 10.15.11
2 Month Family Photo Session by Becky Henry Nissen ~ 10.15.11

My First Halloween

With my first pumpkin patch pumpkin

"I have Mommy under my spell"

"My 1st Halloween"

Really Mommy, pictures this early in the morning.

FINALLY! Pictures -- October

She loves her Cousin Ashleigh!
Hello! : )

2 Month Check-up + Vaccinations : (

Our Chunky Monkey! : )

"Lil Pumpkin"

"Our Lil Pumpkin" -- Alivia's first Halloween!

The Jaschen Family lovin on Miss Alivia!

Aunt Becca snoozing with Alivia

"Love at first sight!"

Meliah giving Alivia some love. They will be the best of friends!

Since 10/23....

It seems like I just get a post created and next thing I know, it's weeks later and it's time to recollect the happenings since the last post. Since 10/23 when I started the last post...crazy that is already 3 weeks ago!

Jay and my 3rd wedding anniversary was on 10/25 which we celebrated a week early with a date night to Rodney Carrington show. We celebrated again the weekend prior to our anniversary with an ISU game with Ashleigh while Alivia stayed with Nana for the day. I am not sure who was more excited...Ashleigh or Nana...but it was a good day nonetheless. We went to the game with Amber, Chris, Jenny, Brandon, Matt, Allison and Brady...to which was the first football game for both Ashleigh and Brady. A fun day! We wrapped up our annivesary celebration on the night of our anniversary with a quiet dinner out as a family. The 3 of us went to Olive Garden and enjoyed dinner together. : )

(I have come to realize that our weekends have not changed much since prior-Alivia! We still seem to have stuff going and going all the time on the weekends!) The weekend following was a pretty low-key weekend at home. We did our own little photo shoot of Alivia in her Halloween costume as Jay raked up the leaves in the yard. Then Alivia's cousin Brady, Aunt Jenny & Uncle Brandon + April, Eric & Daphne Swayne came over to watch the ISU game Saturday evening. Wrapped up that weekend with a lazy day watching racing (Jay is overjoyed that Alivia "enjoys" watching racing)! The following weekend was our first overnight stay without our little girl. This goes without saying that Mommy was heartbroken and anxious the entire week preparing to drop our girl off for not just one night, but two! But she was in good hands with Nana and Papa and of course her cousin Ashleigh! We dropped her off Friday night with Nana and went to the ISU game with the crew. It was a very fun day but didn't go without lots of text messages and asking about Alivia throughout the entire weekend!
Then we ended the weekend with sickness for the entire Kern household. Jay and I woke up with runny noses and coughs then picked up our girl with the same thing. Mommy and Alivia went to the doctor on Monday (where we found out, although a cold, Alivia has gained a whole pound (plus a little) in 20 days...up to 14 lbs, 5 oz!!) and spent the rest of the day snuggling...Daddy wasn't feeling as bad as the girls apparently because he went to work and bowling...Mommy skipped them both. We are on the downhill slide to recovery but these colds are hanging on tough and won't give it a rest. I would be sick 10 times over if Alivia was feeling better...but as I have heard, the joys of daycare...when you go in and every single child in the room is hacking, including your own. It's pretty inevitable that they are going to catch the cold!
:(

So with that...I think I have summed up the activities that have occurred for the Kern family. We continue to get into the routine of things and finding our places in the roles of life! : ) Alivia continues to astound us on how big she gets, how much she learns, and how much she adores her family!! We are approaching the first of the holidays, as mentioned before, starting with a Kern family reunion/Thanksgiving this weekend where Alivia will meet most of her Aunts/Uncles/Cousins from that side for the first time and wrap up with a visit from "cousin" Mia. Then a trip to see Aunt Becca & Uncle Brian next week with a stop by Nana and Papa's and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's over the weekend + baptism class at Jay's church to start planning Alivia's baptism...then the First Thanksgiving Day will quickly approach after that! Wow, time flies when you're having fun!!

A POST DEDICATED SOLELY TO UPDATED PICTURES COMING SOON!!

The love of our life!

Here I started this post nearly 2 weeks ago, saved it so I could add pictures to it and once again time gets away from me! In my attempt to make it more up to date I will start another post for the following two weeks happenings and pictures added!

I can't believe it's been almost 4 weeks since I have posted! As if it is possible, we fall more and more in love with our little girl everyday. Watching her grow and learn is such a wonderful thing! What has happened in 4 weeks....

Well...our little girl gets bigger and bigger! We started our second month with the dreaded vaccinations. She passed her 2 month appointment with flying colors from the doctor at 25 inches (up 4 since she was born...99th percentile) and weighed in at a whopping 13 lbs, 3 oz (up almost 5 since she was born...95th percentile). Dr. Beebe said she could easily pass as a 4 month old! But she is healthy and exceeding her expected milestones! Her head strength is astounding at her age as she lifts it up for seconds at a time especially when we interrupt her eating for a burp and is searching for where we put her bottle. Apparently spit bubble is a development that babies typically start at 4 months and Liv has started that as of about 8 weeks. Some other observations that she has made is finding her hands at about 8 weeks and her feet at about 9 weeks. Our favorite one thus far, since her first smile at 5 weeks, is her first laugh. It absolutely melts our hearts!! Mommy got the first "giggle" but Daddy got her cackling one day and it made us both tear up and laugh with her at the same time. It's amazing how the smallest things can be so incredible!! Outside of her milestones and advancements, Liv had her first round of vaccinations that were certainly harder on Mommy than they were on her! She cried for about 30 seconds (compared to Mommy's 10 minutes) and was asleep before we even left the clinic. She was a trooper!! We had no fussiness, no fevers, and a very sleepy baby. So we survived the check up and were ecstatic to see her accomplishments and the good words from the doctor. The only concern that Mommy had and the doctor wasn't able to ease on her own was hearing that Jay assures me will be confirmed perfectly fine after we go in for a hearing screening on Wednesday. I find more and more confirmations from Alivia that she can hear just fine and maybe just prone to loud noises with our lifestyle, but it will be nice to have the screening done and a "professional" tell me that she is fine! Outside of that little hiccup, she is great and "advanced" per the doctor.

Following our appointment, Liv and I had to leave town to head to my parents to visit my Uncle Mike who was in a terrible semi accident. Much to Daddy's dismay, his first over night without his baby girl. He did fine and survived it but it was hard for him without her to "worry" about. On the note of my Uncle, he is a tough man and I have no doubt that he is going to pull through this tragedy but he has a very long and rough road of recovery ahead of him!! He has a lot of love and support and he's not a quitter! Alivia got to meet her Great Aunt Rhonda and Great Aunt Courtney during the visit to the hospital to visit Uncle Mike. This was also her longest day of travels with about 8 hours in the car total and she did incredible! Even after her shots the day prior.

Then there was the heartbreaking and dreaded return to work for this Mommy. I returned on 10/24 and it was one of the hardest things ever!! Crazy that the first few weeks I was ready to go back to work and wishing for that time. But as it got closer, Liv and I got more "acquainted" and "settled", the return was terrible. But as with everything else, we survived. Monday, I made it until 1:00 before I had to go get her...Tuesday and Wednesday I made it all day with only a phone call to daycare checking on our girl...and Thursday I made it without a phone call!! (the smallest things....) It helps that I have some extra vacation days since I had a c-section and got more LTSL that I get to take every Friday off for the rest of the year : ) So Fridays are Mommy/Liv days that I get to snuggle her all day long!! I hated Sundays before but I really hate them now as I have to return to work and leave my girl! The girls at daycare really adore her and love she likes to snuggle! : )

We are approaching the first of Alivia's holidays with Halloween. With some debate between her first costume being a peanut (until Jay commented that it looked like a "turd" ruling out that option) since Jay has called her peanut since the first time he saw her. So instead we decided on a pig. This, too, comes with a story as Alivia has snorted since she was born. When she gets really mad and is raring up to scream, she snorts just like a pig prior to letting her rip. This in addition to her eating "noises" and the fact that anyone in the same room can hear her grunting as she inhales a bottle. So Alivia's first costume was a pig...the cutest pig I've ever seen if I do say so myself!!

I guess that is the short version of the last 4 weeks. It's so hard to believe that October is ending and our little girl is nearing 3 months old very rapidly!! The entrance of November, the approach of Thanksgiving, then December...Christmas will be here before we know it! So Mommy needs to start on Alivia's list for Santa before it sneaks up on her!! Time flew before...but everyone wasn't kidding on how quickly they grow up and how fast it goes!! To be continued with happenings since 10/23 and pictures.....

7 Weeks

The Kern Family is slowly finding themselves falling into a routine..I say this very carefully as everytime I think that something changes and we start all over again. Our little girl is developing in so many ways and it's hard to believe that we are quickly approaching her 2 month milestone! Our biggest development in the last couple of weeks is getting the cutest little smiles from our little peanut!! It's been debated who got the first smile as Daddy thought he did a few weeks ago but I am not so sure it wasn't "gas smiles", Grandpa Lint said he got one at the hospital but I think Grandma Lint got the first one a couple weekends ago when we were back for a visit. Playing the "tongue game" Grandma got a big toothless grin. Since then we have gotten several while speaking to her in funny voices. Daddy gets lots of them and Mommy found that she gets some playing pat-a-cake. : ) Also during our visit back home we found that Ashleigh is going to our "favorite" little baby sitter as she falls as in love with her cousin as we are! She loves to hold her and cuddle with her while watching TV.

Another milestone was Liv's first tailgating experience on October 1st. Our good friend Katie turned 30 and a celebration was planned at an ISU game. We were fortunate to have terrific weather and were able to attend. And it happened to be family night at the game as well so we were able to help her celebrate and attend our first game as a family. It goes without saying that Alivia was an absolute Rockstar! She was a great baby, loved to see all her surroundings, got lots of snuggles from Katie, her sister Sara, and our friend Erika! It was a lot of fun even being a night game, she did amazing. I follow this up with the fact that we have realized that our girl is a routine girl and when she is thrown out of that routine she makes us pay the day after with few naps, fussiness, and restlessness. But we have come to realize that this will be our repayment for having a terrific baby and something that we will have to continue to work on as anybody that knows us knows that we are very seldom in a "routine" and are on the go a lot.

We also experienced our first "illness" with Little Miss Alivia as she suffered from her first cold this past week. The poor girl was miserable; stuffed up and congested. But we are thankful that it was "only a cold" and didn't turn into anything worst. She is slowly getting back to normal but I fear that she might have her mommy's susceptibility to the seasonal allergies with all the harvesting going on and the dust and stuff in the air she has a harder time breathing.

I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I have to go back to work in less than 3 weeks. This is a very bittersweet concept for me. I realize that I could never be a stay-at-home. I love my little girl unconditionally, I love seeing her every day; however, I love my "adult interaction" and quite frankly I have spent too much on my education to use it staying at home. That being said, I hate the fact that in less than 3 weeks I will be handing my precious girl over to a complete stranger that could never take care of her as well as I do (besides...who can??!) We are thankful to have found a daycare that could take our girl after the debacle with the initial daycare that we had set up and paid for that went under a few weeks ago. And it is a convenient place right behind our house. Aside from being strangers and not me taking care of her, I believe that she will be well taken care of and it's close to home for Jay and I to drop her off and pick her up.

Aside from the continuous growths that our little girl goes through every day and the upcoming fretting of going back to work, we are falling into our lives. Our little girl amazes us every day and we fall more and more in love with, as if that is possible!! We love being parents and are slowly getting to the "easier" point that everyone kept telling us would come! It's not a cake walk by any means but we are getting there!! : )

Good Parent vs Bad Parent

Well time has certainly flown by and just realizing that I haven't updated the blog in awhile...again, life as we know it! I write this in the few minutes that Jay and I have switched hands as we deal with another rough day with a fussy baby girl. We have recently been dealing with the challenges of breast feeding and this mommy not being able to keep up with Miss Alivia's appetite. In saying that, we have had to do a little supplementing with formula because I am not producing enough to feed her; leading to upset tummy's this week trying to get her used to it in addition to some constipation. I continue this story with the feeling of this mommy feeling absolutely terrible and worthless!! The one thing that I thought would go without a hitch and I would actually know how to do without failing I feel as though I am doing just that.

I have to say that this job (YES, it's a job!!) is much harder than I would have ever anticipated!! There are so many controversial things, different things being told by different people, doctors saying different things then being told to do what you think is best in which I have no idea what is best and what isn't. My girl is a tummy girl as Nana and Papa discovered over the weekend that they were so gracious to watch her while Jay and I had an "adult" day at the IA vs ISU game...doctor's say don't put them on their tummy. She sleeps 4-5 hours on her tummy and maybe an hour on her back...if she sleeps, I sleep; if she's happy, I'm happy. It is so incredibly hard to know what is best for her, know what to do for her and when to do it, to know the "right" and the "wrong"! But as I am constantly told, the motherly instinct will tell me what to do and what is right for my girl...but I am starting to wonder if I have that instinct helping me out!! But we have survived this long and we have made it 4 weeks so I guess we must be doing something right along the way. I keep hearing that it gets easier....and while it gets more bearable I am still waiting for the easier part to come!

Outside of my constant questioning and phone calls/text messages to my mom asking what to do, Miss Alivia continues to change every day. It is so hard to believe that she is already going to be a month old on Sunday! And she has certainly started to create her own personality and attitude in that short month...and temper! ; ) It won't be long and all of her newborn clothes will have to be packed away and start on the stock of 0-3 month clothes and I am sure shortly followed by the 3-6 month if she keeps going! (I said our girl likes to eat!) As the weather continues and we seem to be experiencing the October weather in September the warmer clothes have had to come out anyways.

Jay and I continue to search for our places in things. Everyone told us this would be the biggest challenge to our relationship that we should ever experience and I certainly believe that. We are challenged in the lifestyle changes that we have had in the last 4 weeks since we don't eat together, we don't go to bed together and there are many nights that we don't really get to talk to each other. But this, too, will get easier and we will find that place together again I am sure of it! It is again a surprise the level of "change" that a new baby brings and the "challenges" but nothing that we won't be able to handle in the long run! I have no doubt it will all come together for all three of us!! (4 if you count EmJay!)

I noticed I have continued the trend of yet another rambling post as all of my thoughts and emotions run together and out to the blog. There are a lot of those thoughts running all at once as I ask myself "what the hell am I doing" but at the end of the day when I get to hold my little girl and she snuggles back up to me I know exactly what I am doing...becoming more and more of a mother and falling more and more in love with her as the days go! It's a learning experience and I will tell anyone that contemplates becoming a mother. I doubted it when I kept hearing it...I never should have. I have never felt more doubtful and questioning of myself as I do now but I will learning something each day and hopefully become more comfortable with my "instincts" as a mommy.

Life as we know it

Once again I started a post days ago and am finally getting ready to post it days later. I guess this is life as we know it! : )
Anyways, Alivia got another good report at her 2 week appointment weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs, 5 oz! Yes, a whole pound in one week! Well over her birth weight of 8 lbs, 9 oz. She didn't grow any more inch wise but an inch in the week prior was substantial enough for them to be okay with it. She measures in the 96th percentile for her weight and the 81st percentile for her height and the 76th percentile for her head size (silly measurement if you ask me!). Aside from her growing physically we continue to be amazed how much she changes each and every time we get a new picture of her. I text pictures often to Daddy and he was looking through the pictures and he makes comments on how much she has changed in just 2 weeks.
We got to have more visitors to meet Alivia this week and the "conceited" part of me never gets tired of hearing people tell us how beautiful she is!! : ) We love the cute gifts that everyone brings her and are of course grateful for every bit of it!! We can't wait to get pictures of the adorable outfits when she grows into them all...although I am going to have to start changing her clothes a few times a day to get her into all of them! ; ) But it's fun to see her in the outfits and as she gets more "squirmy" and messy I don't foresee it being much of a problem to have her in multiple outfits a day. She got to meet her "god-sister" today with a visit from "Aunt" Becca and "Uncle" Brian and Meliah! It was great to see them and I know that it was extremely tough on Aunt Becca to have to have waited so long to meet her due to colds in the family! But she got lots of snuggle time with them both and Meliah did terrific with her...her "beee-beee".
Jay and I had our first night out on Saturday night. We are reminded often how important it is to make time for the two of us as it is to have time with Baby Girl. Our friend Sabrina turned 30 Friday and we went out for her birthday while Grandma Lint had time with her "girls" as she called it since Ashleigh was here to help as well. I think she looked as forward to it as we did!! We had a great time and were glad that we were able to go out and help Bri celebrate a milestone birthday! : )
We slowly find ourselves falling into a schedule but at the same time struggling to get things down and maintain the schedules. This momma has had a couple of rough days with Liv's tummy ache and a little fussiness + lack of sleep. We continue to get to know one another. I will admit it is certainly a lot harder than I ever would have thought but the feelings that I have for that little girl are a great reward for the challenges. And she has Daddy wrapped around her little finger for sure!!
Another random, rambling post and probably plenty that I am forgetting to include but I hope to have this rambling mess to help remember the small things and big things that Alivia can see in the future!! And to keep all of our family that don't get to be close updated on her happenings!! We fall more and more in love with this little girl! We continue to learn about her as much as she is learning about us!! In closing of the randomness, we finally got A's newborn photos done and they were so incredibly cute that it was hard for us to choose which ones to get but look forward to getting them hung up around the house!!

Our Days Since Mercy

It's crazy to think that we are approaching 2 weeks already!! I always said they grow up so fast but never really understood the level of that until now! We continue to marvel over how much Alivia has changed just in 2 weeks time and how different life really is aside from what we thought it would be like.

Grandma Lint arranged to spend the week here with us while Daddy returned to work the following Monday; however that was ended prematurely. We ended our first week at home in a less lightening circumstance and did traveling much earlier than we had anticipated. My Uncle Russell passed away very unexpectedly at the young age of 53 years old on August 24th...Jay's 31st birthday and only a few hours after my grandpa's 93rd birthday. This caused some unexpected travel back home to attend his funeral which aside from the sleeping at night, Alivia did fantastic!! We couldn't have asked for a better baby and were amazed by how good she did! Sleeping at night was less than stellar in a new place and with new surroundings which she had only begun to adapt to at our house and caused for a night in the recliner snuggled with Mommy. However, Alivia was able to meet several family and friends that were looking forward to meeting her and might not have been able to do so for a few weeks had we not traveled unexpectedly including her Great Grandma and Grandpa and Great Uncle Larry & Uncle Mike. He will be very missed and remembered each year on Jay's Birthday!

We had our first week appointment with Dr. Megan Beebe and got good report for Miss Alivia. She gained 4 oz of the 8 that she lost before we left the hospital and grew an inch!!

I am sure there is so much that I am not putting on here that I could; including today being the roughest day for Momma n Alivia with Alivia's first tummy ache and her first bout of actually crying breaking Momma's heart into a million pieces. We continue to struggle through that in addition to Daddy working extra hours at work and starting bowling league tonight so Momma dealing with it on her own. Thankfully our friend Brina came over and gave Mommy a reprieve for a half hour to run out and get gas drops, cry some tears and take deep breaths. It is certainly not great timing for Daddy to be working extra hours and less than ideal since he was working 3 day weeks for so long before Alivia and now has to work extra when I could use him at home. Overall, Alivia is a terrific baby and I love her to absolute pieces!! I will have to learn to take the good with the bad and even though I don't know all the caveats, I have been assured it doesn't make me a terrible mom that I feel like I am! I end this post with day two of a fussy baby and only hope that we can figure out the trick to make her our happy content baby again! Until our next update....

I think I am in love....

I started this post several days ago when we were still in the hospital. But as so many warned me time flies and everything else takes the back burner...a lot has happened since the start of this post but I will start with publishing this one and continuing with another post to continue the journey since August 18th!

I never in a million years could have imagined what this would feel like. Parenthood has always been an "appealing" concept to me and something that I wanted to do...no one could have ever prepared me for the feelings that I would feel! Even watching some of my very close friends become parents in the last few years and watching them "change" and how they love their children endlessly; I still couldn't put those feelings into perspective until a days ago.

Alivia Kayann Kern was born August 18, 2011 at 6:37 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz of pure perfection and 21" long. And she is absolutely precious in our lives!! We haven't determined who she looks like other than she has both of our traits that we have picked out. She still has her daddy's long "circus" feet as we saw in the u/s pictures. She has her mommy's nose and chin dimple and "temper" when it comes to waiting too long to eat! ; ) Most of all, she has her mommy and daddy's hearts 100%!!

The labor process was less than ideal but completely worth it as everyone told me would be the case. I woke up about 4:00 Thursday morning for my morning "pee" wake and some slight cramping. Didn't think much of it, tried drinking some water and walking them off, they weren't painful just annoying. After about an hour decided to try a shower and warned Jay that I would be taking a shower in which he responded "do I have time sleep some more" *sarcastic smile*. I took the shower and the cramping intensified a little bit but still nothing major. Another hour and Jay had to get up and get ready for work so I called the perinatal office and Dr. Hwang asked me to go to L & D and get checked; we did so. After an annoying journey in getting checked in (which we preadmitted for) and finally getting seen at about 8:15, we realized that we weren't going home...we were dialated between 4 and 5 and the doctor came in 30 minutes later when I was between 5 and 6 in minutes time. The dialation process went fast....I was at 10 cm by noon...then it went "down hill" from there. We started pushing by 2:00 and we were still pushing with horrendous back labor and contractions at 5:45 where we had to make the decision that this momma had nothing left (considering I was still fighting a cold too) and the doctor was not able to get her to even start crowning. We would push which she would go do the canal but retreat back after we stopped pushing. We had to resort to a c-section...thank god they were able to get my epidural to kick back in for the medication and didn't have to sedate me in which Jay would not have been allowed in the room with me. By 6:45 Jay was holding our little girl and beaming from ear to ear...even through his scrubs!!!

39 Weeks

Approaching the final stretch! While I feel a lot of times I comment and think that I am never going to meet our little girl that is clearly unrealistic and we are in the final leg of the journey!! We will get to meet her soon and it's only a matter of time, whether we have to move her along or not. : ) That being said, our appointment this morning was another less than eventful one. There was a little bit of progress this week going from 1 to "between 1 and 2" and from 50% to 75%; so progress. Contractions seem to be more and more frequent this past week but clearly nothing that is concerning or reason to believe that things are moving along. The hardest part is really knowing "is this it" or "just practice". So many have said "you will know" but I have also heard condescending stories that you don't always "just know". It all depends on the person, the pregnancy, the pain tolerance (which I still have not really determined how high mine is but time will certainly tell!) The subject of an epidural has come up several times and at one time I considered not being the "give it to me" and just see how it goes; however, I have seen the medals that those women that give birth without one get and well...they just aren't that impressive and I don't really care to have that "bragging" right! Sooo...after discussion today with Amie and how soon I can get it (and after she confirmed that they are great!) I will not be martyr and will take whatever relief they can offer. I will find another way to "impress" my husband and anyone else that might think that I need to impress them!!! : )

In other news...I have come upon one of few times that I get to say that I am proud of myself! Today, I am officially done with school and completed my Master's Program with an MBA!! Well officially the end of the class is next Tuesday; however, with the great help/understanding of my professor, I was able to work ahead and turned in my last participation posts today to complete early! It is such a great feeling to be done, to be completed and to still have time to "spare" before Baby comes! I am not embellishing on it as much as I had thought because obviously the anxiety and excitement of B2K is overtaking that; however, I am proud of myself and consider it an accomplisment that I can check off my "bucket list". With that, I pat myself on the back and can't wait to enjoy the "spare" time with my husband and daughter that I have dedicated the past 2 years to school!! And in the same breathe have to thank my husband for all the patience and support that he has given me to allow me to take these classes and complete that accomplishment!! Now it's his turn! ; )

With that, that is the quick update for the week. Another appointment set for next Friday morning at 8:00 putting us at the full-term mark. We will see if she decides to come before that!! : )

38 Weeks

Our little girl proves to be more and more like her mommy and daddy each week and she's not even born yet! : ) Stubborn, bullheaded and set in her ways!! I pre-empt this post with the fact that we know (aside from being reminded constantly!) that we still have 2 weeks to go before our actual due date, plenty of people go past their due date, and just because one is dilated at all does not mean Baby is coming any sooner. However, that does not go without a little bit (okay, a lotta bit) of anxiety and hopefullness at this point in the pregnancy that she will decide to come grace us with her presence early, give mommy some relief from her organs being used as punching bags and let her mommy and daddy see her beautiful self! In the same breathe, we also know that the longer she decides to stay in there the better off she will be and that she has free reign to my internal body until 40 weeks...then she is cut off!! Kidding of course! The intro to this post goes without saying that last Friday's appointment was again uneventful and without progress as we are still dilated to 1 cm from 2 weeks prior. And we again, know that she will decide when it's time and she still has plenty of time, but we can still be excited/anxious/impatient all at the same time for her to make that decision just a few days early so we can finally meet our little girl!
Aside from the uneventful appointment and the decision that I am probably going to be pregnant forever (kidding, of course...but somedays it feels as though I will be) no new updates. Our little kicker is all over the place in her little living quarters. This mom has come across a couple of days the last two weeks that I have had all the energy in the world to get things done (Nesting, so I have heard) so lots of things have gotten done around the house; both expensively and inexpensively. Jay and I, after 3 years got our first dining table set and continued this weekend with finishing the basement with our big screen television. It will be a cozy place for Baby and I to hang out and enjoy the "darkness" for our nap times too! : ) We are excited that a couple more things got crossed off our "wish" lists + "accomplished" list. But I can see it becoming a big issue if she doesn't come soon because I keep thinking of "projects" to do and they seem to get a little more spendy with each one!! But outside of one room I think I have gotten my re-organization and cleaning done for the time being and Jay is hoping that I lose that energy burst so I quit giving him honey-do-lists too!! He's been a great help (usually in exchange for something that he wants to do but still a great help!) : )
I will close this week's post with a few of our favorite maternity pictures that we got back this past week. We are looking forward to putting the finishing touches on Baby's room with the pictures being hung for her to see how much she is loved and how much we are anticipating her arrival!! Until Friday...another doctor's appointment in the morning...if we make it that long....

37 Weeks

We are officially considered "full term" today!! While not really meaning a lot to a lot of people it is something that I thought was light years away! Really no a lot to update for the week, an uneventful one it was. The heat indexes continue to be through the roof as we had only 2 days without a heat advisory the rest of them we had 100+ degree indexes with little air to breathe when you walked outside. This, in result, caused this momma to stay inside in the a/c as much as possible. That didn't stop the Fiona feet from revealing and the heat flashes from overcoming me. We will start this week with the same thing of heat advisories so I suppose I better get used to it; after all, it is August in Iowa, how much complaining can I really do??

We had our weekly o/b appointment on Friday morning which proved to be less than exciting with no progress from the prior week's appointment. Even after reminding Jay (and myself) not to be surprised when there was no progress, if we were still at 1 cm, that it happens all the time and not to be disappointed...well, guess who found themselves disappointed?? To no avail, I was bummed after the appointment but I just assured myself that first of all, I didn't want her to come prior to 37 weeks and being full term and second, I want her to come on her own terms and she will let me know when she is done baking. Until then, I will deal with everything and allow her all the time she needs to be ready to come into the world as happy and healthy as possible. Okay, maybe not ALL the time but some more time!!

We are winding up our weekend today and preparing to start another week. All of B2K's family is back in the Iowa area so she has the clearance there. Grandpa, Cousin Ashleigh, Aunt Amber and Uncle Chris are back in the area and as anxious to meet her as Jay and I. Ashleigh asked me Saturday if I was going to have the baby before she went back to school so she could see her...I assured I would do everything that I could and try to make that happen but it was really her call, not mine! The weekend proved to be a very busy, exhausting and productive one all at once. I think it ranks at the top of the list of "overdoing it" for this gal...but it was a good weekend and thanks to Jay's help I was able to accomplish the long "to-do" list I felt the need to put together and get done all in one weekend + enjoy a day on the lake with Brandon, Jenny and Brady! Until I think of something else that "needs" to be done before Baby gets here! : )

So for now, another week closed out and continuing on to our full-term weeks! Hard to believe that she could make her appearance any day and we will be holding her in our arms!! We are anxiously but patiently (who are we kidding, anyone that knows me knows that I am less than patient) waiting for her to make that day!!

36 Weeks

Thought I would try to post quick updates as we near the end to "document" the progress as we go. Unbelievable, we are at the 1 month to go mark!! We saw our baby girl on Friday where they "confirmed" the girl gender (weird!) and gave us pictures of her long feet (belonging to her Daddy) and her smashed face that was up against my uterine wall (that several commented looking like her mommy...not sure how to take that! LOL!) But in looking at her facial features in the 3D u/s (which I at first thought were super creepy turned out to be kinda cool!) she has her mommy's nose and mouth based on the pictures. She looks to have very chubby cheeks and is still "measuring" on the "big side". They are estimating 6 lbs, 15 oz and still about a week and a half ahead of the due date based on her size. They began checking my progress where they said I was dialated to 1 cm; which obviously can last several weeks but was still a hopeful thing for this momma to show some progress and a real eye-opener for Daddy! : ) His face was priceless when she announced dialated at 1 cm and his deep breathing and "oh boys" as we were leaving the office. We potentially have a few weeks to go and some are hoping that she waits until the end of this week; that is when Grandpa Lint, Aunt Amber, Uncle Chris, and cousin Ashleigh get back from their vacation in Michigan! But I call, after next weekend, free game!! She can come see us anytime she wants after that (like what I have to say really matters when it comes to her choosing when to make her grand entrance!!!) : )

35 Weeks...late again...

35 weeks!! Ahhhh!!! And the countdown in days begins...as of today we have 33 days until our due date. Considering there are 30 or 31 days in most months, that means we are nearing that month to go mark (give or take). I have heard this is where most pregnant women's patience starts to wear down, they begin to wish for the end...well...I believe it! The +100 degree heat indexes in the last week and to continue the rest of this week are not helping matters at all. However, we can see a glimpse of the end of the road and are finding it hard to believe that we are saying DAYS now until we get to finally meet our little peanut!!

Speaking of our "little" peanut, our doctor's appointment while another uneventful one marked the end of our bi-weekly appointments and our weekly appointments continue this Friday. B2K continues to measure a week and a half ahead according to the fundal measurement of 36 cm. We get a little better view of her at this Friday's appointment as they do another u/s to check fluid levels and her size again! Then I imagine that will be the last time we see her on a screen unless she decides she needs to cook past our due date then I would guess we will do u/s to check on her...but we won't think about that right now and think positively that she will make a timely arrival! : ) Along with our weekly doctor's check up on Friday, we are doing maternity pictures with Landry Anna Designs. She has us going to the rose garden at the Art Center, which I have heard is very pretty. So we are looking forward to those. Then to end a great day we are anticipating a great visit from our beautiful god-daughter and her wonderful parents!!

Finally, Jay and I took our "parenting" class on Saturday. Interesting, to say the least, but good information to be reminded of outside of our friends that know first hand the should and should not's, but we were able to take some information away from the class and I think it finally engaged Daddy's excitement and made him realize that it really can be any day now.

There is very little to update on for this post. Beginning our day countdown, weekly doctor's visits until Baby's arrival, Nursery is all but finished and just ready to add B2K to it, the heat and mommy don't get along very well but we are making the best of it and trying not to be too miserable considering most of my family has actually work out in the heat so I can't complain too much. : ( Otherwise, here is the end of another bi-weekly post.

Until next time!! : )