Baby Shower #1

Hosted By: Liz Ford (my wonderful Sister-In-Law)

When: Sunday, April 17th
Time: 1pm
Location: Olive Garden, mall of ga

In attendance: family and a few friends

Theme: storybook themed (too cute!)

Enjoy the pics! Jennifer and I

Awesome diaper cake made by Lori

Lori, myself and Liz

Ronni and I

Melissa and I

Mama, me and Mommie

*blessed*

Isnt this cake the BOMB?!

A few pics of the opening of the gifts (there are about 80 pics... so this is just a taste!)

Liz gave me a baby carriage charm for my pandora bracelet! SO sweet!

I totally missed taking a picture with Lindsay! :-( I was so sad to realize that!

We enjoyed a great lunch, had fun chatting and I feel super blessed!

Mommy-Mobile

I just have to brag on the Lord for His complete provision... and incredible blessings!

Back in December, Jeff and I decided to list my 2007 Nissan Versa on autotrader to see what would happen. I loved my little Versa, but it was really pretty small. I know that a lot of families make do with small cars and 2 kids, but we really preferred to have a larger vehicle seeing as how we completely packed out the Versa to go away for the weekend with one kid... i just dont see how it would work with two! Much to our surprise, the versa sold (for blue book value!) in a week!

And so the car search began.

At first, we felt 100% certain that we did NOT want a van. No matter what. We do know that we are not ruling out the possibility of a 3rd kid (still very up in the air) but felt like a suv with a 3rd row would work just fine for our family, even if we continue to grow.

We looked mainly at the Kia Sorento and truly love it. For the price you cant beat it!

But we started thinking that IF (thats a big if) we have another kid, accessing the 3rd row would be difficult to say the least. And, Jeff started chatting with all the other baseball coach's (coach hayes has 4 kids and coach williams has 3!) who BOTH said you just cant beat a van.

So, we started looking at vans :-( We literally drove every van imaginable... comparing prices and consumer reports, etc... We both felt more comfortable with the Honda Odyssey. We liked the EX-L version (with leather and a sunroof). But there was one problem...

Jeff and I are trying very hard to live the "ramsey way" and had saved up cash. And boy is Dave right in that when he says that you become awfully picky about how you spend your money when you're paying cash, up front! So we had a HARD time finding a van that we were willing to buy!

We were very patient and really picky and eventually found the one we bought on auto trader... in NORTH CAROLINA! :-) We took an impromptu 3 hour drive to Flat Rock, NC one Saturday (while Rhyan stayed with my family) without having seen any pics and found the van of our dreams! ha!

So, now, we're the proud new owners of a 2007 Honda Odyssey Touring version. The older guy who owned it has taken phenomenal care of it and even took out a 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty that he is having transferred to us (out of his pocket!). It has 56K miles on it and has every option available: GPS, back up camera, dvd player, game system hookups, leather, sunroof, power doors and power liftgate... it seriously has more than we'd ever imagined! And the guy was selling it for a littler over 4,000 UNDER blue book value! This put it a little under our price range so we didnt even have to spend all we had saved!

Ok, enough blabber...

Reflections: Part III

In the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, April 28th Jeff was sitting by my side asking what he could do to help and my answer was the same, repetedly.... "nothing. i'm fine. i promise". The epidural was NOT working and I was hurting with each contraction badly.

I finally told the nurse that I really wanted her to call the anesthesiologist and ask them to completely redo the epidural. She agreed that it was time. He was there within a half hour or so, but it felt like an eternity. By 3am I had a new, fabulous, epidural. I will say that having to bend over like that and hold still while hurting that badly was the hardest thing i'd done so far. But Jeff was great and encouraged me the whole time.

Mommie and Mama arrived around 3:45 and Elizabeth (my half sister) was there within 30 more minutes. Close to 4:30 I started feeling a lot of pressure again. No "hot spots" this time, but just a lot of pressure. The nurse came to check me and our family exited to the waiting room for the duration. I needed rest before I had to start pushing. Turns out, I was already at 10cm!!!

The nurse said I'd start pushing at 5:30 (looking back and thinking forward, this will simply NOT happen again. This go round, when i hit 10cm, I'm pushing. Period. I will tell the nurse to call Dr Pohl who i know will come to the hospital whenever its time... but i will NOT let my baby sit in the birth canal for almost an hour and a half while I'm fully dilated while a nurse tells me to wait b/c that's most convenient for them... ). So at 5:40 I pushed for the 1st time.

My 2nd epidural was placed pretty low which did 2 things... 1st, it was not very strong and I could still feel a decent amount. Not enough to think I was dying, but enough to know what was happening. 2nd, I could still feel every contraction up at the top of my uterus. For this reason, I knew when to push way before the contraction showed up on the monitor. Tricia was great and allowed me to kind of lead the process from them on (once she realized i knew what to do).

Dr Pohl came in a little after 6am and got his scrubs on and the baby care tray ready. He adjusted the bed to a better position for labor and birth and the pushing continued. Meanwhile, they finally had ok'd me drinking water and i'd basically already drank 1/2 a gallon. I asked Jeff (my water lackey! haha!) for more to which he replied "there is no more! its all gone". I assured him I would drink the water from the toilet at that point but that I felt certain that there was some in the sink :-) I still think its funny that he didnt think of that. I think he was very focused on me and the baby!

After Rhyan's head came out, Dr Pohl had to do an episotomy b/c she was facing the wrong way. So he told me to not push (which turns out was the hardest thing EVER! seeing as how she was 1/2 out, 1/2 in!) and did a cut so that he could reach up in there and turn her over. Um, fyi, that was pretty much the worst part. I am a very quiet person when I'm in pain, but this was something I couldnt help but to whimper over. I didnt cry, but omg, i thought I was going to.

One more push and BAM, there was Rhyan.

She scored a 9 on her immediate APGAR and a 10 at the 10 min recheck. She was (is) perfect :-)

Dr Pohl had Jeff cut the cord and placed her on my belly. I was in shock. I'm not gonna lie. My 1st thought was "OMG. What am I gonna do now?!". I wanted desperately to protect her and care for her and at the same time, I was terrified. I looked to Jeff (bad move) who also looked terrified. I'm laughing thinking back on this :-) I bet Dr Pohl sees 1st time parents express this face all the time! ha!

The placenta, the stitches, blah, blah, blah.... (i didnt realize that part takes so long! ugh!)

Before I knew it the family was in the room with us (both sets of parents...) and we were all staring at this little life. This amazing life!In the beginning of my pregnancy, I had been terrified of losing the baby like we had our 1st. But God was so good to give me a verse from my favorite book of the bible during a quiet time one morning. This is what His word said to my heart in Isaiah 43:18,19

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not know it?"

I clung to that verse throughout my pregnancy but indeed, i did NOT know the incredible new thing that Christ was doing in and through me. I had no clue that this little life that He was forming would change my life and my heart. That I would get, through Rhyan, a taste of how the Lord feels for me. Loves me. Longs for a relationship with me. Through Rhyan I have gotten a glimpse of what it must be like to be my Heavenly Father... to love when someone is not loveable. When someone is not deserving. When they have done nothing to have earned favor.

So, while 2 years I was terrified of what God had given us, today I am nothing short of grateful for His grace and mercy and for His incredible gift that He has given to us in the form of Rhyan. She is my 1st born and has taught me so much in these short 2 years.
My sweet Rhyan
You will never, ever know just how blessed I am to be your mommy. You bring joy to mine and your Daddy's life that we've never known before. Pure, unadulterated joy!
I sing a song to you every night: You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray, you'll never know, dear, how much i love you, please dont take my sunshine away...
My granny sang that song to me when I was a little girl and it is my honor to sing it to you each night. Never have truer words been sang! You do bring smiles to our faces with your silly little ways. And whats the most fun is that you sing the song along with me, now! Absolutely the most precious sound I've ever heard :-)
I adore you, sweet girl. Your Daddy and I take very seriously this charge given to us by the Lord to raise you to love your Heavenly Father more than anything else and we pray that you will choose to give your life and heart to Him at the earliest time you understand what that means.
You are such a sweet, fun little girl. You love the "outside" and could stay out from sun up till sun down when it's pretty out. You love to sing and love to read and both of these things make my heart happy.
You are SMART. And teachable. And precious.
And we love you.
And nothing will ever change that.

Mommy and Daddy

Reflections: Part II

I'm looking over my pregnancy journal that I kept while we were expecting Rhyan. I'm terrible about keeping up with journals, but i love having them. I think thats why i like blogging so much... its my online journal :-) BUT, i am really good about journaling while 'm pregnant. Its a time in life that i do NOT want to forget, but know that I will. Time will dull my memory and i'll forget all of the little details that I'll want so desperately to keep. So, i require this of myself while I'm pregnant. Plus, i'm thinking that it may be nice one day when my kids are older to have a journal that their mom wrote all about the time that I was carrying them. Before they joined the crazy family officially!

I was set for an induction with Rhyan at 39 weeks, 6 days. The medical "reason" Dr Pohl gave for inducing was that Rhyan was getting big. But lets be honest, it allows him to control the situation and be there for the delivery. I have plenty of friends who are not a fan of this birthing process, but for as for me, i liked it. I like to plan in advance. Do i think going into labor naturally is probably the smartest thing to do? Probably. But i'm a control freak by nature :-)

When I woke up that Monday, April 27th, I went ahead and called L&D at Gwinnett Medical to make sure there was a bed available... we were told to come on in at 6am and to eat a light breakfast. So, I got a shower, finished getting packed up and after eating a piece of toast and banana, we were off to the hospital!

After checking in at registration at 7:20, I got an I.V. and a pill of citotec to induce labor. It caused "hyperactive uterus". My contractions, while not intense, were consistently about 2-3 minutes apart. The medicine was ordered every 4 hours but Dr Pohl came in to check on me and ordered that it not be given again until the contractions calmed. So the next dose came (not by mouth... hint, hint...) at 2:30pm in hopes that it would affect the cervix more than the uterus. But it caused the same contractions. This time it was concerning b/c Rhyan's heartbeat was being affected, so they gave me a total of 2 doses of turbuline to slow them. At 6pm when Dr Pohl came to check (OMG, i remember that hurting sooo badly!) he deemed me 50% effaced, and a "tight" 1cm. :-(

That was pretty discouraging. He decided to come back at midnight and break my water.

But praise the lord, it broke on its own at 9:30pm. I felt like i had peed myself! And my contractions immediately got strong! There was a new charge nurse in there introducing herself when this happened and i never once let on that my water had just burst. It felt like a water balloon had just burst inside me, but you'd never have known. Jeff asked me after she left and i told him what had happened "why didnt you tell her?!". I didnt tell her b/c i didnt want yet ANOTHER person checking my privates. I mean, i did have a little dignity left at this point! I wanted Tricia, my fabulous nurse who had already seen me "down there" to come check.

Unfortunately, Tricia was helping deliver a baby down the hall. So instead, we got little miss chipper. As in, the most hyper little tech you've ever seen. OH, Lord, she got on my nerves! Keep in mind, she was very nice, just toooo friendly for me to like when I was starting to hurt pretty badly :-(

When my nurse came back in, she offered pain killers or an epidural. I was super against pain killers since they cross the placenta so I opted (reluctantly) for an epidural at such an early stage. At 10:30 and 3cm dilated, I got my epidural. It was fabulous... for about an hour. Then, around midnight i started getting a "hot spot" as they called it. They turned me and rolled me and "re-dosed" me... nothing helped. I was completely comfortable on my left side but my right side hurt. And it was only getting worse by the moment.

I started getting the "labor shakes". It was at this point that I think Jeff felt completely helpless. I was hurting so badly and he was concerned. He wanted to do something to help, but there was nothing to do. I found myself trying to be strong as I could so as not to scare him and honestly, I think it helped me to focus and be brave through this hard part....

That pretty much wrapped up April 27th into the wee hours of the 28th... the day we met little Rhyan.

More to come, tomorrow!

Reflections

Its crazy to think that 2 years ago at this time, I was packing my bags and making sure everything was ready for us to go to the hospital the next morning and be induced to have little Rhyan.

Its crazy to think of how scared i was. Scared that Spud would think I didnt love him anymore. Scared to be a mom. Scared of what Jeff would think about being a dad (would he regret it?!).

Its crazy to think that I ever thought that anything other than pure joy would be brought into our lives in the next 36 hours...

more to come!

Stylish Blogger Award!

Here's the rules of this award:

1. Link back to and thank the person who gave you the award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 5 stylish blogs you read

4. Contact them and let them know you've given them the award!

Ok, so Emily at The Journey of Parenthood recently chose me for a stylish blogger award! Funny, seeing as how I dont consider my blog to be particularly "stylish" and use it mainly as a way to keep up with our family for our blog book! But, I'll play along and consider it a little flattering :-)

So I have to share 7 things about myself, huh? And I suppose they are supposed to be interesting things... which is a little difficult since I have a pretty boring life! (thankfully so!). But here it goes, anyways!

1. I'm in my 7th month (32weeks) of my pregnancy and am having a baby boy early June! I am carrying this baby very differently than I did Rhyan... this little fella is all out front and boy, is he big! Just Monday I went for a checkup and found out that while I should be measuring 32cm (the same # of cm as weeks along), I'm actually measuring 37! Did anyone other than me gasp at that?! I've only gained 22lbs (officially, according to Dr. Pohls office) so its not that i'm gaining too much fat... apparently the baby is just a little big. It can also be that he hasn't "dropped" yet. Lets hope thats the case!

2. I'm a dental hygienist. I really, really like my job. I love my patients and (most of) the girls I work with! In 7th grade when we had to shadow a professional in a career we were interested in, I shadowed my dentist :-) I love helping people be healthier and learn about their bodies and how our immune system works. I love getting to know people and not having to form some great bond that requires that I call them daily (more on this later) but instead, feeling like i'm catching up with an old friend every 6 months :-)

3. I'm an only child. I am very independent because of that. People who seem to "need" for me to talk to them daily in order to maintain a friendship are people that i AVOID! They freak me out a little :-) This plays into why I enjoy my job so much! I dont get attached to people easily but that doesnt mean that I dont care. I'm just not one to check in daily.

4. Jeff and I have been married for 10 years this August! Which means we've been "together" (as in, dating plus married) for 15 years! Thats almost 1/2 our lives! I love that we've grown up together and know pretty much everything about each other. We used to say that we were going somewhere great for our 10 year celebration, but little did we know then that we'd be having baby #2 this summer!

5. I was scared when I was preggo with Rhyan of being a Mom. Because of the fact that I'm an only child, I had not a clue as to what to do with her once we had her :-) I read lots of books and we've kind of just figured it out as we've gone. Turns out, we're not terrible parents after all! We make mistakes like all parents do, but I think she's turning out pretty well so far. This go round, I feel much more comfortable. Possibly to the point of being a little slack. I hope it all comes back to me! ha!

6. I'm slightly obsessed with Survivor and The Young and the Restless. There are several other shows that I like, but these two shows i simply WILL NOT MISS! :-) Jeff is the one who got me hooked on Y&R b/c he started watching it in college. I made fun of him for years but then one day I was sick and it came on and I just sat and watched it... and havent missed an episode since!

7. Lastly... what else? I'm kind of a weirdo about feet. I love baby feet but think adult feet are kind of gross. But i cant help but to look at them even (or ESPECIALLY) if they're gross! I mean, why is it that some people think that toenails that are so long that they cant wear shoes are normal? I mean, geez!

Ok, so there are some things about me.
And I'm supposed to choose 5 people to pass this on to...
So i choose
1. Rachael
2. Katie
3. Lindsay
4. Natalia
5. Nicole

Cha-Cha-Changes!

Hope you like the new blog background :-) I was up for a more spring time like change to go with all the other changes...

I'm too exhausted to post pics right now but wanted to keep up with life at least in words!

1st off- the pic at the top of our blog is not excluding Jeff for any reason except that I hated the old pic (of me!) and wanted a good one of me and Rhyan. So until we get a good family shot again, this will have to do!

2ndly- We are the proud new owners of a VAN. Omg... i almost gag a little when i say it. lol. But really, we feel so blessed to have the van. Its a loooooong story of a loooooooooong search. But the end result was that our patience paid off and we scored a 2007 Honda Odyssey Touring model (meaning, fully loaded with everything imaginable) for a great price! I'll do a separate post on it, but for now, I just wanted to publicly give thanks to the Lord for His provision. So, I'm totally trying to embrace the blessings the Lord has given us!!

Lastly- this weekend was crazy (it was when we went all the way to NC on a whim to see the van we ended up buying...) but it also held my 1st baby shower. It was hosted by my sweet sister-in-law, Liz and was just for a few friends. It was a luncheon held at the Olive Garden and we got some cute outfits, diapers!, sweet books for his own little library and a few other cute things including the BABY BOOK I registered for (super excited about that!).

April is a CRAZY month for us. This weekend, Jeff's team has a baseball tournament and I need to finalize some things for Rhyan's 2nd birthday. Next Thursday, my baby will be two. She already knows when she's asked how old she is that she should respond with "twoooo" :-) My heart wants her to know that she's still just one, but lets face it, that'd just confuse her! Then, next Friday the girls from work are throwing me a little luncheon in the afternoon, the evening is a going away dinner for one of Jeff's old co-workers. Saturday morning is Rhyan's party, that evening is Jeff's brothers bday party (his actual bday is Sat) and then we'll finish off the night at PROM! Sunday is our shower from our church family (how incredibly blessed are we?). So, life is hectic right now. But God is good and has given me some good energy here lately!

OH! And I had my 32 week check up yesterday. Mckinnon is head down! My bp is great at 100/60, weight gain of 25lbs, his heart rate is 145 and the dr said i can take zantac for my newly developed reflux. GREAT checkup!

So, stay tuned for updates. I'll try my best to keep up with it all :-)

Cord Blood: To Bank or Not to Bank?

That is the question!

I have a wonderful patient who is actually the first person who made me really think about the option of banking Mckinnon's cord blood. She works for a local company that is actually owned by the great great grandson of Albert Einstein (i think..). His name is Dr. Einstein. Shocking, right?! But it is kind of funny! Anyways, he is apparently brilliant (according to my patient who I'm thinking may be slightly biased, lol) and he started a company a few years back to offer banking cord blood at a more affordable rate than some larger companies simply because he believes it is so important to have available to ALL people. You can check out his website here.

Since speaking with this sweet patient of mine, I've randomly received information from 2 other companies (viacord being one and I cant remember the other) filled with great information.

So I decided it was worth talking with my OBGYN about. I love and trust Dr. Pohl, and here is what he had to say. Even though most cord blood banking companies will tell you that the blood can be preserved for up to 18-20 years, research has only shown this to be true in very few cases. The more common time frame to expect is 8-10 years max. And, while most companies will tell you that the blood can help treat up to 70 diseases, most of these diseases are extremely rare. Emphasis on extremely. Lastly, according to Dr. Pohl, the likely hood that you will need the blood is 1:100,000 chance.

The cost for most cord blood banking is well over $2,000 with an annual fee of close to $300 to maintain the blood in the bank.

So, overall do I think that cord blood banking is a good option? Yes. Am I glad its available? Absolutely. Will Jeff and I be doing it? No.

I think that this is like paying for whole life insurance but only getting term. Does that make any sense? It's pretty expensive and not likely that you'll need it. If you did need it, boy, i bet the $2,000-$2,500 initial fee would seem like pennies! Its a risk that each of us who dont choose to bank the cord blood are taking. But it just doesnt seem likely to need it. At least we hope not.

And not that anyone plans on having more kids just to help a child they already have, but the fact is, lots of people who have found cord blood to be useful for one of their children did not bank THAT particular child's blood but rather, had another child, banked their blood and allowed it to be used for the sick child. Now, there could be lots of debates about that and I have no interest in getting into that.

Bottom line is, if you want to do it, great. But its a bit steep in price for us right now!

Hope you found this to be helpful or answer questions as to why we are going the way we are!

Wordless Wednesday: A Taste of Lemon

At Provino's for Jeff's Birthday...

Jeff's 31st Bday/ Petting Zoo!

We had a BLAST celebrating Jeff's 31st birthday on Sunday! Church in the morning, a lazy afternoon while Rhyan napped and then a trip to the Yellow River Game Ranch with a free provino's birthday dinner to end the day! Can it get any better?!

Allright, so I'll admit that I tend to take (and post) wayyyyy too many pictures. BUT, in my defense, this will become our family blog book and I quit printing pics when I started doing blog books so I like to make sure that all of my favorites make it into the book!

Ok, on to the fun pics. Rhyan absolutely LOVED the animals and had no fear whatsoever!

The first animal we saw....

a "chi-chin" ("bock bock")

Since it was the end of the day there were lots of uneaten crackers on the ground and Rhyan caught on really quickly to feeding them to the animals!

This cracks me up... the deer was a good 5 feet from her but she kept saying "here a go"

But she realized really quickly that it was okay to go closer. She LOVED the deer!

A "towwwwwww"

I was scared to death that this ram was going to bite her... she, on the other hand, had NO fear!

A run-away goat named "Houdini"... she said he was "nice"

So "nice" in fact, that he deserved a KISS! ahhh!

She even loved the PIG!

SCORE for a great pic of Rhyan and I!!!

Rhyan wanted to feed the baby ducks a cracker, but they didnt see her offering it!

So, as you can see in the pic here, she decided to eat some of it herself. Keep in mind, it came off the ground! ick!

Saddest moment of the day: Rhyan got tired of carrying her cup and so instead of putting it back in her stroller, she threw it on the ground. When we told her to pick it up, she just stared at us and wouldnt. So we literally made her bend over and pick it up which, apparently, was quite tragic. So she cried. And so Daddy had a little discipline moment with her. Which, to me= Photo OP! haha!

Sweet girl decided she didnt like us after that so she wanted to walk the opposite way. Until she decided she was "tired" (sounds more like "ty-yerd") and asked us to "hold you" :-) All the sudden, we were okay again!

And by the time we got to the bunnies, all was forgotten. She wanted the bunnies to eat the peanuts she had for them SO badly, but they wanted the lettuce!

Most of the bunnies were out of the little house, but a couple remained which really bothered her

Final stop: Provino's. YUM!

What a great day to celebrate! Rhyan and I love the man in our lives so very much and were glad to get to have some fun as a family that day!

Overnight Get Away: Part 2

Race Day!!!

The day started SUPER early with having to leave the hotel a little before 7am (ugg) to get Jeff to the race site in time for the prayer (7:15). Rhyan and I decided to drop him off and head back to the hotel for the free continental breakfast. We enjoyed make your own waffles (yum!), cereal, a fresh orange, a mini bagel and some juice. In other words, we took full advantage. After getting showered and packed up, we headed to the race site to meet up with Jeff as he finished!

2hours, 9minutes, 17seconds of running earns you a pretty medal

The race site was Praters Mill in Varnell, Ga. It was beautiful! We took a little while to enjoy the water and take a few pics!

Jeff had taken off his shoes to wade in the cool water and Rhyan really thought she needed to join him... so i took off ONE sock and shoe and as soon as her toes hit the gravel she started saying "Noooo, noooo, noooo". She still wanted to walk in it, just with her shoes on! No maam! So she decided it was ok to just touch it.

My FAVORITE pic of the day!

Isnt this place gorgeous?!

Trying on mommy's shades

Jeff saw the chick-fil-a cow and actually came and told me there was a photo op for me!
But Rhyan thought otherwise! HA! She wasnt really a fan of the "towwwww"

A few minutes later, she did warm up a little at least!

I had mentioned in the previous post that Rhyan's behavior was slightly less than predictable. When we got ready to leave the race area, she started crying out of nowhere. It lasted for almost 5 minutes for seemingly no reason at all! We made sure she didnt get bit by something but couldnt find anything! I told Jeff that I really thought that it must just be because she was so tired... and sure enough within 2 minutes of being in the car, she was out like a light! She stayed asleep through me taking her into the hotel and slept on our king bed for almost an hour! Jeff got cleaned up and we finished getting packed up while she rested. And just before we had to check out, she woke up in a MUCH better mood :-) It's amazing to see what sleep (and the deprivation of) does to a kid's personality!

So, one last stop before heading out... LUNCH!

Overall opinion of the short get-away: It was too short! I think it was fun, but in the future I'd prefer to stay away for two nights just to give a little more consistency to Rhyan and not be on the road SO much in such a short time! But really, we did have a nice time and I'm glad we went. It was a good learning experience and a nice time for our family :-)