Blessings in Disguise

I will be the first person to admit that when Kellen decided to accept a managment role with his employer, I wan't the most thrilled person on the planet. The longer hours, more traveling, more responsiblity, seemed like more than we could handle at the time. However, I knew I only had one choice and that was to support my husband in whatever he decided to do. Now, a few months into it, I'm realizing that his new job has given Kinslee and I so much time together, just one on one, something we didn't have before. Whenever he is away for meetings, it is like a big slumber party, we paint our nails, take bubble baths with LOTS of bubbles, watch movies and sleep in bed together, often telling storries and giggling until we both fall asleep. Those are things we really don't get to do when he is home, he'd rather play tractors or watch deer hunting with her!! Don't get me wrong, I do wish he was home more, but I've learned that I can either sit around and complain when he's gone, or I can make the best of it and enjoy every minute of the time I get alone with her! :)

ahh the simple joys

Kellen and I stopped using Kinslee's baby monitor around 6 months ago (about the time where she thought it was AWESOME to sleep with Mom and Dad!). I never got around to putting it in the "baby tote" so its just been collecting dust. I finally used it this weekend when she was napping and we were working out in the yard. Now I'm sitting downstairs working on my computer listening to her play kitchen and feed her babies their bottles and it makes me so happy! She tries to put diapers on the babies and makes them go to sleep all the time saying.. "shh baby go ny ny." She is completely content playing in her room for hours, just talking up a storm!! I have to be careful though. Last week I let her play alone and then I heard her screaming. I went in her room and she had the lid off her fish tank and both hands in it yelling "FISHY COME PLAY, I WANT YOU." That poor fish managed to escape her hands and I had to explain that fishy can't plan, we can only look.

Well, I'm hearing some noises that make me nervous so I better go check out what she is up to! :)

Swim Lessons = Success

Kinslee is done with her first year of swim lessons at the Y. After a few rough sessions, she turned out to be quite the little fish. It helped she always had an audience, whether it was Grandpa Meyer, Aunt Jayne, Daddy or Mommy!! I'm sure the other parents thought we were nuts and in some ways they are right!! I got some great pictures of her and I will post them soon! Kinslee can now: blow bubbles (ok, lick the water), jump in by herself, go underwater, throw balls without losing balance, run around in the shallow end, kick her legs, move her arms, and flirt with the boys at the pool.

I wish I would have taken a video camera along. There was a little boy, maybe 3 years old that would be sitting on the edge waiting for the next session to begin when Kinslee's class was working on jumping in the water. Kinslee would stand on the edge of the pool, turn around, smile at the boy and then jump in. After she was in the water, she'd look at him again like "did you see that, I just jumped in the water by myself!" It was soo adorable and his mom thought so too!!

My next goal for Kinslee is really working with her on getting potty trained. She'll go in the toliet every once in a while. Tonight she stood up in the bath, yelled "POTTY" and proceded to pee in the water. So, she definetly knows what's going on. She'll usually tell me when she is about to #2, but is kind of terrified of going in the toliet. Any suggestions are welcome!!!

Well, I must get back to the giant pile of laundry that needs to be folded. The clothes might have dust on them by now! :) I hope I'm not the only one who lets it pile up! :)

Swimming Lessons

It has been quite a long time since I have posted here. 1 year and 3 months to be semi-exact. I love reading blogs that some of my friends write, so I’ve decided to get this going again!! I promise to stick to it this time!!

Last week Kinslee got a stomach virus that pretty much made her miserable for six days straight. I won’t go into details on the symptoms, but if you were camping with us Memorial Day weekend, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Kinslee started swimming lessons at the YMCA in Lincoln this week. I’m not sure if I’m smart or crazy for beginning them this early… it can’t hurt anything. Well it hasn’t gone as superb as I envisioned. I mean, as long as she has the matching swimsuit, flip flops, hat and cover-up, everything else falls into place, right?? Wrong. She wasn’t feeling completely better on Tuesday, the first day of her lessons, but I decided to take her anyway. After all, I had already paid for it, there were no make-up classes and I thought it might be good to get her mind off of feeling yucky.
The lessons started out okay, she liked splashing in the water, but once we worked on the back float and moving arm & legs she was over it. The lessons are 45 minutes long and it felt like we were there for hours. We spent the final 15 minutes sitting on the edge watching all the other babies have fun.
Lessons on Thursday went a lot better. She was eager to get into the water and loved walking around in the shallow end. She even pushed me away when I tried to hold her hand. We played ring around the rosie and floated on our backs. About 30 minutes into the lesson, she just screamed and cried. I decided to spare everyone else in the pool and be done for the day. I'm not sure why she hits a wall half way through, I just hope it gets better next time.

Four Weeks Old

Kinslee LOVES bathtime!! She never cries and she is so calm and relaxed afterwards. She must get that from her Mom :)

Kinslee enjoys laying on the camo blanket that t Daddy bought her. She does really well on the floor, I thought she would hate it, but she just lays there and kicks and looks around. Our dogs have been really good about not getting to close to her when she is on the floor. They just sniff her then walk away. I think they've learned that they have taken 2nd place to her.

Kinslee is four weeks today!! It has really flown by. She is changing so much every day. She is sleeping so much better than she did before, she will sleep five hours at night, which is amazing!

We got some newborn pictures taken, this one is our favorite. We are going to get more pictures taken by our friend Sara Schultz in a few weeks and are really looking forward to it. The only family pictures we have are from the hospital, so it will be nice to have some updated professional ones.

Kinslee went to her first wedding Saturday night, she did great and everyone loved holding her. She got to go home with Grandma and Grandpa Meyer, which they loved :)

This week Michelle is going to Topeka for a one day conference for work and Kinslee is going to spend the night with Grandma Goertzen. It will be our first night apart, hopefully we do okay!! Daddy gets to have the house to himself, I'm sure he's looking forward to the peace and quiet.

Kinslee's Baptism is this Sunday, we'll have pictures up from that next week. We are really looking forward to it!!

Three Weeks Old!!

It's been three weeks since Kinslee was born, my how the time has flown. I fully intended on updating our blog at least daily when she was born, but quickly found out that the few hours of free time I have are best spent sleeping!!

We went into the hospital on Sunday, January 10th at 7:00 p.m. to be induced. It was a long night, but we were able to get some sleep during the night. We were so excited and nervous, not knowing what the next day was going to bring. My doctor came in at 6:30 a.m. to break my water and the Pitocin was started shortly after. I went from feeling zero contractions to feeling very intense contractions within a half an hour. I caved in and got an epidural and then was able to relax until I needed to start pushing. I'm so happy I got the epidural, it made the day much more bearable and I was able to get a lot of rest... if only I knew that I would have to push for 3 1/2 hours for my dear daughter to arrive.

I started pushing around 5:30 and continued until 9:04 when she finally arrived. My doctor resorted to using the vacuum to get our little one out, which really scared me at first, but it was either that or a c-section. I certainly didn't push for that long to go in for a c-section. Kinslee was 7 lbs 15 ounces and 21 inches long. After a few hours, she had to be taken to the NICU because of a high white blood cell count. It was extremely hard for me to have her on a different floor than I was on, especially because I wanted Kellen to stay with her, rather than me. I got to go down to see her around 3:00 a.m. to feed her for the first time, then had to head back to my room to get some rest. We stayed in the hospital with her until Thursday afternoon, when she was discharged. It was a really long four days for us and we were so happy to be at home with her!!

Since then, we've slowly been adjusting to life with a newborn. Our schedules definitely revolve around her :) She was not sleeping at all during the night the first two weeks, but is doing a lot better now. She usually sleeps from 11-2 and then will be up until 4 or so, then sleep until 8. Kellen and I are taking turns getting up with her, he will change her and then I'll feed her. It's working out really well, we are both able to get some sleep this way.

I hope to be a lot better at updating our blog!!

Our angel is almost here!!

Our official due date is just three days away and we could not be more excited for her to arrive. The pregnancy has seemed to just fly by and we are starting to realize just how much our lives are going to change forever. We are thrilled to be welcoming a little girl into our family and are excited to see what kind of personality she is going to have.

We have a doctor appointment first thing Monday morning, if she doesn't come before then we'll talk about possibly inducing labor sometime during the week. I hope we do not have to go that route, but I trust that my doctor will help us make the best decision for our baby. We had another ultrasound Tuesday morning to test fetal movement and fluid levels, because I've been feeling a lot less movements during the day. The baby is doing great, just getting big! She was estimated to be 7 pounds 13 ounces. It will be interesting to see how much she weighs when she arrives!

We are getting a little nervous about what our dogs are going to do when we bring Baby Meyer home. They have run away twice this week and have been extra needy lately I think they both are sensing that major changes are going to take place soon. Hopefully we all make the adjustment without too many problems.

We will keep updating with any news that we have and will definitely post pictures here when she is born.

Love,
Kellen and Michelle