Week 4

4 Week Highlights

*At the beginning of the week Kenadi started losing all of the hair on top of her head. We're excited to see exactly what color is going to grow in it's place.

*On Friday her little belly button stub finally fell off!!! 4 weeks was a long time!

*Sunday night she took her first bath in the bath tub.

*Monday night while we were having some tummy time she rolled over from her tummy to her back (pure accident, I know)

*There was one night this week she slept from 11:00 to 4:30 - that's the longest stretch of sleep she's had so far :) We're getting closer to sanity!

*I've given up marinara sauce completely since eating it really doesn't make for the best night of sleep.

*Today her left eye was really watery and crusty - I'm trying the old wives tale of squirting breast milk in it to make it better (why are you giving me that funny look:) - if it's still the same in the morning it'll be off to the dr. we go.

Kenadi's couch potato look :)

Finished!

I am now officially done with Kenadi's room. This weekend I finished the bedding for her crib. I love how it turned out. Thanks April for bringing all the fabric!

I also took down the curtains and changed them a little bit. I think they look better around the window now. I don't think I ever posted pictures of the rest of Kenadi's room finished. We got great deals on the nightstand and the glider and ottoman (we just put new fabric on the cushions) - yeah craigslist!




I also wanted to show off this awesome diaper cake my friend Sara made for me. She does such an incredible job of incorporating room themes and colors to match the nursery with every diaper cake she makes and I LOVE mine! Not only is the diaper cake itself a great gift but she even stuffs little gifts inside the bottom tiers. Thank you for such a great gift Sara!

Happy Birthday April!

Today is Auntie April's birthday and I thought I'd share these little video clips with everyone. I know these will make you smile April! We love the new CD you got for us. Chase's favorite song is Little Liza Jane - he just sings his little heart out :) Thank you!

Celebrating Auntie April's birthday when she was in Texas earlier this month.
We LOVE you Auntie April!!!

Adorable New Flower Clips

I just finished adding a new item to our shop! They're our new shabby chic hair clips. When April was visiting we talked about making them and now we both tackled the project, coming up with two different styles.

Elizabeth Hair Clip

Kenadi Hair Clip

This is the first one I made so it looks a little bit different since I was experimenting.

I love the vintage look they have to them. Each flower measures approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter and is connected to a no slip grip alligator clip. We're planning on making a couple more and then seeing how they do in the Etsy shop. I'll keep posting pics as they come along :)

Week 3

As we near the end of Kenadi's 3rd week, today I looked in her crib and realized how big she's getting. She normally loves to be swaddled at night but this morning when I went to check on her she looked two sizes too big for her blanket!

This week we also said goodbye to all of her newborn size clothing . . . my last time getting to use those teeny-tiny clothes that are oh-so cute. Kenadi also discovered that daddy's chest isn't just nice to sleep on but fun to play on too.

For my little photo shoot this week (I know I won't be able to keep this up every week but I have so many ideas!), it didn't exactly work out. Everything is starting to bloom, including the beautiful tulips over at Heritage Park. Since Kenadi can't exactly sit up yet I thought I'd use a cute little pair of butterfly wings I found, stick them on Kenadi's back and have the tulips in the background for a cute spring picture (kind of like the Anne Geddes fairy pictures she does with the woodsy backgrounds). Well I didn't have any such luck - I was able to take 2 pictures total - with three boys running around and Kenadi being awake (not sleeping like I wanted her to be) and a little fussy, neither turned out very good.

This one would have been okay if I would have placed her better in the light and if she would have kept her face turned to the side so you could see her little ear (I love how they go up in a point). I WILL get a good picture in the tulips - just not for this week.

As far as sleeping during the night it's been a hit and miss deal. Some nights she'll wake up at 2 and then 6 - which after that I'll start my day; but then some nights I'll have trouble getting her back to sleep and be up for about 2 hours - I never had that problem with the boys. They always went right back to sleep.

This is my view when I feed Kenadi while Cole's at school. Chase and Cy like to come in Kenadi's room and read :)

I do have some new Needle in a Scrap-Stack updates that I can't wait to share with everyone. We just need to do a little bit more work before we show it off. Can't wait!

Sunshine

Like I've said before, I LOVE all the hats and headbands with the big flowers attached to them for little baby girls. Near the end of my pregnancy, I bought a cute little crocheted beanie with a cute crocheted flower on it off of Etsy. I couldn't wait to take pictures of Kenadi wearing it and had to do it soon because I don't think it will fit her very much longer. Here's Kenadi, 2 weeks old.





When my mom and sister were here helping out one of the things April did was make Kenadi's quilt for her. I love it!!!


Kenadi had her 2 week check-up and everything looks great. She's now 20 1/2 in. and 8lb 11oz. She's been a very content, easy going baby which is such a relief! Nights are still a little rough especially if I eat something for dinner that's spicy or had marinara sauce (she'll wake up a lot more or won't go back to sleep till she poops!). Lately, for the most-part, the last feeding for the evening is between 10:30/11:00, she'll wake up again at 2:00, won't really want to go back to sleep right away, be back asleep by 3:00 and then up again between 5:30 and 6:30. This next week I'm going to work on keeping her awake a lot longer before she goes down for the night and see if we get closer to sleeping through the night.



I'm really looking forward to getting outside this week - Cole's on spring break and it's supposed to be warm and sunny everyday (unlike all the rain and cold we had last week). With all the sunshine, we took Kenadi on her first trip to the park yesterday (the boys had been wanting to go to Kids Kastle) and it was beautiful.

I'll leave you with a picture of Cole playing with a shaving kit that Oma and Auntie April got for the boys while they were here. It was so cute watching him trying to be just like daddy.

Such Sweetness

This weekend I was surrounded in sweetness - not only from Kenadi but from my whole family. Cy turned three Saturday and we had a firetruck party for him. Right after our guests arrived he was surprised with a visit from the fire department with one of their firetrucks pulled right up in front of our house. You should have seen the look on his face and heard the excitement in his voice. It was so sweet.

I wouldn't have been able to do it all without the help of my mom and sister. Just having you here made his day that much more special!

1st Week of Life

No matter how grueling the first week is after giving birth, getting to finally love, hold, kiss and watch your baby grow puts everything back into perspective.

Here are a couple highlights/thoughts from her first week of life:

We got to go home from the hospital after just one night - every other time they've made us stay two.

Although Kenadi's jaundice was okay when we left the hospital, at her dr.'s appointment the next day she was up to an 11. This meant lot's of sitting in front of a window and feeding every 2 hours. By the end of her first week she got up to a 16 before it finally started coming down.

Kenadi is growing and changing every day. It's already going too fast!

I love all the lines in her little newborn feet. She inherited Auntie April's feet - the second toe is just as long as her big toe - she's still perfect :)


I love watching Brandon with her; how gentle, loving and protective he is.

Oma and Auntie April got here that Saturday and are staying till the following Saturday. I'm loving all the help: playing with the boys, fixing dinner and keeping the house clean! The boys are loving all the attention too :) Thanks for all your amazing help!

I already love dressing her up - especially for my little photo shoots. All of the hats, flowers, and ruffles - I love it all!

So far Kenadi doesn't cry unless you give her something to cry about. She loves to be snuggled and seems to be the most comfortable right on Daddy's chest - she falls asleep almost immediately every time.

She likes her sponge baths - no crying at all. I can't wait for her little belly button stub falls off!

On Wednesday, my sister and I did a little 1 week photo shoot. I love the little hat (thanks Brandi and Christen!). I'll leave you with my favorites :)

Happy Birthday Kenadi!

One of my last preggo pics @ 35 weeks

Kenadi Nicole arrived at 2:52 pm February 25th. We are all head-over-heals over our sweet little girl. She had a bit of a rough delivery but nothing too bad and is now doing great.


I know I haven't blogged for the whole month of February (been so busy getting things ready) so I will bring you up to date. I was walking around for weeks 50% effaced and dilated to a 2. Nothing changed until I hit 38 weeks when I changed from a 2 to a 3 1/2. Since I was already dilated, have had group B strep with past pregnancies and very fast labor and deliveries we set a date to break my water.

We went to the hospital the morning of February 25th at 9:00. Brandon's cousin Anthony and his wonderful girlfriend Kristen (who is a labor and delivery nurse) were in town from California and watched the boys that morning until Grandma came over.

At about 10:00 Dr. Van Dell broke my water. I was already having contractions when we arrived at the hospital and of course they were now getting stronger. I remember with the boys being in immediate pain after my water broke and exactly 3 hours or less I was giving birth. This time I was progressing a lot slower because her head was still at a minus 2 station (it was not coming down). At about 12:00 I got the epidural and was dilated to a 5, 75% effaced and her head was still at a minus 2 station. So I started lying on my side trying to get her to come down a little. I laid on one side for a while then at about 2:00 switched sides and immediately felt sick and got the shakes. Hello transition period!
It had been about an hour since the last time I was checked and I had gone from a 5 to a 10 since then. It was time to push (thank God for the epidural during this time)! When I was pushing the cord was wrapped around her neck and for some reason this was causing her to get a little stuck - it's always a little scary when the nurses jump on top of your belly to help push the baby out and an instant replay of what happened when Chase was born. She breathed right away (unlike Chase) but had a lot of bruising from coming down the birth canal so fast. The dr.'s said this would put her at high risk for jaundice because of all the dead blood cells her liver would have to process.





Kenadi already has Daddy wrapped around her little finger and the boys were so excited that she was out of my tummy and that they finally got to hold her - with the exception of Cy (he doesn't want much to do with her).

Overall, Kenadi came out healthy and I couldn't ask for more. The moment when they lay your baby on your tummy is an indescribable, amazing moment that I will never forget. She is absolutely perfect.