Moving!!!

So we closed on the new house Tuesday Nov.30th and have been cleaning this week. The big move starts tomorrow. We are renting a moving van tomorrow Dec.6th and will have it all day. I am at work today but will be packing boxes and closets and all that fun stuff once I get home this afternoon. I still have to vacuum the girls bedrooms at the new house as well as Korey's bedroom and the stairs. We painted Korey's room last night (thanks Dad for trimming it out!)but we are going to have to buy more paint because we already used the whole gallon and the pink is showing through a little bit. Oh well. Other than that all is well. I hope to have pictures up in the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Here is my list of things I am thankful for in no particular order..
1. My beautiful family!!
2. Great friends!!
3. That we both have careers that we love!!
4. Freedom of Religion!!


I am especially thankful this year as Randall and myself are in the process of selling our current home and have just purchased our dream home. We are upgrading by about 1200 square feet, so I am very excited for the increase in space. We are set to close on Tuesday November 30th at 4pm and we take possession of the house at closing. Then the moving starts. I have roughly 50 broken down boxes in our basement and I have yet to pack a single thing. We are in an odd situation as we do not have to be moved out of our current home, since it has not sold yet. Hence the procrasitination on my part about packing. We are also only moving a short distance, 6 miles up the road to be exact. We are moving from the south end of our town to the north end, so we will be able to make lots of little trips. I envision that we will be doing more trips than actual packing. The real moving such as furniture and larger items will be the week of December 6th(what a great way to spend vacation). I pray for a good transition for Karli as she will probably have the roughest adjustment. Not only will she be moving into a new house, but she will be moving into a big girl bed as well. I must quit rambling now and go go bed..


HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!

My Beautiful Children

Here is just one of the photos we had done of the kids recently. In these the kids are 12 1/2, 28 months and 8 1/2 months old...I will post the rest when I get the disc in a few weeks..

Two Houses for a family of 5!!!

Yep you read right. We are about to be the owners of two houses. We decided almost 2 years ago to start looking for another house, after placing our house on the market for over 6 months, we had to take it back off the market to make some necessary repairs caused by water damage, then it was the wrong "season" to list the house again so we waited. In May of this year we place our house back on the market and waited, and waited. Last time our house went on the market we were flooded with showings, this time not so much. I decided after last time of finding our dream home only to lose it that I wasnt going to be really gung ho about looking this time around. We went and looked at a house here and there but no serious looking. Well a few weeks ago, I found two houses that I LOVED and that were in the same sub-division. (Showings had finally picked up on our house, since two price drops) We decided to go look at them, well there were things about both that we loved. The difference was the almost $40,000 price difference in the 4/2 and the 4/3.5 homes. Then they dropped the price by over 15k on the larger house. OK lets go look at them again and see if they will take a contingency contract(basically wait for a contract on our house before we buy thiers). After looking at both houses, we decided to make an offer on the larger of the two. Now picture in your mind, me and Randall complete with measuring tapes, measuring the size of the rooms to make sure our tables would fit and everything.Keep in mind that the larger of the two houses has an ESIK(eating space in kitchen) and a dining room, while the other only has a ESIK. So Friday a week ago, we sit down and decide to put an offer on the home, the sellers accepted the price but not the contingency part of the contract, along with some other things, so we decided to counter-offer. We lowered the price offered by 5K(now 31K less than original asking price) and made some other amendments and dropped the contingency part. THEY ACCEPTED!!!! We signed the final contract on Friday, and are waiting to get it back from the sellers(this should be Monday or Tuesday) and then the ball will be really rolling. For now the closing date is November 30th. Yep, just 4 short weeks away. We have an Open House scheduled for next Sunday the 7th, for our current house, so keep praying that we get a solid contract so that we can avoid paying two mortgages. The good thing is that our two mortgages will still be what most people pay in one mortgage...So two houses for our family of 5...

Wasn't I Here Last Year?

Ok, so this time last year, we had our house on the market and were very hopeful that it would sell quickly. Not so much though... We had found a house that we LOVED and WANTED, but it was not to be. It was about this time that we found that our entryway/foyer was rotting and collapsing. Sad as it seems, we took our house off the market and began a year long project of renovations to our house. So here we are a year and some major thousands of dollars later and guess what.. Yep our house is back on the market.. The difference this time, well we haven't exactly been gung ho about looking for houses. I am too scared that last year will repeat itself. Meaning I will find and fall in love with a house that will not end up as mine.(I might note that the house from last year closed only 3 short weeks ago).. I know through belief and prayer that we were not meant to get that house, or things would have worked out.

So here we are again. Our house is on the market(with a GREAT agent)and we have looked at exactly 5 houses so far. I won't lie, I have found one that I love, but the difference this time is that it is in a new subdivision that is just now being built. So it is entirely possible that we may end up with this house. Our house has been back on the market for exactly 9 days and we haven't received a single call about the house. Maybe the realtor has, but we haven't shown the house even once. With that being said, I am not at all discouraged, if anything I am encouraged. God is finding the perfect family for our house, just as HE is finding the perfect house for us. This new subdivision would require a move to the other side of town, the plus side of that is that it is closer to our Church, closer to Randall's job, and has TOP RATED Schools. The downside, we would be away from our parents(aka the babysitters).

Anyway alot of rambling to basically say that GOD WILL MAKE A PATH AND BY HIS HAND IT WILL BE SHOWN..patiently, prayerfully waiting for GOD to move.

4 months old already..

So Reese was 4 months old yesterday. This picture was taken just over 2 weeks ago. Her hair is finally starting to come in and it is dark brown just like mine. She still has the sky blue eyes like her Big Daddy ( Randall's father). She is my chunky baby for sure. She is already 15 lbs. and wearing a size 6 months in clothes.

Time really is flying by!!! OH and big sister Karli will be turning 2 in just over 3 weeks.. How crazy is that? Pictures of Baby Dedication coming later this week...

!!

New Blog.

I have decided to start another blog. My new blog will be totally devoted to food. LOL.. I have wanted to do this for awhile. As many of you know I absolutely LOVE to cook. Many times I will come up with recipes of my own. So my goal with this new blog is to post at least one new recipe a week. Since I am a mom of three who works full-time, then all of the recipes are going to be easy and quick to fix. Alot of them are going to be the type you put in the crockpot and walk away from. I am still in the process of setting up the blog page, but my goal is to have it up and running by May 1st. I am so excited and hope that my friends will enjoy reading it as much as I will enjoy writing it. Now I just need to come up with a title.. Since I don't know how to add a poll, I am just going to post my ideas and see which you all like better, and throw in your own ideas too. Thanks in advance.. Here are my ideas.

frommykitchentoyours

kerriskreations

cookitandgo...

One Month Old

Reese turned a month old on March 2nd. I can't believe how quick time is going. We took her to the Dr for another bilirubin check. The level was 14.1 so it was down and the Dr was happy. She weighed in at 7lbs 9oz(her lowest weight was 6lbs 1oz). She is a great baby and already sleeping for a four hour stretch in the middle of the night..She is also a champion nurser. We still aren't giving bottles, at least not for another week, but I know I have to get her used to them before I go back to work. Anyway, here is a picture I took of her on her One Month Birthday...Enjoy..

Our first Week at home!!

I can't believe that Reese is already 11 days old. After coming home, we spent 5 days on the home bilibed, so there wasn't much opportunity for picture taking. I have snapped a few pictures in the past few days that I wanted to share with my friends. Here you go..




Asleep as usual..




Check out the smile on Karli's face. This was the first time she got to "hold" Reese.


Trying to share her paci...LOL


Finally caught her awake..

Here is my birth story complete with pictures.. I think I did pretty well considering that Reese will be 6 days old today. I wrote this birth story a little differently than I wrote Karli's, only because I believe I had a few days that led up to the delivery of Reese. Placed on full bedrest at 34 weeks due to history of preterm delivery, increase in Blood Pressure, protein in urine and dilation of cervix. I am allowed 1-2 trips per week mainly for Church and Dr's appts.

Friday January 29th--4th day of full bedrest. I was going to Bunco tonight.. Woohoo, excited to get out of the house. Around noon I started having some braxton hicks contractions, I knew they weren't the real deal because they weren't in any kind of rhythm or pattern. Well after about two hours, they settled into a pretty good pattern,coming every 3-7 minutes. I decided to drink some water and lay down,they didn't go away. Then I decided to take a bath to see if that would make them stop..Nope..Called the Dr..called my friends to tell them I wasn't going to make bunco...Dr called back, told me too lay down on my left side and time contrax for 1 hr, if they didn't space out to call her back..It was 3:45.. Layed down, no change...Call Dr back, wanted me too come in for monitoring...Arrived at L&D at 6pm..Hooked to monitors. Dr comes in to check me, cervix still 1cm, thick and baby is high..monitored for 2 hours, still having contrax, but not strong enough to do anything. Dr sent me home and told me too come back if they got stronger.


Saturday, January 30th- 5th day full bedrest- Still having a few contrax. Lost my mucous plug. Really, really tired all day. Drinking a ton of fluid, felt like I was really dehydrated. Took a long nap in the afternoon.

Sunday, January 31st- 6th day full bedrest- It was our Sunday to take breakfast to our Sunday School class, so we decided to skip Worship and go to Sunday School. I was MISERABLE. I couldn't walk, sit, or stand comfortably. I am pretty sure that that baby dropped sometime in the last 12 hours or so, because I am having to pee like every 15 minutes only to be able to trickle...LOL... Got home from Church and took a 4.5 hour nap. Thank goodness for a child that still takes long naps, another child that can occupy himself, and a hubby that lets me sleep...

Monday, February 1st--7th day full bedrest- Had an uneventful morning. Had a Dr's appt scheduled at 3:30pm. Got to the Dr's, cervix was now dilated to 2cm, thick, but baby is fully engaged. Dr. noticed some ? pooling of fluid so decided to test to see if my membranes were ruptured. Litmus paper was positive for amniotic fluid(but urine can turn it positive too???) so she decided to do a slide and check for ferning.. Negative.. Dr wants an U/S to check fluid levels..YAY we get to see Reese again. U/S great, fluid levels perfect,estimated baby weight 7lbs 4oz!!! We make a followup appt for Thursday, due to my blood pressure still being elevated.

Later that same night....I am feeling good, have had a few contrax and some pink discharge, just thinking it is from the internal at my appt. After Randall leaves for work, I decide that I want to unpack the hospital bag and make sure we have everything( our trip on Friday kinda spooked me that I had forgotten something important). Everything is there, so I repack the bag. Go to bed around 1am. I wake up at 3:35 thinking that I am wetting the bed..Great, now Im totally incontinent...Get up and go to the restroom, decide to go ahead and put on a pad. As I am walking back to the bed I had a small trickle..Lay down on the bed and after about five minutes switch positions and have another gush of fluid.. UhOh!!! My water broke.. I decided to wait to see if I was going to start having any contrax. I did and rather quickly.. they were coming every 3 minutes like clockwork, but not hurting at all. I called Ran at work at 4am and said we have two options...I can call and wake my Mom up to come on down here to watch the kids, or we can wait until you get off work at 6:30 and go then.. He was confused and said What?, I said my water broke. He said I don't like option 2.. So he headed home from work. I called the Dr and my Dr wasn't on call.Great!! He told me to go to L&D. Got there around 5:10 and the nurses were in the middle of shift change. They verified that my water was broken, hooked me up to the monitors and left to get report and assign patients. A nurse finally came in( not my nurse) and asked me some questions, then about 6am my nurse Beth came into the room..It took 3 tries and 2 nurses to get my IV started, and a 4th stick to get my labs drawn. I finally got my IV antibiotics started at 8am. I was having contractions, but very irregular and ranging in intensity. My Dr came in a little after 8am and checked me. I was now dilated to 3cm, 50% effaced. Yay I was making progress. She still wanted to start Pitocin!!! I hate that drug. She did know that I was going to try and go natural, so she told Beth that once my contrax were in a good pattern that she could turn the pit off. So the pit went up right around 9am. I was doing good with contrax, they were hurting but not too bad. I had my IPOD on, so that is how I was distracting myself during contrax. About 10 am I requested to be checked again, I was now at 5-6cm, 100%.. WOOHOO...After that check the contrax went CRAZY...They became almost unbearable, one right on top of the other, coming every 2 minutes but lasting for longer than a minute a piece... I was having a very hard time dealing with them. Randall was massaging my back and that was helping. I knew that my body was starting to lock up on me and if I was going to dilate I had to relax. I caved and asked for the epidural. Ran went to get something to eat while they put it in. I asked for the walking epidural so that I would still be able to walk and move around. The Dr laughed and said are you sure, they only last about 2 hours. I said yes, this baby will be here in about an hour. The Dr and Beth both laughed. The epi was in at 1053am.. At 1145, Beth's break relief came in the room. Beth left for lunch, the relief nurse was about to hang my second dose of antibiotics and I told her she better run it in half the time, because I was complete and ready to push.. That statement scared her.. Randall came back about this time. The nurse checked me and said,, OMG don't push. She then called for setup for delivery( the room wasn't even ready)and called Beth to tell her that I was complete, and called my Dr to tell her that I was ready. Then she told me that we needed to do some practice pushes.. I laughed and told her if we practiced then she would be delivering the baby by herself.. My first I didn't even push, and my second I only pushed twice.. She said okay then we won't practice, just breath through the contrax and fight the urge to push. Beth came back in the room and they started breaking the bed down, the right stirrup was broken and wouldn't stay in position..LOL.. Dr came in the room and got ready, she told me to wait for a contrax and then push...I felt the contrax and started pushing and at 12:15pm Harper Reese joined our family.



Harper Reese Jones
2-2-2010 @ 12:15pm
7lbs 2oz
20.5 inches
13.5 head



Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy.








We came home on Thursday after a 2 day stay in the hospital..Yay...It was great to have her in the room with me and get to nurse whenever she wanted, and to bring her home with us was the best feeling in the world!!! She is now on home phototherapy for her jaundice. Praying that it continues to come down and she comes off soon, so that we can snuggle with her...

35 wks 3 days and Still Preggo!!!WooHoo

Let's start this off by saying that I have had contractions all weekend long. They have not been in a regular pattern since my trip to L&D on Friday, but I was still having them none the less and they weren't braxton hicks!! Yesterday, Sunday we went to Church(this is my one allowed fieldtrip each week other than the Dr) and then all afternoon I was hurting, not contracting, just plain old hurting. I figured out why last night the baby finally dropped and is way low. Along with this I lost my mucuous plug(I would say all of it) and had to start wearing a pad, as everytime I move I was leaking something. I wasn't sure if it was discharge or urine, or heaven forbid my membranes had a slow leak. I decided to just wear a pad and mention it today at my Dr's appt. So at 10pm I took an extra strength tylenol and I went to bed, I woke up at 2am, wide awake after having a few hours of great sleep. Seriously I thought I had been asleep all night the way I felt when I woke up. My hips were killing me though and I could barely walk. I decided to just sit in the tub in the hottest water I could stand and that helped a ton...Well then I was totally awake and knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. Gotta love pregnancy insomnia.. So I probably peed like 150 times in the middle of the night.

Karli decided to wake up early too, so at 5:15 she got up and was bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to go. Ran got home from work at 6:45 and we got the kids fed, and ready to go. Korey went to school and Karli went to my in laws. I decided to lay down and sleep with Randall and I slept from about 8:30 until 1:30.. great sleep. When I woke up I could walk again..YAY... I took a bath, then woke up Randall so that we could get ready for my appt.

Dr appt update:


Gained 6 lbs in a week, not swollen.BP up a little, urine normal.
Dilated to 2cm( was still 1cm in L&D on Friday).Baby fully engaged!!
Got my GBS swab done,Dr saw some leaking.
Dr ?'s whether my water was broken. Did a litmus paper swab, positive. Did a slide to test for ferning, negative. Sent me for U/S to check fluid level.
U/S results: Fluid level at 165 so great!! Normal is 80-180.. Turns out im just leaking urine.. wonderful...
Babies weight 7lbs 4oz..She is measuring exactly 3 weeks ahead on all measurements.. and yes she is still a girl...LOL
I go back on Thursday..

35 Weeks and New Symptoms!

35 Weeks and all is well. I am still having contractions but they have not increased in intensity and they are more sporadic than they were on Friday before my trip to L&D. I do have two new symptoms though: an insatiable thirst, and the need to sleep constantly. I seriously think that I slept for like 18 hours yesterday. Of course I woke up at 3am wide awake this morning unable to go back to sleep.Why? I was thirsty and my hip was killing me.
So here we are one week away from our(mine and my Dr's) delivery goal date, and two weeks shy of being full term.. I have officially used up one week of my FMLA time, I have 11 weeks left. I am hoping to get at least 9 weeks at home with my new daughter. That means she needs to be born by Valentine's Day..My Dr said we would discuss possible induction during my 37th week if I make it that far. Some days I feel like I am in for the long haul, and others I don't. Friday I just knew that we were going to have another NICU baby, now I KNOW that we won't( at least not a direct admit just based on gestational age).
I also realized Friday after our trip to L&D just how much stuff still wasn't done for this little one. Well I can tell you I didn't get much of it done today(like I said before I slept a ton)...So today after Church I am hoping to get it done. They are all little things. Hanging the shelfs and coat rack in the nursery, setting up the bassinet in our bedroom, rechecking the hospital bag(only because of my OCD)and printing out my birth plan,(I didn't have a copy at the hospital on Friday)..Anyway just a quick update. I will take another belly picture this afternoon after Church(my one allowed field trip per week) and post it ... Hope everyone has a good day.

My Trip to L&D..

Well I had to make my first(and hopefully only) trip to L&D for "false labor" ever. I never had to do this with Korey or with Karli.. So I had noticed early am on Friday morning that my contractions were starting to hurt more than the braxton hicks I have been having for weeks. They weren't painful enough that they were really hurting, more of just a nuisance. This continued all day. Around 1 o'clock they started coming closer together. They were ranging about every 5-10 minutes at this point, and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to right at a minute. I timed them like this for a little over an hour, they began getting closer, every 3-5 minutes, so I decided to take a bath and see if they got worse or better. They got worse!! I called the Dr and she told me to lay down, drink some fluids, continue timing them for about 30 minutes and then call her back if they got worse. Well I did this and they did space out for a little while, but then they picked right back up at in a every 2-3 minute pattern. Still not really uncomfortable, but some hurting enough that I was having to breathe through them. I called the Dr back and was told to come on in. We loaded up the kids, dropped them off at my parents, and got to the hospital and hooked up to the monitors at 6:15. I was having contractions ranging every 5-7 minutes. So I wasn't wrong..LOL.. I do remember what a contraction feels like...The Dr on call came in and checked me. I was still only dilated to 1cm,thick and baby is high but plottable(just meaning the Dr could feel the head). She told me that they would watch my contractions and make a decision. My BP was elevated a little(hello I was having contractions) but not enough to worry about, urine had 0 protein...YAY..So after about an hour and a half, the nurse said she was going to call the Dr and see what she wanted to do. I was praying that I was going to get to go home and that this was false labor. See we are still in our 34th week, which means that we would be an automatic admit to NICU again, and I really don't want that this time. So the Dr calls back and says that I can go home..YAY... only if my contractions get any closer together or stronger again, then I need to come back in, otherwise just followup with Dr.B at my appt on Monday. So while it was a bad night in general, it was good because my baby is still cooking and hopefully we are going to avoid the NICU this time... I only have 1 more day before I am 35 weeks, and as long as little Reese acts like a big girl when she is finally born, I will get a take home baby this time.. My biggest prayer this whole pregnancy. A healthy, take home baby.. Please keep us in your prayers and I will keep you all posted.

34 Week Appointment

Thats right I said 34 week appointment. This would be the appointment that never was with Karli as she decided to be born that day. I feel very happy and blessed that I have made it past that point this time around and am on my way to delivering a full-term, NICU avoiding, take home baby!!! Anyway, my appointment was Monday a.m. and the results were much better than last Thursday. My blood pressure was back down to normal range( 128/68), I lost 4 of the 5lbs I had gained the week before, the protein in my urine was down from 2+ to 1+ and I have not dilated anymore...WOOHOO....So I am in the clear for another week. I return for a followup appointment next Monday afternoon, February 1st. Please continue to pray that Reese stays put until at least 36 weeks. That is only 12 days away....Here is a picture of me today at 34 wks 2 days.. And Yes, I am aware that I am HUGE!!!

Day of Dr Appointments

So today was a day of Dr appointments for the family. Korey had his 12 year old check-up, Karli had her 18 month check-up and I had my 34 week appt(I am 33 wks 5 days). So below are our "Stats" and what is up with everyone.

Korey:

5 ft 3 3/4 inches tall--95th percentile

100 lbs even.. --45th percentile

Karli:

2 feet 8 inches tall- 55th percentile

24lbs 4 oz.,--40th percentile- remember at birth she didn't even register on the percentile scale.

Kerri:

BP : 150/90

2+ protein in urine

5lb weight gain in past week(Um thats more than I have gained this whole pregnancy)

= Total bed rest for me for the duration of pregnancy. I have to return on Monday for a followup appointment. I was told to stay in bed this weekend. However, she did give me a pass to go to my baby shower...YAY!!

33 Weeks and Modified Bed Rest!!!

Ok, so today was my 33 week appt. You may remember that I have been going to the Dr every week since Christmas due to my history of early delivery. Well today I went in for my normal check. I have been having some major contractions for the last two weeks, but didn't really think anything of them. Well then this week, they started to become a little more frequent and intense. I have also been having the nice stabbing pain in my cervix area, and back pain with some of the contractions. Well once I told my Dr all of this, she decided she wanted to check me just to be safe. The good news is the baby is head down, the bad news. I am dialated to 1cm already, soft, and the babies head is "right there" to quote my Dr. So she wanted to put me on total bedrest but I cannot use all my FMLA time before the baby is even here. So she is putting me on modified bedrest. Basically, I can only work part time, 4 hours a day until I deliver. The rest of the time I have to sit on my butt and do nothing. Randall loved to hear that...LOL...I go back in a week to be reevaluated. I have a feeling I will really be catching up on some blogging. I will keep everyone posted.

Realization

Webster's Dictionary definition:

Realization-to be aware of, to understand..

Well this week I have come to several realization's. Not to sound corny, but some of these have been a long time coming.

Things I realized this week, in no particular order.

1. I LOVE being pregnant(yes even with all the heartburn and sickness).

2. I hate that this could be my last pregnancy.

3. The nursery still isn't totally finished.

4. I haven't packed my hospital bag yet.

5. I really BELIEVE I am going to deliver this baby on Valentine's Day.

6. I LOVE my Church and especially my Sunday School Class.

7. I have the best friends a girl could ask for, I can be a total witch and they tell me, yet they still
love me.

8. I want a new house (okay this insn't really new, but more reasons have come into play lately).

9. I enjoy spending a quiet night at home playing a board game with my family without the t.v.
on.

10. I spend too much time on the internet, especially late at night.

11. We really need to get a new bed, because our mattress is uncomfortable.

This post is really random, but just a few things weighing on my pregnant mind this week. Many of these things made me really reflect and think, while others gave me that Oh No moment of panic..Here's hoping that all goes well with everyone this week. Take it easy and enjoy it.

31 weeks...Already...

That's right Im already at 31 weeks. This pregnancy is flying by. I went to see Dr B. today and all is well. I didn't gain any weight again, but that's nothing new. Baby is growing great. I am still measuring ahead but only by a week and a half(despite everyone telling me I am huge)..not three and a half weeks ahead like last time. My blood pressure and everything look great(Docs exact words) and I only have to check my sugars whenever I feel like they may be out of range...WOOHOO... The baby is definitely head down, but still floating(fine by me, I don't want her anywhere near the exit...LOL)..I go back on the 14th and the 29th, then I will be going every week..Dr B. says she wants to see me huge and pregnant, with lots of complaints. LOL.. As of this week at work, I am only working 4 days a week and one of those is a half work/half paperwork day, so hopefully that will help with me staying preggers longer this time around.

Family Update: All is well with everyone, Little K has cut another set of molars and 1 other tooth in the past 2 weeks, Big K is finally getting his canine teeth back in( they fell out like 6 months ago) and R is still working and his grad. classes start back up next week. Gotta love going to school where they cancel an entire week of classes due to our football team going to the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! Roll Tide!!!