Beading

While Grandma was here, the kids were often in heaven.  She is very crafty, grandma is, and the kids really enjoyed making things.  She also may be slightly crazy, as defined by a mother who at times doesn't always have the most patience in the world.  On this particular day, Grandma had made a trip to one of the local "heroin joints", and by heroin joint I mean a local craft store where she probably bought out their clearance section.  She picked up some empty necklaces and a container of 1000 beads (or something).  She and the kids divided out all the beads (into my muffin tins) and then proceeded to make necklaces.  I say she is crazy because I don't think I would have ever been brave enough to combine 3 children, aged 7, 4, and 2 and 1000 beads, but, it turned out well.

The kids stayed entertained for a good hour.  And I think we only lost a couple of beads during the initial sorting.  Since then,well, I plead the fifth :)

The other amazing thing was how well Dylan did with it.  I didn't know that he had that kind of dexterity or focus.

But, he seemed to do really well and enjoy it a lot.

Yay for Grandma and clearance beads!

Gifts

The hospital was awful nice and provided a beautiful cake as well as some sparkling cider as a congratulatory dessert. I thought it was a fairly cool little thing the hospital provided :)

Grandma and Kari also devised a plan to decorate the house for when we came home.  Kari drew a design and everything, and folded up the paper.  Then she wrote on the outside "No peeking.  Only for Grandma and Kari."  I will be keeping that, I think, to put somewhere.  Kaitlyn had fun playing with the decorations.  Something about this picture, with her obvious joy and the star just makes me happy.

We even left up the Christmas lights, just for the occasion ;)

Happy Home Coming!

My fabulous friends (that I can trace all the way back to high school and who I spent a fabulous weekend out in New York with) sent me an Edible Arrangement.

We used it to have a fabulous brunch the first Saturday home with bacon, eggs, pancakes and fruit.  Yum!!!

We also had some fabulously beautiful flowers to decorate the house with.  From Left to Right:

Nana and Pop, Uncle D and C, and from Grandma and Grandpa.

Many thanks to those who brought dinner and visited, as well as the blankets and other things.  We feel loved and appreciated!  Welcome home Baby Kelsey!!!

Play Sleeping

I took this little video before we had Kelsey.  Couple of things to listen for:  The fake snoring. 

And the "Whats up?" at the end.

Enjoy :)

Coming Home

On Thursday morning, we were finally given the A OK to go home.  While waiting for the final discharge orders and the pediatricians visit, we decided to give her a bath.  She is such a cute little nakie girl :)

Then we dressed her in her going home outfit.  Traditionally, daddy has picked out the baby's going home outfit, and he didn't disappoint.  Since she was slightly awake, we snapped a couple pictures.  I love how she seems to always be holding her pacifier.

Hello cute girl!

Look!  A smile!

We got home, and the kids were waiting and watching out the door.  They were super excited to have mommy and daddy and Kelsey home. (Kari was still at school)

For an almost 3 year old, Dylan does a pretty good job of holding his sister, for 15 minutes at a time sometimes.

"Hewoh Keh-see" :)

I also like that when he holds her, he almost always has to be touching her head or face...  *Shrugs shoulders*  I dunno....

While waiting for Kari to get home from school (with the other two already taking naps), mommy and daddy were a bit overcome with tiredness too.  So, we all took a group nap.  Mommy and Kelsey, Daddy and Mollie.

Thankfully, Mollie didn't think anything of the new addition either.  She took a couple of sniffs to acquaint herself with the scent, and hasn't bothered her since.

It was a busy day for the little girl.

Wore her plumb out :)

Good laugh

We interrupt this parade of pictures to bring you a few good laughs (courtesy of my loving family).  I suppose that since I have been nursing Kelsey these things tend to be on my mind.

Woman:  I went shopping today for a new bra, but couldn't find one in my size.

Husband:  Really?  What size was that?

Woman: 44 Long.

A woman went to her doctor, depressed because her husband of 64 years had passed away.  During the appointment, she made sure to ask the doctor where her heart was, as she planned to commit suicide.  The doctor replied by saying it beat under her left breast.  The woman was admitted to the hospital later that week with a gunshot wound to her left knee.

Woman to her doctor:  Doc, I think I have furniture disease.

Doctor:  What is that?  I don't believe I have heard of that disease before.

Woman: It is when your chest has fallen into your drawers.

Have a good day! :) 

Family Pictures

We sent Kari to school that morning (I say "we" but really Grandma did it all by herself, while hubby and I were having a baby) with the plan to pick her up around noon, bring the rest of the family up, and introduce them all at the same time.  What follows are several random "family photos" of that first day in the hospital.  Thankfully, the kids did great in the the room, and are adjusting to Kelsey wonderfully!

Apparently, at this point, we hadn't allowed them to touch her yet, but they sure look happy to see her :)

 And, I actually really like this picture, despite my folded jowls.  My hair still looks somewhat blonde-ish and I love the memory of cuddling with her :)

 This is our first "unofficial" family picture.  That is, the first picture with all 6 of us at the same time.  The girls with daddy (tickling him, I believe) and Dylan on the bed with Kelsey and I, and a heavy pillow barrier between us :)

 I do not know what it is about babies that make you want to "face cuddle" with them.  But, we all wanted to put our cheeks on her somehow...

 Gotta love all their cheesy grins...

They also spent many a picnic lunch in the hospital room with me.  It was kinda nice that they didn't really think anything of it, and could just hang out, and be with us, regardless of where we were, or what was going on. 

 It was also nice to occasionally have something else for them to do, while someone else held the baby.  She is one popular sack of potatoes :)

 The kids were even nice enough to share with Grandma.

 I have no idea what is actually going on in this picture, but I imagine him saying "MINE!"

 Starting to get hungry.

Cute little pout-y face, even with no makeup on for mommy :p

And here is another video, for your viewing pleasure, in which hubby tries to get Dylan to say her name...  :)

Kelsey we decided on after finally deciding we liked it.  Gayle (although the middle name of my MIL and SIL) is mainly for (and spelled for) my maternal grandmother (whom I never met, she passed away when my mother was 17).  Her name was Gay, and while that was popular and beautiful at the time, we went with Gayle, which also happens to be my middle name.

For those of you keeping track, we now have all the sides of the family covered:

Kari Reese (Kari after my FIL and Reese after hubby's maternal grandmother)

Kaitlyn Rose (Just got named because we like it)

Dylan Michael (middle name after my dad)

Kelsey Gayle (middle name after my mothers mother)

Whew! 

Introducing

For those of you who couldn't hear when hubby announced on the video a name that I had suggested to him both at the beginning of the pregnancy (like, the day we took the test) and then reminded him of about 3 days before we went in, I would like to introduce to you the newest member of our family:

Kelsey Gayle

 Born on February 13, 2012.

Weighing in at 8 lbs 6oz (10 days early). 

 At a height of 20.5 inches long.  (Boy, does she look happy to be here :)

 Checking out her daddy on the first night in the hospital.

 Such a cute little chipmunk face :)

 This one is probably my favorite.  Eyes open, smiling, captured by my mom.

Welcome home Miss Kelsey!  You will be loved :)

Just another average Monday

Right?  Ha!  I'm so funny :)  The Monday of which I speak is Feb 13th, 2012.

Before you ask, I actually slept pretty well on Sunday night.  I attribute it to being well prepared due to my list, to nerves of steel, and confidence in my doctor, hubby and mother (who made it in early Saturday morning all the way from Chile).  I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that being tired, I had taken a nap earlier in the day, and being somewhat prone to sleepless nights after naps, I ended up taking a benedryl to make sure I slept.

I woke up quite easily around 4:15am (also known as "bloody early in the morning"), showered, taking great pains to shave my legs (or the parts I could see and reach still) and carefully getting dressed in my pajamas.  We checked on the kids one last time before leaving, let grandma take one last glamorous photo,

...and loaded up in the truck.

We arrived at the hospital right on time and headed up to the OB/nursery floor.  There was a limited amount of paperwork to do (since as part of my check list I had preregistered on Friday), and a little bit of blood work to be drawn.  But, that we'll get to later.  I changed out of my pajamas into an even more glamorous evening gown with a low, well, very low...  strike that, missing entirely back side.  I got a bed with the ability to sit up and lay down and comfortability comparable to the inability to feel the bottom half of your body at all (wink, wink).  It also came with people to wait on me hand and foot.  I mean, that is one awesome bed, am I right?!?!

This is me, with a saline drip in my arm, monitors on my belly, and about 60 minutes before having my 4th child.  I'm looking goooooood ;)

After all the monitoring was done, I walked for one last time down to my room to use the restroom before they inserted the catheter.  That was the last step before the doctor came, and I had asked that they wait until the last possible minute.  True, it makes it so you don't have to go, but it sure makes it feel like you want to.  We ended up inserting it as the doctor walked into the room to talk to me.  I was glad to see she was there (about 30 minutes early actually) and she was glad to see I was prepped.  At that point, she went to scrub in, and the anesthesiologist came to wheel me back into the OR.  The spinal went well, and worked quickly.  It is such a strange feeling as your legs get warm, and you simultaneously loose the ability to move them.  They start breaking out all kinds of packages, opening sheets and tools and gauze and all manner of disinfected things.  All the while, poor hubby is waiting to be called in.

Once they make the initial incision (thankfully the poke a little bit first to see if you can feel it), they call hubby in.  Turns out I had quite a bit of scar tissue mostly due to the other previous sections and the bladder issue I had last time, so we waited for a few minutes for another doctor to come in and consult.  I have complete faith in my OB, but I am also glad she is smart and un-proud enough to ask for help, just to make sure there isn't a better solution.

Once the second doc arrived, things got moving quite quickly.  The initial incision had been made, but my uterus was not actually open.  Hubby and Grandma had talked about recording the actual delivery, and I said I didn't mind it.  Turns out, from cut to baby, it took less than 2 minutes.  I have also actually watched the video.  I don't know how to describe it exactly, but maybe interesting will suffice for now. 

And there she is:  Miss America :) 

Actually, this is the first of our 4 children that hubby has been able to cut the cord.  I guess for the rest of them, since they cut it before they hand her to the nurses, they didn't consider the "trimming" all that important.  I am glad that he got to do it at least once!

They cleaned her up a little bit and then everyone took hands off long enough to get an accurate weight and height.

At 8 lbs 6 oz, and 20.5 inches long, she is my heaviest, but not my longest (that honor goes to Kari, who was 21"), even being 10 days early.

Then the video came in, but it is at the bottom, and I am going to use it as my cliff hanger, so we will continue.  After weight and cleaning, hubby brought her over to introduce her to me :)

Can I just say that the anesthesiologist we had was awesome!  He took all the pictures that have us both (or just hubby for that matter) in them.  He also told jokes, kept checking on me, and was just an all around helpful guy, grabbing things and holding things, etc. 

At this point in the day, I am going to close the post with a video.  You can hear her first cry, see her first squirms, and hear an announcement of sorts.  We had been talking about names forever (of course), and still hadn't (as far as I knew) come to any conclusions on one.  So, if you listen closely to the video, you will hear it about the same time that I did. 

And if you can't hear it, then you will just have to hang on until tomorrow. :)

Bwahaha!