Thank you Aunt Bekah & Uncle Brent

Dear Uncle Brent & Aunt Bekah,

I really really really LOVE the Christmas presents you sent me. I couldn't contain my smiles when I opened them. You pick out perfect presents. Do you want my birthday list now?

Love,

Kaiya

Grandma Time

These first pictures are of visits with grandmas over the past week. Tony's mom was here when Kaleb was born and then my mom came on Saturday and left last night. Their help was invaluable and Kaiya loved the attention.

Tony's Mom

My mom

So... Kaleb's umbilical cord fell off on Friday. So early and strange!! I found it inside his shirt. So since it came off we decided it would be a good time for his first bath. We still just did a sponge bath... and he really didn't mind it. Kaiya's first bath was quite an ordeal... I remember her screaming the whole time. Kaleb just laid there like it was no big deal.

After the bath it was time for Kaleb's first chiropractic adjustment! Got a couple pics of it. He seemed to enjoy this too! :) Kaiya's been asking Tony to adjust her lately. She'll come up to him and touch her neck saying, "Neck. Neck." It is so cute.

This post has been done in parts today... It's almost 7 pm and both kids are asleep. We had our first outing w/ the three of us (K, K & Mama) to Wal-Mart and we all survived. Got home around 4:30 and put Kaiya down right away (learned my lesson on Friday). I had intended to only let her sleep an hour, but the silence is just too golden right now. :) She's still sleeping and dinner is in the oven. Thought I would grab a minute to myself before she wakes up starving. She probably won't go to sleep tonight, but it's worth it. :)

Tomorrow is scary circumcision day. Oh the wonderful world of boys. I'm a bit nervous for him. Tony is off, so we're all going at 8 a.m. It's really a good day to do it since Tony will be home for most of the day. Anyway... hopefully he won't be in too much pain throughout the next few days. Shoot -- I hardly know how to change his diaper as it is... let alone w/ a big ouchie down there...) ha ha...

Well, I hear squeaking from Kaiya's room. So I'm off!

Life with two...

I think it would be an understatement to say our lives have changed by adding another child. :) Things are drastically different! Friday was my first day on my own with both kids. Tony went back to work and Ruthie wasn't home until the afternoon. The morning went fairly well. Kaiya was pretty good and I was able to put her down for the morning nap just as Kaleb was waking up and wanting fed. So we survived that. Ruthie came in the afternoon and took Kaiya shopping for the afternoon. I slept nearly all afternoon.... it was great. They got back around 5:00 p.m. and I debated whether Kaiya should go down for a quick nap. I ended up not putting her down -- HUGE mistake. Ruthie and Brad left and I started dinner. It was our anniversary and so Tony requested breakfast for dinner (bless his heart -- just about the easiest thing to make). I started dinner and Kaiya started major naughtiness. :) She seriously whined or cried for 2 hours straight. I gave her a snack, I let her play in the kitchen sink, I let her crack all the eggs for dinner. And throughout all of it she whined, moaned, groaned, screamed, and cried. Thankfully Kaleb was at least sleeping. :) When I couldn't take anymore I called my parents crying, told them I needed them to talk to Kaiya so I could have a moment to compose myself in the bathroom, put them on speaker phone and handed the phone to Kaiya. I locked my self in the bathroom, sobbed some more and then pulled it together and finished dinner up. I'd like to think we could attribute this to a change in hormones. :) AHHH! Tony got home an hour later and wrestled and tickled Kaiya. She continued the whining for him and I was secretly glad -- it wasn't just me she was being difficult for. We both breathed a sigh of relief when she was in bed for the night. Tony said... Don't worry -- your mom will be here tomorrow. I smiled and got into a hot bath.

I have to start this post by saying that I am typing while lying on my stomach. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world! :) It really is one of the things I disliked the most about being pregnant. Couldn't relax in that position...

Anyway... Kaiya is in bed asleep. Kaleb is in bed asleep. Ahhhh... Peace & quiet. We should probably be asleep too, but Tony's watching a movie and I thought I would play on the computer for a little while.

We went to the pediatrician yesterday. He hated it. :) Nothing too exciting to report... everything checked out okay. After that appointment we headed over to the Birth Place for my 72-hr visit.

This is Jennie Joseph, the founder of the Birth Place and the midwife who was on call when we delivered. She is English, so I got to listen to a wonderful soothing accent while giving birth. She exudes compassion and love -- it was really a blessing to deliver with her.
Kaiya's first time holding Kaleb. She was a trooper -- I could see her arm getting tired and wanting to drop instead of holding his head up. But she did great -- although he was quite miserable.

Took this picture this morning. Kaleb and I were snuggling in bed and Kaiya couldn't miss out. She wanted to hold Kaleb lying down. Very cute...

The Birth

I kind of jumped from posting about "going to have him" to the pictures of him being here. So here is how Saturday unfolded. We finally got out the door and on our way to the birth center around 3:45 p.m. We arrived and got settled in our room. Jennie came in and examined me and found that I was 5 cm and she stretched me to 6 cm. She gave me some homeopathic pills to take every 15 minutes and instructed me to walk for an hour or so. We decided to drive to a mall a few minutes away (who does this a week away from Christmas on a Saturday night?). But we did... ate some good dinner and walked the mall. By the time we returned to the center I was having contractions every 5 minutes. She examined me again -- I was still 6 cm, but she stretched me to 7 cm. We went outside and walked some more. From 6-8 p.m. my contractions stayed between 4-5 minutes apart. There was another couple giving birth at the center too and Jennie was the only midwife. So we told her that we would just wait until the other couple delivered before we had my water broken. We knew the other couple had been there longer and they were getting close to her being able to push so thought it would be best to have them go first. :)

While we were waiting for Jennie, I had a few contractions that led me to think I might break my water naturally. So I decided to wait another hour to see what happened. At midnight I gave her the okay to break my water. A few minutes after my water broke, the contractions bumped up to 2 minutes apart and very strong. The tub of water could not fill up quick enough. I kept glancing over from my bed to see if it was ready for me to get in it. Once I got in the water it was immediately relaxing. The water was very warm and my first contraction in the water felt amazingly less intense than when I was on the bed. I remember looking at Tony and Ruthie and saying, "I think this one is going to be a cake walk compared to Kaiya." I had a few more contractions and then felt like it was time to push. I pushed for 15 minutes and he was born at 1:01 a.m. I was shocked when I realized that he was practically out. When I had Kaiya I pushed for an hour and a half. So during the time I pushed with Kaleb I was thinking that it was only the beginning. I hadn't even bothered to look and see how much progress I was making because I thought I still had a long way to go. When I did finally look and saw the top half of the head out, I remember asking -- is that the head? Tony and Jennie were like -- Yeah - you are so close. I'm thinking -- Well, why didn't you tell me sooner! And I mustered up one more big push and he was out.

He came out really quiet. No screaming or crying. He was also really really clean because of the water. He had his hair (or lack of) washed, but that was it. He didn't need the full bath. The other thing I enjoyed about this experience was that there wasn't anyone immediately ready to whisk him away for weighing or measuring, etc. We did not cut the cord right away, but I was able to just snuggle him until the cord emptied. Everything was more relaxed and moved at a slower pace.

I also loved being able to go home so quickly. It was nice to be in our own space and not having nurses come in every hour to check my blood pressure or ask me how many wet/dirty diapers we have had, how long did I feed him, taking our temperatures, etc. And I think with Kaiya it has been better that we have been home. She really hardly missed us because we were home first thing in the morning.

So... that's the scoop. I'd do it again -- definitely in the water -- and definitely at a birth center. Who knows... maybe we'll have the next one at home. :)

Hmmm... what is it?

This one was taken Sunday morning when we got home around 7:30 a.m. Kaleb is covering his face in this one. Already embarassed of his new family. :)

And the rest of these pictures were taken yesterday. We are off to the pediatrician today and then a follow-up visit to the birth place. So it is a busier day... We were sad to have Tony's mom leave yesterday. She came for a weekend visit and was such a huge help! Kaiya loved all of the special attention she got from Nanny. The time was too short, but it was great timing for her to meet Kaleb and love on the rest of us.

Introducing...

Kaleb Riley Hyser

6 lbs, 10 oz.

20 1/2 inches

Kaleb was born on December 16th at 1:01 a.m.

We're gonna do it...

Just wanted to let you all know that we're heading to the birth center in an hour or so... I've weighed the pros and cons and we're gonna see if we can have this baby today. So your prayers are appreciated! :0) We'll let you know as soon as we are holding the sweet little guy.

Southern Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I was extremely bored and so I made tonight's dinner a day ahead. I was glad for it tonight around 6 p.m. :) Shortly after we moved down here I attended a Ladies Night Out at the church we are going to and it was a Soup Party. Everyone brought a pot of soup and swapped recipes. This one was a hit at our house and perfect for winter. Plus... it's EASY!

Southern Vegetable Soup
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can cream corn
1 can whole kernel corn (undrained)
1 can french green beans (drain)
1 small bag of frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans stewed tomatoes (cut up so they aren't chunky)
1 can tomato sauce
1-2 cups water
2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. celery salt

Brown beef and drain. In a big pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower to medium heat for 30 minutes (stirring often). Lower to simmer for 30 more minutes (stir a few times). It should be ready, but the longer you cook it, the better it gets.

********
Okay -- so that was the official recipe, but here are my side notes.

1) I only had a 1/2 pound of ground beef, so that's what I used and it was fine. It would have been heartier with a full pound, but it worked great for what we had.

2) I only had celery seed and no celery salt -- seemed fine to me.

3) I put it all in the crockpot and let it simmer all day on low. I would definitely do it this way again.

Baby update: I went to the midwife today and once again she is amazed that this baby isn't just falling out. :) I am a solid 4 cm and she stretched me to 5 cm. The baby has dropped even lower, into station +1. She offered to let me call this weekend and come in for her to try some more invasive things and then if she could get contractions started she would break my water. I asked what effect breaking the water has on the birth and she said women say that contractions are harder when your water is broken for you but that with the position the baby is in she would guess that I would give birth within 2 hours of her breaking my water. So... it maybe wouldn't be that bad. We're undecided right now on what we want to do... I'm feeling kind of indifferent about it right now. If I were extremely uncomfortable or we were 2 weeks past my due date, then I would maybe be more gung-ho about it... but I'll keep you updated if we decide to go ahead and go that route.

TufStuff

A couple of you have asked about the cleaner that we purchased. Here is the website: www.tufstuffusa.com It's not the cheapest stuff -- it comes in a concentrated form that you dilute with water. But the guy said that a gallon should last a family of 4 at least a year. And with the amount that I clean around here it should last us 3 years. :)

Just put Kaiya down for her nap and have a minute to post an update. It's 12/12 -- seems like a good day to have a baby, right? Now we just have to convince Kaleb. :) I'm really feeling great, so that helps me not to go crazy wondering when he is going to come. And I've had more time to get things done around the house, play with Kaiya and stuff like that.

The weekend was really nice and relaxed. Saturday Tony had to work until 12:30 and then we just hung out around the house throughout the afternoon. I baked some Snickerdoodles (forgot how much I like those cookies) and we played with Kaiya. Some high school aged boys came by the house selling a cleaning solution. They were from Alabama and their accents were so thick that I could hardly understand them. He demonstrated some things on the glass windows by the front door and then showed me a list of the most common cleaning issues and told me to pick which one I hated the most. I picked Mold & Mildew and told him that the water here leaves a horrible build up and I scrub forever and can't get it off. He said, "Well, take me to it!" So I led him to the bathroom and he got the most horrible spot of it (that I had scrubbed for at least 30 minutes w/out luck) out in like 30 seconds. So... we bought some. :) It's environmentally friendly and safe for kids and pets. So yesterday I wandered around my house just looking for things to clean. Such a dork....

Sunday we played hooky from church and had another relaxing day. I was kind of depressed during part of it because going to church is pretty much the only thing I do outside of the house. :) So I look forward to it all week. Tony, on the other hand, is away from home more than he is home, so all he felt like doing was staying home for the day. Which I can understand. And I could have gone by myself but we picked a church that is about 30 minutes from our house. So not something I really wanted to do alone w/ Kaiya. While moping around the house being depressed about my boring life I picked up a good book to read. It is called A Woman's Place by Lynn Austin. I don't like all of her stuff, but I really enjoyed this one. After I was tired of reading Kaiya and I went outside to wash the cars. I used K's wagon for my bucket and she had fun dumping all my bubbles out every 2 minutes. Needless to say it was a long process, but we had fun. (I think this is the point where out of sympathy for all of you with ice and snow I don't mention that we were wearing our swim suits...) :)

I went to the midwife on Monday morning and she was shocked once again that I am still pregnant. She stirred things up again and I spent most of the rest of the day with false labor. Lovely... I don't think I am going to do that again. I think this little guy is going to come when he feels like it. But then again, I go in tomorrow, so I might change my mind. Oh! and while at my appointment I was able to tour the birth center where the babies are born. It is crazy, but I hadn't actually seen those facilities. They have a separate location a block away from where my appointments are. Anyway, the rooms are wonderful, very comfortable and look just like home. Each one has a bathroom w/ the birthing tub and shower. The family waiting room is nice and big with a fridge. It will be perfect. So I'm looking forward to that. Ruthie watched Kaiya for me twice on Monday, during my appointment and then again so I could go grocery shopping alone! It was SO nice not to have Kaiya at the grocery store with me.

That's pretty much the update. I have cleared my schedule (as if I had a really busy one before...) for the entire month of December so it is nice not to wake up and have any commitments. Gotta run to the post office today sometime and then we are just going to hang out. I'll probably find something to clean. ha ha...

Fun at the Park!

Tony had yesterday afternoon off of work so we went to the park. It was a gorgeous afternoon -- 75 degrees, sunny. (That was me rubbing it in for all of our friends and family in the Midwest - brrr!). Anyway... Kaiya was quite the busy girl at the park and very independent climbing the "big kid" steps to go down one of the slides. The first picture she is almost at the top of the steps.

This one is at the bottom of the big curly slide. She went down this one a few times, but less than the last trip because there were some big boys playing on this one. She is more afraid of the big kids than the slide itself. :)
Miss Hollywood in her shades...

I have a free morning today! Ruthie and Kaiya went on a shopping trip with a friend of Ruthie's who has a little girl around Kaiya's age. They will be gone until this afternoon, I think. Second thing on my list is a nice hot shower -- then maybe a few yard sales and running errands kid-less.

This past weekend Tony's brother Aaron came down for a visit. We had a good time catching up with him and Tony enjoyed having someone to play long strategy games with and to discuss movies, etc. Here are a couple pictures we took... hoping to be able to use one of them for Christmas presents for the grandparents! :)

Last night my mom, Kaiya and I went to Celebration, FL. This is a quaint upscale little village just west of Kissimmee and not far from Disney World. They have snow machines that blow snow on the hour for 15 minutes between 6-9 p.m. in the marketplace. So we bundled up (ha ha -- it was in the 60s) and headed out to see the snow. Kaiya was quite happy with the snow. She thought it was pretty amazing. It was actually foamy soap like clumps, rather than snow. All these kids here in Florida are gonna be so confused when they see the real thing. Imagine growing up thinking snow is a like unscented foam soap. :) There were horse drawn carriage rides, a huge Christmas tree and a Holiday Train and all the shops were open late. It was a fun night.

Obviously I am still pregnant. :) I don't think I am going to obey bedrest next time. Babies come when they want to -- and lying in a bed for 2+ weeks didn't seem to make a difference. Oh well... it was a good excuse to get the royal treatment and a break from laundry and dishes. :) My mom flew out this morning after being here for 3 weeks. We really had a great visit with her and the help was so appreciated. I am going into the birth well-rested because of it so that is a huge help.

Nothing much on our schedules the rest of the week. I will probably do some mystery shopping to try and make a little extra money, but other than that we are going to lay low. Well, I'm off to conquer the world while Kaiya is napping. Dinner tonight is going to be a roast in the crock pot. So nice to get it ready this morning, smell it all day and then eat without feeling like I did anything at all. Now that's a good dinner. If only the crock pot could do the dishes too.... :)

Tattoos

We had fun playing yesterday while waiting for the baby to come (or rather not come...). A friend sent me these cute belly button tattoos while I was on bedrest and so I decided it was a good time to put one on. Kaiya saw me put it on and kept giggling so I asked her if she wanted to have one too. So she picked out the butterflies and then we took pictures of our bellies. She keeps examining it and just cracking up at herself.

And then I just attached some cute pictures that Ruthie took on their walk yesterday...

Fake Out

Well, went to the midwife yesterday and I was 3 cm. She stretched me to 4 cm and was pretty aggressive trying to stir things up. I went home and a couple hours later contractions started. They were only like 8-9 minutes apart so we just kind of hung out. Into the evening they became 5-6 minutes apart and I was up until about 2:30 with them. Then I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6. So.... we have concluded that it was just false labor. Gonna have a normal day today and hope that things start up on their own again.

Pictures

Kaiya is down for her nap. We had a busy day... strung cranberries and popcorn for the tree, organized all of the baby's clothes in the closet (so I'm a little last minute...), ate a yummy lunch (the current answer for the question: "What would you like?" is "Noo-noo" translated noodles. So Kaiya had noodles, avacado, tangerines, and bananas and I had the most wonderful salad - which is surprising because sometimes salad doesn't taste quite as good when you have to cut up all the veggies and put the toppings on yourself.), went to the park and went down the slide 2,739 times (my big girl even went down the huge curly tunnel slide by herself -- and looked at the scared 3 yr old boy like he was the biggest wuss ever).

So that is our day so far. My new printer came in the mail today. It was my after-Thanksgiving Day purchase. A whopping $25 - for scanner, printer & copier. The best part was that I was able to get the same price online with 97 cent shipping on Walmart.com and didn't have to go stand in a parking lot at 4 a.m. FedEx delivered it right on time today. So I have it all hooked up and I'm playing with it a little bit. Scanned Kaiya's 18 month pictures and the Halloween pictures I had taken. Little bummed w/ the Halloween pictures, but that morning was a nightmare and I know she had her Minnie ears on, so that's all that mattered. The black background wasn't the best choice for her outfit. It was taken at one of those new digital JC Penney studios. They have no table for the kids to sit on. So basically its Kaiya in front of this huge canvas in an open room with no door and lots of expensive equipment. Please tell me I don't have the only toddler that would be running around and not wanting to sit still for pictures? Not pretty. Forget digital -- give me the good old fashioned photo studio. However -- can't complain too much b/c of the $3.99 coupon I had. :)

And the question of the month is -- "Is that baby here yet?" As of now I am beginning reverse psychology on this baby. Come out whenever you want! January is okay. Hey -- February would be nice. Maybe a Valentine's baby? Ha ha... I have a permanent contraction that won't go away -- no pain -- just a solid rock in my stomach. So hopefully my water will just break and we can get moving. I was set up for this -- those weeks on bedrest had me really convinced that he was going to show up early. So I'm trying not to think about it too much. He'll come when he's good and ready. And meanwhile I'm getting some extra one-on-one time with Kaiya. Cause once he's here, she's gonna have to share me. So we're trying to have lots of fun.

Update

Had a great Thanksgiving weekend as I took myself off of bedrest on Friday. :) Did some walking/shopping and was fairly active throughout the weekend. I had another appointment today and found out that we have made a bit more progress. I'm now 100% effaced and the baby has moved down to station -1/0. Which basically means he has dropped a bit lower. I am now in walking mode and working on getting things going. I'll try to stay updated... no news probably means we are still waiting! :) But as far as the midwife goes we are all set to deliver at the birth center so it looks like I will get my water birth afterall!

11.3

Just got a call from the birth center and my iron test from yesterday came back at 11.3!! They still want me to take it easy through the weekend -- but I am not as restricted to the bed. I'm thinking that I'm gonna lay low until Friday and then start getting a little more active. I will be 37 weeks in a few days so I really don't think they are gonna turn me down if I go into labor. I'll have to run this by Tony to see what he thinks, but he'll probably be okay with it.

Anyway -- that is the most exciting news I have had in awhile. Thanks everybody for praying that the results would come back today and that they would be high enough. So exciting!!

Oh -- and just below is the cutest thing. I borrowed the link from a friend's blog (thanks Tara!)and had so much fun turning our family into elves. I hope it gives you a laugh. Kaiya was cracking up when she saw herself as an elf. Money Bags is still mad at me. :)

A little early Christmas cheer

This is so fun. Click the link to see our elves...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559185310

Well.... I have some answers, but not all the answers. And another prayer request... The office called today and my iron levels from Thursday's test came back at 10.5. .5 short of where I need to be. So I asked if I could get my blood drawn again today - in hopes that they have increased since Thursday. They said yes and sent the request to a lab near my house. I went to have that done this morning. Two requests:

• That my iron would be at 11.0
• That the results would come back tomorrow. If they don't come back tomorrow, all the offices are closed the rest of the week w/ the holiday and I have to stay in bed until Monday.

NOOOO!!! :) I want to get out of bed and have the baby. In the water... Maybe I'm getting a little too demanding! :) But anyway... these two things would be really nice.

And I'm sure you all would much rather see pictures and posts about this new baby rather than my ranting and raving about bedrest and iron levels. :)

Bedrest Day # I have no idea...

Visit to the midwife went well yesterday. I actually met with a different midwife than the one who has seen me for all previous visits. It was nice to meet her as it could be either one that delivers me. I liked her a LOT. Except for the part when she told me that it was back to bed for me. :) I am dilated at 2 still but now 80%. So... she said I have to literally be laying down all the time. She also extended the bedrest for 5 more days. Just to give me a little time to get my iron up. I will know my iron level sometime over the weekend or Monday. I go back in to see them Monday. If I meet with my regular midwife on Monday, she is oncall the week of Thanksgiving so there is a chance that she will let me sneak by if my levels are okay and deliver the baby there. But I won't know until then. My mom is here now and so I am able to take things much easier. Here are a couple belly pics taken last week after I snuck out of the house for a quick dinner out. :)

IRON

So... tomorrow I go for a visit to the midwife. They are going to be testing my iron levels, which have been gradually decreasing over the past few weeks. I started taking iron pills (yuck-o) and just added liquid chlorophyll the regimen. However... I need a little miracle for the difference to show up in my blood test tomorrow. Please pray that my levels hit high enough to be cleared to deliver at the birth center. :) Wouldn't that stink after the bedrest -- to not have high enough iron to do it after all?

So the chlorophyll is interesting... it is really supposed to do wonders for blood and when taken in conjunction w/ the iron pill it should give me a good boost. And thankfully it doesn't taste bad at all. I put 1 tablespoon in with a glass of ice water and it is like drinking cold tea. It is flavored with mint, but I think it tastes closer to chamomile tea. So that is nice -- no gagging while choking the stuff down.

Anyway... that's it. Just need a little miracle for my blood. :) I'll let you know what we find out after the visit tomorrow...

Kaiya's Elmo

Here are a couple pictures of Kaiya with the huge Elmo that Nanny sent her. We joke with Tony's mom because she hates our cat, but he seems to love everything that she sends us. The Elmo was no different. We thought about just posting this picture with the caption...

Well, Kaiya didn't really like the Elmo, but Money Bags did!

But of course -- Kaiya LOVES Elmo too. :)

Bed Rest Day #4

I wanted to post a quick update and some fun pictures. I took these before getting my prison sentence and now I have time to post them! :) The first pictures are of the entrance to our subdivision.

The pond we walk by...

The strange ducks that are in the pond.

Our house

This is how I found Kaiya after a nap the other day. Stripping her self down. She has the snaps figured out, but she hasn't been able to get her legs or feet out yet. In this picture you can see her hair bouncing up and down because she is jumping like a monkey in her crib. She thinks she is hilarious... and we think so too. :)

I'm feeling well and we are managing pretty good around the house. Ruthie is off for the next few days and so she is going to be helping out quite a bit. She's currently grocery shopping with Kaiya right now so the house is very quiet. I've been reading a very interesting book called the Gift of Pain by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. It is about a doctor's lifelong work with leprosy patients. I read it while pregnant with Kaiya and provided some good perspective on pain. We think pain is so horrible -- but a life without pain is even worse. I'm only about halfway through... but enjoying it again a second time. I figured now is a good time to be reminded that I should appreciate pain. :)