New Pictures

Not sure how these pictures will post... I think they will be small. You may need to use the link below to see them better but... here are some recent pictures of Kaiya. I found a new website called Shutterfly.com where I can upload pictures from our camera and then order prints from the website. Surprisingly, they aren't much more expensive than Wal-Mart and I have the ability to do a lot of editing, adding special effects, etc. And the price of enlargements is also very reasonable. I definitely recommend it for digital cameras. You do have the added cost of shipping, but they have a shipping plan that you can order. It's $30 and that covers shipping for a full year or 100 orders, whichever comes first. So that made sense for me. They also have prepaid plans for the 4 x 6 prints. You pay ahead of time and you get a reduced price for prints. Like 200 for $30 (15 cents each), 400 $56, and it gets all the way down to 12 cents a print. It's a fun thing. Here's the link to Kaiya's photo album, which include the ones here and several other recent pics: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaN3DJm4YsmLlo

If you sign up, sign up through me though... :) Cause then I get free prints. :)

Not just to the comedian I say... timing is everything!

Its been a little while so I guess its time to update. School has been busy for me lately so I've enjoyed the time over break that I got to spend with Kaiya. Her timing has been quite impeccable as of late. The first time, I dressed her up in a cute outfit and kinda went "oooohhheeee you look cute.... you're going to be a heartbreaker" and no kidding as soon as I finished saying that, she got this huge grin on her face kind of like saying "you know it dad". She has smiled a few times before but mostly just when she is letting a stinker out. It was great to see her do it for a different reason! Needless to say it was great timing. The other well timed event was last week when I was taking different pictures of her to put on the blog she did something funny. I was joking around a little bit with her trying to get her to look at the camera and I said "look beautiful for me sunshine" and the picture below is what her response to me was. Needless to say I got a kick out of it.
I also posted a picture of her in my soccer bean bag that I thought was cute!

Wanted to post some pictures from our trip to Indiana this past weekend. (1) Kaiya (2) Mom & Kaiya (3) Dad & Kaiya (4) Aaron (Tony's brother) & Kaiya (5) Bekah & Kaiya

Tony's Grade

Just wanted to let all of you who have been praying for Tony's midterm that he had to make up from when Kaiya was born. He FINALLY got the grade for the class back. He passed the class with a C! We both would have been happy with a D+. :) That would have been enough to pass, so we are pleasantly surprised with his grade.

Pictures from our weekend home will be coming soon. Still trying to fall into a routine with being a working mom! :)

More misc. pictures

Here are just a few pictures that we took over the weekend. Ruthie was so proud of the cake that we made for Easter she had to get a picture of it. :)

Easter Sunday

Here are the pictures from Easter! We had company, which was really nice! Our friends Austin and Kristina came for the weekend and we had a great time. After church we joined some other couples for a late lunch and then relaxed the rest of the evening.

Botanical Gardens

On Wednesday, Ruthie and I went down to the Botanical Gardens with Kaiya. All of the tulips are in bloom and they were so pretty. We tried taking some pictures of Kaiya in the flowers -- and weren't too successful. Mainly because we were trying not to get caught by anyone working in the gardens. We didn't think they would appreciate me plopping Kaiya in the middle of the flower bed. :) In the picture with the pink flowers Kaiya isn't too happy with us because we decided that laying the blanket down was too much of a hassle and took too long (again - not wanting to get caught...) so we just plopped her down in the mulch. She didn't like that so much. And I'm still trying to forget about the little pieces of mulch that were in her diaper when we got home. :) Bath time!

Easter Dress

I found an Easter dress for Kaiya at Wal-Mart! It's a preemie dress so it actually fits her. And the weather is supposed to be in the mid to high 80s so I don't have to worry about finding anything to put over it. Anyway -- thought the picture was kind of funny. Aunt Ruthie says this is not a good sign -- I may not be able to get her in dresses very often. I'm still holding out hope. She does make it seem like torture, though...

Sleepy baby

See post below for info on these pictures. Now... it also looks like we put Kaiya to bed without clothes on. Not true... she just manages to wiggle right out of her clothes too... :)

Interview and more...

I was watching Kaiya this morning as she was sleeping in her crib and while I was standing there she managed to wiggle herself up so far on the sleep positioner she was sleeping on that her head fell off the back of it. So like a good mom, I ran for the camera to take a picture before fixing her. :) She slept through the whole thing.

This morning I had my interview at Westminster. I think it went well. I left feeling like it was really easy -- should it have been so easy? They asked me to share my testimony, asked what I think the needs of middle schoolers are, why I want to work with middle schoolers, why I chose counseling as a profession, how long will we be in St. Louis (ahhhh!!), and then how comfortable am I with the Reform Christian theology -- That was the hardest question because I don't know a lot about it -- and really didn't think it was a whole lot different than what I'm used to. So I told them that I don't know a lot about it, but I feel like if this is where God directs us that I'm very open and will see it as a learning process. They seemed to like that answer. And that was really about it. As I finished, the lady that I met with a couple weeks ago told the others involved in the interview that I came very highly recommended from several individuals. I really felt like she went to bat for me during the interview as well. She commented after asking me the question about the theology that when she was first hired at the school that she didn't know much about it either. Almost reassuring me that it wasn't going to be a big issue.

They said they would let me know as soon as possible. I'm hoping by the end of next week or beginning of the following. I would appreciate the prayers!

That's about it for us! We don't have much planned for this weekend -- actually I should say "I" don't have much planned for this weekend. Tony has tons of school work to do. Still playing catch up from the week he missed from Kaiya. He's pretty stressed out with all the exams, etc. And he sweetly took the night shift last night so I could be well rested for my interview today. Kaiya decided she wanted to stay awake until 3 a.m. for him too. Probably cause she misses him so much when he is at school during the day and studying at night. :)

I'm having trouble getting the pictures to post... so I'm gonna post this paragraph and try the pictures in a separate post...

Sunbathing

Here are some pictures we took today with Aunt Rebekah. It is gorgeous out -- probably in the 70s and so we took Kaiya outside to get her in the sun a bit. It will help her jaundice go away quicker. She turned into quite the little sunbather.

Sleep Deprevation

Thought this was a cute one snoozing with Dad. We are all SO sleepy!! I think I took this picture right before running some errands with Ruthie. While we were out and about Ruthie asked me what time Tony had to work and I said, "Oh, he's actually probably on his way right now. He has to be there at 4." Ruthie looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Umm... Rachel... he can't leave the baby by herself!" Yes, we are definitely suffering from sleep deprevation. For a good 20 minutes, I totally forgot that I had a kid. We rushed home to find Tony and Kaiya in the same exact positions that we left them in. I woke Tony up and he headed off to work 15 minutes late. :)

The other picture is after a bath...

$ Bags

Since they won't let me sleep in the crib... the stroller will have to work.

First Bath

Tonight Kaiya had her first bath... She wasn't too squirmy -- and only fussed a little bit. She smells much better now and we're hoping that the extra stimulation will help her sleep for a long time tonight. She's still awake from it now and Tony's trying to keep her awake a little bit longer. We can only hope... :)

Here are the pictures from the bath

In the words of Stevie Wonder "Isn't she lovely?"

We've been enjoying seeing Kaiya's eyes more lately. After eating, she is usually awake for 5 minutes or so.

Curiosity did what to moneybags?

Here's a picture of Money Bags getting his first look at Kaiya. :) He's still not too sure about what she is -- he only knows that we stay up all hours of the night now.

The other picture is one I took while Kaiya was screaming her head off. He's learned quickly what to do to when this happens.

I want to be in the light.....

Like most premies, kaiya was a little jaundiced so she has to have light therapy done.

One big happy family.

After the ped team has checked her out, rachel gets to hold her while a proud papa bear looks on!

Insurance carriers

Just b/c kaiya was so early, there was a pediatric team on standby in the room with us. Once she free and clear they wanted to check her out. You may notice in the picture that i have scrubs and gloves on. I had asked the doctor if i could be involved in the labor/delivery process and he said that it was fine. (on a sidenote, his flexibility is one of the reasons why we chose him) Rachel had a doula that was much more sensitive and helpful than I would of been, so we were thankful that the hosipital provided one free of charge. It allowed me to work with the doctor while someone was there to help encourage/coach rachel through the process. Once she crowned and the face came out, the doctor suctioned the mouth and nose and then helped coach me on what to do for the rest of delivery. I was definitely pumped!