Kevin, Jennifer, Cheree and Baby Kamdyn (on the way)

2009-04-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

I purchased Kamdyn's first "personalized" baby item this past Friday while out shopping in Anderson with Mom. It is a butterfly AngelDear mini-blankie that will be perfect for Kamdyn to cuddle with when she gets a tiny bit bigger. It was exciting to write out her name on the personalization request form. It just makes her seem even that more real to me (not that her constant kicking and flipping doesn't do the trick). Mom was sweet enough to go pick it up for me on Monday on her last day of spring break. Cheree held it up proudly so that her Mimi could snap a picture with her cell phone to send to me, since I was eager to see the finished product. Isn't text and picture messaging the neatest thing? :) I think it turned out beautiful. It has special meaning to my mother, my aunt, and I because of the butterfly (If you are curious, you can ask me about the butterfly significance, and I will explain it. It's a story for another day since it is lengthy.) It also matches the color scheme of Kamdyn's nursery, too, which is neat. Of course, we haven't technically started on her nursery, yet, since we don't close on the house until the end of the month. I'm really eager to begin decorating the rooms for both Cheree and Kamdyn, though. Cheree can't seem to make up her mind what she wants her room to be themed as, which is frustrating. At first, she said she wanted a "Clemson bedroom", and Kevin was all for that! Then, she changed her mind and said she wanted her room to be decorated with monkeys. I'm not sure what her final decision will be, but I'll be sure to post pictures when it's complete. I'll also be posting pictures of the nursery upon completion. Kevin and I picked out a pink and green paisley pattern with ladybugs. It is so cute! Actually, Kevin pointed it out first, and I fell immediately in love with it. I've attached a couple of pictures of it below. Isn't it adorable?!?!

2009-04-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a short while since I've blogged. We have had so much happen over the past couple of weeks. It's been a roller coaster ride, to say the least. First of all, my dear Nannie Baker went to be with the Lord on April 2nd, 2009 (obituary link: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OBITUARIES&pagename=obittext&searchdate=2009-04-05). Even though she had been in the hospital, it was unexpected. She had been on the mend, and she had even been transferred out of GHS and to Roger C. Peace for rehabilitation. We all expected a full recovery. That was not the Lord's plan for her, though. She died as a result of a blood clot that had traveled to her lung. The doctors and nurses said that she did not suffer, and she went quickly. We are thankful for that. She will be missed by all that knew her. She was my last living grandmother. That is still sinking in on me. I now have only one living grandparent left, and that would be my Papa Baker. I'm going to make an effort to spend as much time with him as possible. If there is one thing I'm learning more and more each day, it's that time is precious and we are not promised any certain amount of it here on Earth.
Life was mostly uneventful and normal last week. That was until yesterday, atleast. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions sporatically for the past week now. Yesterday, the contractions were accompanied with low back pain. I called the OB, and they insisted that I come to their office right away. After an examination, Dr. Alt said there were some signs that they were true labor contractions rather than the harmless Braxton Hicks contractions I had assumed they were. She told me that she would feel much better if I went to the hospital and stayed overnight for observation, which I agreed to do. She sent me for a quick ultrasound to make sure that Kamdyn was okay, and to look at a couple of other things that would be indicators of labor. Baby Kamdyn was perfectly fine, although none too happy about the sonographer pressing on my tummy. She put up quite a fight! All of the measurements were normal, too, which was a relief. They sent me on my way to the labor and delivery unit at St. Francis. Luckily, I had already pre-registered there in my fourth month which meant they already had all of my information. Upon arriving, they placed me in a room and attached a fetal monitor to me. Kamdyn did not like this, either. She attacked the monitor the entire time it was attached to my tummy. It was actually quite entertaining! The nurse only counted a few contractions during the approximately 45 minutes that I was hooked up. She said that they don't become concerned until you begin having atleast six in an hour. She called the doctor who was on-call, and he agreed to release me instead of holding me overnight. This was more than fine with me. It was 7:30 pm, and my last meal had been at 12:00 noon. They were refusing to let me eat, and I was getting a bit agitated because of that fact! They weren't very informative upon discharging me. My discharge papers say "Preterm Labor". The nurse told me to come back if I began having six or more contractions per hour. Thankfully, I have only had a few today. I'm just trying to relax and take it easy for now. I have a follow-up scheduled with the OB for Monday, April 20th. I will update my blog with any new information after that appointment. My hope is that I don't have to go back to the labor and delivery unit again until atleast July!

The results are in! It's a...

2009-03-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

GIRL!!!!! Yes, we are having a little girl, and she is still due to make her appearance on August 9th, 2009. I will admit that I was convinced it was going to be a boy. My intuition was obviously wrong, though. The sonographer said she was 100% sure that the baby is a girl, and we have the pictures to prove it! Our little baby girl was very cooperative for the ultrasound. She turned her bottom right up where we could see what we needed to see. The sonographer also did an anatomy scan, and she said that everything looks perfect and healthy. She's a little cutie-pie! We could see her little face, and she was so sweet. Cheree was there for the ultrasound, and she is ecstatic that she is finally getting the baby sister she wanted. The sonographer gave her another picture that says "Hi Cheree!" on it. Cheree wasn't too happy about the fact that I was given a whole handful of pictures and she only got one, though. I'll share them with her, of course. We also had the pictures added to our picture CD that we carry with us to each ultrasound visit. I sent out a mass text message to several of my contacts with my big news, and I posted our news in my status area of my Facebook account. I received an overwhelming response from both places. I feel so LOVED! Lol. Seriously, though, I'm sure this one will be another spoiled little princess--just like her big sister...
As some of you know, my grandmother has been in the hospital since this past Friday. She had bleeding and fluid around her brain, and it had to be surgically drained. She is doing well, and we are very thankful for that. Yesterday was the third time we've been to see her since Friday. They had taken her off of the I.V. when we arrived yesterday, and she was eating her dinner. She seemed to be doing even better, other than some slight confusion which I am certain is a result of the medications they have her own while she is in there recovering.
After we visited her, we went up to the 6th floor to admire the babies in the nursery. They had one by the window, and she was so sweet! However, Kevin was very upset by the way the nurses were "tossing the babies around like footballs". Lol. Mom and I got a good laugh out of that, and we assured him that the babies weren't as fragile as he might think and that the nurses knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, he was not convinced by this and stated that they will NOT be tossing his little girl around like that when she's born. Oh, my. I feel sorry for the nurses charged with caring for our baby in the nursery... Hehe. It ought to be interesting!

(SIDE NOTE: I will post the new ultrasound pics today or tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to upload them from the disk to my computer. I will add them ASAP, though!

Did you feel that??

2009-03-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

As of today, I am currently 18 weeks 4 days pregnant, and this baby is putting on a 24/7 acrobatics show inside my tummy! I've been feeling movement for several weeks now, but it has progressed over the past couple of weeks to the point where the kicks are sometimes so hard that they literally take my breath. They are so strong, in fact, that it is amazing to me that they cannot be felt from the outside yet. Kevin is pretty anxious to feel movement, and he has asked me several times when he will be able to. Last night, after dinner, the baby was moving around a lot. I positioned myself flat on my back and put Kevin's hand on my lower abdomen to see if he could feel anything. I had him apply really firm pressure to make sure he didn't miss it. Well, the baby did not like that AT ALL. He/she gave several swift kicks right to where his hand was as if to say, "Hey, what do you think you're doing out there?". It's a couple of the hardest kicks that I've felt so far. It was so hard that it felt like it jarred my whole body. The crazy part is that he still didn't feel anything!!! I kept asking if he was sure he hadn't felt it, and he reassured me that he had felt nothing, nada, zip, zilch... I guess he/she is still too small to be felt from the outside. It's been so long since I was pregnant with Cheree, and I cannot seem to remember how far along I was when her movements were first felt from the outside... Regardless, it is reassuring to me the baby's kicks getting stronger and more frequent each day. T-minus 11 days until the BIG ultrasound appointment that will hopefully tell us if we're having a boy or a girl. Oh, and one more thing--we've changed our minds as far as names go. Again. We've decided against using the name Tristan if it's a boy due to the fact that the name has a feminine sound to it. The name that we had picked out for a girl (Kamden) will be used if we are having a boy. His name will be Kamden Michael. On the other hand, if it's a girl, her name will also be Kamden (atleast that's what we have picked out for now). We're pretty confident with the name Kamden for a boy, but we aren't 100% sure yet that we'll use that name for a girl. Time will tell. It will help to know what we're having so that we can focus on picking just one name! Until then, we'll continue to toss around ideas and possibilities for both...

Snow Days and Power Outages...

2009-03-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

This has been an eventful week for us! We finally got some snow in the upstate!!! Unfortunately, with that snow also came the loss of power at our home... for FOUR days! Ugh. It was quite inconvenient, to say the least. We lost power at about 12 noon on Sunday, March 1st, and it wasn't restored until late in the evening on Wednesday, March 4th. Thankfully, we had somewhere to stay. My mom was sweet enough to allow us to stay at her home until power was restored. It was a bit crowded (myself, Kevin, Cheree, Mom, Emma (mom's dog), and Belle (our dog). We managed, though, and we actually enjoyed ourselves in the meantime! We all went outside to play in the snow on Monday (since we ALL were lucky enough to have the day off due to the weather). Kevin and Cheree had a snowball fight. Actually, Kevin threw several at me and my mom, too, but we didn't retaliate (although maybe we should have). Cheree and her Mimi (my mom) built a snow woman. She was really cute! She had a nice hat, a red scarf, and red gloves. Then, per Kevin's request, my mom made snow cream! Yum!!! It's the first time I've had it since I was a little girl. My mom had everything she needed to make it (milk, sugar, and vanilla). We sat outside on the porch and ate the entire bowl. It was delicious. After that, we all went back inside to spend the rest of the day in the warmth of the house. We went back home that evening in hopes that our power had been restored. The roads weren't too terribly bad. Our power was NOT on, though. We grabbed enough clothes and toiletries to last several days since it was obvious that our power was going to be out for a while. We went back to my mom's where we spent the next few days. Kevin and I both had to return to work the next morning at 8 a.m. I had hoped for a delay so I could sleep an extra hour or two, but that didn't happen. I was out of the house and headed to Greenville by 7 a.m., and I didn't think that the roads were bad at all. Cheree and Mom both had two hour delays (lucky them). We returned home Wednesday evening. I'm sure my mom was happy to have us out of her hair! The last two days have been pretty uneventful. Tomorrow morning, I am entered to walk the 5K in the Reedy River Run in downtown Greenville. The company I work for is a sponsor of the event. I've recruited my mom and Kevin to walk with me, as well. It's supposed to be in the 70s, so the weather should be beautiful and perfect for an event like this! After the race, though, I plan to have a relaxing (uneventful) weekend. We'll see how that goes....

(Pics of snow to be posted later...)

16 Week Check-Up

2009-02-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I went for my 16 week OB appointment yesterday afternoon. I met a new doctor, Dr. Alt, and she was SO sweet and friendly. I really liked her a lot and wouldn't at all mind it if she happens to be the one on call when I go into labor several months from now! It was a relatively quick appointment. Dr. Alt did listen to the heartbeat, and it was 147 bpm. She let us listen to it for quite a while, which I thought was really sweet. We discussed what would happen at my 20 week appointment. That's the BIG appointment, because they do an anatomy/gender ultrasound and we can find out if we're having a boy or a girl! We discussed this with Dr. Alt as well, to get her opinion. Kevin doesn't want to know the gender until the baby is born, but I want to know ASAP!! Dr. Alt said she could give me a sealed envelope with a "girl" or "boy" note on the inside. Kevin was quick to point out that the answer would probably be pretty obvious to him once I started buying either pink or blue things for the baby... She said that he was right. As of now, Kevin is reluctantly agreeing to find out the baby's gender at the next appointment. He may be able to change my mind before then, but I seriously doubt it. As of now, we have a girl and a boy name picked out. If it's a boy, his name will be Tristan Michael, and we will call him Tristan. If it's a girl, she will be named Kamden Michaela, and we will call her by Kamden (although I'm sure it would be shortened into a nickname like Kam or Kami...). Those names aren't set in stone, though. They are subject to change, seeing as how we have a little more than 23 weeks to go. We may find something we like better between now and August, but those are our choices for now. If we do change our minds, we'll be sure to let you all know. :)

Weekend Trip to Gatlinburg, TN

2009-02-25T10:43:00.001-08:00

Well, Kevin and I spent a wonderful weekend in Gatlinburg. We left Friday evening after work, and we returned Sunday evening. We had a fabulous time! The weather was sunny, warm, and beautiful on Saturday with a high in the mid-60s. We started out our morning bright and early with a continental breakfast at our hotel that included waffles shaped like bears that you cooked yourself. They were so cute (and delicious, too)! We then headed downtown for a day of activities. We started off with the Sky Lift. I am not a big fan of chair lifts, but Kevin insisted that we do it. I reluctantly agreed, but I told him that the only reason I agreed to do it was because I loved him so much! We also went through Ripley's Haunted House. They put me at the back of the line since I was pregnant (they didn't want anyone pushing me down from behind). It really wasn't all that scary, to be honest, but they definitely got me at the end with the chainsaw guy (that gets me everytime). We enjoyed lunch at the Hard Rock cafe, where we waited almost 45 minutes for a table. That was a result of the 10,000+ young people that were also in Gatlinburg for the weekend for Winterfest '09. This is a convention held each year that brings youth groups together from churches all over the south for a weekend of praise and worship. I actually attended this convention with my own youth group more than 10 years ago (it makes me feel old just saying that). It has grown a good bit in size over the years, though, because there were only a few hundred of us when I went, in comparison to the thousands now! Downtown was extremely crowded as a result of the convention. After eating lunch, we walked for a little while longer in downtown before heading to our car and taking a ride to Pigeon Forge. We didn't do much while we there except stop at a Mom and Pop store to get some ice cream and a funnel cake (yum!). We ended up back at our hotel before 7 p.m. that evening because we were exhausted! We were going to go back out somewhere for dinner and a show (i.e. Dixie Stampede, Black Bear Jamboree, Comedy Barn, etc.), but we were too tired. We ended up ordering a pizza instead.
After the beautiful, warm weather we had on Saturday, it ended up snowing Saturday night into Sunday morning! The scenery outside was absolutely breathtaking when we woke up that morning. There were approximately 2 to 3 inches on the ground. We headed to the breakfast room again first thing to get more bear waffles. Thankfully, we were the only people in there besides one other gentleman, because we wore our pajamas down there that morning. Sometimes, it's nice to be able to be lazy. Plus, we probably will never see these people again, right? After getting dressed, packing up, and checking out, we headed back downtown. We spent the early part of the day admiring the snow while shopping in the outlets downtown. Kevin got his belated Valentine's day present--a new pair of shades. He tried several pairs of Oakley's on, but actually decided to go with a pair of Native's that are polarized. They came with a lifetime warranty and extra set of lenses which was nice (and the least the company could do, in my opinion, for the price of them). He was excited about them, though, so that made me happy. I bought a new Coach purse (okay, okay, it's not real--it's a knock-off like my other Coach purse, but it's still super-cute). We bought some delicious candy at the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen (one of my favorite candy stores). After that, we reluctantly decided that it was time to head home. The road were clear, which was great. The scenery on the way home was beautiful. All in all, it was an awesome weekend and we can't wait to go back!!! (I will come back and edit this post later this week by adding pictures that were taken on our trip!)

Valentine's Day Weekend and the Weekend After...

2009-02-20T06:15:00.001-08:00

Today, after we get off of work, Kevin and I are headed to Gatlinburg for a much-needed weekend getaway! It's a continuation of our Valentine's Day weekend. We decided not to go during the actual Valentine's Day weekend, because it is always really crowded up there on that weekend. Hopefully, it will be better this weekend. I had the best Valentine's Day ever, by the way! Kevin surprised me on Valentine's Day morning with: flowers (red roses and pink carnations), a bag full of chocolate candy (a BIG bag), a very sweet card, a gorgeous set of diamond-studded white gold earrings, and an absolutely beautiful diamond-studded white gold ring in the shape of a butterfly. I was blown away! I've never had anyone spend that much time and effort (and not to mention money) on me for Valentine's Day. It brought me to the verge of tears (happy tears, of course). I had to have the ring re-sized, but it will be ready today. Kevin was sweet enough to offer to go pick it up for me on his break. All of this is in addition to the pair of maternity jeans that he bought me this week that cost over $100. I'd rather not say exactly how much more than $100 they were for fear that people will think we are crazy--they really are the most perfect pair of maternity jeans ever, though. This came after I was reduced to tears because I couldn't find any maternity jeans that fit right at any of the maternity stores (because of my height, it's hard enough to find regular jeans, but have you ever tried to find maternity jeans that are long in length?... nearly impossible--unless you spend over $100). I think he just felt sorry for me. I would like to say that this is in no way normal for either of us to spend that kind of money on clothes. (I would also like to point out that between Ross, Kohl's, and Old Navy, I've yet to spend over $10 on a maternity top or blouse! I usually am a thrifty shopper when it comes to clothing!) Anyway, I really am truly blessed to have such an awesome husband! Now, before you ask what I got HIM, I want to point out that it is very hard to shop for a man for Valentine's Day... I did have some small stuff for him, but nothing in comparison to what he had for me! However, my Valentine's Day gift to him has to actually be picked out by him. He's been hinting around for a couple of months that he wants a new pair of Oakley's since his are getting pretty old. That's just not something that I'm comfortable buying without letting him pick out his favorite design and having him try them on. So, he is going to go pick them out, and I'll pay for them. I think that's fair. That's just way too much money to spend on something that he might not even like if I pick it out! Well, we'll be heading out as soon as we got off this evening, and we will return on Sunday evening. I absolutely can't WAIT for 5 o'clock to get here!!!! Hope everyone else had an awesome Valentine's Day, as well. :o)

Ultrasound Pics!

2009-02-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

I am finally posting our 12 week ultrasound pictures. I'm beginning to realize that I may not have as much time available for blogging as I originally thought! Forgive me if the posts are sporadic...
The above ultrasound picture was at 6 weeks. I wanted to post it first so that you can see the significant diffence between the 6 week and 12 week ultrasounds!

...And what HUGE difference those 6 weeks made! We were absolutely amazed that our little one went from looking like a jelly bean to an actual baby in such a short time!

You can see him/her sucking his/her thumb in this picture. He/she did that almost the entire time and actually switched the right thumb for the left thumb at one point!

This last pic is actually a shot of the soundwaves of the baby's heartbeat. It was the most beautiful sound in the world! Unfortunately, we had no way to record the actual sound...

The next ultrasound is scheduled for 20 weeks (it will be close to the end of March), and as long as the baby cooperates, we will find out if it is a boy or a girl! We, of course, will be ecstatic with either one!!! We can't wait...

I will try to post pictures from Cheree's birthday within the next couple of days. No guarantees on when I'll get around to it, though...

Our Introduction

2009-02-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Kevin and I have decided to join the world of bloggers! Of course, I (Jennifer) will be the one doing all the posts. Kevin has a hard enough time keeping up with his Facebook account! We wanted a place, though, that we could record what is going on in our daily lives. Right now, there is A LOT going on! Cheree (my daughter) turned 8 years old on the 26th of January! I can't believe she's already that old. It is absolutely crazy how fast time flies. On top of that, she's going to be a big sister in August! Kevin and I have been married since May of 2008, and we are very excited to be expecting our first child together on August 9th, 2009. We realize that it will mean big changes for all of us, but we couldn't be happier about it! This has posed another big challenge, as well--'house hunting'. I've come to hate that phrase over the past couple of months! Our current home is just not big enough to accomodate a family of four, so we are in a race against time to find a new home. There are several things that we are having to take into consideration that are causing it to be very difficult to find the house that is "the one". These conditions include (but are not limited to): location in relativity to my work, Kevin's work, and Cheree's school, reputable daycares available in the area, price, and size. Well, so far, nothing has fit the bill! It's very frustrating. My 3rd trimester will be in the midst of summer, so we obviously don't want to have to move during that time. We are praying that we find something quickly!
I will try to keep this blog updated, but I will make no promises. I can be very long-winded when I sit down and decide to write something, so I will have to update when time allows! I will try to come back in the next couple of days to post pictures of Cheree's birthday party (that was held at the local skating rink this past Saturday) and of my ultrasound pictures from my 12 week appointment! As I said, a lot has been happening recently, so I will try to catch everyone up as much as possible to this point!!!