3 months old!

Ok, so this blog updating this is harder than I thought. From getting Kyli to take her naps, to encouraging her to sleep through the night, and now she's teething, there isn't much time left in the day to blog about her. Oh dear, where does the time go? One thing I learned is that babies are always changing and to always try different things. Isn't that true! Kyli is always one step ahead of us. This week, she found her fingers then finally, her thumbs. Boy, does she love them. It settles her down for naps and helps her soothe herself to sleep. Its cute, because when she sucks her thumbs, the rest of her hand covers her face because she's so tiny. She will even fall asleep with her thumb in her mouth. Will we regret it later? Maybe, but for now I'm just enjoying watching her soothe herself. It makes me proud and happy that she has reached this development stage.
Last night she slept from 7pm -7am, woke up for a feeding, then went right back to sleep from 8am-10am! Crazy girl. She must get it from her mom, who loves to sleep in. You won't hear me complain about that! I'm crossing my fingers that it will happen more often. But then again, she's prob. playing a joke on me. ;-)

I can't believe how fast she has grown. Today, I put her 'newborn' clothes away. It makes me sad and happy at the same time.. sad that she will never fit those cute, adorable clothes again (and thankfully so, she's growing) yet happy that she's growing and thriving. At the moment, she is crying -waking up from her 'to short' nap. I'm thankful that I get to hear her cry, and that she is crying. When she was born, I longed to hear her cry, especially after her surgery, which signified to me that she was alive. Thank you God for giving us such a loving, complicated, healthy baby. We are so thankful for your gifts this Thanksgiving season.

12 weeks old!

Life with Kyli has been an adventure. Sorry for not posting any earlier, life with a newborn is more hectic than I anticipated! We do love every minute with her. All the cliches are true of parenting- since having her our hearts have grown softer, we love more deeply and fully and we also are grateful for the experience and privilage of being parents.

6 weeks old!

kyli is now 6 weeks old! She is delicious. We love every moment with her (although the sleepless nights are rough, I must say) and she is starting to smile when we make faces at her! ;-) We also discovered that our little girl is gassy. And I do me GASSY. She has been crying about several times during the night- which is hard for us because we have exhausted all of our efforts to console her. From placing her in different positions, to rocking her to sleep, and also making laps around our house, we have been struggling to find a solution for her discomfort. We're hanging in there otherwise. We had a bit of scare yesterday when she vomited her feeding-which sent us rushing to the doctors. Because of her condition, we have to closely monitor her intake and outake- especially when it comes to any abnormal vomiting, spit up, etc. So far, so good. We have been feeding her smaller dosages of breast milk more frequently and the vomiting has stopped! Please pray for her full recovery. At times, its hard to believe what she has been through in her short lifespan. We continue to pray and be the best parents we can to her, to help her recover from the trauma her body has been through. She gain about 1 lbs over the last two weeks, which is very encouraging.

Kyli's NICU stay

Everything takes a lot longer to get done once a newborn is in your arms. We learned that from day one! Here are some photos from Kyli's stay at the NICU.

Kyli is home!

We are overjoyed and grateful to bring our little girl home today! Now the real fun begins. ;-)

She's here!

My beautiful daughter who I am so proud of is here! She's a fighter like no other. The moment she arrived, she melted our hearts and we love her beyond measure.
Visit: http://www.carepages.com/carepages/KyliEggleston
to hear more about her recovery.

Wishing and Waiting...

Still here. And waiting. Here I thought our little girl would be early. Ha! I guess our little girl has a mind of her own and has decided to come on her own time and NO ONE’S going to rush her. I hope this isn’t an indication of what her personality is going to be like when she’s born. Although I'm 38 weeks this week, it says alot about my personality- I tend to be impatient AND stubborn. Not a good combination- just ask Keith. He knows all about it. ;-)
We went to our appointment earlier today. My belly has dropped a bit, but I'm not dialated at all. I thought for sure I would be, given the pelvic pressure I've been feeling lately. It’s definitely starting to feel like the end is near. My stomach is so heavy and it’s starting to become REALLY difficult to get around…even just walking makes me incredibly tired and winded. Not to mention having to get up multiple times during the night to go to the bathroom. I literally have to roll myself out of bed and roll back on. Sigh. The heat wave we've been experiencing doesn't help, since it results in me retaining water (extra weight gain) and swollen ankles. I'm also expereincing carpel tunnel in my joints and hands. So my 31 year old body, feels at least 60. Well, at least its what it feels like. The anxiety and fear is definitely building. It’s hard to describe. I feel both excited and scared. I can’t wait to meet my little girl, but scared at what I have to go through to meet her. Sigh.

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, my friends threw me a baby shower to celebrate the arrival of our little girl. I really had a great time and felt immessly blessed to be surrounded by people who drove miles and made sacrifices in their daily schedules to be present for me. It really touched my heart. Every little detail that went into the planning, the time and effort my girlfriends made to make me feel loved and cared for made me really happy. I think the best treat of all, was seeing all my girlfriends in one place at one time. Its rare that something like that happens because we all get so busy. Thank you ladies for making this mamma really happy!

Cute visitors

A few weeks ago, Keith's cousin, Ali- came by with our all time favorite fruit- blueberries! She also brought her posse with her, her adorable little girl, Noelle Rae and her dog, Izzy. Dash loved all the attention from little Noelle and Izzy. I think I saw him pout when they left that afternoon.

Week 32- Home Stretch!

I can’t believe we’re already in the home stretch -- 7 weeks to go! We’re still preparing for baby’s arrival. There are quite a few things that still need to be done, including setting up the baby’s room, selecting a physician, GIVING HER A NAME, etc. We also just started our baby prep classes. We have Lamaze classes every tuesday night for the month of June and are taking classes on nursing, how to get the baby to sleep, etc.

I’m excited to have our baby with us, but have to admit it’s still a little scary to think we’ll be parents and our lives are going to drastically change. I guess what makes it scary is that we don’t know what to expect! (this pregnancy thing is still a bit surreal). I think about our God, the amazing Creator. He has fearfully and wonderfully made this little baby and he has allowed me to carry her in my sinful and broken body. I am so humbled by that.

I get a little more uncomfortable each day and good sleep seems to be quickly escaping me. The baby’s jabs are getting stronger and my breathing gets more difficult. I get really warm while sleeping and toss and turn several times at night, clutching my body pillow for comfort.


As excited as I am for our baby’s arrival, I can’t help but to think of the things I’ll be able to regain or do once she is born. As I was tossing and turning one night, taking the usual one hour to fall asleep, I listed in my head the top things I want to do once the baby is born.

-Eat sushi. Tons of sushi.
-Eat cold cut lunch meats, especially from Capri Deli, a local italian deli in town. (the best sandwiches in town-really)http://www.caprideli.com/
-Sleep on my back- all night long and stay in that position.
-Lie on my stomach to rest, read, write, watch TV, etc.
-Hug my husband without my belly getting squished
-Be able to close the kitchen window above the sink, and to be able to reach around the kitchen counter to retrieve an object without my belly being squished
-Put on my shoes without sitting down
-Be done with my daily prenatal horse pill vitamins
-Be able to carry heavy objects without assistance
-Wear a fitted shirt (though it may take awhile for me to get back to those!)

10 years ago

Tomorrow is a special day for me and Keith. It will mark the 10 year anniversary of when we first met. We met back in May 15th, 1999, when I went for a ride-a-long with him while he was at work. Talk about a chance meeting! Two minutes before I met him, there was another opportunity where I could have rode with another person, thus leaving little to no room for me to meet my future husband. Now looking back, its hard to imagine a chance meeting that which I had no control over, or anyone for that matter, brought us to where we are today. It was all out of our hands. Wierd how some things which seems so by "chance" results in something that is meant to be. Today, 10 years later, I'm 28 weeks pregnant with our baby, happily married and very content. When we first met, I was a broken person, young, carefree, confused and innocent. Now, I'm a healthier person (mentally, spiritually, and personally) with much more room to grow into what God wants me to be. (Just look at how God has stretched my belly to make room for our little ladybug!)I am still in shock that this is my life!
Day after day, being married to Keith confirms that I have chosen the right man. A man who is just, patience, kind and has a strong, solid sense of character. A man who loves good and shuns evil. A man who will tell me when I have done wrong and still loves me. A man who I trust with all my heart and whom I will entrust my daughter with her life. I like and perfer him to anyone on this earth. As I watch him struggle to wake up at 4:30am in the morning to go to work, I am in awe and in appreciation on how he has sacrificed for me to be able to stay at home to take care of my health, our home and our unborn baby girl-AND even when he's exhausted, exherts stored energy to help out around the house too. ;-)In the midst of the chaos of our life, he even takes the time to handle the aftermath of my father-in-law's affairs after his passing 10 months ago.
After 10 years of our "chance" meeting, and as we come close to becoming actual "parents" (God help us!) Keith is my source of strength and encouragement that we will do everything in our power to raise this little ladybug in the best way we know possible. Keith is not perfect, but he is the perfect person that God has chosen for me. Just like the Brad Paisley song- "I thought I loved you ... then".

Getting bigger...

Week 26!!

Symptoms:

Nesting: Still feeling the need to clean. Can’t stand dirty dishes, or dirty floors. They must be cleaned right away.

Ligament pains: If I'm sitting down for a long period of time, getting up is hard and painful. Its like your stomach crushing your uterus.

Restless sleep: Maybe this is nature’s way of training me for the lack of sleep I’m about to suffer through, but I haven’t had a single good night’s sleep lately. Most of it is because I was told not to sleep on my back and try to sleep on my left side for better circulation. So I’ll wake up numerous times at night with a sore shoulder or neck from sleeping on my side. Sigh.

Next week: Our 27th week ultrasound! I can't wait to get another glimpse of our baby girl.

David and Pam's wedding

We had the honor of witnessing two very good friends getting married last month. It was so much fun trying to squeeze into a dress I "tried" to fit into. Ladies out there who have been through this know what I'm talking about... and for those of you who haven't yet, you'll know soon enough. Even my doctor noticed me finally wearing maternity clothes even said "So I see you've graduated into maternity clothes". Congrats to me, I've graduated! Now what? ;-)

Natalie: Ask and you shall receive!

Natalie, this one's for you! Now its your turn. ;-)
Ladybug (that's her new nickname) is growing very well. Maybe a bit too well. People are starting to stare at me when I'm walking down the street, especially men. At times I just want to glare back and ask them if they want to ask me anything. I know, I always stir up trouble. ;-)
Ive gained 25lbs. so far! Can you believe it? I even asked the nurse to weigh me again just to be sure. She laughed at me, needless to say I'm not the only pregnant woman that has asked her to recheck the weight scale. We go in for another ultrasound in two weeks, I just can't wait to see her again. Every 10 weeks is a very long time not to see my little girl. ;-)
Last night Keith and I felt an odd movement in my belly. It wasn't a kick this time, more like an elbow moving across my belly. Very wierd, yet life changing as its a constant reminder of what a miracle God has given us. I'm honored to be her mommy.

She's a kicker!

This will be my 22nd week... and she's a kicker! She is constantly moving and making waves in my belly. She loves to remind me that she's inside of me, especially at 3am in the morning. This little girl has no concept of time! Will this be any indication on how often she will keep me up at night? ;-)
So far, I've been doing well. I've been told to eat well, rest well and pray often. I plan to keep this as my motto as I am close to my third trimester. Yet, there's still so much to be done! I've been a bit overwhelmed in trying to get things done before we get our floors redone (scheduled for next week) and spending time with my sister and niece who is staying with me this week. I've noticed that I've become a bit obsessive about cleaning, getting rid of stuff and making sure our house is germ-free. I think God intended for a newborn not to walk/crawl during his/her first few months, so it allows parents time to ease up on their germaphobe behaviors. I suppose I have some time to work on this. ;-)

Its a girl!

Keith and I went in for our 19th week ultrasound and the doctor revealed to us that we're having a girl! The ultrasound checked for abnormalities, making sure the little lady has all her ribs and fingers intact. Everything looked good, including the baby's heart and level of fluid. Praise God! We are so thankful that everything checked out well.I could have watched my baby girl all day on the screen. She was really active, moving around and even playing with her fingers! It was amazing to see her so active and alive. Another thing the doctor mentioned was that she was so hungry! Her stomach was completely empty that morning. It didn't help that I was nauseous that morning and didn't eat a complete meal for breakfast. Regardless, We are very excited and thankful for a healthy baby!

And baby makes three

Its been taking me a while to post on this blog. For those of you who know, Keith and I are expecting a baby this summer. The past three months has been filled with ambivalent, fear, excitement, new experiences, anxiety, hopes and dreams as we have gradually accepted the reality of becoming parents and having a human being rely on us for everything. So hence, my hesitation to announce my pregnancy and our new life change. Also, I'm working on "waiting for the other shoe to drop" mentality, as this news, at times was too good to be true. Somebody pinch me!
I'm now in my 17th week and starting to show. I've got as Keith would call it a "little kangaroo pooch". ;-)
At times I can't wait to meet my little bean sprout and hold my baby in my arms, yet also dread the days of sleepless nights. Regardless, this year is sure to be an interesting and an eventful one!
Sorry for the delayed post. I hope to continue to post more often from now on, since I've got a lot going on inside of me! ;-)