2009 Recap

I couldn't let the year end without looking back on everything that happened this year and thinking about how much my life has changed. I found out I was pregnant November 28, 2008 but even though I had 2 home pregnancy tests show positive, I still didn't believe it...

January 5, 2009: This was probably the second biggest day of the year for me... it was the first day I saw Kaylee and was when the fact that I was pregnant finally hit me. When I saw this:

I remember thinking that's weird... that little thing is really inside of me?... then I thought, no...wait... this is just a recording of someone else's ultrasound (yes, ridiculous I know...)... but when I heard her heartbeat for the first time, it was probably the most exciting moment of the year. That might sound weird but that's when everything became real to me and since I don't remember the first time I saw Kaylee, I don't remember how I felt at that moment.

February: From what I can remember, February was pretty uneventful... I was pregnant but not completely uncomfortable... just counting down the days until August!

March 13, 2009: This was the day that we found out I was having a little baby girl! We had my ultrasound scheduled for early that morning... we stopped at Hardees on the way to the doctor's office for breakfast and I got a really big coke and drank the whole thing before the ultrasound hoping it would make Kaylee really active to make sure she would move around so that they could determine what we were having. We told the lady who was doing the ultrasound that we wanted her to write down whether we were having a boy or girl and put it in an envelope. I thought I had saw on the screen when the lady was trying to get a leg measurement that 'it' (Kaylee) was a girl but then after she had us look the other way while she checked, she called the baby a boy... so I wasn't sure what it was. I had thought that it would be a boy along with everyone else except for Daniel who kept saying we would have a little girl.

We were going to wait until we went out to eat for lunch to open the envelope but couldn't wait and ended up opening it as soon as we got home. Daniel & I both were excited to see that it was a baby girl but I still couldn't believe it... I actually got what I had always wanted (as soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew what I wanted to name the baby if it was a girl... we didn't come up with a boy's name until the night before we went for the ultrasound and even then I wasn't sure if I really liked the name).

April: I think this was the month when I really started having problems with my feet and ankles swelling up. Pretty much from April until after I had Kaylee I couldn't get my feet into any shoes and had to wear flip flops all the time. I was starting to get uncomfortable but was still hanging in there.

May: This was the month where I was starting to get bored with the pregnancy. Up until May I would look forward to reading a new week in my "Your Pregnancy: Week by Week" book. By 27 weeks, I didn't care... I was tired of counting the weeks and figured the less I payed attention to how many days I had left, the faster time would go. I had my glucose test this month as well...what fun that was...not! At least I managed to not throw up until the end of the day, hours after I had the test done.

At the end of the month I had my 3D/4D ultrasound done. It was neat to see Kaylee and be able to get a better idea of what she would look like. She still makes this face everyday:

June: June was one of my least favorite months. At the beginning of June Daniel was let go from the team at RCR and had to start looking for another job in the middle of the season. I was so scared because I wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep his job in the shop, how long it would take him to find a job somewhere else (if he even could), when they were going to cut his pay and if we would even have insurance when I had Kaylee. Luckily everything with that worked out great and he was able to find something else and we ended up having double insurance coverage when I went into the hospital to have Kaylee.

I also had to go to the emergency room in the middle of June due to contractions that kept coming every 5 minutes for almost a day (obviously they weren't too painful... uncomfortable... but not painful). Luckily my cervix hadn't changed much so everything was all good for me to go back home. At the end of June I was 34 weeks pregnant and MISERABLE... I remember several times laying on the couch crying because Kaylee would have her foot wedged in between my ribs and thinking I would never make it to August.

July: I was convinced this would be the month when I had Kaylee...HA! Yea right... she wasn't going anywhere! This month was no fun... a lot of swelling, a lot of being kicked by someone *ahem*, a lot of waiting and a lot of wondering... I took this picture the last day of July I believe...Holy crap I was huge! I didn't realize it at the time... though I did feel like a whale.

August 12, 2009: Well actually the whole labor thing started early in the morning on August 11th but someone didn't want to cooperate so it took a little while *read: 30 HOURS*... but finally on August 12th little Kaylee Ann was born!

I would've given anything to have been able to see her as soon as she was born, but I am so thankful that she was ok after everything that happened and I'm glad Daniel thought to take the camera in the operating room to get a picture of her. I really feel that having Kaylee has made me a better person and changed me in ways that I never thought possible. It's amazing how a little baby only a few months old can make you feel like the most important person in the world :)

September: We realized the beginning of September that Kaylee really had issues with her reflux. This was when we started the process of trying to find the right medicine for her. Looking back, I never would've thought that we would've been able to find a medicine that would work for her without side effects and that would allow her to be the happy baby that we knew she was but we finally figured it out at the end of November and things have been better since. It was also in September when Kaylee smiled at Daniel & I for the first time!

October: October was a fun month. We celebrated Kaylee's first Halloween by passing out candy to other kids in the neighborhood. She had a earache so we couldn't get her out to show off her cute little tigger costume but we made the best of it. I was also able to take Kaylee back home with me to see both sides of the family. I was so worried about flying with her by myself but she did great. I got very sick while we were in Tennessee with a 104 degree temperature so my mom drove me back to NC to meet Daniel half way to pick me up. Kaylee started talking a lot this month.
November: In November Kaylee learned how to pick things up and really started playing with her toys. Daniel was let go from his job and also had to have surgery this month but even though it has caused some struggles for us, it has been nice to have him home with Kaylee and I and for him to get to spend more time with her while she is this little. My family came up for Thanksgiving and it was nice to have everyone here and for Kaylee to be able to spend time with them as well. December: This past month has been fun but stressful. With not knowing what is going to happen with Daniel's job search it's hard to enjoy things. Kaylee turned 4 months old earlier this month and she is changing everyday. She is still having problems with getting choked but is still better than she was a couple of months ago. In the middle of December we were able to go to Gatlinburg for my grandma's birthday. I guess you could call it our first family vacation! Later in the month was our first Christmas together! We were able to go home and see both sides of the family which is very important to me for Kaylee's sake. She has really been enjoying all of her new toys that she has to play with! She is starting to laugh at us when we do something funny which is just the cutest thing! All-in-all 2009 has been a great year for me. I look forward to what 2010 brings!

daddys little monster

my little monster is not really that little anymore. here lately in the past few weeks i have been holding her up so that she can stand and her little legs were so weak that she would just collapse but now she just stands there as long as you hold her from falling forward or backwards. at only 4 months old she seems like she skipped a few months all at once. we had a good first Christmas with her but i think that poor little baby had all that she could take by Christmas day of our 4 day trip back to Tennessee. she did really good with all the different people that she got to see. she has been talking alot and sometimes if she is in a good mood she will just sit there and ramble on and on as long as she wants. its so cute but i just wish we had half a clue what she is saying. this afternoon she was laying on our bed watching her favorite afternoon tv show and i tried to eat her little hand when she swung it at me and apparently i scared her pretty good cause she gave me the saddest little look, she first looks up at you with her big blue eyes and then that little lower lip just rolls out and she stares at you for a second and then...she starts crying and it just makes you feel as bad as u can. i just know that face is gonna come out more often in the future, like when she wants something and daddy wont buy it....then the face will come out and the next thing you know she will have it, i wont be able to say no. as of now she has me wrapped around her little finger, wait i mean around all of her fingers and i cant wait to see what our family's future holds for us.

My baby's first Christmas!

Well, Kaylee's first Christmas has come and gone. It was great to be able to go back home to see family and friends and for Kaylee to be able to meet some family members that haven't seen her before. So here's a recap of our trip home and tons of pictures (I had a hard time picking out just a few)!

December 23rd
We (meaning Daniel & I... little monster was still asleep) woke up at 5:30 am to get ready for the long drive back home to Tennessee. Daniel took our dog Liza to Mooresville to drop her off at the kennel while I got a shower, finished packing up the car and got Kaylee up and ready to leave. We left around 8:15 am and made it to Tennessee around 2:30 pm. We went by my mom's work so that her coworkers could see Kaylee and then went to my parents house to wait for mom to get off work. That night my mom and grandma watched Kaylee for us while we went to Walmart to pick up a few things before going to eat at one of my favorite restaurants back home (Demos') with our friends Katie & Brandon.

Hanging out on the bed

Christmas Eve
After spending the night at my grandma's house we woke up and got Kaylee ready to go have her picture made with Santa! After having her picture made we walked over to Olive Garden to have lunch with my mom before going back home to get ready for the family Christmas party. Kaylee was such a good baby during the party. She sat in my moms lap while we all played Dirty Santa and she just stared at all of us while we were playing the game.

Our Family Picture!

Sweet baby :)

Kisses from Grandma

Kaylee & Great Grandma

Kaylee & Great Uncle Bubba

Christmas Day
Apparently Kaylee was excited Christmas morning because after staying up until 10:00 pm Christmas Eve, she was up at 6:00 am Christmas morning(2-3 hours earlier than she would normally wake up)! We went down to my parents house to have breakfast and open presents before packing up and heading to Chattanooga to see Daniel's family. We opened up presents and the just hung out the rest of the night at Kaylee's Uncle Keith & Aunt Aleta's house.

Kaylee & Aunt Julie

Kaylee & Grammy

She was so interested in her presents!

Playing with the bow!

Kaylee & Grandpa

Kaylee & Cousin Stella

Day After Christmas
Kaylee slept late and then we got up and went to Daniel's Grandmother's house for another Christmas party. We spent the whole day there before going back to Daniel's dad's house before driving back home late that night.

My happy baby playing with her toy!

Kaylee & Great GrandmotherWe got home around 3:00 am on the 27th and I was so afraid that after sleeping for the whole 6 hour drive, Kaylee would think it was time to wake up for the day. We unpacked the car as quick as we could to get her playyard out. Once Daniel got it setup I put Kaylee in it and covered her up and she was asleep within 5 minutes! She did such a good job traveling.

My first Christmas as a mommy was great. I think as Kaylee gets older I will enjoy it even more. I look forward to seeing the excitement on her face every Christmas morning and starting family traditions of our own that maybe one day Kaylee will carry on with her own family.

Kaylee's First Snow

I'm a little behind on this post, but better late than never! A couple of weeks ago (December 18th to be exact), Kaylee saw snow for the first time! It started snowing while we were in Mooresville and she slept the whole way home through the snow, but the next day we were able to take her outside to get some pictures. I wish we could've stayed outside a little longer with her but it was way too cold and the wind made it feel so much colder. We ended up with about 5 inches of snow and it took several days for it to completely melt. She loved it when I would stand by our dining room window and let her look outside at everything. Here are the pictures I took of her and the snow!

My little snow baby!

Our back yard
The neighborhood

The snow looked so pretty!

Trying to walk...before she crawls...

So before I do my big Christmas post I wanted to do a smaller one to include some pictures I took of Kaylee just before Christmas. Here recently she has started to really like tummy time and she likes us to let her stand on our lap even more! It's still weird to see her being able to push herself up so high off the ground when she is on her tummy because just a few weeks ago all she would do was lay there face first on the ground punching the ground screaming!

Standing up with a little help from daddy!

And then she fell...

But she got right back up :)

Drooling and playing on her playmat!

It's so exciting to see Kaylee change everyday. She is going through a stage where she is changing really fast right now and learning to do new things almost everyday. I wish time would slow down!

First Trip to Gatlinburg

A couple of weeks ago Daniel, Kaylee and I went to Gatlinburg for my grandma's (Kaylee's great grandma's) 75th birthday. Daniel had practice the afternoon that we were supposed to leave so by the time we left and after having to take a detour to get around the rock slide on I-40 it was after 9:00 pm before we made it to Gatlinburg. Growing up, I went to Gatlinburg a lot with my family and I'm sure we will take Kaylee there quite a bit as she grows up. We didn't do a whole lot while we were there...just went to the welcome center, walked around and looked at all of the stores and went to the Dixie Stampede. It was just so cold while we were there that it made being outside miserable.

Here are some pictures from our trip!

Giving kisses to baby girl before the show started @ the Dixie Stampede

All bundled up!
Hanging out in the stroller @ Ober Gatlinburg

*On a side note, while Daniel & I were ice skating (or attempting to) my mom watched Kaylee for us... they rolled her up to the glass wall where you can look down on the ice rink and when Daniel and I stopped on the ice under Kaylee she looked down and as soon as she saw us she gave us the biggest smile! It was just the cutest thing!

Family picture in front of the tree

Hanging out with Uncle Quinten & Great Uncle Bubba Kaylee & Grandma

Kaylee & Great Grandma the night we got there

Playing on the bed

4 Month Checkup

Kaylee had her 4 month checkup Friday... she is still a healthy baby except for the reflux issue! She got her 2 shots and oral vaccine and did pretty good with them. I held her when the nurse gave her the shots and I felt so bad for Kaylee because she was so upset after the shots. Luckily she seems to do fine with the vaccines and she is usually fine once we leave the doctors office. So here are her measurements:

• Height: 25 1/2 in. (75-90%)
• Weight: 17lbs 13oz (>97%...actually she wasn't even on the chart!)
• Head Measurement: 45cm (>97%... once again, not on the chart)

After we left the doctors office Daniel and I grabbed some breakfast before going over to Target to pick up her medicine... only to find out that they don't even keep the medicine she is on in stock. On our way home it started to snow/sleet. We had to meet with a guy in Mooresville(about an hour away) so we grabbed Kaylee a bottle once we got home and jumped back in the car. We met with a realtor to look at a townhome in Mooresville which would be a lot closer to the new job he is trying to get. After we ate lunch we headed back home and realized we shouldn't have stopped to eat... we had only been on the interstate for 15 minutes before it was completely covered with snow. There were wrecked cars everywhere on the side of the road and we even had someone spin out right in front of us. Luckily we made it home ok... what is normally a hour drive took us about 2 hours.

Here are some pictures that I have taken over the past month with my phone of Kaylee!

Kaylee & Daddy sleeping on the couch

Relaxing after a bottle

Passed out with Daddy again!
Being a good baby @ Olive Garden

happy 4 months birthday

wow i cant believe my little baby girl has already turned 4 months old. i cant really say if it seems like time has gone by really fast or if its going by really slow. it seems like here lately all the days have been just running together. she does tho seem like she is growing up very quick. its like every day she progresses in some way that she seems to be either learning quickly or just catching on to things real easy, i dunno really what it is. today her voice decided to show back up and be heard again. it was thanksgiving weekend that i think she first discovered that she had a voice but she didnt know how to control the volume of it and that only went on for a few days then we really didnt hear it as much anymore, but today i came in the house after being outside for a while and she was so happy to see her daddy that her voice said it all. i really wish i knew what she was saying but then again once she does start talking we probably will never hear the end of it so for now i think i will just sit down and listen to all the little noises she makes and just laugh about it. she seems to be turning out to be a daddys girl really bad. we have been spending a lot of time together lately and tonight when mommy was holding her she would not take her eyes off of me. i feel bad tho cause i know that soon i will hopefully be going back to work and poor little kaylee buggy is gonna be wearing poor mommy out wandering where i am, well atleast thats what i think. she could probably care less where i go or where im at.

ever since little kaylee was born every day i think we have grown closer as each day goes by. it might be something little every day but its like today when i see her not paying attention to anything but me, that makes me feel like i am being a good father to her. i know alot of times i get really fed up with her being fussy and not doing what i want her to do but i have to stop and tell myself that she is just a baby and she might not always want to do what i want her to do all the time. its just really frustrating when something new is happening that you have never dealt with before and you try everything you can to make her happy and it doesnt work, man it gets frustrating. but one thing is for sure i love that little baby so much and there is not a thing in this world that i would not do for her or her mommy and i try every day to show the both of them that whether its not doing anything for myself to take her off mommys hands so she can do whatever or if its sitting here thro all of the kids shows on tv that of course the most annoying show is her favorite, and i just hate having the dumb little songs stuck in my head all day long. but its fun fun cause i try to sit there and tell kaylee what is wrong with all these shows so maybe one day she will know whats going on in the world...lol

but until she turns another month old i am still gonna take care of her and mommy and love the both of them like there is no tomorrow!

4 Months

Baby Boo,

You are 4 months old today and I can't believe it. This past month has went by so fast and I also think you have changed more this past month than you have in the last 3. Right after you turned 3 months old you started picking up your toys and playing with them. It is so great to see your face light up and see how happy you are when you are playing with your toys! I bought you a seahorse that plays music and glows and you love it! This week we went to Gatlinburg for your great grandma's 75th birthday and you kept doing the silliest thing with your seahorse... as we moved it closer to your face you would open your mouth up as much as you could and shake your head and then try to bite its nose! You kept looking at daddy and I to make sure we were watching and then after you would bite the sea horse's nose you would look at us and laugh!

You have been doing better with your reflux since we switched your meds. It is so nice now not having to make you wait 30 minutes to eat after you take your meds... plus you love the taste of the medicine! It tasted really bad on its own but I mix it with berry flavored Tums and you love it! You pretty much outgrew your car seat this month so we had to get you a bigger one. The weight limit was 30 pounds on the seat but you just seemed so scrunched up in it that it didn't seem comfortable.

Thanksgiving day we started you on solid food and you have done great with that. You will always open up your mouth so that the food doesn't get everywhere. You have liked everything we have fed you except for peas. Last night while we were in Gatlinburg we went to the Dixie Stampede. You did great and sat in grandma's, daddy's and my lap and watched the horses and all of the people who were dressed up. Your grandma took a piece of a biscuit and dipped it in vegetable cream soup and you loved it. She also dipped your pacifier in the soup and you wouldn't spit your pacifier out!

I think one of the biggest things that have changed over this past month is your head control. You have gotten so much better at holding your head up and can now sit in your Bumbo chair without me having to support your head and neck. You are finally pushing up a little bit with your arms when I lay you on your stomach. You do the best holding your head up when I lay you on my stomach because you lift your head all the way up to look at me and smile!

Right after Thanksgiving you also started teething. You have been extra fussy at times and we are going through so much Oragel and Tylenol trying to keep you comfortable. I will be glad when your teeth come in so you wont be in pain but I know I will miss your toothless smile.

I don't have your 4 month measurements just yet, you go next week for your 4 month checkup and shots and I'm excited to see how much you have grown... but at the same time it makes me sad knowing that you're growing so fast. I sit here and hold you sometimes just thinking I'll never get this time back. I know I will miss holding you and watching you stare up at me, I'll miss your little fingers holding onto mine and that big toothless smile. I feel like before I know it you will be all grown up and moving out of the house! But like I say every month, I want to make the best of the time I have now.

Your daddy and I love you more than anything baby girl and we are so lucky to have you!

Love,
Mommy

Checkin out the tree...

So I finally got around to taking Kaylee's picture in front of the Christmas tree. I have been meaning to do it for the past week but she has just been so fussy since she is teething. It was great to see how excited she was the first time I put her right beside the tree... she just sat there and stared at it... I'm sure this time next year she will be trying to take the ornaments off or tear down the tree! So here are the adorable pictures I took!

Ok Kaylee Bug...smile really big for your first picture in front of the tree...

Ok... maybe not that big...
Much better!

She loved laying under the tree and staring at the lights!

And checking out the ornaments...

Daniel bought this cute little figurine for me to give to Kaylee... it's hard to see, but it says "Love You" on the bottom of the momma snowman...or would that be snowwoman?

I found this cute little ornament tree at Target. It's perfect because I like to have just our matching ornaments on the big tree plus I wanted our cute ones to stand out more!

This is the first time Kaylee held one of her presents...

And of course...she tried to open it! I had to pry the bow out of her hand to keep her from ripping it off!

And finally our stockings! Kaylee's grandma bought her first stocking and had her name embroidered on it!

So that's all of the Christmas-y pictures so far... I have been terrible here lately about keeping up with everything that I am wanting to blog about. I want Kaylee and I both to be able to look back at this blog years down the road and remember everything... which is why I stress so much about keeping up with this thing!