Christmas 2010

We are alive! Our little girl is already 11 days old! She is doing so awesome at home. We are all having a blast, even Leyla! We dropped Grandma Connelly off at the airport yesterday which was really sad. She helped us out so much the first week we were home. We now have a freezer full of meals ready to go! A couple of days before Christmas, we had to say good bye to Dax's mom and dad. I know it was hard for them to leave their first grand baby!! Both Grandmas will be back to visit in a couple of months!

We have started to establish a routine now that all our guest have gone home (as much as you can with a newborn) and she is responding well. She is sleeping 4 hour spans at night, sometimes more when mommy doesn't wake up! Daddy Dax is so helpful to me and Harlow, it has been such a blessing to have him home with us. Most mommies would have to say good bye to their husbands at this point in time. We are lucky enough to have a whole month together! We plan on just hanging out and spending time getting to know Harlow. We have our 2 week pedi appointment on Thursday where we will see if Harlow has gained enough weight to return to her birth weight of 8 lb 3 oz. Since she barely fits in her newborn outfits, we are guessing that she has!

A little bit about Harlow:

She loves to be swaddled with her arms to her sides when she sleeps

She is starting to calm to the sound of my voice (PRECIOUS!!)

She will be visiting the chiropractor today for her first adjustment!

She actually likes her sponge bath!

She always poops when she eats, usually right after a clean diaper change

She has pooped and peed on Daddy two times now!

I'm coming back later to add pictures and video but the little one is waking up now!!

Introducing our sweet baby girl, Harlow Connelly Kuykendall

Getting checked out by the nurse, she is about 2 minutes old in this picture

Mommy gets to hold her baby!

This was her going home from the hospital outfit!

Look at all that hair! We LOVE it!

Sorry for the delay on updates and pictures! As you can imagine our family has been very busy lately! We are so happy to be home and have been enjoying every second of our baby girl! We are starting to establish a routine, or at least somewhat of a routine now that we are home. We will continue to update once things get easier, I promise!! If you click on this link, you can view some pictures that were taken at the hospital before we left. It will up for a couple of weeks...

http://www.pitterpatterpix.com/index2.php?v=v1#/proofing/

Password is: GS7152

5 days and counting!

Just popping in for a quick update. We only have 5 more days until LB turns into Harlow! We will only be working 3 days this week (Monday-Wednesday), then go in for an appointment on Thursday and check into the hospital Thursday evening. Sometime Friday afternoon/evening, we will hopefully be holding our precious little miracle child.

I can't believe that it's finally "time". I'm trying to enjoy the last few days of pregnancy, even the uncomfortableness of it. I have been reflecting on how badly we wanted a baby in our lives and how incredibly blessed we are. I pray that we never, ever forget that. We are just so excited to start another chapter in our lives!!! And I can't wait to have feeling back in my hands. That is the one thing I am hating right now, swollen hands and fingers!!!

If you are reading this, please remember to keep us in your prayers this week and on Friday for sure! You can specifically pray that Dax won't faint on me during delivery. And that's not really a joke. Well, okay, it kind of is a joke but we seriously have talked about what his boundaries should be and we have decided that standing bedside holding my hand will be the perfect spot for him to remain. We will do our best to text all of our friends/family after Harlow arrives. Please feel free to share the news with everyone in case we accidentally miss someone!

We will also try to post some pics as soon as we can! Love to you all!!!

LB has a name

It's....

Harlow Connelly Kuykendall

And just in time too!

37 weeks down, just a few left to go. The room is done, the bags are packed...we're just waiting for Harlow to make her arrival. It's been an amazing journey, but we (especially Jessica!!!) are ready for the next chapter to begin.

After a few weeks of concern about which direction she was facing, we were relieved to see at our last doctor's appointment that she is facing head down. Hopefully she decides to stay that way...she seems pretty smart.

Thanks to all of our friends and family for the great shower presents. The amount of "stuff" you're supposed to have when you bring home a baby is overwhelming. Thanks to all of you, if she decided to show up today I think we would have everything we need. We are truly blessed.

More to come...

Some Videos

We have some neat videos that I have been wanting to post. Let's see if I can figure it out!

LB dancing around...once you get the hang of how I am breathing, you can see her bumping all over the place!

This is a funny video of Leyla discovering the diaper genie...it was given to us by some friends and although it was clean as a whistle, it must of had a lingering scent that was quite interesting to Ley....

This is short video of the shower before we arrived and the diaper cake!! Make sure you read the post below this one to read all about the shower!

LB's Baby Shower

Click on any of the pictures to view it larger...

One pregnant mama!

All the girls

Can you see all the onsies?

So many beautiful flower arrangements!

Last night we were so privileged to attend a baby shower for both Dax and I. It was given by my besties, Maggie, Christy and Ria and it was absolutely amazing. We arrived to a house full of our favorite people and the most beautiful decorations you can imagine. I was "showered" all night long and treated like a princess while Dax was able to hang out with the guys and enjoy some man time. We snacked on all kinds of our favorite goodies and chatted with everyone. Then, the boys left to go out for awhile while the girls stayed back to open gifts. Each and every gift was so thoughtful and meaningful, I just can't believe that we are so lucky to have such great friends. All the decorations, flowers, food and drinks were so perfect! Not one detail went unnoticed. We also were served a catered dinner from Cheesecake Factory (yummy-o), do our friends know us well or what?

Some of the highlights was the diaper cake with a pair of cowboy boots on top!!! How adorable!! We can't wait till LB will be able to wear them, now our whole family has a pair! Ria was videoing the whole night on this little camera that I thought was a phone. We found out when opening the gifts, it was a camera for us! What a huge surprise Chad and Ria, now we can video all LB's milestones for everyone to see and for us to cherish forever! We also made unique and adorable onsies with our favorite bands. Our little girl is going to be one hip mama. The gifts we received were all so thoughtful and special. I can't wait to take pictures of LB in all her new gear and send you pictures!

Here are some pictures of the evening. We can't even explain how thankful and grateful we are to each one of our friends in attendance. We love you all so much and are just filled with happiness. This is the best time of our lives and we are so incredibly blessed! Only 4 more weeks until we get to meet our little one!

it's pretty boring around here!

There is nothing new to report but I know I have to update anyway so....let's see. Hmmmm......

Leyla thinks we are talking to her when we talk to LB so this concerns us a little bit. Don't have a solution to that problem yet. She runs over to us and starts licking and wagging and looks at us like we are crazy because we are not petting her. We are still hoping that everything just falls into place when we bring LB home and Leyla learns to love her little sister. Otherwise, Leyla's life is going to change even more than we anticipated. But we don't like to think about that particular possibility.

Work is crazy and I am getting to the point where I just do not want to be there anymore. I have so much to do before I leave, and I'm trying to prepare everything so it will go smoothly for my replacement, calm parents concerns with me being gone the rest of the year, paperwork, meetings, and on and on and on!

Baby is moving all the time, but is still lying sideways (transverse). The scary word "C-section" has been brought up if she doesn't turn since you can not deliver a baby sideways, so I am really hoping that she turns! I visit a chiropractor 3 times a week and she has been doing a special technique to turn the baby. So hopefully she will. She has three more weeks to turn before my doctor schedules the C-section.

I told you it was super boring around here. We will update after our next dr. appointment!!

30 week 3D pictures of LB

Here are the pictures from our ultrasound this week. LB cooperated well and was moving the whole time so we got some good shots. I invited my girlfriends Danielle, Ria, Maggie and Christy to the ultrasound center since they have a hug room with couches made to bring your family members. I think the girls enjoyed seeing LB as much as Dax and I. Doesn't she look really big? She is around 3 pounds and 16 inches or so. The ultrasound tech could confirm she does have hair! She is so cute, we just can't wait to see her in real life! The verdict is still out on her nose, I think she may have inherited the Curtis nose after all, either way, we think she is perfect!

She looks like she is just taking a nap! But she wasn't, she was moving around the whole time!

I think her arms and legs are just as cute as her face!

Looks like she is sucking her thumb

Maybe a yawn?

Nursery pictures

We were SOOOOO blessed to have received a great gift this weekend of our glider/ottoman from Dax's family members! Thank you so much guys for getting this for us, we love it and can't wait to actually use it with LB! With this new addition to the nursery, we were able to pretty much finish for now. It was a lot of fun decorating LB's room. I even caught Dax going in there all by himself and just sitting, looking around. So CUTE!!!

LB is really kicking and moving around. More like rolling around now instead of tiny pokes. She is 3 pounds and is about 15 inches long! We go to the doctor for my 30 week appointment on Thursday and our last ultrasound later that evening. We have been told that the best time to get a 3D ultrasound is right around 30 weeks, because she won't be that squished up yet. If we get any good pictures, we will be sure to post them.

My first subject

This weekend we got Mr. Rebel out again for some practice. Our good friends Nichole and Eric attended a birthday party with Dax and I and their two beautiful kiddos, Hayden (2) and Parker (4 mo), so it was the perfect time for me to practice on real kids, not just Leyla! Hayden is such a sweetie and was a lot of fun! Parker man was just as content as could be the whole afternoon. That is until it was dinner time and we were on the road! They are great parents and a lot of fun to hang out with!

28 and 1/2 weeks down...

And 10 1/2 to go. But who's counting? Dr. appointment today was pretty uneventful. Nothing new to report. Belly is expanding right on target, to the cm. It's funny because on a daily basis, I hear "you are so tiny" to "no way you are going to make it till Christmas". So, who knows? Dr. said I'm right on target, so I guess we will go by what he says, since he is the MD.

My body is starting to notice all the extra weight it's been toting around and so my joints and muscles are starting to complain. All normal-right? I have been telling people that God must give all mothers the gift of forgetting. Once our babies are born, we forget how much we go through to get them here safe and sound. Cause otherwise I think there would be a lot of one child families! I've also noticed that this "forgetting" gift that God give us happens immediately after giving birth. So, there's always that to look forward to, as if meeting LB in real life isn't enough! That's why we are in countdown mode in this family.

Rebel's first run...pictures from the weekend

The girls at the Dog Park having so much fun

Ria and Chad

Christy and Brian

All of the girl with the prego

Cute picture of Mag and Kevin

The girls enjoying their cocktails on the boat

Maggie and Kevin with her birthday crown on

Maggie opening present

Dr. Christy

Sometimes Christmas comes early

And it surely did for us today. We just received one of the best Christmas presents ever (besides LB)...a new camera from Grandma and Grandpa Connelly and Grandma and Grandpa Kuykendall! Our spiffy new camera is so awesome, we don't even know yet what it is capable of. We do know that LB will be one of the most photographed little girls on the face of the earth, a close second to Ms. Piper, her niece. It's the "first child" syndrome I guess, my brother Josh has really become quite the photographer over the last 5 years. So much that Piper can strike several different poses within a few seconds, just like any seasoned model. If Eden has any chance to be in a photo by herself, it's only if Piper is too busy doing something else! Wonder if that will happen with LB and Leyla, haha.

We've included some of our first "shots" just for fun. I absolutely can not wait to learn how to use this bad boy. I won't be sleeping much tonight, I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it.

My first favorite with the new camera!

She's ready to party!

What a nice flattering shot of me...

What a cutie!

Homesick Today

Today I'm missing my family a whole lot! We had a consultation set up for a pediatrician's office in Boynton. We had to fill out a brief information sheet before we met the doctor. One of the questions asked us to list an "Emergency Contact" (other than the parents of the patient). It made me sad, because I didn't know who to put down! Who do we want called in case we are not able to be with our child in an emergency situation?

Don't feel too sorry for us, because we have met some of the most amazing friends down here- friends who will be friends for life. And I know for a fact that any one of them would be more than willing to be our "Emergency Contact". But it just hit me that LB doesn't have one single family member here in Florida besides me and Dax. I guess you don't really think about those things until you have a child. It's time to move closer to home folks. I know it will happen someday, but the sooner the better...

Sneak Peak

Here are some pictures of the nursery. We have been working on it the past few weeks and have gotten a lot done! There is still a lot to do, but so far, it is coming together great! Thank you to Poppa K and Sheri (name TBA-any ideas people??) for our crib and dresser. We love it and know that LB will too!

We also had my 25-week appointment today. Everything looks good, baby is measuring right on track. We only got to hear her heartbeat, no ultrasounds. From now on my appointments will be every three weeks instead of four, and soon, they will be every two weeks until the last month where the doctor will see me every week. It was nice to know I’ve past another milestone in pregnancy. Of course I want our baby to come out when she is good and ready, but I am getting so excited to meet her and actually, I dunno, start our LIFE together. I keep thinking of my mom and Dax’s mom and what they went through when they were pregnant with us. I guess you never really understand until it happens to you. I love and appreciate them more than ever. They took such great care of us, we are going to do the same for LB.

It looks like we might have our baby by the 20^th of December (or sooner). I like the sound of 12/20/2010 for a birthday! I would love to be able to work until December 17^th which is all the way up to our Winter Break at school. But, who knows what will really happen! My mom keeps reminding me that all of us Connelly kids came EARLY!! But, then Dax was 2 weeks late (and over 9 lbs…). So, this is one we will just leave up to God, it is out of our hands! He has gotten us this far and we know he will see us through.

That’s all for now!

Dax turns 30!

We celebrated Dax's birthday on Saturday at one of his favorite restaurants, Cantina Laredo. It was a surprise birthday party a couple of days early so Dax didn't have a clue what was planned for him. Our friends decorated the restaurant and table and waited for us to arrive. Dax was a good sport and wore all the obnoxious "30th" birthday gear. We finished the night at our house with good music, drinks and games. Oh, and of course since it was for Dax, a chocolate chip cookie cake. All in all it was a fun night-even Leyla was on her best behavior. Once again, we are reminded of what great friends we have here in Florida.

As requested by many of you, I will try to post a picture so you can see my growing belly. I feel huge most days but try to remind myself, this is only the beginning. Any non-maternity clothes are pretty much out of the question at this point. I sometimes forget that I can't bend very far at the waist anymore. Just the other day, I was on the floor and cleaning out a cupboard in my classroom at school when a bug crawled out. I screamed (of course) and tried to get up, only I couldn't bend forward...I was stuck on the floor with this stupid bug crawling closer to me. Finally, I kicked my legs out in front of me and pushed back, rolled over and got up. Geez, I had no idea it would ever take me that long just to get up from the floor!!! Dax has been super helpful around the house and while doing chores. I'm trying to be mindful of every move I make. Since I am surrounded by miniature short furniture (and people, lol) daily, and it puts a lot of strain on your back. Needless to say, Dax has been great so far.

That's all for now! Our next appointment is not for a few more weeks. But we will continue to try and update each week.