Whew! So much to catch up on...

Well, obviously we've been quite the busy little family this holiday season. We started out by attacking our first long road trip with a newborn Wednesday of last week. We rode from Fayetteville, NC to Orlando, FL...an 8 1/2 hour trek that only took us 9 1/2 hours. It was awesome. Kennady was a champ and pretty much slept the whole day, minus the feedings and changings. We were very pleased at how well it went. We got to Orlando and stayed with Chad's parents for 3 days, including Christmas & had a wonderful Christmas day. As you can imagine, Kenna came away with a slew of presents from the grandparents & her auntie & uncle. Oh, how the Christmas tides have shifted! :) It was great fun. Too bad she actually slept through the WHOLE thing. hah.

On Sunday, we hopped on a plane and flew here to Texas. Once again, our little lady was a fabulous traveler. In four hours of flying, we only heard her squawk-cry probably twice. And her cry is so cute, I'm pretty sure no one had any bad ju-ju to throw our way. We have been spending the last 4 days with my family, having another Christmas and hanging out. For New Year's, I think it's going to be a family game night with champagne and pizza, ha. What a combo! :)

Yesterday, Chad, myself, my mom, & Kennady spent the day in Abilene looking for potential houses for us to buy. We got to walk through a good 12 houses or so and accomplished a couple of good things. We haven't quite found one just yet, but it was just a preliminary look for the most part anyways. We were mostly using that trip to give us a more clear idea about what is available at different price points, while scoping out some different neighborhoods that we may or may not want to live in at the same time. It was a very productive day & we can't wait to go back in February with a 'going to buy' attitude. It's going to be great.

Monday was just 'one of those days'. As a new mother, I have been doing a really good job of being prepared when we go places, with everything Kenna might need from A to Z in her diaper bag. Well, Tuesday we went to lunch at McAlister's with my fam and ended up spending the whole day in town at my sister's house playing Mariokart on my niece's new Wii. Then, we had planned to go to Rosa's (duh) for dinner at about 7:00pm. Well, about 6:45pm, Kennady decides she's hungry & mommy realizes we had been gone so long that day that we were now out of formula packets (we are feeding boob & formula for those who may be confused a little later in this post) in the diaper bag. So, we made a quick trip home to get some (annoying) and postponed dinner for a little while. THEN, we are at Rosa's eating happily & getting ready to leave when she gets a little fussy because of a VERY dirty diaper. Well, Rosa's wasn't all that busy being that it was a Monday night & the bathrooms always smell like rotten eggs, so we decided to change her right there in a corner booth where no one was around. As I get this nasty diaper off of her, I go digging in the bag for a clean diapee, and dun, dun, dun, there are NONE to be found. UGH!!! Why didn't mama check to see if we were out of any of our other supplies too you might ask?? Well, I was asking myself the same thing as my daughter's business is out in public and she is on the brink of having a meltdown, being that she hates to be naked & the outfit she had on got a bit soiled too. This is where improvisation comes into play. I didn't have anything else to do but to stick a maxi-pad on the inside of her onesie and hope that she decided to stay clean until we got home 15 minutes later. Luckily, I had a new and clean outfit to put her in, but still...a maxi on a 3 1/2 week old baby...poor girl, haha. Thank God we made it home without any hitches. A little bit later my friend Nicole and I were hanging out; she's feeding Kenna from a bottle while I was pumping in my parent's tv room with the doors closed. All of a sudden, my 9-year-old niece Taylor opens the pocket doors, sees me hooked up to this crazy udder-sucking machine, turns her head in confusion (like a puppy who heard a funny noise), and gently closes the doors back without a word. About 3 minutes later, my mom and sister walk in laughing at how Taylor's face was glazed over with confusion when she came back into their room. Cue the 'breastfeeding & the crazy machine' conversation here. Ha. I didn't even consider the possibility of her walking in. Had I thought about that, I would have taken the liberties to explain to her what I was doing (or about to do) before she walked in and shocked herself. It was too cute and as you would imagine, she was as bashful about it as a 9-year-old little girl would be. Clarification, it wasn't the breastfeeding that got her...she knows all about that...it was the pump that threw her for a serious loop. Too funny and maybe what I might consider as strike 3 for that day. It just seemed like it wouldn't end, haha. Good stuff.

Well, I guess that's all I really have for now. I really hope that everyone had a very blessed and Merry Christmas with your family and friends. Happy early New Year's to everybody! May safety and happiness blanket everyone as we welcome 2010!

Getting back to normal...

Man, what an ordeal having a baby is on the body! It sure is a wonderfully amazing and beautiful process, but the aftermath is ROUGH. You quickly go from being very pregnant, having gotten used to not seeing your toes, & peeing every 4 1/2 minutes, to being able to bend over, sleeping only on your sides, & having to take twice the time to climb stairs, to so many other things. Then, you push a little baby out and then it starts a whole new slew of things to recover from. Beginning of course with the 'downstairs' going back to normal (being uncomfortable for 8 days afterwards), the ability to lay on your stomach again (even though it feels like you are doing wrong since you haven't been able to for so long), your ankles and legs finally deflate and you can see bones again, the stomach still cramps a bit on occasion as your cervix continues to contract, hormones are swinging up and down constantly, & don't even get me started on the feeling of engorgement (boobs are like rocks & FULL to the gushing milk point). Ha. Did I really say above that this was a beautiful and amazing process???? :-P

God really did do some amazing stuff when He created us women. Our bodies are a marvel that I will never be able to fully understand in their entirety. Luckily, all of the 'beauties' of pregnancy really do eventually return to 'normal' and soon, I will feel completely human again, with no more soreness and the ability to do so many things that I haven't been able to do for several months now. I'm quite surprised that I still haven't had a glass of champagne or a margarita (though doing either of those is still quite tricky with pumping & finding time for it). What I really want is a hot tub...in the backyard I don't currently have. That would be great.

Well, things are good here because every day that passes is another day closer to being back to normal. Chad goes back to work this coming Monday so next week should be quite an interesting transition. I don't doubt my abilities, I just know how wonderful it has been to be able to double-team this thing thus far. Pray that we can both get some good sleep and some good stuff done while daddy isn't here. Then, in a couple of weeks, we are headed down to Orlando for a couple of days, including Christmas day, then we fly over to Texas to see my family for about a week, & then we are expected to be in place in Alabama by the 5th of January for SOS (Chad's 5 week schooling). THEN, a couple of weeks later, we MOVE TO TEXAS for good! WOO-Hoo! We can't wait!

Please keep us in your prayers as we attempt the somewhat impossible and drag this new little baby here, there, and everywhere this disease-infested holiday season. I know, we're crazy, but we're hoping for the best. Be back soon with whatever else comes to mind! :)

Kennady Baye is finally here to stay!

Well, as all of you very well know by now, we have happily and successfully introduced our little girl Kennady Baye into this world! She was born on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces, & measuring 18 1/2 inches long. She has been beautiful and sweet ever since she arrived. We are obviously back home and busy getting into whatever routine we can that works for all of us and our sleep schedules. I think figuring out feeding patterns, amounts, sleeping rhythms, and diaper changing schedules is probably the most challenging part of the first 5 or 6 days with a new baby. We have officially gotten more comfortable with how we are handling things and she seems to be happy about it too.

My labor was quite miserable...not gonna lie or sugar coat it. 18 hours later though, we were holding our newest treasure. I'm still recovering, but getting closer to feeling like myself with every day that passes. We've been lucky enough to have my mommy stay longer than we expected to help us out with this first week with baby. It's been wonderful for all 4 of us! Unfortunately, she's heading back home on Thursday. We are so blessed to have had her here for so long...

We had our first pediatrician appointment yesterday and found out that she has already gained 6 ounces! That's an ounce a day! Looks like she's really taking to momma's sweet milk! :) We can't help but look at her everyday and say how gorgeous she is. It's amazing that we could make something that is so perfect. Thank you God for a happy and healthy baby!

If you haven't gotten to see some of Kennady's pictures, here is a link to her on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046887&id=54100340&l=24ffa2577d