Kathy Brilliance

E*TRADE BABYMAIL

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:02:00 +0000

Pictures of Amara from my phone

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:36:00 +0000

Here are some pictures I've taken the last couple weeks, with my phone, of Amara:

Tutu Cute!

She loves her gym Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa DeHart got her for Christmas.

Wide-eyed baby.

Daddy and Amara watching TV.

Grabbing her souska (Russian for pacifier).

It's A Wonderful Life!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:09:00 +0000

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Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:12:00 +0000

It's been 2 months today since our daughter was born and time had just flown by! I finally found a moment to post her birth story:

Amara Zion Hayes was born Wednesday September 23, 2009 via Cesarean Section. She weighed 7lbs 9-3/4 oz and was 18" long.

David and I spent the night before making sure that her nursery was completely ready for her. We went to bed around 10:00, but because of our excitement didn't fall asleep for another hour or so. I again needed to refrain from any eating or drinking for at least eight hours.

It was to be a balmy 90 degree day, but we were up well before that. Our alarm went off at 4:30 and we got up to pack the car and get ready. Since I wasn't going to have to go through normal physical labor I decided to this would be opportunity to put makeup on and do my hair because I wouldn't really have to worry about it getting messed up. :)

We stopped to pick Amy up first and she had already been up for hours. It really felt more like we were going to catch an early flight at the airport rather than prepare for a baby arriving. We arrived at Kaiser Sunnyside around 6:00am and checked ourselves in.

We went to wait in a labor room and they got me all set up with an IV again. They were expecting me to be wheeled into the O.R. around 8:00am.

They got David prepped in scrubs. He was just dying to walk around to see if anyone would confuse him for a doctor. (After the baby was born he wasn't allowed to wear them anymore for that very reason!)

Amy was working feverishly to finish the blanket for her before she was born (the one she had been wok ring on since January... :P). My parents arrived a little while later. They had originally planned to go to California for a business/vacation, but Mom cancelled going to be here. Pop needed to go ahead, but he didn't need to be at the airport until noon so we thought he would have a chance to see her before he had to go.

My memory is a little blurry now, but eventually Doug, Lisa and possibly a few others showed up. I remember it being crowded...I just don't remember all who was there beforehand. :/

As I mentioned they thought I was going to be going in around 8:00, but there was an emergency C-Section so I got pushed back. Then my doctor was sent to to the ER (not sure if it was related to emergency C-Section) and I got pushed back again. This continued on all morning. My dad had to leave and when my mom got back from dropping him off I was still waiting...then around 12:30 or so my doctor came in and told me she had several C-Sections still waiting for her, but a new doctor would be coming on shift at 1:00 and he could get me in at 1:30. Thank Goodness! (In all honesty I really didn't like the original doctor when I had done my meet and greet with her a few days beforehand, so I was happy to switch her for someone else). I got to meet the anesthesiologist, nurses and new doctor and I was really comfortable with all of them.

You may not be able to tell from theses pictures, but as the time drew nearer I began getting more nervous. This was becoming real...I'm going into surgery! (GULP!) I asked for a group prayer before being taken away, but my nerves just got worse as I began to walk down the hall. Reality was just hitting me. When I went through the doors of the OR (the one room we did not get to tour beforehand) I almost lost it. They took David to a separate room while I had to get numbed up. The nurses took me to the surgery room and it was the scariest thing I ever had to face. It was stark white with sharp silver instruments along the wall. There was a loud beeping noise and a bustle of 6 or 7 staff people ready to go. My heart was racing and I was seriously considering running out. (But really where would I go?) They got me on a bed and I remember telling them I didn't like the beeping noise, but they said it was to just monitor my heart rate. I was having a hard time keeping my nerves down, but the nurses were great. While I got my anesthetic they held my hands and told me to keep looking at them. (Unbeknownst to me David was able to see me from the room he was in and he said I looked really scared). The anesthetic was painful, but the pain didn't last long. They laid me down and I began to feel very drowsy (I had been up since 4:30 after all). They drought David in and set up the curtain so we wouldn't be able to see the operation. I kept wanting to fall asleep but David kept talking to me telling me to wake up. They said I might feel tugging or pulling or sensation of being "unzipped," but I really don't remember feeling a thing. Then at 2:00 on the dot the doctor proclaimed, "Here she comes!" and we could hear the wail of a little baby. She was here - Amara Zion Hayes was finally here.

Up to this point I had wondered how connected I would feel to her. I had a wonderful pregnancy, and I knew I loved her, but I wasn't sure if I was going to have the instant bond with her. I was wrong. The moment I saw her I knew she was mine. She was perfect. :) They got her cleaned up and weighed and let me hold her for a little bit while I was being stitched back together.

After they were done with that they took me into a recovery room where she was given first bath.

We were there for about two hours while we were being monitored. Then they took me back to the labor room because the postpartum rooms were all taken at the moment (we got moved later that day). Their we introduced our families to our daughter. I don't have a picture of everyone that was there or came and went, but we were truly blessed by everyone's presence.

Here I am recovering. I was so hot that they gave me a cold pack for my head. I probably went through three of those. :) I hardly remember this time at all. In fact I don't even remember telling people her name.

One of the nurses showed David how to change a diaper.

A little while later they asked me if I was hungry yet- YES! I was only allowed a little something so I got apple juice and graham crackers. I tell you it was heaven! The best thing I had tasted in a long time. For the rest of my stay I kept requesting more that they eventually just brought over a big pile of grahams and a couple bottles of juice. :) In fact it became a sort of comfort food for me during my six week recovery. (Okay I'm still eating them) My mom brought in a strawberry flavored yogurt spread to put on them and it just topped the flavor for me.

The first night we didn't get any sleep since Amara kept waking up every hour and a half. Then the nurse at 6:00 am wanted me to try to get out of bed an walk to the bathroom which was all of 5 steps away. Wow that was incredibly hard! I could barley move myself but I somehow got myself out (with the nurse's help) and walked to the bathroom. Then I started feeling really dizzy and felt like I was going to black out. I told this to the nurse and she got me onto a stool and scooted me back to bed. Ahhh much better! She checked my blood level and apparently I had lost 10 points of blood during the surgery, so that's why I was still weak.

The next three days were great. I got waited on hand and foot. People came in and out to visit and the three of us got some great family time too. I started to feel better each day, but still not in any condition to walk around. I did try to get up and walk with a walker or wheel Amara in her bassinet on the recovery floor a couple times.

Then Saturday morning they told us that I could now be discharged. We got our stuff all packed up and the discharge nurse gave me some final instructions.

I changed Amara into her coming home dress which was an experience she did not care for.

Until I wrapped her in a cozy blanket.

We were ready to go!

We had to figure out how to get her in her car seat.

All set.

We got home and were welcomed with a surprise waiting for us.

A gift box from Classic Pianos. (This is actually a picture of the many gifts received while at the hospital as well as the gift box).

Welcome home Amara, you've been worth waiting for!

Nursey Decor Finished!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Yay, with only 4 days to spare we finished decorating the nursery! When I first found out I was pregnant this was one of the first things I started trying to think about, but I got so stuck. When I thought it was a boy we were going to go "neutral" with monkeys but when it turned out to be a girl I really had no idea what to do. I thought I still wanted to go neutral, but it so much fun to look at girl stuff. :) I knew I still wanted to do green and brown, but aside from that I had no idea. After we got the crib bedding things slowly started to come into place. I didn't really want a theme, but we kind of stumbled upon a nature theme drawing inspiration from the crib set. Anyway, here are the results. Not too shabby considering we really had no budget. :) Many thanks again to all who helped bring this room together.

View from the door.

We already had this rocking chair. David refinished it to match the crib.

Changing station. Masha created the picture for us, isn't it cute?

David also made a little foot rest to match the rocking chair.

We have pink letters that spell her name that goes over the crib. They are set up and ready to go. We just took them down so people wouldn't see her name. We left the first letter up though. :)

Closer view of the collage.

Closet.

Her closet is all set up! :)

External Version

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Monday morning we were supposed to go to the Birthing Center to have an external version performed. I got a call about an hour before our appointment saying that the version needed to postponed for a day due to a couple of emergency Cesareans that needed to be performed. The next morning David and I called to make sure our appointment was still going to be held. It was. We got to the center and got checked in.

They took us to one of the labor rooms and performed a quick ultrasound to see if she was still breeched and where her heart was. She was still there so they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to perform a stress test. Basically it was just observing the baby to see if she was in shape to handle the version. It was only supposed to take 20 minuets, but the nurse was really busy and didn't come back for an hour. By this time I hadn't had anything to eat for 10 hours and all I had was a cup of water a few hours beforehand (I was only supposed to drink 8oz of clear liquid an hour and wasn't supposed to drink anything once I left home), so I was pretty dehydrated. This was when they decided to put the IV in me. It took a while for them to get a vein to come up, but the nurse was very patient and did a lot of different of techniques to find it to make sure it was going to be a one and only poke. She then used the IV port to draw some blood (which David helped her with-to my surprise. He doesn't handle blood very well. Neither do I, but I just didn't look). I hope the picture below isn't too gross for anyone...

It did cause my hand to swell a bit. Then David and I were left alone again. We sat and waited for doctor to come.

Get that baby to move now!

Awhile later we met with an anaesthesiologist just in case this procedure was going to cause me to go into labor. Then the nurse came back with the doctor and the anaesthesiologist sat in the corner waiting...

They gave me a drug that softened my uterus (don't remember the name if it), it took affect right away but it made me feel really jittery as if I had just had 4 straight shots of espresso. Then the doctor went to work. She had me take deep breaths while she pressed on my abdomen. She tried to move her but she wouldn't budge. Then tried again. And again. And again. And again. It wasn't like she wasn't able to grasp her, she just didn't want to move. They kept checking her to make sure she wasn't in any distress and she was doing just fine. A procedure that should only take about 10 minuets ended up taking a half hour! The doctor said she was pressing harder than she normally would, but nothing worked.

Since it was not successful a C-Section was scheduled. Unless she goes back down she is set to be born on September 23rd. I never wanted to go through a C-Section, but I had a feeling this wasn't going to work mainly due to the history I already have her. (Remember trying to get her to move with the club foot incident?)

Waiting for the doctor to come back with a date of the C-Section.

While the version didn't really hurt it was it did take a lot of energy out of me (well one of the attempts did hurt my lower back, but that was it).

Right now I've accepted that this going to happen. While it wasn't my ideal plan to do this, God is in control and He has everything pre-planned, so who am I to question that?

I'm getting excited since I have a date and we can get the final details completed. We get to meet our daughter in just one week!

Stroller Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Yay, it came in!!! David's mother, Lisa, bought us a stroller for her grandbaby. David and I had spent a couple of months researching what kind we wanted and we even did "test drives" at a store in Beaverton called Segal's. We knew we wanted something that can be durable, but functional. We had taken Henry with us to help us pick one out to see how well we liked it with a child in it. :) We had narrowed it down to 2 strollers and Henry was a big help in helping us figure out what it was we wanted.

We ultimately decided on the Phil & Ted's Sport model. It starts off with a basic and you can add features to it to make it a double. It has all-terrain wheels and can hold a newborn, a toddler, a newborn and toddler or 2 toddlers. Since we plan to have more kids we I liked the idea of having the ability to turn the stroller into a double and it would still be in-line instead of double wide. It also lays flat for your baby to sleep more comfortably.

The stroller was ordered last week and came in today.

Here it is for newborn (or you can also do it without the car seat, but it just fits so well in there.)

For a toddler

Newborn and toddler

2 toddlers

It also folds very easily. The wheels come right off to make it even flatter for storage or travel.

THANK YOU LISA (MOM)! We love it!

To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn...

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:22:00 +0000

The day after the shower I had my mid-wife appointment. This is one I had been anxiously looking forward to becuase I wanted to see if this little missy had decided to cooperate and get back into position. David, of course, came to find out as well as Nancy Spears since she was staying at our house for the shower. The mid-wife wasted no time in checking her position, because I told her that I really wanted to know. She pulled out the ultrasound and unfortunately she was still breeched. Since I'm already 37 1/2 weeks we needed to schedule a external version ASAP. They only do them on the weekdays and in the morning (because I'm not supposed to eat anything for at least 8 hours beforehand). We have it scheduled for 9:00 am Monday morning. I am praying hard that this will cause the baby to turn. The mid-wife said that it would be 50% success rate and that there is a rare possibility that this could induce labor and that if that were the case I would get a C-Section right then and there. I'm basically going to be prepped beforehand as if a C-Section might occur. Thus the reason for no eating for 8 hours and I'm going to be getting my blood drawn and an IV put in for medication if it becomes necessary.
I would really covet your prayers that the baby will turn by Monday morning or at least the version be successful and she is cooperative and stays turned.
If she doesn't turn then we will be scheduling a C-Section for no sooner than my 39th week.

Showered with Blessings!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:37:00 +0000

This past Thursday was the church's baby shower combined with some Shubin and Hayes family members. It was held at Doug and Amy's house and was featured a sit down fondue dinner. (So yummy!) What a turn out too! It looked as though approximately 70 ladies showed up. It was amazing to see so many people come together to shower our little girl with blessings!

Many people worked hard and made this event so special and I am truly grateful for their sacrifice and generosity to make this the best baby shower I have been to. :)

I especially want to thank Amy, Masha, Mom, Grace and Brenda Kolbe for spending so many hours preparing for this.

The banquet set up.

Close up of the tables.

Baboonya, Masha, Me, Rachel and Mom (Wow, we don't look related at all do we?)

This was a poster of pictures from mine and David's childhoods. It was for the shower game. You had to look at the pictures and get a list of questions to answer based on the pictures. I thought was clever. Though the picture of me sticking my tongue out with my hands in my mouth is not one I am neccessarily proud of...(anymore). :)

Dinner time!

Mmmm, yummy! Fondue is one of my favorite foods!

Rose didn't really appreciate being photographed while eating...

View of the present table.

Other side. Here you can see our designated spots. The signs read "Grammy," "Mommy," "Boonya" and "Baboonya."

Everyone gathered to listen to the devotional and watch the presents open. It was starting to get dark, so we had a bit of a time crunch.

Amy reading the devotional to me. It was one of the sweetest things ever given to me and I'll treasure it. Doug posted a transcript of it on his blog and you can view that here.

Opening the gifts. Again, it was getting dark and I had so many to open I tried very hard to get through them quickly. It still took me about an hour to open them all.

David admiring the gifts we got. We went through them all over again which was good since I didn't see everything that clearly the first time around.

David had really wanted a co-ed shower and jokingly pondered dressing as a women to indulge in the fondue and open gifts himself. I can't blame him for wanting to come, it was obviously quite the epic shower. :)

Mommy What Will I Look Like?

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:56:00 +0000

This is just for fun. I found a morph program to see what your child will look like. Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:56:00 +0000

4 years ago today I married my best friend and life changed forever. It's been such a wonderful adventure and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm very blessed to have a husband I am so proud of and love more and more each day.

I think one of top things that continues to amaze me is that when David says he is going to do something he actually does it! When he wants to learn something he will work at it until he's got it down. He's been a wonderful example of sacrifice and determination.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie! I love you!

Turn Baby Turn

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:15:00 +0000

I have another little drama to add to the little dramas that is my pregnancy. I met with my mid-wife yesterday. When she was feeling my stomach she couldn't tell if the baby was still in the vertex position (head down) or not. I didn't think it was a big deal because she has been had down for the last 2 months (and as of two weeks ago was still that way), so I couldn't see how she possibly could have moved with so little room to spare. The midwife decided she needed to make sure so she got the ultrasound machine out (yes making it my sixth ultrasound, sorry there are no pictures) and confirmed her suspicion this baby is breeched. Somehow she had managed to wiggle her head to my rib cage and seems rather comfortable there.
I was given some exercises to try to get her to move and if that doesn't work by next appointment they will schedule an external version, which is basically trying to manually turn the baby back down (it's actually a bit of a complicated procedure). Lana Celmer had to face this when she was pregnant with her son, Mark back in November. You can read her post and a little more info about external versions here. Thankfully, Mark turned back down at the last moment and they were able to avoid it.
If that doesn't work either or she goes back to breech again they'll schedule a C-Section which is something I am really hoping to avoid.
Please pray that the baby goes back and I do not have to end up under the knife.

Mystery Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Monday afternoon I came home from work to find a porta-crib on our porch filled about a third of the way with beanie bears and other random teddy bears (all with tags attached).

There was no note attached. Thinking it was gift from one of our friends I called David and asked if he knew anything about this. He was clueless as well. He called a couple of people and they didn't know either. At this point we have no idea who this thoughtful gift was from...anyone care to step forward? We are suspecting one of our neighbors, but as I stated we really don't know. In any case we are grateful for this and a little unsure of what to do with so many teddy bears. :)

In other news I went shopping with my mom on Friday to look for some decorating ideas for the nursery. We came across some ideas and we did buy some things. We found some really cute 3-D butterflies that you hang on the wall.

On Saturday I spent some time hanging them up along with a picture frame. We also found some baskets to put on the shelves. Amy had given us the green ones back in in the spring for an Easter gift and David and I found the pink ones at Michael's. I'm not sure if I like it or not (I'm just so indecisive).

Here's a closer look at the wall decor. I'm still not sure about the print (okay I'm REALLY indecisive), but it works for now. I really like the look of the butterflies surrounding the frame, but I'm going to continue to keep an eye out for a print...

David and I also went looking for shears for the window and my initial thought was to do a pink color, but we went though three different sets and could not find the right pink. We may have to go with green or white or ...who knows? As you can see my mind is not functioning properly and I just know two months from now I'm going to be asking myself what the big deal was. :)

Crib Set

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Wow, six weeks left until my due date! This is crazy! I feel like there is still so much to get done and yet I can't specifically name everything. One thing that I'm able to cross off my list is the crib set. Back in May I had mentioned that we had already picked out the crib bedding. While the monkey idea is still really cute it just didn't seem quite girly enough for me. I had thought I wanted to keep it neutral for use of future babies, but really who am I kidding? Monkeys were more of a boy theme. :) David was at first resistant to the idea of getting a different set, because he said he didn't see anything he liked better.
A few weeks ago Babies R Us got a few new sets in. I think he's gotten used to the idea of a girl that he decided there were others out there he did like as much or more then the monkeys. We looked around and picked out a few we thought would be good, but couldn't settle on anything.
Last week the ladies at my work gave me a baby shower (it was actually a bridal and baby shower combo since another girl was getting married). I was telling them how we were still deciding on a crib set. One of my coworkers, who had a baby girl back in February, had actually bought a set at Pottery Barn Kids last fall, but ended up going with a different theme. She had bought the set on clearance so she was unable to return it. It was all brand new with tags still attached and in their bags. She offered to let me take a look at it and see if it would work for us.
A couple of days later she brought it in and I thought it was adorable! She let me take it home and see how it fit with the room. I set it all up and showed David. He loved it! I did too, but I was feeling hormonally wacky that day so I asked a couple of other people's opinions and I decided that this was the one. My parents offered to buy it for us as gift for their granddaughter. (Thanks Mom and Pop!)

Here is the set up:

Arts in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:28:00 +0000

This past weekend we had Grace and Adam spend the weekend at our house. Saturday there was an art festival going on at one of the parks in West Linn, so we decided to look around. We saw some pretty interesting artwork, but the some of the sculptures were the most fascinating...

Some kind of bat lady...?

Port O' Potties are included in price of statue.

Preggy!

Muscles!

Silver Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:25:00 +0000

So what do you do to recoup after several weeks of planning an event for 350+ people? You go hiking of course! Last time John and Nancy came down I had suggested going to Silver Falls, but the timing didn't work out on it. This time we decided to trek out there.

South Falls

Here I am at 32 weeks ready to go!

Love the silhouette of my bump...actually it looks more like I'm carrying a watermelon under my shirt. :)

Cute picture of John and Nancy. :)

Pretty falls.

View behind the falls.

After this the boys were ready to head back, so Nancy and I had to convince them to keep going. Rather than doing the entire 9 mile loop we showed them on the map where there was a bridge we could cross to cut almost half the trail out. They grudgingly agreed and we kept going. We eventually made it back discovering that we did a total of 5 miles!

Now before you protective types get upset (I can think of a few of you) just know that we took it easy going up the hills and I made sure to not exhaust myself. There were plenty of people and rangers around in case anything might of happened (which it didn't). How's that for a disclaimer?

RCC Summer Jubilee 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:15:00 +0000

This past Friday was our annual church get together. In past it's been dubbed to "Oktoberfest" and "Festus Dei" however, this year the planning fell upon David and his "Men of Iron" responsibility. (Men of Iron is the young men's bible study he's been leading this summer.) We were given the option of renaming the event and with help from John and Nancy came up with "Summer Jubilee." We got the approval and thus a third rebranding has occured.

David has spent the better half of six weeks planning and coming up with new ideas to "spice things up." :)

It was held at Cone's farm (a family at our church).

Jesse cooking up some chicken on one of the three BBQs we had.

Eric Dau manning the drinks station. We had a keg of Root Beer and a keg of regular beer.

Hay Rides around the Cone's farm.

Face painting

Bouncy Castle

Kyra enjoying herself in the bouncy castle.

Cone's petting zoo.

ABBS and Sara

Cute picture of Henry

We had concert with various RCC members showing off their talents. Grace and David did a Beatles cover of the song "For No One." I captured what I could on video, but for some reason my camera cut out the very end. :(

David had compiled a band consisting of Himself (rhythm), my brother Jon (drums), Sean Fukuda(lead guitar), Andrew Payne (bass), Joseph Forster (cello), and Kenny Hangartner (fiddle) to do a rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues."

Here's a video of the performance. Again, I was having issues with my camera and it stopped recording in the middle of the song so this is a two part video.

After the concert we had dancing.

Georgie and Levi decide they have better things to do.

Later a special announcement was made thanking David for all of his hard work. As a token of the church's appreciation they had bought a brand new BBQ for us! What a surprising blessing!

The event was a great success.

Captain Bogg and Salty

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Yesterday Masha and I took George and Rachels' kids (minus Henry) to see Captain Bogg and Salty perform at the Beaverton Library. For those who are unaware Captain Bogg and Salty are a pirate rock band based here in Portland and are a fairly popular novelty band. We had discovered them about five years ago when a group of us went to the Festival de Piratas and they were by far the best band there. Every once in a while Masha and I will go and see them perform.

Georgie is hiding from view, because for some reason he said that he doesn't like having his picture taken.

Sonny Jim and Captain Bogg

The drummer

Captain Bogg

Kyra clapping along to music

Caught you!

Trinity

Anika

Faith - I just laughed at this picture! They all look like they're having fun don't they? :)

I had to sneak this one in of Georgie.

They eventually did warm up to the music and started to dance.

What goofy girls!

Here is a little video.

Jon and Michelle's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:08:00 +0000

This past weekend was the wedding for Jon and Michelle, David's brother. It was held at his mother's gorgeous backyard in Auburn, Washington. Congratulations and many well wishes to Jon and Michelle! Here are some pictures from that day:

The newlyweds

Jon's bestman-his twin brother Ben (left) and groomsman, Colin Fukuda.

Michelle and her bridal party. The two girls on the right are her sisters (the one in silver was her made of honor).

Cute picture of me with my hubby.

The ceremony beginning.

Here comes the bride!

Vows

Amy's lovely catering skills at work.

Everyone enjoying themselves.

David giving a toast.

Michelle's sister also giving a toast.

Ben too.

The married couple's first dance.

Gorgeous display at night

Time to cut the cake.

Very cute!

As you can see it was a lovely wedding.

Kickin' It

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:27:00 +0000

This picture was taken about 6 weeks ago and it documents the first time David felt our baby kicking. Unfortunately it's also been the only time. Since then he has not been able to feel her at all. It's not that he hasn't tried and in fact her movements are much stronger and more obvious, but whenever he is around she doesn't move. Amy said it's because she is listening to his voice.

So, for the last six weeks or so he's been trying to feel her move. Last night we were sitting down together and she starting kicking. You could even see my shirt go up because she was pushing hard enough. When David went to go put her hand on her she stopped. We waiting for awhile, but she didn't move again. Then when he finally gave up and took his hand off she started up again. David looked at me exclaiming in frustration, "What a tease!"

Now, it had become my mission to see if I can get her to move so he can feel her. She is actually quite squirmy during the day. It's quite fun to watch. Oops, there she goes again! :)

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Whew! What a heat wave we've been having! It basically started last week, but we had a few days in the middle of the week that was cooler so we had a bit of a chance to recover. Then Friday came and the heat was cranked back up and has not stopped! In fact, today is a record breaking 103 degrees with 30% humidity. Last night at midnight it was still 95 degrees!
We don't have AC so we had to be clever with the timing of the day and have strategic placement with the fans.

John and Nancy came down this past weekend to visit and I felt terrible that they would have to be suffering this with us. Fortunately we had Dave Hammerstrom and his boat to the rescue!

Here comes Dave with the boat! He generously took us out Saturday and Sunday.

The two chicas!

First stop: The rope swing!

David

John

Nancy

Splash!

What a cutie! :)

Next: Wake boarding!

Go Nancy!

She had a little trouble getting back into the boat...

Dave is a skier.

John holds up the flag to let other boats around know we have a person in the water.

Time for a break!

Let's go swimming!

This was after they finally coaxed me into the river. I don't like the idea there being living things (collectively called "Sturgeon" though it's not limited to them) in that can nibble at my toes swimming with me. Also, I was afraid it was going to be too cold (as the river usually is), but it was actually perfect. This was my "I'm still not sure about this" face. :)

Snack time!

We went out to the McMenimins by the Columbia River for dinner on Saturday.

Good times had by all!

Belknap

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:24:00 +0000

I made it to week 30!!! Yikes, time is flying by fast and I feel like I hardly have anything ready!

Last weekend my mom, sister and I went on our (usually) annual camping getaway to Belknap Hotsprings. Last year the dates we had booked ended being the same time as our church's young girls retreat, Women of HOPE, which Masha, Mom and I were all involved in. We canceled our reservations with Belknap and could not reschedule due to the camp being booked for the rest of the summer (usually you have to make reservations a year in advance for the summer season). Unfortunately, Women of HOPE also got canceled. We had tried to get our reservations back, but it was too late. :( I was pretty disappointed so I made reservations for this year.
I really should distinguish that this is not a typical camping site that you might picture. It's actually a resort that has everything from a lodge to housing rentals to RV and tent sites. Most of the tent sites are located across the river and you have to walk your stuff across a bridge. There are a few that you are able to drive to and those are the ones we opt for. :) It's locations is actually a natural hotspring, so the their pools are naturally heated (in fact they have to actually put cold water in them to keep them from getting to hot). The grounds are full of beautifully manicured gardens and hidden trails. It may not be a favorite for people who want to go "camping." :)
This year my mom and I went on ahead and my sister was going to follow us the next day. There was a wedding that same weekend so the entire camp was booked! The site I had reserved did not have electricity or water (I thought it did), so we asked our next site neighbors if we could use their electricity and they agreed graciously. When we got to the camp it was 90 degrees and HUMID! We set up our tent and kitchenette area rather quickly, but it just seemed so long because of the weather. These past few weeks I've finally began to feel pregnant and notice my limitations more, so that didn't help either. :) It started to cool down about an hour after we arrived and we treated ourselves to an ice cream bar at the lodge and walked around the gardens. The river looked absolutely gorgeous this year. I wanted to go rafting so badly! (Which they offer there.) Mom decided to go swimming and I went with her, but since the water was so warm I only put my legs in the water.
That night I had the tent all to myself (Mom slept in her SUV) which was nice except my air mattress sprung a leak and I basically slept on the hard ground. We ended up going into Eugene the next day to buy a new one.
The next morning Masha arrived early. I had asked her if she wouldn't mid taking some "Preggo Pics" of me since the area was so scenic. We got started on that, but the sun was so bright that it was hard to get the lighting right and I could barely get my eyes to open. :) We got a few good ones (It helps that Masha is kind of an expert at Photoshop ;D):

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and just resting up. It was really nice to not have to worry about any kind of agenda to get done. The other two nights were not so easy though. The second night it was a bit of an adjustment to share a mattress with my sister and it was really cold! The night after we could hear animals (I'm pretty sure it was a raccoon) outside our test so that kept me up for awhile.
Overall I had a really good time and I'm looking forward to going next year (though I'll have a 9 month old, so that will be a new experience all on it's own).
I thought I would post some pictures of years past at Belknap for your enjoyment.

2007 (These ones are actually Masha's pictures):

The backside of the lodge with the pool and garden alongside the river.

Pretty flowers from the various gardens...

This is called the "Secret Garden"

2006

Funky sculpture. David said he thinks he could restore that piano... :)

Captain Jack even made an appearance.

(See I told you Masha was a whiz at Photoshop...this is my before picture. :D)

Lovely.

The pretty sister in-law

BANZAI!!!

Grace waiting for her revenge.

Hmmm... where is she?

Gotcha!

Third Trimester!

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Bump Dah-Da-Da-Da! We've made it to the final stretch. My third trimester starts today and we've got 12 weeks left until my due date. At this point if anything happens and I go into pre-term labor the survival rate for the baby is very high. Praise God for safely bringing her to this point! I just continue to pray she stay safe and happy while she finish her final weeks.

In other news we spent 4th of July weekend with John and Nancy at the Spears' senior home. We had a fun BBQ with friends from David and John's old church. Due to some health problems with Nancy and my lack of energy we didn't really do anything physically strenuous (not even a hike), but John and Nancy taught us a new card game called Citadels. It's a fantasy/medieval role playing game where you have to build a city and try to destroy your opponent's. David took to it like fish to a water and it amazed me how fast he could figure out strategies while I was still trying to figure out how to play! I don't think I'll ever be a strong player (strategy games are not my strong trait), I did enjoy the game. Hopefully they'll be coming up in a few weeks, so maybe they'll bring the game with them. :)

My birthday is on Saturday which means David has the whole day off and he said he had something "planned" for me. I traditionally got out for pancakes for my birthday and told I wanted to still do that, so I know I'm doing that, otherwise I have no idea what's going on...

Well, I know this post is short, but I can't think of anything else to update on. I was going to put a current picture myself to mark the third trimester occasion, but it's been kind of a long day and I really don't feel like taking my picture at the moment (shocking I know). That's all for now.

Ultrasound V

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:08:00 +0000

It's been a little over a month since we discovered the possibility of our baby having a clubfoot. We had done another ultrasound and the little miss was not cooperating with us to determine if there was in fact an issue. We had scheduled another ultrasound in the hopes that she would change her position. Well, today was the day and I was please to see she had completely flipped her position. Before she was breached with her feet tucked underneath herself. Now her head was pointed down and her feet were flipped out. That was relief! I was a little nervous that she would still be in a difficult position. The sonographer was able to clearly see her feet and determined with ease that she did NOT have a club foot. Praise God! In fact, she (the sonographer) said that our girly was a perfectly symmetrical baby. :) She then offered us a treat to a fancy 3-D ultrasound. We very excitedly accepted the offer. :)

Now, remember the baby's head was now pointed down, but it was tucked into a corner of my uterus by my left hip. This was problem because the 3-D scanner was unable to get her head completely and so it kept coming out distorted and smeared. As we did in our last ultrasound we tried several methods to get her to move. They even reposition the bed I was lying on so my head was pointing to the floor and my legs were pointed toward the ceiling. We attempted this for about a half hour, but with no avail. One thing is definitely determined...she is her mother's daughter-stubborn as a mule. :) The tech finally gave up on trying to get her to move and just had to take the picture. It's a smooshed and incomplete, but it's still pretty amazing.

As you can see she's got those beautiful Nazaroff lips. I love that she has her hands curled under her chin. You can't tell from this picture, but I thought she had my nose. It's actually got a cute little curve to it on the bridge. David thinks she looks like Grace did as a baby.

Birthday Weekend in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Kathy) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:14:00 +0000

The morning after the Brandi Carlile concert David and I packed up our car and headed north to visit John and Nancy for the weekend to celebrate John's birthday. This was our first time to visit them so I was excited to see where they lived. We got a little lost trying to find their home, but eventually we met up with Nancy and followed her the way there. :) John was still at work so we met up with Nancy's sister, Erika, and decided to get the tour of the area. They live right along a walking trail through the wetlands.

In a little less then a mile the end of trail leads you to the the Town Center (think Bridgeport Mall but as a strip). It was very very cute. After walking around the Center we headed back when heard this odd hacking sound. We looked around a discovered where the noise was coming from...

Yup, it was probably the largest frog I've ever seen in the wild. Crazy.

John and Nancy live in complex known as The Reserve (a.k.a. "The Res" :D) , so when we got back she took us on a tour of the cabana clubhouse with theater, pool and BBQ area. We went over to Nancy's parents house and met her mother and two little dogs. A little while later John came home and David convinced him that they needed to go for a swim.

We went out for pizza and decided to rent Jurassic Park to watch in the clubhouse theater. The next morning we met up with Dave Hammerstrom (he came up for John's birthday too) for breakfast. I don't remember the name of restaurant that we went to, but they had cinnamon rolls the size of dinner plates there and that's what I'll remember from there. :) We then headed into Seattle to rent some kayaks to burn off our breakfast.

I've never gone kayaking before, but had always wanted to so this was a very exciting first for me. :)

Whew! We made it under the freeway bridge!

We were looking for a turtle since Nancy's vegetarian sister had purposely whacked one with her oar last time she went out.

Yeah, group shot! We made it back!

We headed over to the store and bought some supplies for the BBQ we were planning on having at the park by the beach. Again, I don't remember the name of these places, but it's place where you actually have to hike down a mile to even get to the park. We met up with more of John and Nancy's friends and set out to get get everything set up. After a little setback of getting things down to the area we got the BBQ started.

While waiting for the food to cook a volleyball game ensued.

Then it was time for food!

Relaxing in the sun.

We decided to stay around to watch the sunset on the beach.

It looks lovely but it was cooling down rapidly. John dared Jim, one of his guests, to dive into the ocean and without hesitation ran into 40 degree water.

John was only a moment behind him.

Brrrr!!!!

After the sunset we headed back to the John and Nancy's for cake and a dip in the hot tub.

Note the two preggy ladies with only their feet in their water. :)

The next morning we went to Mars Hill for church service and then decided to drive around to some of the sights of Seattle.

Thanks John and Nancy for a great weekend! We had a great time. :)

Tomorrow David and I headed off to Family Camp which is already in progress. (*Phew* this month is just filled with events!).