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Friday, December 16, 2011

Finally some good news!

If you have been a follower of my blog, then you might know how much I hate the apartment we are living in right now. You would also know what a struggle it has been trying to move out of here. Last year we almost had a subleaser lined up and we were going to move into a very nice condo, but then our landlord refused to let them lease our apartment because they weren’t 18 yet.

It’s time for some serious job hunting now that Corey and I are done with school. However, the hunt can’t be taken seriously because we’re stuck with this lease until July 31st. If Corey was to find a job, say in Winston or Asheville, we would be out of luck because we can’t afford to rent two places at once. We have to find someone to take over our lease from January to July.

I’ve had the apartment listed on Craigslist since October, with a few bites here and there. We had several people come to look at it, but they were smarter than us and didn’t want it. The worst part? Every time we had appointments lined up to show it to someone, it snowed the day before. If you know about where I live, then you understand why that sucks so much. Our building sits on the side of a mountain. The view of Boone from our window is amazing, but the hill you have to drive up isn’t. In the winter, the thing on everyone’s mind is how accessible their home will be in the snow. Our side of the building never sees sunlight, so when our stair case is covered in snow, it never melts. It just keeps getting icier. Oh, and I live on the 3rd floor!! Needless to say, it is very dangerous walking up and down the stairs in the winter. Every time someone came to look at the place, the stairs were covered in snow. We’ve had the worst luck.

Last week we had four people come look at it. I thought our luck might be changing. The last group of girls seemed very interested and told us they would be going to sign subleasing papers the next day on Friday. I couldn’t believe we were finally going to have someone take it. I was stressing out Thursday night and all day Friday just waiting for them to say they’ve started the paperwork. They texted me around lunch time saying they couldn’t go until Monday… I am the most anxious person there is. I was a wreck. Now I would have to wait all weekend. I wouldn’t be happy until I knew papers were signed to make everything official. Monday came around and I still didn’t hear anything. I sent them several texts, but never got a response. My hopes were all gone after that.

I went to our landlord’s website to make sure our apartment was still listed, but didn’t find it anywhere, so I gave them a call. I told the woman I was calling to see if maybe our listing was taken down because the girls had gone by without telling me, but she surprised me. Apparently a couple that came to look at it the week before had been in contact with them and were in the process of filling out paperwork. I had to make sure she was working with the right apartment because the couple had told me a few nights earlier they didn’t want it. I was so happy! All the paperwork was already done; they were just waiting on a check for a non-refundable fee. I was told she would call me in a few days to be officially released. Even though I felt a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders I was still nervous. Like I said I have terrible anxiety. I wouldn’t be happy until the check was in and we were officially released.
Corey and I really needed this to work out because we had the perfect situation lined up. We don’t exactly know where will be living in the future, so we needed a temporary living situation. We have an awesome friend whose dad bought a condo for him to live in while he was in school. He is graduating the same time are, so he’ll be moving home. His parents have offered to let us live in his condo until the end of April. That is the perfect amount of time for us to figure out if we will be living in Boone or moving somewhere else. We’ve been working all week to get things set up with that, but I was still so worried something would go wrong with the couple wanting to lease our apartment, because things like that always happen to me and Corey.

BUT!! I just received a call from our landlord officially releasing us from our lease!! You have no idea how much weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Not only will we be able to decide where we want to live in the future without constraints, but we will be living in a much safer environment. This is a great apartment for college students, but it’s not the best place to have a family. There are always loud parties going on, and the stairs are just so dangerous when icy, especially for a toddler and pregnant woman. I also want to get away from an apartment with fireplaces. I'm always worried a drunk student won't be taking care of their fire, and our living room always smells like a campfire.  Every time the people below us slam their door, our entire apartment shakes, and our floor creaks with every step we take...ugh! Can you tell I hate this place!

Now that we don't have to worry about this place, we have until April to figure out where in the world we are going to live (not to mention we'll be spending that time in a very nice condo!) It's been such a hard decision, but Corey has applications out and with the apartment being subleased, we have one less thing to worry about. I'm hoping within the next year we will finally be able to settle down and move into our first "real" home. For anyone who is still reading after this way-too-long post, thanks for sitting through it. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal to most, but we have been working so long to get this place rented out and to move into a better place. Moving day is the 29th and I am so excited!! Now my anxiety can finally chill out!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Halfway There!

I can't believe I'm already halfway through this pregnancy. Kynlee makes life go by pretty fast, so I figured it would go by quickly, but I didn't realize how quickly. I'm already 21 weeks, when I feel like I just found out we were having another one.

I've been very fortunate to have another easy pregnancy (so far). Besides suffering through a stomach bug this past weekend, I haven't had any morning sickness! If I had to go through what I went through Saturday, every day, I would be miserable. I don't know how mama's who have morning sickness do it. They deserve a prize.

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. I would have been way more excited if we were finding out the gender, but we found out very early that it was a boy! It's very unusual to find out the gender at a 12 week sonogram, but there was absolutely no way to deny that this is a little boy.






That's him at 12 weeks. You can even see his pee pee....dooter....package? from the side. Definitely a boy :) Our ultrasound yesterday confirmed it.




What a creepy face, right?


Ultrasounds are fun because you get to see your little bun in the oven, and find out the gender, but they are also important for making sure the baby is healthy, and to look for problems. Unfortunately right now I have placenta previa.


If you have placenta previa, it means that your placenta is lying unusually low in your uterus, next to or covering your cervix. It can cause bleeding and lead to other complications, and means you'll probably have to deliver early. It's even more dangerous for someone who has had a previous c-section. Fortunately for some women, this problem fixes itself along the way, and there is no other cause for concern. I have another ultrasound on Dec. 27th to follow-up on it. If it is still there, then it's very likely I will have to take precaution for the rest of my pregnancy, and I'll definitely have to have another c-section, probably around 37 weeks. I had Kynlee at 37 weeks as well. It was a nice surprise to see her early, and not have to suffer through 3 more weeks of being huge, but I would prefer that Avett cook as long as possible. BUT hopefully, this will all go away and I won't have to worry about it!




Other than the placenta previa, things are going well. I'm past the stage where I'm exhausted, and have to go to bed at 7:30. Now I’m having to get used to moving around with the growing belly. I didn't get to post the first picture of my baby bump, so here it is at 14 weeks. 





And here it is again at 20 weeks :)


And of course I have to share a picture of me and Kynlee Bear :)






(Ignore the weird change of font in the middle of the post, I have no clue what happened, and I can't fix it.)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Life After College

Graduation is quickly approaching, in 27 days to be exact. Not that I'm counting. I finished my internship last week and I don't have any work for my last 4 days of classes. 4 DAYS! So after I write a paper for my internship, I'm done. Four and a half years of college, and I'll finally be done!

It all seems so nice, until I start to think about what's going to happen after I move that tassel from right to left.  I'm not worried about jobs. Corey is looking and applying, but he's is going to keep his job as a backup if we don't find anything.  The main thing I can't stop stressing over is where we're going to live. It would just be nice to know what city it will be. I go to bed thinking about it every night. 

Even if we stay in Boone for a while, we have to get out of the apartment we're living in. This is a great place for two college students, but it's not the right place to live for a family-- especially one that is about to grow. When we signed the lease, we had no clue our apartment would be on the third floor. I didn't think it would be an issue until I had to climb up three flights of stairs with a car seat while recovering from a c-section. It's getting hard enough now that Kynlee is 16 months old and I'm getting more pregnant every day. There is absolutely no way I can make it up the stairs with Kynlee and a car seat. Not to mention if I have to carry bags or anything else too. Winter is awful too because of snow and ice. Corey has already fallen down the stairs, and it wasn't even that icy. I am terrified one of us will fall down the stairs while holding Kynlee, and you might have heard falling down the stairs can be bad for pregnant women. The stairs isn't our only issue, but it's definitely one of the biggest.  I also don't feel comfortable raising small children in a building where there are constantly drunk college students hanging out and partying. 

We've had our condo listed on Craigslist for a few months now, and there are no interests. We went in to our rental company's office to talk about our lease options a few days ago...let's just say I left in tears. They have been nothing but flat out mean to us. Even if there is nothing we can do to get out of our lease, we just want understand it, and know all of our options. No one there will even sit down and talk to us about it. Luckily our campus is awesome and offers free legal advice to students, they even have off-campus living legal advice. We called to make an appointment, and they set us up with a woman who specializes in our rental company! We're going to see her tomorrow, and I'm actually excited. This is the most hope I've had since all this mess started.

 If we get out of this apartment I will feel so much better about our plans after graduation. This way, whenever we're able to make final decisions about where we're going to live, we can go ahead and find a house instead of being stuck here. I'm just ready for this stress to be over!

Other than our housing issues, I'm going to try and enjoy these last few weeks leading up to graduation. We will still be using Kynlee's childcare for December, so the days that I don't have class I'm going to RELAX and I'm so excited about it. I'm going to nap, read, and hopefully craft. I took these things for granted before I became a mom. I know it sounds pretty awful to think about sleeping while Kynlee is at daycare, but we're paying for it so we have to use it, and I worked so hard at my internship and school, I feel like I deserve a little bit of rest. After December 16th, though, I will finally get to be a stay at home mom! I'm really excited about it! I already feel like one since Corey works at night, but now I get to play with my baby girl, and soon baby boy, all day. 

Wow, I just realized how boring all of this rambling is. I'm just so stressed out, and I guess blogging about it makes me feel better... At least in theory. Wish us luck with the lawyer tomorrow!


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Bet you thought you would never see me again!

Oh my life has been crazy. I've been leaving my blog for longer periods of time. Sometimes I think I'm done for good, others I regret not documenting our life. I especially hate that I have blogged so much about Kynlee growing up, but not so much for the new baby. New baby? Yup that's right, we're pregnant again!


We were very surprised with our new addition but so happy. We were lucky to find out at a 13 week ultrasound that it's going to be a little boy :) Most people would say that's not very accurate, but if you saw the pictures you would agree that there is no way to deny the gender. We have another ultrasound in 2 weeks, but I'm very sure it will still be a boy. If so we have decided on naming him Avett Grey!

A lot of people probably have a hard time understanding why we're having another baby and we're still in college. We didn't plan on this happening and I won't lie, I was a little worried about it at first too. I realized, though, that we're graduating in December, and we already have plans laid out for how we're going to support our family. I think it all comes down to the love and support we can provide for baby #2. I don't want to toot our horns but I feel that Corey and I are wonderful parents to Kynlee. She is happy and healthy, and there is nothing stopping us from giving that to Avett too. I absolutely love being a mom, and I can't wait to have another baby to love.

I had the easiest first pregnancy, and this one has been almost the same. I am so fortunate that I have never experienced morning sickness. There have been several times when I've felt like I needed to, but luckily nothing has happened. I think God knows how much I hate throwing up, and has blessed me with a strong pregnant tummy! The only problems I have had this go-around is blood pressure issues. I have been extremely hypotensive. My blood pressure has been consistently around 80/40, when normal is 115-120/80. This has caused me to feel faint about 50% of the time. It was really difficult trying to do my internship while feeling this way. I'm so embarrassed when I have to sit down because I become so pale and light headed that I might pass out. Unfortunately this happens with some pregnant women and the only thing I can do for it is learn to manage. I've been drinking a Gatorade every morning, when it's the worst, because that helps me get salt into my system to raise my BP.

Other than that, I can't complain about my experience. I think my favorite part about being pregnant is how easy it is for me to sleep. I have suffered from insomnia since my freshman year of college, but when I have a baby inside of me he sucks up every ounce of energy I have. I struggle to stay awake past 9:30. It's hard because Corey doesn't get off until pretty late, and I don't feel comfortable going to bed without him here. It took us 4 nights to watch Water for Elephants because I couldn't stay awake long enough to finish. That's pretty ridiculous! But I am LOVING all of the sleep I'm getting!

I tried to upload a picture of the baby bump, but it's not working. Maybe next time!

I meant for this to be a much longer post since I have sooo much to catch up on, but it's 8pm, I'm getting tired and I have a good book to put my nose in :) I promise I will be back more often though!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

So. So. Tired.

I haven't had caffeine in over two weeks, and I'm going through withdraws. Nothing would make me happier than a large mocha frappe' from McDonald's right now. I started my internship on Wednesday and I am EXHAUSTED!I haven't had a job since having Kynlee a year ago. Sure, I've had class, but they don't last all day and you get some pretty good breaks to relax. 

My first day I worked from 7:45-3. Not only was it a long day, but I had to take four exercise classes while I was there....yeah, my body was screaming absurd profanities at me the next morning. I haven't been on my feet that much in a long time. I'm tired, but I survived, and I only have 300 more hours to complete....ugh. 

I guess it's worth it though, I will be done in November. Then I just have to finish my last two classes, and I will graduate in December!! I can't wait to be done with school. I'm ready to have a consistent schedule, and to figure out where we are going to live. 

Kynlee is doing great. She is down to one nap a day, and she is still sleeping great at night with 12+ hours of sleep. I still never thought I would use "great sleeper" and "Kynlee" in the same sentence. I'm so happy she is sleeping because I have never needed the extra sleep like I do now. In fact, I think I'm going to go take a nap right now :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

This isn't my child

As I sit here watching the baby on the monitor lay down with Minnie Mouse in her arms I'm thinking, "who is this baby, and what happened to my other one?!"

I sit her in the crib, kiss her on the forehead and walk out without hearing a peep. I even tried my luck with nap time yesterday, and she went down without a fuss. Today she even played in her crib a little before napping.

Seriously, this all seems too good to be true. I'm waiting for my night owl to come back. I don't feel normal getting this much sleep. She slept for 12 hours last night! Corey even went and checked on her at 8:30 because he was worried. She doesn't even have bags under her eyes anymore.

I feel so fortunate to have a good sleeper now. Her behavior couldn't come at a better time. I've proved I can handle being a full-time student and a mother, but now I have to throw an internship into the mix. In 2 weeks I will be going to school and interning pretty much full-time. I'm kind of nervous, but I know I can do it, and I'm a little excited to communicate with adults again haha. I'm also fortunate that I'll be working at a wellness center- I'm hoping it will motivate me to take my personal health more seriously.

I'm going to enjoy my second week of summer, which is sadly also my last. Life will be getting pretty crazy soon, and it's not going to slow down until December. If you need me this week, you will find me at the pool :)


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

So Proud!

We're not even a week into Kynlee's sleep training, and she has already made me so proud! As you know, last night I gave up and decided to let her "cry-it-out". She surprised me by going to sleep by herself in about five minutes. I had no clue when she would wake up last night, but she surprised us again by not making a peep until 7am! That's even later than she usually sleeps. It was such a wonderful feeling have a baby who put herself to sleep, and slept all night by herself. I felt very well rested the next day.

I decided to give the controversial cry-it-out method another try tonight, just to see where it would take us. After her bath, we sat on the couch together and wound down from the day. Right at bedtime I sat her down in the crib, kissed her on the head, and told her goodnight and that I Ioved her. No surprise, she started crying before I even left the room. Then I received a huge shock! She cried for about 30 seconds, then sat there quietly just like last night. I held my breath, thinking there was no way I would get lucky two nights in a row. About a minute later she laid right down and went to sleep. That was such a good feeling! I am so proud of her.

I'm hoping these good habits of hers will last. I can already tell we are all getting more sleep, and maybe the bags under our eyes will start to go away now.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Progress? Maybe?

I've been feeling very tired lately. I don't know if it's from Kynlee or just life, but I'm feeling the need for a few extra naps throughout the day. Kynlee's sleep training has had its ups and downs as I expected. 

My turn on night #3 wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. She only woke up once. It took about 30 minutes, but we got her to go back to sleep until morning. Night #4 wasn't so good. She woke up quite a few times. Sometimes it didn't take long to get her to go back to bed, but other times it did. Finally around 2-3am it was obvious she just wasn't feeling well. Her runny nose and cough convinced us to let her get in bed with us. I know, I know shame on us! She has been sick for a while, and it was just so pathetic. At least she didn't want a bottle, so I guess that's one good thing. 

We made the mistake of rocking her to sleep for her entire life, so she still expects that at 13 months. We've been planning soon to "teach" her how to fall asleep by herself, but for the time being we just wanted to work on sleeping the entire night again. I kind of veered off the plan tonight when I got frustrated. I put her to sleep at her bedtime, 8:30, but she woke up three times before 9. I felt so beaten down that I decided for the first time I was just going to let her cry it out. I kissed her on the forehead and told her goodnight, and left her alone. I brought the video monitor into the living room so I could keep watch on her. In five minutes I received the biggest shock...she fell asleep! She cried for maybe three minutes then just sat there. To be honest I was a little creeped out watching her sitting in the crib not making a noise. But then she laid down a few minutes later and went right to sleep. I couldn't believe it. Maybe I will follow up on this method tomorrow night and see where it takes us. 

When you first get pregnant, you dream of everything it takes to raise a child. You think of all the things you are going to teach her. I never thought one of the things I would have to teach my daughter was how to sleep. That's something they don't tell you when you have a baby. I wish I knew then, what I know now. At least we will be prepared for the next baby. 

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Oh My... Nighttime torture

Kynlee is a terrible sleeper. WAIT, don't leave yet! I promise this is different than my usual Kynlee sleep rant! We're actually taking steps to making our little night owl a respectable sleeper.

So here is the latest on her status. She used to prefer Corey to put her to sleep. Luckily that has changed, and I'm allowed to lay her down now. She wakes up anywhere from 11-4 to get in bed with us. It's not just waking up though. She frantically claws at us until we give her a bottle of water before she will go back to sleep (which by the way she stopped using bottles when she was 7 months old, so I find it ridiculous that she wants one at night). We never had time to help her change these habits because we were so busy with school and we needed our sleep. So we did whatever she wanted, just so we could go back to bed. Well, we have 2 weeks off from school so this had to change.

We are on night 3 of Kynlee's sleep transformation. We agreed before we started this that we wouldn't give up because it was the easy thing to do. We knew we wouldn't be getting any sleep. But we also knew that in the long run this is going to help us all, and persistence always pays off in these situations.

Corey and I are alternating nights "training" her. I don't want you to see the word "training," and thinking we're putting Kynlee through some awful torture. A lot of people automatically assume that means we're leaving her in the crib to cry. I think sleep training can be taken any way the parents feel comfortable with. We've chosen our own game plan, and I think it will work. I've started by setting a strict bedtime routine. Dinner, bath, bedtime. Same time every night. Babies thrive on routine, so after bath time she will automatically begin to tire. Then the fun begins...

I took night #1. She woke up around 1 am, so I high-fived Corey for good luck and ventured into the chamber of torture. Did I say torture? I'm sorry, I promise we're not torturing her! I pretty much just tried to put her back to sleep without putting her in bed with us, and without a bottle of water because those are our two main goals. Long story short, it took 2 1/2 long hours, using various techniques of rocking, patting her on the back, and eventually crawling in the crib. It was so rough, and she cried A LOT, but I stayed strong. I didn't even cry! But I was super tired!

Night #2- Corey's turn: Jerk got off lucky. Kynlee took it upon herself to sleep until 6am. I forgot to mention that whoever's turn it is at night, gets to sleep in the next morning. So not only did Corey get to sleep all night on his turn, but I had to wake up with her! That is so Kynlee to favor her daddy over me.

Now we're on to night 3, and my turn. I'm betting I'll be up for hours again. I don't get lucky like Corey. So wish us luck. Hopefully last night was a sign of good things to come. Once this works, we'll work on her falling asleep without our help.

For all you non-parental folks out there, or to those parents who had mutant babies who slept through the night upon returning from the hospital- sorry for the blabbering of a sleepy mother who you can't relate to. Not to sound cliche', but you just wait!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

I am toddler, hear me ROAR!

Growing up, when I turned a different age I always wondered if I would magically feel different the day of my birthday. Of course I never did, and I don't believe its possible to see a huge change in someone in the course of a day, even though they are a year older. I expected the same of Kynlee, but little did I know the day she became a toddler on July 2nd, was the day she embraced the battle cry "I am TODDLER, hear me ROAR!!!"

Things are little bit louder, and little more stressful around the Moser house lately. Kynlee discovered quickly that she can have a voice in how she wants to spend her time. A very LOUD voice. Taking things away from her are no fun, but it must be done, and I brace myself every time anticipating a busted ear drum. She also knows exactly what she shouldn't be doing too. Like touching the fan, or turning the TV screen. She will stare at you with a deviant grin on her face, all while you say "NO!" or "Stop that!" until you walk up to her and she starts crying because she had to finally give in.

Even though the toddler years might also bring about a more independent, and demanding child, it also brings out a brighter, more vocal child. I'm amazed at how much she has grown in just the short time since she turned one. She knows several commands, even without a hand motion. Like, "Give it to me," or "Go get your paci." She will dance when you tell her to, and of course the legendary tongue can be seen on demand.

One of my favorite things to do with her is play patty cake. I never really played it with her before, but in just a week she started doing it by herself. I'm not just talking clapping her hands while I sing. She will clap, roll her hands when you say "roll it" she will "pat it" then when you say "mark it with a B," she will point to her hand. She learned it so fast, and it's so cute.

Whether it be an ear-piercing scream or a snotty-nosed kiss, I love every thing about that little girl. I love watching her grow, and I'm so excited to watch her become more articulate and to interact with her more.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Life with a one year old!

I know I have mentioned that Kynlee isn't a good sleeper about 5,201 times on this page, so it shouldn't be a surprise when I complain about it again. I've tried every method known to man to convince her that sleep is fun, and when she sleeps we all feel better the next day. I even drafted up a nice flow chart once detailing all of the benefits of a good shuteye. She peed on it.

Okay, not really, but she does resent me sometimes for trying to help. Excuse me for wanting all of us to get sleep, right? The most frustrating part is I could try for an hour, laying her down multiple times for her to wake up. Then Daddy gets home from work and puts her down within 5 minutes. I love him for it, but I want to tackle him and beat the secret of success out of him. Kynlee prefers Daddy to put her to sleep, but guess who is at work during her bedtime? Yup, I figured you were smart enough to figure that out.

I know she will work it out eventually. With my luck, she will learn how to be the best sleeper right when we have our second child and have to start the whole process again. I keep telling Corey we should go ahead and try to have our second one while she is sleeping like this so we will be used to it.

Oh well, who can complain about this face?

I know you are dying to know what's going on with my extravagant life. Nothing exciting, I promise. It's July 15 and I still don't feel like it's summer. Luckily Anatomy, aka the class from hell, is over so I'm not spending all of my summer on class, but I still have Sexual Deviance. It's fun, but it's still school. During the summer. Need I say more? 

On the bright side, it has given me more free time, which I have used in the gym. Growing up I was always playing sports, or doing some form of exercise. I felt restless if I wasn't doing something active. Having Kynlee converted me from Athlete of the Year, to Kind-of-a-couch-potato of the Year. I don't feel like I need to lose weight, but I do need to tone and firm things up and get back in shape. I've spent almost every day in the gym since second session has started and I feel great! I hate that Corey has a night job because there is a fitness boot camp starting on the 25th for 4 weeks that I am dying to go to. It's every day at 6, and Corey only has two nights off a week. So if any of my friends want to volunteer to watch her from 6-7 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays that would be great! And when I say volunteer, I mean volunteer. As in for free?!? Ha I know, I know, waaay to much to ask for. A girl can dream right?

Oh hey, have I mentioned that my girl is ONE? Crazy right?


She can be the sweetest girl, but I can tell she is starting to have her own opinions of how she wants things done. Take something away from her and she will let you know exactly how she feels about that. Corey was holding her one day when we were picking up some sandwiches, and she grabbed my sunglasses. I tried to take them away and she started to play keep-away with me. Have I mentioned that Corey is 6'4"? She won that game. She thought that was so absurd of me that she shunned me. I tried to take her from Corey and she turned her back, and wouldn't look at me the rest of the time.

She is also really good at turning a spotless apartment into a disaster zone. If I take too to long make her meals, she will show her feelings with an ear piercing scream that can crack any terrorist. And if I even think of leaving her in the crib crying for any amount of time she curls up in the fetal position muttering gibberish that sounds like "it will never end!" Have I mentioned I want more kids?



She is growing up so fast!

Remember The Tongue? Well she can now do it on demand. I tell her to "do the tongue" and she promptly does this...


She learned that in an hour. But try to teach her to point to Mama or Daddy and she stares at me like I'm stupid.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Summer

My life has been overcome by anatomy and physiology. I feel like I spend every second studying or doing home work. I'm in this class for 2-5 hours a day, every day of the week, starting at 8am...torture! I don't feel like this is summer at all! I know taking this class will help me graduate in December, but it's at the cost of not getting to spend the summer months with my girl. Luckily this hard class will be over next Friday, and next sessions class won't be as tedious.

I will be so happy to spend my one week's vacation with my family starting next Friday! During that time we will be celebrating my little Kbear's first birthday! My, my where has the time gone. This time last year I was sweating it out managing a pool every day in the blazing sun, with a big ol' belly poking out. Can't believe it has been a year since I laid eyes on the girl that changed my life.

Speaking of the little booger, we've had ups and downs in the "Kynlee Sleep Saga." About two months ago we finally made the step to have her sleep in her own room, instead of ours. We spent all day rearranging, and now we have our own separate bedrooms. It was a glorious night to be able to go to bed early just so we could lay in bed watching TV, and not having to hush our voices. It seemed to help a little with all of us getting more sleep too. I only wish Kynlee could be consistent with things. Her bedtime is usually the same every night, so that's not the problem, its whether or not she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Sometimes she will surprise us and sleep through the night, without eating, and not waking up until we do. Then other nights she will wake up absolutely hysterical, and won't calm down until she is fed. It's so frustrating because I know she is capable of sleeping through the night, and she gets enough to eat during the day. There is no reason for her to be waking up hungry. She is almost one for crying out loud! I could handle it better if she would go right back to sleep in her crib without eating, but she wants to eat, then get in bed with us.

I almost found a solution by getting myself up right before she typically does and feed her before she can wake up and become angry. She would go right back to sleep in her crib, and we didn't hear anything until morning. I did this a few nights, and then stopped feeding her and she didn't wake up. We were so happy, but of course that was short lived. It's a huge cycle for her. She will go from sleeping all night, to waking up and getting in bed with us with no problem, to being the worst sleeper and then the cycle will start over again. Right now we are in the terrible sleep phase, so I'm hoping the good nights will start any time now.

Other than sleep, Kynlee has been a great little baby. I can't believe how much she has grown.. I feel like I've seen the biggest change in her these past two months alone.


She is walking all over the apartment now. It's so funny when she walks because she raises her arms in the air, and the closer she gets to her destination, the higher her arms get until she gets there, then flings are arms down. She expects a round of applause afterwards...It's a huge accomplishment.


{Yes, Minnie is still always close by}

She has expanded her vocabulary from just "dada" to "nana" (thats what she calls me apparantly) "hey" and minnie, or "ninnie." When you ask her "where is Minnie?" She starts freaking out yelling "ninnie," and looking around for her. 

She is also learning how to throw quite the temper tantrum...hello toddler years!

The tongue barely makes an appearance these days, but when it does it is still funny. 

I have so enjoyed this first year, and I'm sad to leave the newborn and baby days behind, but am very much looking forward to watching her grow and learn even more during her toddler years. Oh my how this crazy girl has changed my life, and I do mean CRAZY!


Gotta love her though!

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On a side note, photography is still going great. I had fun taking engagement pictures for this cute couple last weekend. 






I have a very fun photo shoot planned for my girl's one year pictures :)

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Oh this thing?

Oh my. I know, I know, yet another blogging hiatus. I could say I was busy with finishing the semester. I could also say I was busy loving on my baby girl. If I'm being honest, the real reason I haven't blogged in a VERY long time is because I reinstalled my internet browser which cleared all of my saved usernames and passwords. I know that's not a big deal, but I couldn't remember my password and I was contentedly embarrassingly too lazy to take the time and click the "forgot password" button. You don't have to say anything, I know how extremely lame that is.

However, when I feel a creative a creative streak coming on it makes me want to get back to my blog. What more of a reason to be creative than my little girls first birthday!! It really snuck up on me. She turned 11 months on the 2nd, and I realized I should probably start planning. Her absolute favorite stuffed animal is her Minnie Mouse. She takes it everywhere, so I knew she would love to have a Minnie party. I wasn't too excited about the idea only because I wanted to do something cute and unique, but when we passed Minnie Mouse decorations at the store the other day she started freaking out. I am super excited for the crafts I'll be making for it. My favorite is her outfit I have planned :) I can't believe my girl is going to be one. More on that later though. I really should catch up on this thing.

Summer school has been keeping me away from my photography, but I finally have another shoot tomorrow. I'm excited to do another engagement session. Hopefully I'll be able to put pictures on here soon.

I would say that I promise to keep up with this thing more often, but I wouldn't want to lie. I do however want to try because it is a great way at documenting my family. Here's to hoping I will blog more!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mothers Day

My first Mother's Day was....okay. Corey had to work, which wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but they opened up early so he was busy working from 9:30am to 8:30pm....yeah, not fun. At first I was pissed. It was my first Mother's Day, and Kynlee didn't know what was going on, so I was looking forward to what Corey had in store. Instead I sulked. I stayed home all day playing with Kynlee and watching Army Wives on Netflix. 

I really regret putting so much pressure on Corey. I just didn't realize until the day came how important that holiday became to me. He did his best to make me feel special, and I know I was appreciated. He made up for it today by letting me relax while he cleaned and took care of Kynlee. 

Yesterday wasn't a complete fail though. I did have the pleasure of taking one of my best friends' Brook and her fiancée's engagement pictures. I'm so glad they trusted me enough to do this for them, and I'm very proud of the work. I still have a bunch of photos to edit, but I was able to get a few done to show them early :)






I had so much fun with this one, and I can't wait to get all of their pictures to them! I also can't wait to see Kbear in her little flower girl outfit at their wedding :) After our little photo session we went out to dinner, which was really nice of them to take me along. It made my lonely Mother's Day a little more bearable. 

In Kynlee news, little bit had tubes put in her ears this morning. It was so pathetic when she came back from the OR. She was hysterical and couldn't even hold her head up she was so out of it. Luckily she was calm after about 15 minutes and she's been pretty normal today, except for longer naps (which I'm not complaining about).

I have two more photo shoots this weekend, so more to come!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Long Overdue..

I have been infatuated with photography for quite some time now, but in the past 6 months I have become more serious about it, and seriously wanting to pursue it as a profession. At first I just wanted to learn how to take pretty pictures of Kynlee because I hate most studio photography, and we couldn't afford the photographs I was looking for.

The more I researched nice cameras, and photography tips and ticks I fell even more in love. I love the expression in great pictures, especially of newborns. Finally in November my wonderful husband bought me a camera for my birthday and Christmas. I was so confused at first, and didn't know how to use it. I only shot in automatic mode, and hated the pictures I got at first. Then one day I took a big leap and started shooting only in manual, and that made me learn faster than reading any book.

For months Kynlee was my only subject.



But then one day I decided to go out on a limb and ask a mommy friend that I met through my old roommate if I could take some pictures of her and her baby girl. I was so nervous at first because I hadn't had any other subject than my own girl, and I was worried about how it would go. After we left I couldn't stop talking about how much I loved it. It felt like such a natural thing for me to be doing. I told him if I could really make this happen then I would be so lucky to be doing something that I love for the rest of my life.

Here are a few pictures from my first photo shoot with Keri and her beautiful little girl Natalie. I was surprised at how much my photography has improved since I first had my camera.







I had a mental battle on whether or not to start a Facebook page because I didn't want to face public failure if this whole photography thing didn't work out. But Corey helped push me to do it, and I'm glad he did. In my info I asked anyone if they would like some portraits done for free, so I could build up my portfolio. Within 2 days, I already had 8 jobs lined up! I had to stop advertising free jobs because of it.

My next photo shoot was Kynlee's old babysitter and her husband. She wanted some pictures of the two of them because they never get any done since he's a photographer...yeah, a photographer. I was so nervous. I felt like I wasn't completely myself during that shoot, but I'm pretty proud of the pictures that came from it. Again, here are a few of my favorites.


{My favorite picture I've taken so far}




Tomorrow I'm doing my good friend Brook and her Finance's engagement pictures, which I'm so excited about because I have a lot of fun ideas. Then next weekend I'm doing newborn portraits and baby portraits. This is all so exciting for me, I can't believe this is really happening. I've always had crazy ideas, but this time I'm actually doing it.

I just hope once school is over, or even before then hopefully, I can learn the business side of it. I've already done a little research, and let me tell you, it's so confusing. But if I want it bad enough, then it's going to happen! This is all so expensive too. I'm wanting a new lens, and editing software so I can stop editing with Picnik. It's not cheap, but I'm hoping to have photoshop in the next few weeks. Slowly but surely, I will get everything I need to get it going.

It's nice to have something distracting me from the fact that I should be graduating today. I know it won't be long before I take my walk across the stage, but I'm just ready to be done with school. In the mean time I have something I love doing, and I hope to get even better at it.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Shakedown

Every night when Corey calls telling me he's on his way home from work, I begin the shakedown. What is it? I'm glad you asked. The shakedown happens between the time Corey calls, and the 15 minutes it takes for him to get home. I enter into a crazy cleanin momma mode, running all over the apartment straightening up before he gets home so it looks like I have been super mom while he's been gone. I revealed "the shakedown" to him one night, and ever since then whenever we are running short on time, we say it's shakedown time.

It's getting close to the end of the semester and it is now officially shakedown time. We have the day off tomorrow for Good Friday, and next week we only have 3 days of school before exams begin. This semester has gone by so fast, I can't believe it's almost over!

I wish I was graduating with the rest of my class but I will be following soon in December. Even though I hardly get to see my friends up here, I'm really going to miss the moments I do get to see everyone. It's sad to think of the people that are graduating and leaving Boone. It could possibly be the last time I see them :( I know we'll mean well and try to see each other, but we will all have such busy lives there is no guarantee. My group of friends greatly diminished once I became a mother, but a few remained and they are now graduating. My old roommates, Brook and Kelsey, are very busy just like me, and even though we didn't get see much of each other this past year, I know they would be there for me if I needed them. I love you guys, congratulations on graduating and good luck, you both are so smart, and you're going to do awesome things!
{Love you too Alex :)}

Whenever people leave I get really sentimental. I start to think about how much my life has changed, and where it's going. I feel like I should still be a teenager in high school waiting for school to be over so I can go play a softball game. But here I am, 22, about to graduate college and I'm married with a baby. Life sure does know how to throw curve balls doesn't it?

If I think this year has been crazy, I can't imagine where I'll be next year. It's shakedown time to decide on our plans after graduation. I feel like there will always be a shakedown. For school, for jobs, for life! I wish everything would just slow down for a bit. That's not going to happen, so I need to accept the fact that time and people are always changing, and I have to go with it, or I'll find myself getting behind.

So again, congratulations friends. I'm so happy for you. Good luck on the shakedown towards the end of the semester, and I wish you guys the best after graduation!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Don't Hate Me!

the blog has been down the past two days, and as you can see it's completely different! somehow things got very messed up, so i figured it was a good time to give it a face lift. I also changed the name...again...i know, i know. like i said don't hate me, i was just never truly happy with it, and now i am! i had a few other options though. at the top of the list were- "mama needs a drink", or "the mama with baby that never sleeps".

only kidding! but that completely describes my life lately, but more of that in my next post. hope you don't take it to hard that i changed things up. i think i like it better this way, don't you?!

Friday, April 15, 2011

The Tongue of Legend

you've all heard about it. you've all seen it. the tongue. 

this has been her trademark since birth. 


there is the one month old tongue


...the 2 month tongue


...3 months


it miraculously disappeared for month 4 for a temporary replacement...the finger


the finger was still winning for month 5


this month also begins the signature blank expression


the blank stare really took off the 6th month..

...and the drool


...she was also a dog in her former life


i thought by 7 months it had been long enough without a tongue sighting that we wouldn't see it anymore. just the usual suspect..

...and then it happened
the tongue, duh duh duh


oh the tongue



now, at 9 months, it's unstoppable.



it's there when she smiles,

it's there when she cries,


...it's even there when she poops.


it.is.legend.

in the end, i must admit it is pretty freakin cute.


let's just hope it goes away in the next year....or not. she'll look real cute with her tongue sticking out in her prom picture. 

on a side note, i misspelled tongue every single time. oh well. 

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