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First Month

Ok, so I've been a little busier than usual and am a few days late on writing this post. Truth is, I've sat down several times since my last post to write about various topics (Christmas, mine and Kevin's first anniversary, New Years, looking back on 2008, my goals for 2009) but every time I sat down and opened this screen, I was too tired to think of what exactly I wanted to write.

This week has been full of taking care of Kayden for essentially the first time by myself since she's been born and trying to get our apartment cleaned up. :) So, I'm just getting around to writing about her first month...

Monday was January 5th. That was Kayden's one month birthday. It came around so quickly. I wasn't sure why it came so quickly until I read my stepdad's blog yesterday. (See it here.) Anyway, I am amazed daily by Kayden and what she can do. She is already smiling at me. On Sunday Kevin and I went to the grocery store. Kayden slept through the whole trip until we got to the cashier. She woke up and was smiling at me as I talked to her. I realized that we needed a news paper and when I walked away she began to cry. As soon as I came back she started smiling again. The pediatrician said that this is a 2 month old skill. My little girl is sooo smart. Now, on the one hand I love that she's ahead of the game, but on the other hand I'm sad that she's already starting to grow up so fast. :)

Kayden is also holding her head up already. We really never had to support her head like you would with normal new borns. It's been amazing.

We have had an amazing month with her. She sleeps well and she hardly ever cries. She only really cries when she is hungry...and then you can probably hear her within a 10 mile radius. :)

I decided that I'm going to take her picture every month on her month birthday to see how she is changing. I'm posting here her first picture taken as well as the picture I took of her on Monday. It's amazing how much she has changed already. Enjoy.

30 minutes old.

1 month old

Our Best Christmas Present Ever

Yes, I know that this is LONG overdue...well, at least a week anyway. I've sat down several times this week to write this post, but was always interrupted by something. So, most of you already know what our best Christmas present ever is...but for those of you who don't...last Friday night, December 5, at 8:13 Kayden Grace Elliott made her entrance into the world and deeper into the hearts of her mom, dad, grandparents and rest of her family.

It was a pretty eventful day for me. I had to be induced because I had gestational diabetes and the doctors didn't want me to go past my due date. So, we went to the hospital on Thursday night to begin my induction. Friday morning I had begun to progress a bit with labor so they started pitocin at 7:30 that morning. The contractions started coming and although they were uncomfortable, they weren't unbareable. I was able to breathe through them. They were coming about every 3-5 minutes at first. Every now and then the nurse would come in and up the dosage of pitocin and then contractions would come closer together. I was able to go through them still without the use of an epidural. That was my plan to labor without an epidural. Everyone thought I was trying to be brave or be a martyr, but it didn't have anything to do with that. I just didn't want to have to get another shot. I had also heard some horror stories about epidurals from other people I knew who now have back problems that they blame on the epidural. Not knowing how it would effect me, I was afraid of the epidural.

I was doing well until about 4:00. The contractions were getting worse. Kevin was doing well trying to help me relax, but I had gotten to the point where I couldn't relax anymore because the contractions were coming closer together and were more intense. I also didn't know how much longer I was going to have to go through all this. I finally asked for the epidural. After I got the epidural, the doctor came in and checked me and I had not progressed one bit since 7:30 that morning. I wanted to cry. I had gone through all that, and for nothing. I didn't understand what was going on. She said that she was going to let me relax under the epidural and see if relaxing my body would give my uterus the energy that it needed to do what it needed to do.

Well, no luck. An hour and a half later, I was still not progressed, so it was decided that I would have to have a c-section. So, at 6:30 we decided to do the c-section and an hour later I was in the OR. 45 minutes later, my sweet baby girl was born and I got to hear her cry for the first time. I had given birth to a 9 lb 9 oz 21 3/4" long baby girl! After the doctor finished my c-section, the doctor came around and looked at me and said, "There is no way you would have given birth to her without a c-section."

This week my mom has stayed with us. She was a big help and taught us a lot about the practical side of being parents. She has also spoiled Kayden already. AND...we have been teasing her about being Kayden's personal poparrazi. If you're on facebook, check out ALL the pictures of her. :)

Now, a week later, I am so totally in love with this little girl. Kevin and I are praying daily that the 2 of us can raise her to love and fear the Lord. We pray that the Lord will work in her heart and that she will come to know him at an early age. We pray for our family and friends who surround her and who love on her that they will be the influences on her that she will learn from them about the love of the Lord and how to treat others.

And yes, I will be one of those moms who will constantly be blogging about the cute things that she does and post all kinds of pictures. :)

Enjoy! Here are a some of pictures of her.

30 minutes after she was born, she found her fingers right away.

She loves sleeping on Daddy or Mommy's chest.

Going home day! This is the same outfit that I wore home when I was born.

Frozen Pumpkin Pie

Kevin and I invited my boss and her husband over for lunch today. She has an allergy to wheat products so I was trying to find some things she could eat. While doing some research, I found this recipe for frozen pumpkin pie. It sounded so yummy that I had to try it. After making it, I can attest to the fact that it IS yummy. I wanted to pass along the recipe to the rest of you. Hope you will make it and enjoy it too.

FROZEN PUMPKIN PIE
1 quart ice cream (good flavors to use: Praline, Butter Pecan, Cinnamon, Cheesecake, Vanilla, etc) slightly softened
1 16 oz. can cooked pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup pecan halves for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
Put an 8 inch springform pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Spoon the softened ice cream into the chilled pan, pressing the ice cream into the sides of a pan with a spoon or spreader. Place plastic wrap over the ice cream and press down to form 1/2 inch shell. Freeze for about 2 hours.
In med. saucepan, combine pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt over med. high heat. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
In a separate bowl, whip the whipping cream to soft peaks. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Remove the springform pan from the freezer and remove the plastic wrap. Spread pumpkin mixture even over the ice cream crust. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours or up to overnight.
When ready to serve, sprinkle pecans over the top.
This may be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
Serves 12

Retrived from: http://glutenfreemommy.com/frozen-pumpkin-pie/

Thanksgiving Day

I was sitting here checking my email and such before getting started with my cooking for today and was thinking about the fact that today is Thanksgiving. I was thinking about how so often I get caught up in the things that I need to do that I lose sight of the reason we're doing them anyway.
This Thanksgiving Kevin and I are staying in Wake Forest because the baby is due any day now and traveling just wouldn't be a good idea. This is not the first time either of us have been away from our families at Thanksgiving, but it's still hard being way. It would also be easy to get caught up in the pity party of saddness about being away from our families on this special holiday. So, I decided to take a few minutes to think about the things that I'm thankful for before I get busy for the day. Because I have so much to be thankful for, I'm going to limit my list to 10.
In no particular order....
1. I'm thankful to live in a country where I am still free to worship God in public as well as in private without fear of being thrown in jail or killed.
2. I'm thankful that Jesus loved me enough to save me from an eternity in hell.
3. I'm thankful for the amazing gift of a husband who is loving, kind, compassionate, strong, sincere, and flexible.
4. I'm thankful for the little girl who is still growing inside of me and will come out and meet her new family really soon.
5. I'm thankful to have been born into a family who loves me unconditionally and who raised me to love the Lord.
6. I'm thankful to have married into a family who loves my husband and has embraced me with open arms as a daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, cousin...
7. I'm thankful to have a warm and dry place to live.
8. I'm thankful for all my wonderful friends who love me no matter what.
9. I'm thankful to be a member of an amazing church who loves God, loves each other, preaches the Word of God and lives it out daily.
10. I'm thankful for my job. Even though it's hard, it's rewarding.

So, have you thought about the things you're thankful for today and everyday? I'm glad we have a day that we can set aside to remind us that we have so much to be thankful for...but don't forget to be thankful everyday.

OK, I'm off to cook Thanksgiving dinner because our friends will be here in about 4 hours. :) Don't eat too much turkey today!!! :)

2 More Weeks

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I only have 2 more weeks until my sweet baby girl is scheduled to arrive. But just between you and me, I'm hoping it's earlier than that. I'm starting to get that uncomfortable feeling, but no labor pains to speak of yet. I'm still just praying for a healthy baby to arrive in God's timing and without much trauma. :) Everyone keeps saying, "I can't believe it's already time. It seems like you just told us you were pregnant." Well, to that I say, "WHATEVER!" As much fun as pregnancy is, I feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER! It's been neat to feel this little one that God has blessed me with moving around inside me though. I am finally ready for her to come out and greet the world and play outside now. So, please continue to pray for us as we transition from being a family of 2 to being a family of 3. Pray for a safe arrival for Kayden Grace. Pray that she will come on time and not late so they won't have to induce me and cause undue stress to either of us. Hopefully soon I will have pictures of our precious little blessing from God to share with you. Until then...

Counting the Days...

Well, today it is 29 days until Kayden Grace's due date. I'm so excited and nervous and scared and happy all at the same time. I was thinking this morning wondering how it could be possible to love being pregnant and wishing she would just come out already all at the same time. I love feeling her move inside of me, but then there are times that I think "when is she going to come OUT and play instead of playing inside." I guess that these mixed feelings will never quite go away, they will just change into new mixed feelings. This morning I went to chapel at Southeastern with Kevin. Dr. Al Mohler--the president at Southern Seminary--spoke and I was excited to be able to go. He preached an important and timely message for us right now. He was preaching on raising children who are not pagans. In a world where so many young people leave home and in turn leave the church we need to be teaching our children from the beginning of their lives to have a proper fear of the Lord. We need to teach them who God is. We need to teach them more than what they are learning in Sunday School on Sunday morning and VBS the 5 days in the summer. He reminded us that even when we don't realize it that we are teaching our children. That when mom and dad are talking where their children can hear them, the children are learning about communication. When the child is standing in the kitchen watching mom cook, he/she is learning about taking care of the family. If we aren't consciously teaching our children, someone else will. So, part of my being scared is that in 29ish days I will have a little girl intrusted into my care. It will be up to Kevin and me to teach her and train her in the ways of the Lord. It will be up to us to protect her from harm and teach her how to handle crises like a believer. It will be up to us to train her in the ways of the Lord. This is an awesome responsibility and one that we cannot and will not take lightly. Please pray for us as we begin this journey.