Our Simplified Christmas

This was our house just 8 days ago...flurries of snow and yes, our pumpkins (minus one that disappeared while I was in the hospital) were still out.

If anything, this picture is a perfect representation of what our life has been like lately!  Unfortunately, it still looks more like Fall than Christmas around our house!  I did get the pumpkins off the front porch this morning, but the interior decor is yet to be touched...

In years past, we hung wreaths on our windows...as someone once told me, the wreaths made our house feel very "Charles Dickens-ish"...and if that wasn't enough, the porch railing would be draped with more greenery.

Lights would be strung along the roofline, porch and as an addition last year, along the fenceline...

And the Christmas tree...I love, love, love our tree but hate, hate, hate all the loose glitter that comes with it!  It's also super fun to put up, but very time consuming to take down.  In fact, it didn't come down until mid-April last year...ooops!  

With adding a new baby to the mix, I was worried that if we put up very many Christmas decorations, they would never come down!  So this year, there is no tree...there are no wreaths nor garland...there are no lights. I did manage to get our vintage wooden sled and a wreath out to the front porch--but that's it.  Compared to years past, it's definitely a simplified Christmas! And it's not that we're trying to give old man Scrooge a run for his money--it's just that sometimes you have to pick your (time consuming) battles!

And the winner of every battle has and will be Miss Akinya.  She is an absolute doll and we just can't get enough of her!  As I write this, she just passed the 6-week mark but the picture below is from when she was just 2-weeks old.  Too sweet!  As soon as I saw the picture, I knew it was going on this year's Christmas card and I can't wait to see the finished product!

In the 4 weeks since Akinya had her photo shoot with Beautiful Isolations, she has really started to change.  And become fun!

1 month old!

First "just-for-fun" outing with Mom & Grandma!

5 weeks old and already making funny faces for the camera--seems to take after her Uncle Shawn!

Starting to see some "real" smiles!  5 wks & 5 days old

It's crazy to think she's already 6 weeks old!  I have no idea where the time has gone, but it certainly hasn't been spent sitting at home!  When I stop and think about it, since she's been born, she's had 4 of her own doctor's appointments with one of those appointments sending us to Kansas City for the day;  2 doctor's appointments of my own; there's also been an out-of-town birthday party, Thanksgiving, daytrip to Topeka, a Christmas party and several board meetings that I've already hauled her to!   And I wonder where the time has gone...ha!

At this rate, I imagine I won't be on here again until after the New Year, so here's to wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and the best of luck in 2014!

Our Very Thankful Thanksgiving

As this year was our first Thanksgiving as parents, we knew the holiday would have extra meaning...and be a bit more exciting, but little did we know just how thankful we would be to have a healthy baby girl!

Two days before Thanksgiving, Justin and I loaded up Akinya and took her to her appointment at the Cystic Fibrosis clinic at KU Med in Kansas City.  We were hoping to complete the daytrip without either Grandma calling to see what we were doing/how things were going...after all, we hadn't told ANYBODY about our appointment and we were hoping that once the appointment was over, we could share good news with everybody!

You see, it started the week before Thanksgiving when we received a letter in the mail from the Kansas Department of Health & Environment.  Apparently, when Akinya was in the hospital, they collected a blood sample from her for the typical newborn screening tests.  Well, all her levels came back normal, except for her IRT level.  Because it was elevated, they ran a DNA test and they found she had one of the gene mutations that causes Cystic Fibrosis.  With that, they were having our primary care doctor set us up with a referral to KU Med for further testing.

Once we got to their Cystic Fibrosis center, they did what is called a "sweat test."  This test is considered the gold standard for the life-threatening disease; based on the results, we'd know exactly what we would be dealing with.  To do the test, they hooked several electrodes up to Akinya's arm to produce sweat; once the are started to produce sweat, they attached a round patch to her arm for the next 25 minutes.  Once enough sweat was collected, they took the vial to the lab and we headed upstairs to meet with their Pediatrician.

About an hour later, the test results were ready and the pediatrician came into the exam room.  Fortunately, our prayers were answered and the sweat test came back negative--Akinya does not have active Cystic Fibrosis.  But rather, she's just a carrier of the disease.  Long story short, the mutated gene she has is carried by people of European ancestry--meaning, I'm a carrier and passed the gene on to her.  Justin doesn't carry any mutation, which is typical of the Black population.  As I like to joke, good thing I didn't marry a white dude!  But anyhow, because she only has one mutated gene, she'll have to make sure that whoever she has children with (and that better not be for like, 50 years!) is not a carrier of the disease--otherwise, they run the risk of having children who end up with full-blown Cystic Fibrosis.

Looking back, it was very random that we even ended up in this situation.  In Kansas, IRT levels above 60 are sent on for DNA testing; in other states, they use a level of 190 as children with active Cystic Fibrosis usually have levels in the 200-300 range.  Kansas decided to be very aggressive in setting their standards so that treatment could be started as early as possible for sick kiddos.  Considering IRT levels can be elevated by a traumatic birth, jaundice and an epidural (which, we had all 3 of) and Akinya's number came in at 62, we now know that our family carries the mutated gene...but now we're also going to have a very expensive medical bill to pay!  I'm tempted to send our bill to KDHE so they can pay it, but Justin said not to ;-)  In all reality, though, we would pay any amount of money so that Akinya can have this knowledge when it comes to having children of her own some day.  Which, to be honest, it was VERY weird to sit there in the doctor's office and think about your 3-week old daughter eventually procreating!

With that, we had a VERY thankful Thanksgiving!  We celebrated the holiday at my parents, filled the family in on what had been going on and spent time catching up with the siblings, in-laws and my niece.

Celebrating with Grandma & Grandpa T

Speaking of my niece, Miss Marcella's temperament toward Akinya is still a bit hot-and-cold.  At first, she's never just sure what to think of the baby (especially, when Marcella's mom wants to hold the baby!)...

But with enough time, Marcella warms right up!  The week before, at Miss Marcella's birthday party (she turned two years old--eeeek!), we ended the evening with Marcella stroking Akinya.  Something tells me that in just a few years, the two girls will forget about these awkward moments and they'll be the best of buds!

The Thanksgiving weekend also marked Akinya's 1-month "birthday."  We got her up for the day, slapped the 1-month sticker on her onesie and took out the camera.  And then, all hell broke loose.  Mitzi wanted to be in the picture, but Akinya didn't know what to think of having the dog next to her...so, Akinya started freaking out and Mitzi refused to move.  After some funny noises and gestures made by Justin, we managed to snap a picture of Akinya looking at one of us.  It wasn't the "one of us" with the camera, but whatever, you take what you can get!  And then you just crop the stressed dog out of the picture ;-)

Moody models!

 

It's crazy to think our little Akinya Kate is already 1-month old.  I'm not sure where the time has gone, but it's certainly a reminder to make every day count.  Her well-baby visit was earlier this week and since coming home from the hospital, she's packed on 2 pounds and grown 1 inch...and I'm convinced her hair's grown an entire inch, too.  No joke!  It's crazy how much she changes with each passing day, but we're just thankful for the blessing she's been and the great health that we were able to celebrate!

The Maternity Session

Here we are, three weeks into parenthood and we finally got around to ordering pictures from our maternity session.  Something told us that if we didn't do it now, it would never get done!  It's absolutely amazing how your day disappears when all you're doing is diapering, feeding, burping and repeating the process.  With being home, I have lost all sense of time (the other night I woke up in a panic because I had absolutely NO clue what day it was) so once we finally realized we never dealt with our maternity proofs, we decided to get on it!

 

One of our friends and Justin's clients is a local photographer.  In fact, he did our engagement pictures...

 

And then our wedding pictures...

 

So, when Rod found out we were pregnant, he offered to do a maternity session for us!  We happily accepted his offer--not only does he do great work, but it was neat that he, of all people, would be documenting the addition to our family.

 

Fortunately, Rod is a man of patience!  At 8 months, Rod stopped by and confirmed that yes, my belly still looked like a beer belly and would NOT be cute to photograph!  With that, we decided to wait several more weeks.  Occasionally, Rod would stop by our house, take a peak at my belly and each time, we decided we would just continue the wait.  Then, when the doctor predicted at our 37-week appointment that the baby would be here in just a few days, we called Rod and said, "it's now or never!"  Fortunately, Rod had just retired from his full-time job as a photographer for The Mercury, so he was able to drop everything and get his equipment ready!

 

That weekend, we met up at the historic Union Pacific Depot for our maternity session.  Not only have I always loved the building, it's also where we had our wedding reception.  I'm telling ya--Rod had it figured out when it came to sentimental value!

 

But in all honestly, Rod opted for the facility as he was hoping it would have some great natural light--and that it did!  For the session, the interior lighting was off and we worked with the sun beaming in through the windows.  My belly still wasn't ginormously cute (in fact, as you will see, it still looked like quite the beer gut when I would sit down) but we managed to take quite a few pictures in just an hour's time, and here are some of my favorites!

  

Pretty sure this is my favorite one!  Would it be weird to add it to our wall of family photos?!





I had to add this picture because it cracks me up!  Justin's bubble butt it rounder than my belly!  Lord only knows that when Akinya grows up, her little booty will be all or nothing!

Once we get through the holidays, we're meeting up with Rod for our first official "family" picture.  And yes, we ARE waiting until after the holidays!  Reason being--Akinya definitely needs to have a diaper on for pictures!  Last weekend, another friend and client of mine had offered to take newborn pictures.  Sarah is extremely talented, so I couldn't turn down her offer!  Well, Akinya managed to share her bodily fluids with us, projectile-style, several times during the photo shoot with Sarah...once we were done, Justin decided we were DONE.  We were scheduled to have Akinya's shoot with Rod the following afternoon, and yeah we get that babies have no bladder control, but we just weren't in the mood to volunteer ourselves for another round of messes!  At least we had a great maternity session, a great newborn session and we'll have the opportunity to document the baby's growth and changes in just a few months.  And as pictures become available, trust that I'll be posting them on here!!!

Bringing Home Baby

Our baby is home!

Just last week, I was starting my week 40 post.  Baby still wasn't here and the doctor was setting an induction date for either today, or yesterday.  It seemed this little girl was not going to come on her own terms!  In fact, when I woke up the morning of my due date, there still was no baby.  My phone was buzzing as friends checked in to see if anything had happened and all I could say was, "think we're getting induced!"

I had been working all week and when I woke up that Halloween morning, my pajamas felt sooooooooo good.  And on a lame note, it felt kinda nice to have a "slow" morning in bed with the dog.  I decided to work from home that day and boy, am I glad I did!

Just before noon, I decided to heat up some lunch.  When I opened our fridge, I realized how badly it needed cleaned out.  We had so many leftovers that had been in there way too long, so I decided I'd spend my lunch hour emptying out the Pyrex dishes.  I started pulling all the bowls, containers, etc and sorting them on the counter when all of a sudden, it hit me.

My lower back instantly started hurting.  And hurting like a son of a gun.  My pelvic area started cramping like nobody's business and I had sharp, shooting pains running through my hips and down my thighs.  Something was up.  This was NOT a normal physical response to cleaning out the fridge!

I called Justin to see where he was working and fortunately, they were working on our side of town.  I told him I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was experiencing pain like never before and I was thinking I may be in labor.  Because we were totally expecting to be induced, his response was, "Are you serious?!"  Again, not knowing if I was in labor or not, I told him just to stay near his phone and if I needed him, I'd call back.

I spent the next hour trying to putter around the house.  The pain was very consistent, but about every 5 minutes or so, it would flare up.  Within about 50 minutes, the pain and pressure was so bad that I couldn't stand up.  I still wasn't sure what was going on, so I called Justin and told him to come home.

By 1:35, we were at the hospital and the nurses were checking me.  Sure enough, there had been a change in dilation (from where I'd been at my last doctor appointment) so they decided to keep me for another check in an hour's time.  2:45pm rolled around, nurses came back in and sure enough, I was in labor!  Our "Halloween" baby was on her way!

Long story short, things didn't go quickly enough to have a Halloween baby--instead, we had an All Saint's Day baby!  After 14 hours of labor, trying every single possible option and eventually having to do a C-section, our baby girl was here!!!  And she was healthy!!!

At 2:41am on November 1st, we welcomed Miss Akinya Kate!  She weighed 8lb 3oz (more than we expected!) and measured 20" long...and she had a full head of hair!  And it was long--a good inch to inch and a half!

Her first name is pronounced uh-Kenya and yes, we kinda made it up!  We were going through a list one night and saw the name Kenya--the name Kenya in itself didn't do anything for me, but when Justin suggested adding "uh" to it, I loved it!  And after a little research, we discovered there's a Nigerian village named Akinya...kinda neat considering it takes a village to raise a child!  The middle name, Kate, is a family name for both of us.  Well, on my side of the family, it's Catherine but we decided that since we'll most likely end up shortening it to Kate, we'd just go ahead and do it now.  And with that, we FINALLY had a name!

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind!  We've had a nice, steady pace of visitors coming to meet baby Akinya and drop off meals...we've been trying to catch some sleep between feedings and I've been trying to spend some time up on my feet, without being too active.  That in itself is a HARD balance for me!  Justin took this week off from work and it's been great having the three of us home together to bond.  This little girl is pretty precious and has definitely stolen our hearts!

1 day old! 

Leaving the hospital--the nurses made she sure went home in a VERY appropriately adorned cap! 

And we're HOME!!!

Daddy and his little girl!  Didn't take long to wrap him around her little finger!

The Bathroom "Reveal"

Finally, finally our bathroom is done!  Well, it's been done for some time now, but sharing the "after pictures" hasn't been top of mind lately!

When we bought our house, the previous owner had done some updating to the bathroom--new vanity, medicine cabinet and bathtub...What he left behind, though, was a hideous Mallard Duck border, outdated flooring and awful Hollywood lighting above the vanity.  We knew we could live with the bathroom the way it was for a while, but at some point, we'd change a few things.

One thing that DID change right away was the wallpaper border.  I found a shower curtain that didn't make the flooring look AS BAD, so I then found a border to match the shower curtain.  It would have to work for the time being!

And it stayed that way for about 2.5 years.  The hideous flooring continued to hold up and we just couldn't justify tearing it out and replacing it...

But then, one day, Justin melted the floor :-)  He turned the steam mop on, forgot about it and came back later to discover it had melted the vinyl tile...Fortunately, the spot was SMACK DAB in the middle of the bathroom floor!  He was worried I was going to freak out when I realized what he did but why would I be upset???  I finally had an excuse to replace the flooring!

With that, I bought a new shower curtain, stripped down the border and repainted the walls.  And then started the search for new tile.  Who knew I could be SO picky?!  I wanted something affordable that future buyers would appreciate--but that we would also enjoy for the time being.

While the hunt for new flooring continued, our bathroom looked like this.  Pretty. Darn. Bare. And Blah.  Complete with the melted tile. It was this way from September of 2012 until late August of 2013...nearly a whole year!

I eventually found the tile I had been looking for--the coloring was perfect, the shape was what I wanted and the price was exactly what we were willing to pay.  It was time to call my contractor buddy in and have him get to work!

With a baby on the way, we knew our budget would only allow us to "freshen" the space.  I wanted to swap the vanity for a pedestal sink and replace the medicine cabinet with a nice, pretty framed mirror...but both of those cost money!  And as Justin pointed out, we'd lose a LOT of storage doing that.  True to the small bungalows of the 1920's, our house only has one bathroom--and one thing that made us get over that hesitation when we were house hunting was the amount of storage the bathroom offered.  Knowing this won't be our forever home, we had to think like potential buyers and I decided it was best to keep all the storage we could!

With that, the vanity and medicine cabinet stayed...we decided to replace just the flooring, throw some beadboard on the walls and get rid of the gawd-awful Hollywood strip lighting above the medicine cabinet.  No home improvement project is ever "cheap," but at least these few modifications would keep us on budget while updating the space!

Like I said, we called our contractor friend and put ourselves on his schedule.  And of course, once you start any project, things go from ugly, to worse, before they look better!

Our dining room became the "storage room" for everything that came out of the bathroom!

The bathroom had always had an awkward but smooth piece of paneling on the walls--thus, the reason for the border.  And this is what it looked like when the paneling was removed!

Nice, bright techno-colors!  lol

When the medicine cabinet came down, the Mallard ducks reappeared!  There is NO getting away from them!

End of Day 1--the major stuff was done.  Next up was grouting the tile and doing all the trim work.

Close-up of the tile, prior to grouting...not the hexagon tile I had always dreamed of, but at least it's something that will wear well and future buyers should appreciate! 

Day 2--the work is DONE!  And Justin still can't stand straight up to look in the mirror!  Ha!  Someday, we'll build a house just his size!

I eventually bought a few knick-knacks for the bathroom and it's feeling more cozy than it ever did!  The new clock actually works and keeps me on schedule in the morning...and we hung a curtain in place of the wood blinds.  Who knew that dust, wood blinds and hairspray do NOT go together?!  lol...The curtain is fairly long, but we found that even though we kept with the obscure glass in the bottom sash of the new window, our neighbors could TOTALLY see our top-halves...good bye valances, hello nice long curtain!

But my favorite part???  Kissing the Hollywood strip lighting good-bye!  I no longer feel like I need my big blush brush, can-can outfit and feathers!  But I do appreciate having a nice, brighter space that we were able to update on a baby-friendly budget!

Week 39--Picking a Name

When Justin and I first found out we were having a baby, we started tossing around names.  It was still very early in the game to spend time on something that could easily change, especially since we knew we would be finding out the gender--but I really do think that discussing names served as a way to distract ourselves from the shell-shock of becoming parents and provided that much needed "bright spot" during a very, very sick first 18 weeks.

Keep in mind, we didn't have crazy intense "naming" conversations.  But rather, we'd hear a name here and there and ask what the other one thought of it...or, we might have a name pop up in our mind and we'd send the other one a text asking what they thought of it.  I remember one night, while soaking in the tub, a little boy's name popped into my head and I hollered at Justin--he came into the bathroom, I ran the name past him and he loved it.  And that was that--if the sonogram revealed that we were having a boy, we were done!

As luck would have it, the sonogram revealed we were having a daughter.  And the name we had picked for a boy definitely was NOT a unisex name or something we could make more feminine!  Off to the drawing board we went...

Many more bubble baths later and we still didn't have a name for our daughter...and all this time, I claimed all my best thoughts and ideas came about while soaking in a big, hot tub of aqua!  Guess not...!  We wanted something unique, without being too unique, but we also wanted to incorporate a family name.  Eventually, we narrowed down the list of first names and at this point, I think we may have a first name picked out.  But that still leaves the middle name.  This has always been the absolute hardest part for us as.  Some names just didn't sound right, some were way too long, other names had already been "taken" by other babies, etc...it was starting to look like this baby just wouldn't have a middle name!

And then last week, we finally figured out the middle name!

We stumbled across the name Roxi.  Definitely not the most common name, but not too out there, either.  And it had some spunk and personality to it.  I could be wrong, but my guess is that this baby girl will be anything but quiet and reserved, so it would most likely "fit" her.  We decided that Roxi would be her middle name and with that, we finally had a name!

But, wait--I still wanted the familial element.  Naturally, we added 'Ann' to it, creating Roxann.  'Ann' happens to be my mother's middle name and the first name of Justin's late aunt.  Bingo--we not only included a family name, but we covered both sides of the family :-)  And if we ever wanted to shorten her middle name, we would just call her Roxi.

Then, it hit me.  Every time we said the name Roxann, I kept hearing "You don't have to put on the red light....ROXXXXXX-anne...duh, duh, duh..."  You know, the song Roxanne by The Police?!  I started to become hesitant about the name, but Justin never once associated the name with the song about the prostitute.  After a few days, I was able to move past the association and Roxann it was.

Roxann it was, for just about 2 more days.  Thanks to our guilty pleasure of true crime TV shows, we're back to not having a middle name!

It goes a little something like this...Sunday night, we're laying in bed and we turn on Forensic Files.  I don't know what it is about that show, but the two of us absolutely love it...we could stay up all night watching it!  Anyhow, back to the story...so, we turn on Forensic Files and the narrator comes on, explaining that this episode would be profiling the case of a dead stripper who was just 21 years old at the time of her death.  Hmmmm, that could be an interesting story!  Justin and I settled in, turned the volume up only to hear that the dead stripper was named Roxanne and went by "Foxy Roxy." 

Are you flipping kidding me?!  I turned to Justin--and he was already turning to me.  Not sure why, but we both just started cracking up...all I could say was "No! No!" between bouts of laughter!  And all he could say was the same thing!  Once we were able to talk again, we immediately decided that we were NOT using Roxann as a middle name!  No way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks could we name our daughter after a dead stripper!  I had finally worked through associating her name with The Police's song, but adding a dead stripper to the list of associations was just too much.

So here we are, back at the drawing board...!  Fortunately, this little girl seems to be hanging tight and defying the doctor's prediction of an early arrival, so with each passing day, we have more time to *hopefully* figure out a middle name.  True to the style of our early "name conversations," we've continued to casually throw out this name and that name...neither of us are too concerned about the lack of a middle name at this point. We still have a good week or so! Something tells us that we'll eventually stumble across a name (and not one that has to do with sexual exploitation) OR if the baby beats us to the punch, just getting to meet her will give us the inspiration we've been looking for!

Week 38--Still Standing

It's week 38 and I'm still standing!

I hate self-ies, but with Justin already being gone for the day, I figured I better snap a Week 38 pictures while I could!

When we went to our weekly appointment last Friday, we were greeted with some surprising news.  They asked if I wanted checked--I really didn't care either way, but Justin was eager to hear some numbers, so we went ahead and had them check me.

Without getting too personal, let's just say there were some major changes from week 36 to week 37.  Now, I know the numbers aren't always indicative of things to come, but essentially, they found that it won't take much and the baby will be here...or, as I like to say, if I were to jump on a trampoline right now, the baby might just fall out!

Keep in mind, this whole prenatal stuff is very foreign to me so when they were first reporting the numbers, I thought, "Hmmmm, those numbers sound kind of high."  So when everything was said and done, I asked what the numbers meant and the doctor's response was, "I don't think you'll be here for next week's appointment--I expect that you'll be delivering any day now."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!  I still had a good three weeks until my due date and our childbirth class kept pounding into our heads that most first-time moms deliver around 41.5 weeks.  So in my mind, we had plenty of time.  And now, they're saying days, maybe a week at most?!

We left the doctor's office and honestly, I didn't know what to think.  I was overwhelmed.  Justin was overwhelmed.  We kept telling ourselves that if this little girl wanted to prove the doctors wrong, fine by us!  I think it was our way of still maintaining some sanity in the midst of having your apple cart upset!

And so far, the baby IS proving the doctor wrong as it looks like we'll be at our 38-week appointment tomorrow morning.  Granted, as I write this, we still have a good 24-hours ahead of us, so who knows. What I do know, though, is that my body is definitely doing its thing!  Up until week 37, I'd only felt one contraction (and it was the night before our appointment)--can't say the same about this week!  Again, I know numbers aren't everything, but based on what my body's been doing, it will be interesting to see where things are at tomorrow's appointment.

The one good thing about having your apple cart upset (or, the realization that a baby really is going to be here at some point!) is that it definitely lights a fire under your butt.  Everything's in place with work so that whenever I do go into labor, the other agent will pick up where I left off and it should be a seamless transition for my clients.  Justin's arranged things with his work so that if he has to go, he can GO!  The cars seat has been installed and checked by the fire department.  Hospital bag is packed--baby's clothing and blankets have been washed. A lot of the *crap* that needed done around our house is now done.  We snuck over to Junction City to try a new-to-us restaurant that has been on our pre-baby-bucket list for several months now.  We're making it a point to be in bed before 11pm so that we can get some extra rest.  Yada yada yada...

And on a fun note, the reality of a baby soon being here prompted us to finally do our maternity photo session.  Because my belly has been a slow-grower, our photographer friend was trying to wait until the last minute to do the pictures...and since it looked like we were finally down to the wire, we went ahead and did them over the weekend!  Rod did our engagement pictures and photographed our wedding, so when he offered to do baby pictures for us, there wasn't a moment of hesitation.  Now, we're just anxiously awaiting the proofs...we had the session at the Union Pacific Train Depot (same place where we had our wedding reception!) and the lighting inside the building was just incredible.  Add to that Rod's artistic eye and I think we'll have some amazing photographs documenting this little girl's incubation!

All in all, I think we have everything in place for whenever the baby DOES decide to come.  Will she be on "Taddiken" time (if you're early, you're on time--if you're on time, you're late") or will she be on Southern time???  Who knows?!  Regardless, most everything's done and we can just sit back, relax and see what happens!