Christmas 2009

Kinslie playing with tissue paper

At the candlelight service, chewing on the candle cup

Christmas morning with Great Gpa Keith

Dolls. dolls, dolls

K's presents from my mom's side of the family (I haven't uploaded the others yet)

Tomorrow Kinslie will be 4 months old and I can't believe I've only posted a few times since she's been born. However, I've found myself a little busier than I used to be. :) We had a great time with Kinslie for her first Christmas. So far we've done my mom's side of the family and Alan's side of the family. We still have my dad's side next weekend. So far, Kinslie's favorite part has been the tissue paper. But she has gotten some really cute toys, books and clothes that she enjoys playing with.

I cannot believe how much she has changed just in the week I've been at home with her. She's got two tiny bumps on her lower gum...so I think she'll be getting teeth pretty soon. She sure is chewing on EVERYTHING. She enjoys hanging out in her Jeep walker and Jenny Jump-Up, and playing with her activity gym. She is also becoming quite the jabberbox.

For those of you who normally get Christmas cards from me, well they might be coming. Say, by next Christmas? I really was going to send cards, but most of the people I send cards to are on Facebook and get the updates there. We'll see if I can get cards sent out sometime.

I'm enjoying my much needed Christmas break. It makes me long for summer break. Unfortunately the Spring semester doesn't have as many breaks in it. :( I can't wait to spend the whole summer with Kinslie.

11 weeks old

Kinslie and I at Trunk-Or-Treat

Kinslie in her new outfit from Grandma Becky

I look at this blog almost everyday and think to myself, "I should really update this." Well, I'm finally getting around to it. It's only been 4+ weeks. Kinslie turned 11 weeks old on Saturday (and that was the 2nd day of her life that I didn't take any pictures :( ) We were busy all day, and I told myself I would take some before I put her to bed, but I was so tired when we got home that I went straight to bed also.

Okay, so let's catch up on things since I've last posted. We went to Cassville, MO in October, and Kinslie really enjoyed her first jeep ride. So much so, that when we got back, she wouldn't nap anywhere but her carseat. :) She slept through most of the trip, but was awake for about the last half hour of jeeping. She was grinning from ear to ear.

I started back to work the Monday after we got back. It was rough the first couple of weeks, leaving Kinslie at daycare and going through the "adjustment" period with my class. All is better now, well, at least most of the time. I love Kinslie's daycare provider, she is so sweet and I know Kinslie is in good hands.

Alan's been deer hunting one weekend so far, but of course nothing is big enough. Maybe next time. I finally got the house cleaned on Saturday, with the threat of company coming over! That's all it takes sometimes. I just hope it can stay that way for awhile.

Kinslie is growing and growing and growing. At her 2 month appointment she weighed 11 pounds 13 ounces. She was 23 inches long. She got shots in both legs, and is not a fan of the nurses now. She thought they were so nice, talking to her and making faces. Then they stuck a needle in both legs and it took her about 2 seconds to figure out they were no longer friends. She screamed for 15 minutes before she finally fell asleep. She whimpered all night long, but was better by morning.

Kinslie gave me a week and a half of sleeping all night, but has been waking up once or twice the last 4 nights. Oh how I miss sleeping all night. :)

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving next week...and my 2 day work week!
Have a happy turkey day!

Big Relief!

Practicing her boxing moves, ignore the spit up. :)

Her new sweatshirt. They didn't have a girl's one, so I added bows to this one.

As many of you know, for the past couple of months we've been wondering if Alan, my brother, and uncle would keep their jobs because the company they work for is being bought out. After many delays in the process, we finally know that they all got to keep their jobs! Praise the Lord! I hope I can say the same for friends that work there also.

Kinslie had her 1 month appointment last week. She weighed 9 lbs 14.5 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. She was in the 75th percentile for everything. She is getting quite chunky. I'm starting to switch her over to formula, as I only have 2 weeks left at home. I gave her the first bottle of it yesterday, and she didn't have any problems with it. I'm not sure she really noticed. She has also been doing much better about sleeping at night. Lately she's been waking up around 2 or 3, and 6. Not bad! I can handle that when I go back to work. Last night she went to bed around midnight (because she napped from 7:30-10:30) and slept until 4:30. She went 6 hours without eating, but she sure was hungry when she woke up.

Kinslie's newborn pictures

Wow, you would think with all this time at home I would remember to update the blog. Yeah...not so much. Kinslie is going to be 4 weeks old tomorrow, I can't believe time goes by so quickly. I had so many plans to get things done while at home, but I'm having too much fun cuddling with Kinslie to get those accomplished. They'll still be there later.

We had her newborn pictures taken last weekend at JC Penneys. I thought they did a pretty good job, especially since they were a half hour behind which meant it was time for her to eat when we got called back. Oh, and the fact that she kept dirtying her diaper right before they called us. (Did you know that JC Penney's does not have a changing table in the upstairs women's restroom? However they do have one in the men's. Doesn't make much sense, and not many dad's have used it b/c it wouldn't even lay flat without someone holding it down.)

Kinslie is growing like a weed, I'm excited for her one month appointment next week so I can find out how much she weighs. She's been having trouble sleeping well because she is congested and keeps clearing her throat. She is the noisiest baby I've ever heard sleep. I called the doctor today and they told me to use saline drops to see if it will help clean out her nose. We'll see if it works, I sure hope so.

Kinslie Grace

Kinslie Grace made her appearance on Saturday, August 29 at 8:27 in the morning. She decided to make it on her own terms rather than us saying when she would arrive. We planned on being induced Friday night, but I started having contractions Friday afternoon. We just waited to go to the hospital at our scheduled time. They said they couldn't induce me because my contractions were too close together, so we would just wait it out. I was in quite a lot of pain until about 2:00 when they gave me an epidural. After that, everything was fine and dandy and I really didn't feel any pain until she was born. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.

We came home Sunday afternoon, but have had to go back to the hospital every day to have a bilirubin test to check for risk of jaundice. Her scores have went up everyday, but the finally stopped climbing today. And we don't have to go back tomorrow. YAY!!! She also had to go to the pediatrician today for her 1 week appointment. She's in the 50th percentile for height and weight. She now weighs 7 lbs 5 oz, after going down to 6 lbs 13 oz on Monday.

The pediatrician gave her permission to start tummy time...I don't think this is the exercise she was speaking of.

I looked at the guessing results, and it looks like grandma Becky is the winner. She had emailed me her guesses. Although, Becky Futrell was close behind. It wouldn've been a tie with the amount of closest answers but Grandma Becky won by guessing her middle name. Good job!

Better do this before it's too late...

Well, I've been meaning to put up a post for a baby guessing contest. Sorry, mine is not going to be as fun as Becky's, as there is not a prize. Just the satisfaction of knowing you were the closest!

Little Koller will be arriving soon and she wants you to guess the following:

Date of birth:
Time:
Length:
Weight:
Name: (And Kaitlen..no posting the original name, just in case!)
Does Daddy pass out?:
Does Aunt Kaitlen make it to the hospital in time?:

Just post a reply with your information.

For those of you who are curious, I went to the doctor yesterday and I'm barely starting to dialate. Although I was very nervous after meet-the-teacher night on Monday. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I was having contractions after coming home from working 12+ hours. I finally fell asleep around midnight, so it must not have been too bad. Another annoying side effect of being this far along and going back to work is my marshmallow feet. I reached down to itch my foot earlier this week and couldn't find my ankle. :( The doctor says to put them up as much as possible and try to lay down for 20 minutes 2 times during the day (yeah right when I'm teaching 1st grade and trying to get the kids started in a routine!).

I am so excited to have the substitute that I have lined up. She came to meet-the-teacher night on Monday and was with me all day today to help get the school year started. She's also planning on coming the rest of this week...all without pay. What a great person, it will be so much better for the kids to already know her when I leave.

Well, that's all for now...Happy Guessing!

29 days and counting...

Another busy weekend down, now to stay home until baby Koller wants to make her appearance. My sister and sister-in-law had a baby shower for me this weekend. We got lots of cute things including a Jeep all-terrain walker, a grandma's-special crocheted heart blanket, hooded towels, and lots of clothes. It barely fit in the car coming home.

Last night we went to Alan's 10 year high school reunion and it was nice to actually know some of his classmates. It seems so weird to go to a high school reunion for a class of around 40, I think about 20 of them were there. Then we went to Kaitlen and Shaun's house to chat with them, Shaun's parents, and Sara and Jason. I definitely stayed up too late.

After church today we enjoyed Pizza Hut buffet and went to Wichita to see his cousin in the rehab hospital. He thinks he has about 2 weeks left there and is supposed to get his new wheelchair this week. He tried for the customized version with a suspension lift, but insurance says no. Too bad, as long as you're in a wheel chair, might as well have it all "souped" up.

Now, onto Cracker Barrell for some good food and good fun!

Slow down summer

Where has the summer gone? I only have 2 weeks and a couple days until school starts again. Scary thought! The good news is that I will only work a couple weeks, then I'll have 6 more off after the baby comes. We had our child birth class on Saturday. It was not a whole lot of fun, but we did learn some stuff. We also got the tour of the baby floor. This is helpful knowing where to go when the time comes. I'm not really excited about moving to at least 3 rooms while I'm there (triage, delivery, and post pardom), but I guess this system is more efficient if there are a lot of babies making their presence. There was one alterior motive to the class...for Alan to wear the empathy belly. Too bad he only had it on for a half hour. See pictures below.

I got the curtains and valences up in the baby's room and have washed most of the newborn and 0/3 month clothes. It's amazing how many she now has. I'm still working on cleaning out my stuff and rearranging to make everything fit. It's a good thing that room is the biggest in the house. At most, 6 weeks to go! Below are pictures from my baby shower last weekend and a few other random pics.

Burp rags I made

This started out to be a purse, but ended up being a diaper basket

The pink camo cake

Busy Weekend

As I'm sitting here typing, I finally have my feet propped up to hopefully make the swelling in my feet go away. (No Cherie, they're not as big as your cankles, that's what I'm hoping to avoid.) This weekend has been very busy, and I don't think the coming weekends are going to be any better. On Saturday, my sister, aunt, and sister-in-law had a baby shower for me and the chubby little girl inside of me. There was a good turnout (thanks to all who came) and I'm now wondering if the baby's room is going to be big enough. I guess I should weed out some of my stuff so she'll have plenty of room. After all, I still have 2 more showers. She got lots of cute outfits and some much needed supplies like diapers, wipes, and bath time goodies. I'll post some pics once someone...hmmm hmmm Kaitlen...emails them to me.

I left with Alan's mom and sister after the shower to go to camp Menoscah with the Eden church group. It's located south of Hutchinson, and I don't believe it could have gotten any hotter or more humid. After an evening of watching several recreational games that people were playing, I decided to try to go to bed. Well, I tried alright, for about an hour and a half. Laying in a tent without air moving and becoming drenched in sweat, I finally fell asleep...then Alan came to bed and I woke up. I went to the bath house to go to the bathroom and then came back for another hour of laying awake. I did finally get about 3 hours of sleep between another bathroom break and the air matress deflating 2 times. Let's just say I was not wide awake for church this morning...which I sweated all the way through. We left right after church and I soaked up the AC. My toes have never been as swollen as they were when I got in the car.

As much as my experience wasn't the greatest, Alan had a good time. Before I got there yesterday, he caught a 25 pound carp (I guess that's big, at least that's what they told me) by hand. Supposedly the old camp record was 8 pounds. Of course, I'm not sure I can believe the whole story, because I have yet to see pictures. :) There were several witnesses, so I guess maybe it's true. He spent the evening playing horseshoes, cards, and dominoes.

After camp we went to Wichita and ate at Chili's. We also went to see his cousin, Chris, in the rehab hospital where he's recovering from a motorcycle accident. He looks much better and is working on getting upper body strength so he can transfer himself from his bed to his wheelchair. He is also thinking that some of the feeling is coming back in his legs. I hope this is true and that he's going to prove the doctors wrong that said he won't ever walk again.

Well that's enough rambling, I have another appointment this week so maybe I'll update later in the week. Stay cool...cause I'm going to stay inside for quite some time.

It's official, I have an outie...

Yep, my belly button is no longer an "in-ie." I have 2 months left and I'm not really sure how much more my belly can expand. I was not looking forward to getting on the scale again today because I feel like I've put on quite a bit of weight these last couple of weeks, in other places than my belly. However, I was pleasantly surprised to have only put on a little over a pound in 2 weeks. I'll probably regret saying that next time I go to the doctor.

I can definitely tell she's getting bigger, as she is putting either her hand or her foot up in my ribs. I keep trying to push her back down, but she is very determined that's where it belongs. I've also had a lot of back pain lately. Hopefully I'll either get used to it or it will get better.

I've been trying to be productive the last couple of weeks and get finished with several projects on my "to do" list. Last week I worked on school stuff quite a bit, trying to figure out 6 weeks of lesson plans. I haven't put anything in my lesson plan book yet because I'm not sure of the schedule and I'm pretty overcompulsive when it comes to having things in time order. However, I'm finding sticky notes really useful...that way I can write out my plans now and stick them in later. I also made several pieces for the math calendar that I kept saying I was going to make last year. At night I've been trying to finish up the baby quilt I started 4 or 5 months ago. Here is a picture of the final product.

Alan went to Oklahoma last weekend with his dad to pick up another engine for the jeep...hopefully this one works! He also went to see his cousin who was in a motorcycle accident. It had been a long time since they saw each other, and Alan's been keeping up to date with his progress through the hospital's care pages ever since. He is also looking forward to a 3 day weeken, even if it is going to be busy. On Saturday we are planning on taking our jeep through the Collins Park parade and then being at my parents' for fireworks and a fun time with family and friends. I'm looking forward to the homemade ice cream! On Sunday afternoon we have a church picnic.

Here, There, and Everywhere

We had a great vacation to Colorado last week. Exhausting...but fun. We stayed in Ouray everynight, but managed to drive over 3000 miles throughout the week. That was way too much sitting and riding. On Sunday we drove a few "easy" trails around the area, seeing as how we just had the truck and it wouldn't have been a great idea to bounce around very much in my third trimester. We also went to Telluride and saw Bridal Veil Falls. Monday, we went to Black Canyon National Park in Montrose and got to see some of my cousins. Tuesday, we drove 3 hours to Moab, Utah, to go to both Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. I thought my legs were going to fall off from all of the walking and hiking. They were both very pretty. Alan liked Canyonlands better, but my vote is for Arches. On Wednesday we went to Silverton and Animas Forks (a ghost town). It was pretty neat to walk around buildings from that long ago. We also took some supposedly easy trails above Silverton. However, their rating must not include 8 feet of snow in some parts and it snowing so hard you can't see around you while driving. The trails were also pretty bumpy due to the lack of maintenance this early in the year. Needless to say, I did not enjoy these trails at all. My belly hurt almost the entire time, poor baby didn't know what she was getting herself into this day. Thursday was better, we went to Mesa Verde National Park. We took a walking tour for the Spruce House and Cliff Palace. Friday we went back to Silverton and did the Old Hundred Mines tour. That was pretty neat, although probably not as neat as the Salt Mines in Hutchinson. We also did a little shopping in Silverton, and the baby and I enjoyed a delicious funnel cake. Mmmmmmm!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Snow on one of the trails we took the first day.

Bridal Veil Falls

Black Canyon National Park

Canyonlands

Arches- we needed a 6 month picture, and I didn't want to do it when anyone else was around.

Snow from Cinnamon Pass

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

I had my glucose test today. It wasn't as bad as everyone kept telling me. I had the orange kind, it just tasted like kool-aid that needed to be watered down. I think the lady missed when she drew my blood because my arm is going to have a big bruise tomorrow. It hurt more than the first time I had blood drawn.

Anyway...did I mention that it is HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And to think we're not even in the 90's yet.

Fear Not!

This week went by in a whirlwind, but I had so much fun. I'm not sure exactly how many years I've been helping with the preschoolers during VBS, but I think it's 9. I can honestly say that this was one of the best years. Yes, we did have some wild kids (who really should count as more than one child based on their energy level and the level of energy they require from you), but we also had a lot of really sweet kids. I loved the theme, Crocodile Dock, and the kids did pretty well at listening and remembering the stories taught. The highest number of kids we had on a single night was 21, but over the week we had around 30 different kids ranging from 3-6.

I was also amazed at the number of older kids. Each night they kept multiplying, which was so exciting to see that they wanted to invite their friends to learn about God. Over the week, the kids brought $1001 to send to a feeding center in Honduras.

We had another doctor's appointment this week and now have to start going every 2 weeks. I have to do the glucose test next time...fun, fun, fun! I am now 27 weeks and a few days. So far I've gained a little over 20 pounds. The baby is moving quite a bit...except when Alan comes to feel. He has only felt her move a couple times because every time he puts his hand on my stomach, she stops squirming. He's starting to take it personally, but maybe he has the calming effect on her (let's hope).

What a Day!

Wow, can I call a redo on today? I should have known it was going to be a bad day when I woke up 30 minutes early with a cramp in my leg. I haven't had one since I started taking Tums before I go to bed for extra calcium. Well, I apparently didn't get enough calcium yesterday, because this was a doozy. Later in the morning I laid down on the couch to try to catch up on some sleep that I missed because of not sleeping well last night. I kept having this feeling of something crawling on me. I just dismissed it as being paranoid. Well, I woke up 20 minutes later to the phone ringing and then looked in a mirror. It turns out I was not paranoid, there were actually little black bugs (smaller than an pinhead) on my face where I had scratched. Eeeewww. I immediately went into full cleaning mode trying to discover and take care of where these bugs were coming from. I vacuumed every inch of the couch, chairs, and floor. Then I threw all of the sheets, blankets, and pillows in the washing machine.

While I was still cleaning, I went by the washing machine and it smelled like something was burning. I couldn't figure it out until the load was finished. One of my pillows got stuck up around the edge of the washing machine while it was spinning and melted the polyester filling and burned a hole in the pillow. At least the washing machine didn't catch on fire, but I decided to go to Walmart to get a new pillow later this afternoon.

So, I'm at Wal-Mart and I got my pillow and then I went to get a few groceries (including a bug fogger thing to use while on vacation). I decided to get some Dr. Pepper for Alan, as he is addicted to the stuff. I picked up a 24 pack from the shelf, and the box fell apart. Do you know how much 24 cans of pop can spray and get all over you as they're spinning out of control? Well, now I do. Completely embarrased, the Walmart worker asked me if I wanted to get a new cart. Ummm, yeah I do. Not to mention that this was my second change of clothes today because of the bugs I feared were all over me, and it got my nice cushy flip flops all sticky...and my legs.

So this has been quite a day...3 hours of cleaning, 5 times vacuuming the carpets, 4 loads of laundry, 1 burnt pillow, 24 cans of pop spraying all over me, and 1 dog rolling in cat poop later, Alan walked in and asked how my day was? Little did he know. The good news was that we had a supper club get together tonight with several people from church...and all went well.

Alan's new project

Alan and I both took today off so we could come to his parents' for a 3-day weekend. He has been waiting for jeep parts to arrive, and they finally did about 2 weeks ago. He spent the day working on the jeep, and it's finally starting to look like a jeep. Although, it's going to be a very tall jeep. I think he's going to need to attach a step so that I can climb in. I'm a fairly tall person, but there's no way I can climb that high without a step. I will post pictures at a later time because my battery is about to die on my camera, and I still need it this weekend.

I spent the day catching up on projects that I haven't had the time for lately. I do have to say I didn't miss being at work...sorry girls. This week has been crazy, so I felt like it was a good break. Our dogs also enjoyed swimming this afternoon in the pond. I think Gunner would prefer to have a heart attack while swimming than any other way of death. And they also play this game of let's see how wet we can get and then go shake all over Kristen. (Not my favorite game.)

We had another doctor's appointment this week. The doctor said things looked fine on the sonogram, but said he needed us to have another because they did not get a good picture of the baby's upper lip and the brain/back of head. So I am going in on Tuesday to have another sonogram. Darn, I have to go see our baby again. :) I didn't argue with him, but did ask to make sure insurance would cover another. Alan is not going to take off again so soon to go, so I asked my mom to go with me. My niece is also coming, I thought she would like to see the baby, too.

I did not, however, like to step on the scale. It wasn't nice this time. I have found that it is better to weigh myself at home that morning just to prepare myself for that number at the doctor's. I have really been feeling the baby move around a lot lately. It's pretty cool, but I'm afraid for when she gets quite a bit bigger. My energy level during the day has improved, but I find that I overdo myself and need to go to bed early at night. I am one who needs her sleep.

Well, tomorrow's a busy day, with Moundridge garage sales in the AM and a bridal shower for Christy in the afternoon.

Pictures of our little girl

This is the best profile picture we got.

Our little girl not being shy.

Look at her little foot.

You can see toes and fingers on this one.

Crossing her legs. Apparently she is as fidgety as me, she likes to cross her legs, uncross them , and do it all over again. She also was putting her hands behind her head and sticking out her tongue.