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!