New Mobile!

We got a new mobile!

So, I finally got a mobile for Nicole's crib. It plays Beethoven, Bach, and some guy who's name starts with a 'C.' It also plays Nature sounds and Womb sounds. It also projects cartoon animal pictures into the canopy. And, it comes with a remote control, so I can turn it on and off from bed without having to get up. I love it!


When I first showed Nicole the mobile, she was a little confused. But, after a little while of looking at it, she really likes it. It is nice because I can set her in her bed to play and she has a good time.
At night, I turn on the womb sounds and she settles down and goes to sleep. I love the new mobile. But, despite all the money that I spent on the mobile, Nicole still loves the ceiling fan more. She laughs and smiles and babbles at the fan every time I set her down on my bed. Oh well.

2 Month Appointment

Nicole went in for her 2 month appointment yesterday. I am happy to report that I have a very fat baby. Nicole weighed in at 13 pounds 4 ounces. She is the 95% for her weight. Her head size is also in the 95%. She is 23 inches long and in the 75% for length. She is healthy and growing fine, which makes me a happy mom.

Nicole also got her shots yesterday. She was very brave. She only cried for a few minutes after the shots, but it broke my heart. I don't like to see her hurt. She had trouble sleeping last night. She was up and fussing every 15-30 minutes. Which means that I was up too. I'm very tired today! She has a little fever today, but the doctor said that would be normal after the shots. But, it makes for a cry face baby.

She is such a good baby and rarely cries, so it is odd for me when she cries a lot. I'm very tired, but I know that she is feeling worse than I am, so I am just trying to make her as happy as possible. Just another new phase of being a mom.

Crib!

We finally put up our crib! Norm and Rand gave us their crib a few weeks ago and we finally put it together this weekend. By "we" I mean that Matt did all the work and put it together.

We put the crib up in our room because Nicole is still really little and I couldn't handle her being in a different room during the night. We took down her little playpen/bassinet and we are putting it at my Mom's house so that Nicole has somewhere to take her naps while my Mom watches Nicole. I go back to work in just a week.

Coley Oley seems to really like her crib. The mattress is a lot softer than the bassinet, which felt like a cardboard box. She actually likes to rest and play by herself in the crib, which she didn't do in the bassinett.
Plus, now I can get a battery powered mobile. Nicole loves mobiles and she had one for her bassinet, but it was a wind up. So, I would have to go back to her every two minutes to wind it again. Now that she has a crib, I can get a real mobile that lasts longer than two minutes.

It is a really nice crib. It is the color that I would choose and it has a drawer at the bottom of it to store blankets and sheets. I love it! I'm glad that Nicole loves it too. Hopefully, this will help with her sleeping for long periods issues.

I've been dressing Nicole in yellow and green lately. She looks really cute in those colors! It makes her eyes look like they will go green, not brown. We will see.

Memorial Day Weekend

I love long weekends! I got three whole days with Matt and Nicoley. Unfortunately, Matt was sick on Friday night. He stayed downstairs and tried to avoid getting me and Coley O sick. I had a hard time sleeping because I am used to sleeping with Matt in the bed with me. It was odd. Luckily, Matt started feeling better on Saturday and we were able to go shopping together. I have been doing the grocery shopping alone with Nicole lately and it was really nice to go with Matt.

On Sunday, we made lasagna and had Anne, the kids, DJ and his girlfriend Jana overr. Unfortunately, I was feeling sick on Sunday. But, Matt was super Dad/husband and took care of Nicole and made dinner for everyone. I think that Moms should get sick days like employees do.

On Monday, Matt and I had planned a picinic. We wanted to take Nicole for her first outdoor outting. But, we had massive amounts of food, so we invited the parents and Johnny and Krista.

I dressed Nicole up in a cute little sun dress and shot some pics of her.


But, Nicole missed almost the whole event because she slept through it. I guess the combination of being warm and comfortable made her all sleepy. I woke her up right before we were going to leave because Mom and Krista wanted to hold her.

Matt and I cooked burgers, corn on the cob and had other picinic foods that we prepped before hand and brought to the park. We went to Nielson's park by the Walmart in Orem. It is a really nice park and it wasn't too crowded.
Mom and Dad came and brought fresh cider. Yum! Mom even joined in on a game of frisbee with Johnny, Krista, and Matt.
Krista and Johnny came a little late, but it was good to see them after their long trip away.
Nicole did not like being woken up and did not like the sun. She didn't want to open her eyes at all.
I finally got a picture with me and my baby. I haven't liked the way I have looked for the last month, but I've lost 40 pounds and I feel pretty good, so I posed for a pic.
This was as happy as she got during our outting. Matt played her favorite pasifier game with her and she gave a little bit of a smile despite the sun.
It was a good weekend! I loved my time with Matt even though we were both sick at one point.

Pictures

This is Nicole's outfit today. I thought that it was really cute. It is a little big for her, but I kept it on anyway.

These are her little shoe socks. I really wanted her to wear these so I put her in the too big red dress.

Nicoley kind of let me take a picture of her with a smile. She was unsure because the camera was up.

This was Nicoley yesterday. We were playing a game where I say "Hoo" and then she would copy me. It was funny to me. But, I'm her Mom, so I think that everything she does is funny.

What is the difference between night and day?

(This is the face that Nicole gives me every time I hold up the camera. Silly Nicole.)
I don't think that Nicole knows the difference between night and day. Lately, she has been sleeping a lot during the day and then she does not want to go to sleep at night. We turn off the lights and lay her in her bed after she has been stuffed full of milk and she thinks that it is play time. It becomes her favorite game to spit out her pacifier and grunt (because she doesn't cry, she grunts) until Mommy or Daddy comes and puts it back in. Repeat for hours!

We turn on her little mobile for her and that usually calms and entertains her, but it is a wind up mobile and we then have to keep getting up to wind it up again. This is also really annoying! And, she usually doesn't fall asleep until 11pm or 12am.

Then, she has been waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning for a feeding, then again at 6am and again at 9am. This leads to me feeling very exhausted because I haven't gotten more than three consecutive hours of sleep. I'm so tired.

I don't know how to change her schedule or how to make her sleep for longer intervals. I would feed her more, but she often falls asleep during her feedings and doesn't eat until she is full. And, of course, when she is asleep after eating, I set her in her bassinet and after five minutes, she wakes up. Why?!? She was just sleeping and was completely happy.

But, during the day, she sleeps great! I feed her and she falls asleep and I set her on the bed next to me and she sleeps for hours. I don't put her in her bassinet during the day because it is easier for me to take care of her on the bed where I am. But, maybe I am teaching her bad habits and maybe I am the cause for her nightime troubles because she thinks that our bed is her bed.

I know that this will not last forever and eventually she will sleep in longer intervals, but it is wearing. Plus, I have to go back to work in two weeks and I'm just not sure how I will work for nine hours a day if I'm going off of two 2.5 hour intervals of sleep. Ugh.


This is a classic Nicole face. Oh, and she has red eyes. Don't be hypnotized!
This is what Matt did to her hair last night. I thought it was cute.
Here is a picture of Nicole's best friend. She will lay on the bed and smile and laugh with her best friend Fanny.

My Mother's Day Gift

This is the first year that I got to celebrate Mother's Day. It is a little surreal. I often don't think of myself as a mother. Matt came up with the perfect gift for me though. He built me a linen closet. It is an open shelf linen closet in our bathroom. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before picture. But, there was just a closed wall next to the vanity in our bathroom and Matt punched holes in the wall to see if there was empty space in there where he could build shelves. Luckily, there was!

Here are the shelves in phase three. It was an open hole for a while and Matt had to frame and drywall the shelves. He is all amazing and stuff.
Here's my man hard at work. It took him only a week to build the shelves, he was determined to finish before mother's day.
Stage four, with the boards up, but pre paint.
Matt also fixed some spots on the wall in the hallway.
Completed shelves! We kept them open so that it would have that "spa" look. I ruined the look with putting a bunch of stuff on the shelves.
I have top and bottom shelves. I forgot to rotate the pic.
Here's me with my new shelves! I had a great mother's day! We relaxed, went and saw my mom and came home and bathed Nicoley. It was a good day.
In other news, here are my latest pictures of Nicole. Here she is sleeping on the bed. I thought she looked so cute with her hands clasped like that.
This pic os from Mother's day. Coley O was smiling for me. It is rare when she smiles, but Matt was able to snap the pic because she didn't see the camera. When shse sees the camera, she usually stops smiling and looks confused.
This is Oley O just hangin' with Mommy during the day. She often gives me this look. I don't know what it means.

My Nicoley Oley

It has almost been six weeks since my Nicoley Oley was born. I love her sooo much! Everything she does is so exciting and new to me. I love being a mom and being able to take care of her everyday. I am often tired and it isn't easy, but I love it because I get to see all the moments of my little girl's life. I am not looking forward to going back to work for four weeks. I'm going to miss my little Oley so much.
Nicole is starting to play and smile. I can lay her down on the bed and she "plays" by watching me make faces at her. Sometimes she will give me one of her rare smiles and it makes my heart happy! Nicole's favorite toy is the ceiling fan. We lay Nicole at the end of her bed and she loves to look at the ceiling fan whether it is on or off. She just stares and stares at the fan and gives it more smiles than she gives me. I'm glad she has a friend in the fan, but I wish more smiles were for me.
Last Sunday, Matt and I went to a baby blessing after party for Carrianne Bacon's son Jason. He was born just three weeks before Nicole. So, we took a picture of them together. It was Nicole's first event with lots of people. I thought I would be more nervous, but I was okay. We just kept Nicole in her car seat and then people didn't ask to hold her.
Here is a picture of Matt with Nicoley at the baby blessing party. We missed the blessing itself because it was at 9am. Getting up and getting myself and the baby ready by that time is not yet possible. I'm going to have to adjust when I have to go back to work in four weeks.
Nicole seems to be getting more personality all the time. She has a lot more expression in her face and she lets us know her likes and dislikes. She loves taking a bath. She is always so happy in the bathtub. But, she really dislikes getting out of the bath. I'm not sure whether it is because we are taking her out of the bath or whether it is because she is cold, but she cries and cries when we take her out of the bath. She is only consoled by eating after a bath. Otherwise, she just continues to cry. Her sad looks break my heart! When she gives me the teary eyes and the quiver lip, I feel so bad! But, it isn't going to stop me from bathing her.

Nicole, my spoiled little baby, loves to be with Mom and Dad on the bed. At night, when Matt gets home, we let her hang out on the bed with us while she is awake, but we put her to her own bed when she falls asleep. She wakes up and fusses, so I bring her back to our bed and she immediately falls asleep. I think that she thinks that our bed is her bed. But, Matt and I always put her back to her bed when she sleeps during the night. Neither of us could sleep with a baby in the bed. Nicoley takes up too much room and she makes noise all night.

I'm sleeping a little better. Nicole only wakes up once during the night, but she has problems going to sleep. She doesn't go to sleep until midnight most every night. I don't know how Matt functions on only 6 hours of sleep, but he does it.

Matt and I are going on our first outing away from Nicole tomorrow. We are going to see the new Wolverine movie and Marie is going to watch Nicole. I'm excited to go and spend time with my husband and I'm trying not to be a paranoid mother who is going to be seperated from my baby for the first time. But, I need to prepare myself for being away from Nicole for nine hours a day when I go back to work. I am the protective/crazy mother that I made fun of prechildren. So, I am sorry to those other mothers that I mocked before. I now understand.

Am I a Seperate Person?

One of the things that I was most excited for when I was pregnant was to be just one person after the pregnancy. I never really felt like myself when I was pregnant and I was looking forward to being me again after the baby came. Now that the baby has come, I am still looking forward to being just one person. I feel like I have a baby attached to me all the time still. I haven't figured out how to have time to do the things that need to get done around the house or to do the things that I want to do during the day because I have Nicoley to take care of. I really have to get a handle on this Mom thing.

I think some Mom attributes come instinctively. Like learning what each of her sounds mean and figuring out what she needs and being able to give it to her. But, managing my time for myself is not instinctive. It is like I don't even realize that all my time is being given to Nicoley because I want to give it to her. I want to make her happy all the time and make sure she has everything she needs even if that means I have to sacrifice for myself. I think that I had the right of it when I was pregnant. Babies ARE evil! They make you want to care for them and entertain them and make them happy. But, I'm not even sorry or resentful. I really feel like all I want is to make her happy. A truly evil plot the babies have concocted. They get us and even if we realize that we've been gotten, it doesn't make us want to change our actions. Diabolical.

I would like to get into a routine soon. I like to be on a routine and I'm sure that Nicole will like it too, I just have to get her into one. Everyday seems to be a surprise right now. I'm never sure if she will sleep or will be fussy or if she will eat at the same time of day that she did the day before. It is very tiring for me. But, I am starting to do the things that I used to love to do pre baby. Sarah and Mark came over and made us lasagna last night and we are going to our dinner at Marie's that we used to do once a month. Now, if only I can get my game nights back, I will think myself a multi-tasking successful Mom.

One Month Old! Well, Almost

Nicole holds up her head so well!

Tummy Time on the Boppy 3 weeks

Cute outfit 2 weeks

Bath time 2 weeks! She loves the bath.

Nicole with Pacifier at 2 weeks

Hawaiin Nicole at 2 weeks

Well, not much has been going on right now. Me and Nicole are starting to get into a routine at home. For the past three nights she has slept for five hours straight at night. This is a huge accomplishment! I was waking up every three hours to feed her, but now I get a five hour block of sleep. I hope that it lasts. Then, Matt leaves early in the morning for work and I feed Nicole and we go back to sleep until 9 or 10am. I feel like the laziest mom because I sleep most of the day still. I'm thinking that once I am fully recovered from giving birth that the sleepiness will ebb. My day is feeding Nicole, burping Nicole, changing Nicole, and then feeding her again. Occasionally, I get to rock Nicole in the rocking chair. It is repetitive, but I love it because I love my little girl.

Hopefully, we will get to doing more things, I'm just too exhausted to do much. Nicole went on an outing with Matt and I, her first that was not a trip to the doctor's or the hospital. We went to Walmart. It was scary for me because I constantly worry that she is going to pick up diseases. But, she survived.

Well, Nicole is awake and hungry, so that is all for now.

One Week Old

First sponge bath

First ride in the baby carrier

4 days old

4 days old in her boppy (which I love)

In the hospital with Daddy

Well, I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had the energy to even walk downstairs to our office to post on the blog.  It seems like I am always feeding, burping, or changing Nicole.  Then, when she is sleeping, I am also sleeping.  It is all very tiring, but that is okay because I have my beautiful baby girl.

I will start with labor and delivery for my catch up, even though many of you know what happened because you read Marie's blog.  Matt and I got into the hospital at 6am on the March 30th.  They started me on the pitocin around 7:30am.  I started to really feel the contractions around 12:30pm, at which time I got my epidural.  I thought about waiting to get the epidural, but Matt convinced me that there was no point in prolonging my pain, so I got the epidural.  Which was surprisingly not very painful.  I thought that it would be much more painful because they put a needle in your back, but it really wasn't that bad compared to the contractions.  After the epidural, I was feeling very good, though my legs were very numb and I had no control over them.  I'm sure it was very comical watching me try to switch from my left side to my right side with numb legs.

At 1pm, my doctor came to break my water, which was painless cuz I was all numb.  But, alas I was still only dialated to a 3 at that time.  That was very disheartening.  I thought that since I had been having contractions all morning,  I should be at least a little more dialated, but alas that such was not the case.  But, after she broke my water, things went fairly quickly and I was fully dialated by 6pm.  But, they didn't want me to push yet, so I sat until 7:30pm when they finally decided I was reading to start pushing.  Pushing is hard!  Pushing has to be the most exhausting workout that I have ever done.  I was exhausted after only the first few times that I pushed.  After an hour of pushing, I was convinced that I was doing it wrong because the baby was just not coming.  But, the nurses assured me that I was pushing well, she just was coming very slowly.  Matt was wonderful in the delivery room.  He was reassuring and supportive and just amazing.  But, I was discouraged after 2 hours of pushing with no baby, so I called my Mom into the room.  She was waiting outside.  I just got to the point where I really wanted my mom.  

Finally, I was given the option  of calling the doctor and having her help me get the baby out with a vacuum.  I took it because I wanted that baby out!  Plus, I was exhausted and didn't know how much longer I could push for.  The doctor came, she vacuumed her and Nicole finally came!  The doctor said that if I didn't get her out with my last set of pushes, they were going to take me into surgery, so I had determination that my baby was coming out! 

There was immediate relief after the baby came out.  Then, the doctor gave my little girl to me and I immediately loved her.  I worried for much of my pregnancy if I would love my little girl enough because the pregnancy had so many unpleasantries, but I loved her right away.  I have never felt so much love for a little baby as I do for my little girl.  

The stay in the hospital seemed very brief because I slept through most of it.  So did Nicole, which was very nice.  I am very much the new mother.  I worry about her all the time and I don't like to be seperated from her.  It is difficult to be in a different room than she is.  I just lover her so much and I want to protect her and make her happy.

Nursing was difficult at first because my Nicole couldn't stay awake long enough to eat, but once we got home she caught on quick and eats very well.  Nursing definitely hurts a lot more than I thought it would, but it is worth it because it is for my baby.

Mom has been with me the last week and it is certainly a blessing.  Mom has helped with stuff around the house so that I can have time to take care of Nicole and sleep excessively.  I know that I will get my energy back eventually, but I am so tired right now.  Nicole is sometimes a good little sleeper and sometimes not.  Sometimes she will sleep in 3-4 hour blocks at night and sometimes she wakes up every hour and wants to eat.  But, she is a lazy eater and takes forever!  It often takes her30-40 minutes to eat because she is so lazy.  So, my sleep patterns are all off right now.  I feel bad for Matt who has to get up and go to work every day regardless of how much sleep he gets.  I try to take care of the baby on my own so he can sleep as much as possible.  But, sometimes the finess of mothering is beyond me and my wonderful husband jumps in to help at 2am.

Thus far, I love being a mother.  It was so much more rewarding than I could ever imagine.  I love Nicole so much and I am so happy.  Hopefully, I will be able to keep things more updated.  

Nicole Marie Kimball

Newborn Nicole

8lbs 9oz

20-1/2"

3/30/09 10:09pm

Baby on Monday!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday.  It went very well.  I am at a 2.5 and 85% effaced.  I was just happy to have progressed a little bit.  But, in addition to my regular check up, I scheduled an induction for Monday the 30th.  Monday is the day of my due date and I am far enough along that I qualify for an induction, so I am doing it.  I am one of those people who like to have a plan.  Then, I like to carry out the plan and be ready.  This whole uncertainty with the baby has been killing me.  But, now I feel a lot more possitive about the situation now that I have a plan.

So, on Monday morning, Matt and I will go into the Utah Valley Hospital and hopefully have our baby girl before the end of the day.  We shall see.  Yay!  I'm so excited that the end is very near.  Now it is just a matter of being patient until then.

Sarah is out of town tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully Nicole does not make a surprise appearance.

Baby Never Coming!

This baby or my body hates me.  I've decided that the baby is never coming.  My body must not know how to have a baby, because if it did, then I would have a baby by now, but I don't!  I went to the doctor yesterday and got my membranes all stripped, but it did not yeild contractions.  It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, just a lot of pressure, but it made me all hopeful that something would come of it.  But, it has been almost 20 hours and... nothing.  The doctor said that if it had worked, I would start feeling something in 24 hours.  Bubkis!  

I know that I am still 6 days from my due date, but I am more than ready to be done.  Jasmine told me to not get anxious in this final week, but apparently, my emotions do not take good advice.  I'm all frustrated and anxious and I want the baby out.  I am still only dialated to a 1 and 85% effaced.  I've decided that these numbers mean nothing.  They are just cruel ways of saying that the baby is still not here despite my minimal progress.

I have another doctor's appointment on Thursday.  I've decided that I'm just going to schedule an induction after that appointment.  Pregnancy is just the worst.  I want the reward already.

In other news, today is Me and Matt's 2 year anniversary!  Yay, I've been married two full years now.  It feels a little weird to think that I have been married two years, but then it also feels like I have been with Matt a lot longer because I could not imagine my life without him.  We really aren't doing anything to celebrate our anniversary because I'm enormously pregnant and uncomfortable.  But, we will probably take time this summer when Nicole is a little older and we have gotten used to the parenting thing and celebrate then.  I guess the only thing I can be grateful for right now is that the baby is not coming on our anniversary.  I didn't really want to share the day.

Maternity Leave

So, I was suppose to start my maternity leave next week.  I was suppose to work all of this week and then have a week off before my due date.  But, after having gone to work just one day this week, I've realized what a silly plan that was.  

I get very tired very fast and it is just exhausting trying to be at work for 9 hours.  I don't know how some women do it.  Plus, I can't sit like a normal person in my office chair because my belly hangs so low that it hits my legs and I feel all smushed and the baby starts to move like mad when I am squishing her.  I don't think that she likes it.  So, it is just painful for everyone involved, especially my coworkers that get to hear me complain all day.

Plus, my contractions (Braxton Hicks) are getting more and more painful and I don't really care for them.  It is hard to relax and time contractions when I'm also trying to do work.  In conclusion, I decided I would be better and more comfortable at home.  So, I'm taking three more unpaid days than I originally planned.   This does mean that I will get three less days on the other side when it is time for me to go back to work, but I think that it is all worth it.

I'm going to have to say that this last part of pregnancy, the part where I am waiting in uncertanty as to when the baby is coming, is probably the most nerve wracking.  I hate waiting and not knowing when the baby will come and I hate timing contractions because they get my hopes up and then dash them when they stop completely.  I wish babies could be more of a scheduled event.  I know I could do the whole induction thing, which is kinda like scheduling, but I'm hoping that she will just come on her own.

I've got another doctor's appointment tomorrow.  I'm crossing my fingers that something will be new.

No Change

Went to the doctor and there is no change from last week. I think that Nicole is just being a girl. Stubborn and dramatic. She will come in her own time I guess. But, I'm going to do everything I can to try and get her here. If you want to see prego pics of me, see Marie's blog.

TMI?

Well, this may be a TMI post, but I'm excited, so I'm sharing. I went to the doctor's yesterday and I'm 80% effaced and dialated to a 1. Which, really doesn't mean much, or so I am told, but I like to think that it means that I am in the home stretch.

Mom and Jill have revised their guesses and have said that they think that I am going to have the baby next week. I'd like her to hold on until my maternity leave starts. We shall see. Feel free to get your baby guesses in now with this new information.

Less than 4 Weeks

Well, I am less than 4 weeks away from my due date. Yay! Last week was a really bad week because I was in a lot of pain as the baby continually gets bigger. This week I am feeling a lot better and growing used to being in pain. This is how it has been the whole pregnancy. I feel terrible one week as a new/unpleasant pregnancy symptom appears and then the next week I am used to it. So, I should feel pretty crappy again next week when I get some new experience from this pregnancy.

In other news, Matt has had the opportunity to do a little short term work for the last week and a bit. My Dad had needed some help at his office as he gets taxes done for the company and Matt went and helped him for a week. We were very grateful for the work and the pay that comes along with it. Matt still has not been able to find a job yet. As more and more people get laid off, the competition for jobs is really rough. My company had one opening and over 150 people applied for the job. It is just really tough for a lot of people right now. We count ourselves lucky that I still have a job.

My maternity leave starts in 3 weeks and you can bet that I am counting down the days. As nice as it has been that I have been healthy enough to handle working this long whilst pregnant, I look forward to the days when I can relax and get things ready for the baby. Matt and I very much hope that he will be able to find a job before the baby comes as I will not be making any money while on maternity leave. Curse the lack of laws in Utah for pregnant women! But, on the other hand, it would be nice to have Matt home with me for the first little while when the baby is born. He really has more experience with babies than I do. Being a younger child, I never really had to take care of babies.

We discovered a couple of days ago that our dishwasher is no longer washing our dishes. It fills up with water, makes a weird sound for two hours and then stops, but no water hits the dishes. They just get all steamy. So, Matt is going to take it all apart and try to figure out what is going on, but we will most likely have to buy a new dishwasher. It kinda sucks. We have to do the dishes by hand until it is fixed or replaced. I've lived with a dishwasher for so long, I forgot how annoying it is to wash things by hand. I've been spoiled. Plus, with a giant belly, it is difficult to wash dishes as I can't get very close to the sink. I end up with a very wet belly by the end of the dish washing.

Well, that is all the new news for now. Hopefully, things look up soon. Like, maybe my baby will come in like 2 weeks. That would be awesome.