Bedridden, Bored & Completely insane - She is totally worth it!

Proud Nana

2010-01-28T15:00:00.003-06:00

This was last weekend...on our way to K-ville to look at houses. She doesn't have her Nana wrapped around that little finger of hers....nah!

Please pray that we survive!

2010-01-19T08:18:00.002-06:00

AnnaJo was not feeling well last week - cough, cold, congestion and possibly pink eye. The daycare was convinced about the pink eye, so I had to keep her home a few days last week. Vegas was also sick - Vestibular disease and an inner ear infection. Ultimately, the poor dog couldn't walk straight and couldn't stand up. We thought he had meningitis and were preparing for the worst when we took him to the vet. He was not eating either - which is totally unlike him. SO....we brought his food upstairs. For some reason, we failed to remember to put it up after offering it to him. While I was in the office, I heard the dreaded sound....the entire bowl of food hitting the floor, piece by piece. This is what I found in the kitchen. My first instinct was to get mad, but then i realized this was a great picture opportunity and it was my fault for not putting the food up, away from her. Needless to say, we have our hands full!

AnnaJo got in trouble at daycare yesterday - pulling hair and hitting. We're supposed to be reinforcing - hands are for hugs! I'm sure she is thinking exactly that as she tries ripping off our lips and ears. :-) I've tried spanking, smacking her hands, telling her no and even tried time-out. To no avail, she continues to hit, pull hair, throw her cup on the floor, throw her food on the floor and play with the tv buttons. And now when I tell her no, she signs it right back to me with her little fingers pinched together.

So....please pray that we all survive what appears to be the terrible 2's starting a little bit early.

15 months - big girl!

2010-01-08T13:42:00.009-06:00

AnnaJo had quite a day on Jan 5. She had her 15 month well-baby-check that included shots and she got her first haircut. I've included pics of her haircut that can speak for themselves...AJ got a sucker as a treat and Mommy needed a shot of...well, a xanax might have worked a little better than a shot of vodka really. Regardless, Mommy didn't get a treat of anything except a lick or two from the kid's dum-dum.

And then her dr's appt? Oh lord....Praise God that we didn't have the camera for that one. AnnaJo threw her first real temper tantrum. It included lots of crying and screaming, but the best was when she had to show Dr. Stix how well she ran. Chris took her about 10 feet away from me and had her run to me. AnnaJo got about 3 feet away from me, threw her screaming little self on the ground and proceeded to kick and scream for what seemed like minutes. Then she ran to the door, screaming to get out. Asked for food, asked for milk, begged 'please, please, please' and she would not be consoled with neither food, nor drink. She was having a poltergiest type of fit! I seriously thought her head might start spinning around. You might think i'm stretching the truth...i promise I'm not. Nana is the witness - she couldn't believe it either. Chris (her pediatrician) just laughed and assured us both that she is fine and this age is one of the most difficult for this reason.

As far as her check-up goes - she is doing great. She weighs 25 pounds and is 32 inches tall....hovering at the 80/85 percentile for both ht/wt.

Enjoy the pics...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T15:15:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year! Bring on 2010!

Big stuff going on for the Hills.... Cliff and i went to Oregon in December for an interview with US Cellular. It was a great trip - beautiful. I was totally obsessed with the water. He got the offer and we had to turn it down. Gorgeous place to visit, but too far away from the family. AND housing was twice as much out there. I enjoy a good snack of Ramen noodles, but I don't want it to be a staple. :-) Here are some pics to enjoy...

Oh yea....the job....so now instead of going to Oregon, it will more than likely be Kirksville, MO or Rolla, MO. Either way, it doesn't take airfare, so all should be well. And if anyone complains, i'll remind them that Oregon was a very real possibilty. A few hours is much better than a few days travel time. :-)

Christmas and New Years was great too. AnnaJo enjoyed all of it and is getting bigger each day. She is changing SO much. Her 15 month appt is tomorrow, so i'll update with her stats later this week. Here are a few pics of her too...

she loves to give kisses now - here's her smooch

She and Daddy on New Years Eve - Midnight (EST). She watched the ball drop!

New Years Eve - The hat was a part of a whole ton of Christmas gifts from Aunt Susie (one of Mom's best friends)

She loves the Wiggles car - such a happy girl!

New face for her - all of a sudden she flexed her muscles like this and got very excited. Glad I had the camera.

She loves playing in Nana's Longaberger baskets - this was all on New Years Eve.

Where does the time go?

2009-11-23T16:31:00.004-06:00

It's nearly Thanksgiving! How does that happen?

AJ is good...spoiled rotten,but very good. Here are the latest...

Happy Birthday AnnaJo!

2009-09-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

AnnaJo turned one year old today! She was so happy when she woke up this morning! I started snapping pictures and she was quite a little drama queen. Papa Rod came to visit last night, so I had to give up my bathroom for him to get ready. I was putting my makeup on in the bedroom and she decided to play too. It was too cute!

We headed out to Nana's for lunch and her birthday party. She loves to put on her apron like Nana, but i think Nana likes it even more. I baked her birthday cake on Friday night and Jodi helped me ice it yesterday before AJ's party. AnnaJo enjoyed it...

I only cried once!

2009-09-23T10:25:00.003-05:00

I did it! I successfully left AnnaJo with her Daddy overnight. And not just 1 night....3 nights!! And I only cried once! Go me!!!

Missy and I went to New Orleans on Sept 18 for a girls weekend. We left Jeff City on Thursday night and stayed overnight in KC before our early morning flight on Friday. When we left, Cliff was taking AJ on a walk and she was a waving little fool. For a few days before I left, she became a Daddy's girl. I think she knew that I was leaving and she was just trying to make it easier. :-) Smart little girl!!Before I went to sleep on Thursday night, I set the alarm on my cell phone. Big mistake - AnnaJo's picture is my wallpaper on the phone. I just couldn't help it...i broke down. I texted Cliff to make sure she went to sleep okay without me, and of course she did. The tears finally stopped about 5 minutes later and I was able to go to sleep. I felt so silly...it was only my very first night away from her in a year and nine months (oh yes, I totally count the pregnancy too). No more tears though after that....probably out of sheer exhaustion.

Funny story though...Cliff had a first while I was gone too.... He was giving AnnaJo a bath on thursday night before bed. She has about 4 teeth coming through right now, so she is eating everything in sight or at least chewing on everything for a bit. So her little digestive system is really getting a workout. anyway, he was giving her a bath on thursday night and she pooped in the bathtub! Please note that she has not really done that to me, so it was totally a new experience for Daddy. :-) And not only did she do it once, she did it twice! He had to fill the bathtub 3 times!! (mwah, ha, ha - in your most evil mommy laugh voice).

Bye Mommy! Have a great time!

Megan and I in the elevator of the resort - Club La Pension

Bourbon Street!!!

Mine Mine Mine!!!

2009-09-16T15:37:00.003-05:00

It's official.... September 6 was the last day that AnnaJo nursed! I weaned her by the sign of the moon from the farmer's almanac. Not sure what sign the moon was in that week, but it said Aug 29 - Sept 6 was the time to do it, so we did it! So after a year, they are mine again! They didn't feel like mine for the first week, but it was nothing that a head of cabbage couldn't fix! Another tidbit of info...Cabbage leaves stuffed in your bra really do take the engorged feeling away. Makes you small like a Karney for awhile, but it was worth it! She is doing very well with everything - hasn't even asked for it at all. And she's been going to sleep in her bed like a big girl! We've been putting her in her crib and she doesn't make a sound.

We also took her 1 year photos last Saturday. She was a little turd! I'm not taking her by myself ever again. In fact, I'm not sure I will take her at all. She was very clingy. I think she'd do better with her Daddy or one of her g-ma's. Actually, that might be a good Tia project. Jodi is pretty good with photographic stuff, so she'd be sure to get all the good pictures taken. She was whiny and clingy through the whole thing. And once we left, she was all smiles. The photographer assured me that it was TOTALLY normal. I'll post as soon as I see the proofs.

We took this photo on Sunday... wish she would have done this the day before!

11 months old...big girl!

2009-08-29T16:28:00.004-05:00

11 months old and quite a handful! Here are some pics....some are from our recent trip to STL for some friends' wedding. Not much new to update except that she is throwing tantrums and I'm trying to regain control of my boobs! She is starting to pull my shirt up in public and that means its time to be finished with breastfeeding! She's not too keen on the idea yet.

She's a Climber!!

2009-08-17T09:47:00.003-05:00

My daughter is .... a handfull, among other things! We had a great weekend playing in the floor and reading books. She also proved to be quite a problem solver! She likes to pull up on the laundry basket and push it around, walking behind it. She pushed it over to the coffee table at one point. Well, you can see the rest of what happened!

Normally, I would make sure to take a better pic with her eyes open, but she dove off the coffee table head first. I barely got my hand under her head before it hit the floor. You can see that she also likes to play postman. We put our mail on the table there and she redistributes it...all over the floor. The picture of her and Vegas is how we spent the rest of our Sunday. She loves that darn dog and thank God he puts up with her!

Mama...finally!

2009-08-11T08:44:00.002-05:00

AnnaJo finally said Mama on Friday, August 7!! (10 months old) I was at Pizza Hut at a Jordan Essentials (Country Bunny) party with Amy. I was looking at the catalog and AnnaJo crawled over to get one of her cheese puffs. She came over saying 'ma ma ma' like she's been doing it forever! I was so excited! She didn't say it again for another day, but now it's been added to her regular vocabulary, including her crying it out time in the middle of the night. It's a heart breaker, but I haven't given in to it yet. I know...my time is coming!

She is also standing up in the middle of the floor by herself. Her balance is really coming along and I anticipate some steps in the next few weeks. She loves to stand up, but not nearly as much as she loves falling on her butt. She is so funny!

too cute not to share!

2009-08-03T13:06:00.002-05:00

You can barely see it now, but AnnaJo took her first big tumble down a step this weekend. She had quite a scratch on her nose Saturday, but it looked much better on Sunday. Cliff had her out on the front porch and turned his back for a moment. Down the front step she went....face first. It was her second or third time down the step and she did it right the first 2 times. She took it like a champ though and tried to do it again yesterday. She is a little ham...a perfect mix of Hammond and Hill.

10 months old!

2009-07-27T21:17:00.003-05:00

I have really got to get better about updating this blog! Let's see...I can't even remember where I left off.

AnnaJo is 10 months old today! I can't believe she is only 2 months away from the one year mark! It has absolutely flown by! She is such a funny little girl. She is always happy, well, usually happy (see below!). She finally has a tooth that I noticed on July 18 (bottom right) and she took her first steps on July 21 at Nana's house. That being said, i have not witnessed it myself, by Mom swears that it happened.

She is still an excellent eater! Can you imagine a Hammond-Hill being any different? :-) She loves to feed herself from the high chair. she's a finger food kind of girl though. I haven't been brave enough to give her control of the spoon. I'm sure that's next. I think she wanted it tonight. Cliff and I were eating dinner about an hour after she ate. She wanted some too and I wasn't operating fast enough. She leaned forward and bit my big toe! I was too startled to be mad. I told her that it's not nice to bite Mama and gave her a mean look. She ended up getting her potato soup!

She is still just saying "da-da-da" and she added something else too, but I"m not sure what it is. I do know that it is NOT ma-ma. I need to be reading to her more - i'm sure she'd be saying a bit more if I'd get on the ball and read every night. It seems like there isn't enough time in the day though! I can't imagine having another one right now!

Pet update: Jersey is living in New Orleans now with Megan and AJ. They are loving her and spoiling her rotten. Monet has gone to live with another family in town too. I'm sure he is being loved as well. So we are down to a 2 pet family and things are a little easier to deal with. We're still willing to part with Mocha, but only to a super loving home. I'm not as concerned about him because he doesn't let AJ too close to him.

Here are some of the latest pics to enjoy...

AnnaJo's first trip to the river over July 4th! Down past Uncle Homer's property in West Plains.

AnnaJo with Aylia and Rogun!

Little Miss Chef!

Did I say that she was happy ALL the time?

AnnaJo with her buddy Monet! (sob, sob)

Update from the Hills

2009-06-23T09:08:00.003-05:00

#1 - Jersey has a new home with Megan and AJ (not my AJ, but AJ Armstrong). She is living in Springfield with them and will relocate to New Orleans when they move. They picked her up on Sunday morning and it was a very sad day for Cliff and I.

#2 - AnnaJo is allergic to the cats. We need to find a super loving home for them. I'd love to be able to take Monet back one day, but it will all depend on AJ's reaction to them.

#3 - Cliff and I went to the Cardinals-Royals game in KC on Saturday. AnnaJo stayed with Cliff's cousin, Jo Jo and played with Brenner and the rest of the Hillbrenner crew on Saturday evening. Here are a few pics... Now that we know how close they live to us, we'll be visiting more often!

Crazy day for us! Allergy dr results!

2009-06-18T16:39:00.002-05:00

AnnaJo's allergy test today was very insightful. Poor baby had a reaction to quite a bit. We will not know if she has a true allergy to these things until we eliminate them from her diet and/or eliminate her exposure to them and then reintroduce them.

Very intense Reaction to: Oranges, Soybean, Green Peas, Alternaria (mold)

Intense Reaction to: Tomatoes, Codfish, Chicken, Eggs (whole/white/yolk), Banana, Sweet Corn, Dust Mites and Cats.

Mild reaction to: Carrots, Peanuts, Apples, House Dust

No reaction to: wheat, oats, yeast, pork, beef, dairy, goats milk, dogs, and cockroaches.

Plan of action....
1 - Food allergies - avoid these foods for 2 weeks, then reintroduce one at a time to see if allergy symptoms increase. (tomatoes, oranges, codfish, chicken, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, green peas, sweet corn, banana) This means that i avoid them since I'm nursing still and she cannot have them either. This includes food that is made with those items too. No tomato sauce, and no cookies and cakes made with eggs! Eggs and Chicken will be the first thing that is reintroduced to our diets in two weeks. Eggs will be first - that way I can have cake on my birthday! :-)

2 - Environmental allergies -
cats will be finding a new home temporarily until we get her food allergies under control. They might be reintroduced later if their new owner isn't super duper attached.

Mold (the kind that is everywhere) and Dust Mites are a little harder to avoid. We'll be buying new matress covers and pillow cases and having our ducts cleaned for sure!

We are following up in 6 weeks to do another round of environmental allergen testing and to discuss the food elimination results.

3 - medication
We will be giving her nasal spray - Nasalcrom once daily in each nostril. That should be fun!

if her reaction the the environmental allergens is severe in 6 weeks, the dr may recommend allergy shots. I'll be reading up and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm hoping we don't have to!

What a day! I have a long list of food label ingredients to avoid. We'll be keeping a food diary (for both of us). And we'll all need to be very aware of her symptoms. Might be a long summer! Our follow up appt is scheduled for July 30!

So...we need to find a new owner for Jersey, Monet and Mocha. Any takers? they need loving homes where they will be spoiled.

Sad day for the Hill's

2009-06-10T16:03:00.004-05:00

Anyone who knows us knows that we LOVE our animals just like members of the family. Priorities have changed a bit though since we brought AnnaJo home. The four-pawed members of the family have all adjusted pretty well to her, but as she becomes more mobile, things are changing a bit. She loves to watch all four of them - both the cats and both dogs. And usually things are fine. She chases them in her walker and squeals as she gets close to them. And if she hits them - watch out! She nearly comes out of the walker, just to claim her prize! Remind me of this around carnival time...she is going to LOVE bumper boats and bumper cars! Anyway, we have decided that Jersey needs to be in a home without babies. She has always done great with my nephews - they are older and a little more deliberate in their actions. She has let them wrestle her all over and just lays their and takes the abuse. However, she is very leary when AnnaJo is around and it makes me nervous to have her in the floor with Jersey at face level. For anyone who hasn't been around her...Jersey is a very loving, devoted friend. She stays off the bed, unless invited up and she likes to sleep at the foot of our bed, on the floor. She loves being around people and will follow Cliff to the end of the earth. She is a great swimmer too...she is a lot of fun to take camping! She is a house dog though...doesn't like being outside without a human being to watch. She prefers to hang out and nap most of the day...watching what happens outside, from the comfort of her own pallet. If you know of anyone who would take extra good care of her, let us know. She is a great dog and we'll want to visit her occasionally, so keep it close, please.

8 months old...big girl!

2009-05-28T15:41:00.003-05:00

My little princess is getting big! This picture is from Dad's house on Sunday, May 25...just a few days before her 8 month mark. She woke up in such a great mood! She is such a cutie, but I am certainly biased.

Still no teeth....

She is eating up a storm...anything i put in front of her. She had her first taste of pork chops on Friday night at TJ's. We went to dinner for Terry's graduation from the 8th grade. I took my food mill along and she had pork chops, sweet potato and green beans. Makes me hungry to think about.

On Monday we took her to Donna and Gary's so Cliff and I could get some housework done. She started doing the army crawl there... and then on Tuesday at nana's went from a seated position to her tummy, did the army crawl and sat back up like a big girl! Nana said that she did it twice, but I have yet to witness it.

She went to her first softball game last night too...loved it. She enjoyed the company - Evan was there and Missy brought Rogun too. We'll have to take pictures next week!

What a difference a year makes!

2009-05-01T13:41:00.005-05:00

A year ago, at 17 weeks of pregnancy, I was giving you the great news of AnnaJo being "AnnaJo" instead of "Wyatt". I was also sharing the news of being sentenced to bed for what I imagined would only be a few weeks. Boy, was I wrong! Or should I say, Girl, was I wrong! (LOL) Can you believe a year has passed already? Here's a recap of my year's lessons and thoughts:

1. Bedrest doesn't mean "do less", it means keep your ass in bed unless you have to pee

2. Sudoku can pass the time away....lots and lots of time!

3. There is a reason that God made high thread count sheets - they ARE worth the money

4. Wimbeldon and other huge sporting events need their own channel. There is no need to disrupt normal TV programming.

5. Matt Lauer is pretty good looking

6. Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives can be watched once a year and it's not hard to get caught up.

7. Waking up without an alarm clock is fabulous

8. Heartburn sucks and it's worse when you're horizontal.

9. Pepcid AC is also fabulous.

10. A weekly outing to the dr's office can be a wonderful excursion to someone who is bedridden.

11. Friends are a God-send during bedrest

12. Operating a shop-vac sucks for someone who is 35 weeks pregnant.

13. Five months of bedrest is totally worth it when you can have a blue-eyed little angel as wonderful as I have.

14. As AnnaJo gets older, those 5 months seem to fade away little by little and now I'd love to be told to stay in bed for a day.

enough lessons...i'm tired and i can't think of anymore. :-) Here are some of the latest pics and news. She is just getting over her first ear infection - it was a nasty one. We ended up going to Urgent Care in Springfield last weekend on a trip to a wedding in Eureka Springs, AR. Needless to say, we missed the wedding. Her picture is purple was taken that day...pretty good for a sick baby, huh? She started saying "da-da-da-da" on April 19. I don't think she realizes that it's Cliff yet, but that's okay. She also said "cat" the other day. She is very aware of what that is! She is still a great eater - added peaches, squash, green beans and peas to the mix. She loves it all. That's my girl!

AnnaJo - 6 months old

2009-03-30T13:11:00.003-05:00

OK....she is 6 months old. We had a big week last week. She had a cold, she had her first professional pics taken and she had a half birthday. AND we had a 6 month check up. She is such a big girl. She weighs 17 1/2 pounds now and is 26 inches long...wearing 9 month clothes already. She is a marvelous baby. She is eating solid food and is loving it. As always, please remember that this is my baby tracker, so you will see some info that really only matters to her mama. I will need this info in a few years when I make her first baby book! :-) I'll keep that info at the end though, in case you decide to stop reading.

Check out a teaser of her pictures at http://twoviewsphotography.blogspot.com/ If you decide to have Jill take your pictures (i totally recommend!), let her know that I referred you. I'll get a discount on my orders. Thanks Lauren for recommending her to me! My favorite so far is the one of her asleep on my shoulder. She was such a happy baby when we got there and then she got hungry. She didn't nap most of the day either, so she was tired too. She is her mother's daughter...she is a bear when she is hungry and sleepy. Once the rest of the pics are edited, I'll give you the website to check out. If they are all that good, I'll have to order them all. I could just surround myself with her pictures! Not sure if I'd be laughing or crying...she is just so adorable! Here is my fave...

Friday was her half birthday. Papa Rod came for a visit with the nephews while Jodi and Doug were in STL. She is going to love playing with them soon...she just likes to watch them right now. Harrison was very sweet with her...loves to touch her face. I worry about them being rough with her, but I have a feeling that she'll be knocking them down and bruising them just as much, if not more!

****** Here is the record keeping stuff ******

Started Rice cereal - 4 months old (to the day). Transitioned to Oat cereal at 5 months. Started veggies and fruits on March 15...Mommy is making them herself!

Sweet Potatoes - loves them!

Avocado - not sure about it, but with cereal and banana it's good stuff!

Bananas - LOVES them. Nana gave her the first taste of banana 3/24.

Sweet Peas - yummy

At 6 months - crying when Mommy leaves the room. She is very whiny if I'm in the room while someone else has her.

******************

I love Shutterfly!

2009-03-17T15:09:00.005-05:00

I'm a little obsessed with these collages on Shutterfly. I love them! Here are the latest...Thank you notes that I'm giving my ultrasound tech, who is much more than that. She is my friend too. And for my drs. they are 8x10's which is a little big for thank you's, but she is a special baby. She is with Nana today...enjoying working in the yard. She's going to be my little outside baby. Mom said that she's been so good...just watching her work in the flower beds.

Cliff and I have done a lot of talking and a lot of praying, well I've been praying at least. I'm still not sure if Cliff prays like he should, but that can be a later topic. I really want to be at home with AnnaJo. I know it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of determination, but i think it will be good for all of us. I like our babysitter, but i feel like I'm missing out on a lot. I think I'll have to become a couponing queen and a deal finder. Any tips or advice would be welcomed! I'm still going to sell Pampered Chef, so if anyone is interested in hosting, let me know. I don't really want to rely solely on that for income though..that takes some of the fun out of it. Prayers are most welcomed too! Everyone has told me that I'll never think we have enough money, but if we are determined to make it work, we can. So...it's a big leap of Faith...one i hope to make by August!

Times are a changing!

2009-03-04T08:29:00.002-06:00

Here's a little tidbit of info about me... Since the time I was 12, I've washed my face both morning and night, trying to avoid that nasty acne! It was easy back then as Mom sold Mary Kay, so all I had to do was grab it from the inventory shelves. Even in high school and college...I could be falling over from exhaustion (possibly from overconsumption of alcohol, but not likely! my child may read this one day!) and I would ALWAYS wash my face before passing out. Well...little Miss AnnaJo has put a kink in my routine. I've started going to bed without washing my face! Eeewww!

You might ask....why the need for sharing this info? I'm trying to win a contest for some very cool products! Check out this company... www.rosyglowbeauty.com/home.htm If I don't win, I think I still might order the Baby Your Face wipes. And when the Rescue Your Hair is available...I'll have it. Who has time for daily showers when a baby is around!?

First day of daycare

2009-03-02T10:03:00.002-06:00

Oh my goodness...this was the hardest morning I've has as a Mom. I had to take AnnaJo to daycare for the first time today. This is the first time that she has stayed with someone who isn't a family member or a super close friend. I told her last night that we were going someplace different this morning. And I told her all about my babysitter, Lyndall Bridges, and how much I loved her. The kids there were very excited to see her and she was very curious about all of them. She did great...all smiles and laughing before I left. Mommy, on the other hand, did not fair so well. I was a crying mess while I was driving to work. I called Cliff and he is having a good day of fishing, but still freezing his toes off! He said that he had to stand in the water this morning just to warm up! Crazy, considering it's Spring-fed water! He is coming home tonight...can't stand to be away from his baby girl for any longer. My...how life has changed!

5 months old and rolling over!

2009-02-27T08:42:00.002-06:00

First of all....happy 5 month birthday AnnaJo! I can't believe she is already 5 months old. It doesn't seem possible!

Second, Cliff just called and told me that when he picked her up from her morning nap, she was on her back! She's been sleeping on her tummy since she was a few weeks old....she rolled over!!! Brings tears to my eyes to write it because I missed it! I hate this whole working thing, but the alternative is probably moving in with one of the grandparents. And trust me....that ain't happening!

Have a great day!!

My first pony!

2009-02-23T10:58:00.003-06:00

AnnaJo loves Vegas already. And he is really a sweet dog with her. And yes, he is on my lap...my very own 70 lb lap dog!

Too many pets!

2009-02-13T22:00:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! Papa Rod came up to visit and watch AnnaJo today. He got a good video of her eating. She tries to eat like the four-paws do. I think we need to get rid of a few animals before she starts peeing on trees!

My Drury girl...

2009-02-08T13:46:00.007-06:00

AnnaJo and I went for a walk this morning while Daddy fished at McKay lake. This is the first time I've had her in her stroller. She loved it! We'll have to do it more often. Since it was only 40 degrees out, we bundled her up tight. She fell asleep before we were finished with the first lap!

So we had her 4 month well-baby-check on Thursday. She is in the 80th percentile across the board...25 inches long and 15.4 lbs. She took her shots like a trooper too...cried for only a few seconds and then she was happy as could be. She was pretty clingy for the rest of the afternoon, but it gave us an excuse to hold her all day long. Our little cuddle bug...

My baby is getting big!!

2009-02-03T13:23:00.004-06:00

My baby girl is 4 months old already! I can't believe it. She is almost rolling over (back to tummy). I expect her to get it done in the next week or so. She has just started it in the last few days and i think if she had enough momentum, she'd get it done. I'm not rushing though. As soon as she is on the move, my life will be crazy!

She started staying with Amanda a few days a week. Amanda has a baby boy, Evan, who is one week younger than AnnaJo. Evan's dog, Riley, loves AnnaJo already. Isn't this cute?

Karisma Aksha - AnnaJo's Indian Name

2009-01-23T14:33:00.004-06:00

Most people know that I work for Rose International. We are a woman & minority owned business. We have an office in New Delhi, India where a lot of our recruiters work. I send instant messages back and forth with one of them frequently...Rishi. Over the last few years, we have become friends. Before I left for bedrest, he was trying to teach me to say a few words in Hindi. I must say...I was not a good student. Anyway...he always asks me how AnnaJo is doing. Today he decided that he would give her an Indian name. He first gave her Aksha which means "light". He said it was because in her pictures, her skin shines like light. I asked him the Hindu word for "miracle" since she is such a miracle baby and he said it was "Karisma". So....her name means Miracle of Light...Karisma Aksha. Interesting, huh? Here is Rishi....I told him that I'd give him props.

Tata for now....did you know that they say Tata in India? Yes, they do.

She keeps getting cuter!!

2009-01-19T08:55:00.003-06:00

16 weeks old on Saturday....she is getting cuter and cuter every day! Here is a picture that I took on Sunday. It's her new outfit from Aunt Deb...one of the few things that aren't pink!

TGIF!

2009-01-16T16:24:00.002-06:00

Thank God it's Friday!! Wish it were a bit warmer, but I'd rather be freezing my butt off at home than at work! AnnaJo has had a good week...getting cuter every day. It's 4:30 and I can't wait to pick her up in half an hour! Technically, I won't be picking her up because I imagine that I'll stay at the in-laws for dinner since Cliff is working till 8. Those are some perks about Grammie and Nana watching her. Would your babysitter set a place at the table for you?!

My sister is coming to visit with the boys this weekend...should be fun. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Busy, busy, busy

2009-01-09T14:05:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness. I never would have believed that adding a baby to my world would effect my schedule so greatly. I can't remember a time that I've gone days on end without checking my favorite websites or responding to my email. And now I'm doing just that - as you can see, I haven't updated my blog since before Christmas.

The Hill household has their hands full. AnnaJo is growing like a weed and keeping us entertained and quite busy. And then we've still got all four 4-paws. If you've talked to me in the past month, you know how I feel about that issue. Speaking of, know anyone who would like a new pet? :-) I know I'd be sad to see them go, but I'm so tired of stepping over them and moving around them. Not to mention the hair! Yuck, yuck, yuck.

I feel like a dairy cow these days. I saw the dr yesterday and she told me that I was made for lactation. (the faint of heart and those embarassed by breastfeeding should probably skip this part). AnnaJo is a great eater. She has been from day 1. Lately she has been spitting up a ton though. I finally decided that it must be the volume that she is eating. Let me explain what led me to that conclusion...I am sharing this personal info because I think it's hilarious! I get in the shower a few days ago and after a few minutes of standing under the hot water, I notice that I'm leaking all over the place. And it's not just a dripping leak - I was spraying milk to the front of the tub. I found great humor in this, so I wrote my name on the shower curtain! Now I understand the fascination that boys get out of peeing in the snow!

I'm trying to pump at least twice a day at work. Yes, I've returned to work full-time now. Every time I step into the bathroom (that's where I pump) I remind myself that the most important thing I do everyday is provide good nourishment to my daughter. I swear that since I've been repeating this to myself, my milk supply has increased by 30% at least. The only hiccup I get from pumping at work is one of the louder voices walking by the bathroom...It's pretty hard to concentrate on the task at hand when the bossman is bellowing outside the door. I think I"m going to start taking my headphones and ipod with me!

Enough for now...keep checking out AnnaJo's photo website - www.annajohill.shutterfly.com.

Happy New Year!
k

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-23T16:11:00.004-06:00

Christmas 2008...if you would have told me a year ago that I'd be celebrating Christmas this year with my very own baby, I'd have told you to keep dreaming. I am still amazed every day that she is mine and I'm so proud of her and proud to be her mommy.

Merry Christmas!

kate, cliff and annajo (aka Princess Toots-a-lot)

AnnaJo had her 2 month appt...shots, ouch!

2008-12-11T13:30:00.003-06:00

My baby girl is growing so big! Her 2 month appt was last week and she is already 13 lbs / 23 inches long! She had her first round of shots and did so good! I was very proud of her, although I think I was far more anxious and nervous than she was. She screamed louder than I have ever heard her scream before - it was a little rough. Nana went along too for the visit and she had to cover her ears. Here's a few of her latest pics...

This is a headband that my aunt Kaye bought for her. Isn't she adorable!?

9 weeks old here....happy girl!

And this is proof that she does kind of look like me. I was 3 months old in this picture! Can you see the resemblance between my Mom and I too? :-)

Where has the time gone??

2008-12-10T11:23:00.002-06:00

It cannot already be December, can it? It seems like yesterday that I was packing my bags to head to the hospital to have my beautiful baby girl. Time has flown by! She is already 10 1/2 weeks old! She is getting so big too. Such a big girl and super strong! She is always trying to sit up.

I'm back at work now - part time for December and then full time in January. It was very hard to go back too...it's so hard to leave her. She's in good hands though. Her Nana, Grammie and Daddy all watch her one day per week. That leaves me with the two other days and I cherish them both! And then weekends too, of course! With the holidays quickly approaching, I can't claim all the weekends though! Speaking of holidays...I have pictures from Thanksgiving posted on her Shutterfly picture page (www.annajohill.shutterfly.com). She was such a cutie...wore her first dress that day!

She had another first on Monday night (12/8) - she laughed really hard for the first time. she was laughing at Jersey. Jersey was supposed to be talking dirty, but she sneezed instead. AnnaJo thought it was hilarious and actually belly laughed. It was too cute!

Hope all is well with everyone!

New Way to Share Pictures

2008-11-06T09:54:00.002-06:00

Posting pics to the blog isn't as easy as i would like. I'll continue to post the best ones, but if you'd like to keep updated on how she is growing and changing, check out this site.
http://annajohill.shutterfly.com/

Shutterfly has some really good deals for printing and they are always running specials like free shipping and discounted projects. From the shared website, you can order prints of AnnaJo or make your own projects or you can just enjoy the view.

Hungry baby is starting to stir...hope you enjoy!!

An Extra hour of sleep...woohoo!!

2008-11-02T06:59:00.012-06:00

Earned an extra hour of sleep this morning...yea! Figures that I'm not taking advantage of it. I woke up at 6:30 needing to pump, so I thought I'd take advantage of my few stolen moments of silence to update my blog.

How bad is it that I have to put the milestones in her blog instead of in her babybook? I have yet to start a babybook for her, so if I don't put the milestones on here, they'll be forgotten. Maybe I'll be organized by the time she is one. Doubtful, I know. Plus it gives you a chance to see how are life is going, so I guess it's not all bad.

So, here are a few that I want to keep track of... I will start with the most important.

First 8 hour stretch of sleep - 10/31/08 1:30AM to 9:30 AM on 11/1 - Grammie and Opa must have worn her out for Halloween! The night before was a wonderful night of sleep too...9pm to 1am and then 2am to 8am. I don't want to jinx it, so I won't totally brag on her for this one.

First Bath - 10/11/08 - Right after MU lost a big game to ?? Her Daddy might be able to tell you who they lost to, but I could have cared less at that point. He felt so passionate about it that he proceeded to get a bit intoxicated from the fifth of Crown Royale that Kim Winder (picture attached for your viewing if you'd like to knock him upside his head when you see him) bought him for being such a trooper about bringing a life into this world. Tough job for the Dad...labor and all was pretty difficult for Daddy. And the breastfeeding!!!! Now that makes Daddy totally deserving of a fifth of Crown! Needless to say, I will let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. The last one is after I had AnnaJo to sleep and he thought it would be fun to tackle me on the bed (which is coincidentally attached to her bed) when I gave him grief about heading up the stairs to get another drink. I'm sure you can tell how I felt about him waking her up.

Winder's visit with AnnaJo

On a happier note...AnnaJo was not crazy about the bath. Since her first we have perfected our methods a little and you'll be happy to know that she has a little bathtub and we don't use the sink anymore...she wouldn't fit in it anymore anyway. On the same note, I gave her her first shower in the evening on Wednesday, October 29. She loved it! For obvious reasons we didn't get any pictures of that! Lucky you!

First Roadtrip - AnnaJo and I went to Springfield with Nana on Saturday, October 18 to visit Tia, Jackson, Harrison and Carter. We left on Saturday morning after a terrible night of very little sleep. Friday night (10/17) was the first night that AnnaJo stayed awake until 4AM. She was awake about 8AM that morning and she slept all the way to Lebanon before she got hungry. Actually, Mom's boobs were about to explode so I had to wake her up in Lebanon to feed her. I'm sure she would have stayed asleep all the way to Springfield if I would have let her. I didn't forget the pump on the next trip and life was much better. Papa ended up visiting that weekend too so we got to see him and meet Uncle Terry too. They stayed at Uncle Doug's house. We went to church the next day with Tia (her aunt Jodi. Tia is aunt in Spanish and that's what AnnaJo will call Jodi). I didn't get many pictures, but this is her first church going outfit. She did very good during her first church service...slept right through it.

First Bottle - October 20 - This came about because AnnaJo was very fussy during the day and her tummy was grumbling all day long and even worse at night. I called the dr (it was probably my 3rd day in a row of calling) and the nurse said that it sounded like she was taking in too much milk too quickly. She instructed me to start pumping and giving her a bottle to see if it helped matters. I also called the lactation consultant and asked for some advice from friends. With a combination solution from everyone, her gassiness decreased. And it's MUCH better now after visiting the dr last Monday and getting the reflux medicine. That's right...AnnaJo has terrible reflux and life is much better now that we have Zantac. I can totally sympathize with her, as my reflux was nearly unbearable during pregnancy. She is still nursing too because she isn't crazy about taking bottles from me. Daddy and Nana are loving that though! AJ continues to hope for a medical miracle too... she will be overjoyed if Daddy can figure out how to nurse!

First trip to West Plains - Saturday October 25 - We left JC about 6:00 that night after Cliff got off work. We wanted to be in West Plains early enough to surprise Grandma Hammond. She didn't know that we were coming and this was the first time of meeting AnnaJo. After a brief stop in Rolla to eat and nurse, we arrived in West Plains about 9:20. We definately surprised Grandma. I have a video, but I don't know how to post those yet. Sorry. And Papa has the pictures since I was carrying the baby and Cliff was videotaping. AnnaJo got to meet her Aunt Kaye and Uncle Homer that weekend too. We went to church with the family on Sunday and the congregation at China Church met her on Sunday morning. They had been praying for her during the entire pregnancy, but especially after our complications became more apparent. Since our dr appts were all on Wednesdays, Aunt Kaye was able to update them every Wednesday night from my text messages. I'll be posting my text messages later in an effort to save them too.

Little Britches is starting to stir, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Sleep? What is that?!

2008-10-22T21:43:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness...for as perfect as she was during her first 2 weeks of life, our world has been turned upside down in the last week and a half! She has been super gassy and fussy at night. We've had 2 nights of her not going down until 4 am. Needless to say, we are struggling.

Speaking of, she is fussy now and I need to feed her. More to come...

Her umbilical cord is gone!

2008-10-12T14:12:00.002-05:00

For as much as I wanted it to fall off, I'm a little sad. It's her first little step in growing up! Cliff was changing her diaper on Friday (10/10) and noticed that it was ready to come off. It was hanging be a thread and as he was looking at it, it came off. She slept right through it...such a good baby! Her little belly button is just too cute now!

She was 2 weeks old yesterday...can you believe it!? I cannot. She is gaining weight and filling out and changing each day. Did I post anything about her first drs appt? Can't remember, but if I didn't...she gained a whole pound during her first week at home! She had lost to 7lb 2 oz in the hospital and weighed 8 lb 2 oz at the dr last Wednesday (11 days old).

Papa Rod is here today for a visit, so I'm getting caught up on some housework. I'm obviously busy at it now...can you tell?! :-) I'm finally starting to feel much more human, so if you'd like to come for a visit, let me know. My only request is that you are healthy (please don't bring any flu bugs in my house) and you're not around any sick people before you come over. If your family is sick or has been sick recently...do me a favor and just wait. I'd really like to make it through the flu/RSV season with nothing major. I was a basket case to bring home a healthy baby. I can't imagine what I'll be like the first time she is sick!

Gotta get some work done around here...talk soon!

-kate

Exhausted, but she is definately worth it!

2008-10-07T13:46:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pics over the last few days. We are all 3 pretty exhausted. She is a beautiful baby and is as perfect as I could have asked for. She only cries when she is hungry and luckily, I've been able to take care of that for her. She is such a dream! Cliff started back to work yesterday and that was a bit hard for me. He is off work today though, so I'm enjoying his company. He is napping with AnnaJo and I thought I'd check some email and get these pics posted. They are both from my cell phone, so not as great quality as normal. I am still planning on organizing some of the other pics to post as well. Not enough time in the day anymore. I guess I'll get used to it! The consensus is that she looks like her Daddy! What do you think? I was a little hurt at first...with the terrible labor and scary pregnancy, you'd think I could have a baby that resembled me. I think she is perfect though...plus, I think her Daddy is pretty good looking, so I don't have much to be concerned about.

AnnaJo's hospital pictures

2008-09-30T15:37:00.002-05:00

Here is the link to AnnaJo's hospital photos...

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage.asp?URLID=0205079098

Visitor password = Hill

We have a ton of photos from Nana, Poppie and Papa too. I'll get them organized and post a link for those as well.

We are both doing well. We will go home from the hospital tomorrow morning. I'm sure we could have gone today, but everyone advised me to stay as long as possible. So here we are... It's probably a good thing though b/c my incision is still VERY sore and I'm not sure I'm ready to be home.

AnnaJo is here...very LONG day!

2008-09-28T21:54:00.006-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted sooner, but it has been an exhausting day. AnnaJo finally arrived at 8:26 PM last night by way of a c-section...a c-section that was physically the worst experience I've ever had. We have a beautiful healthy daughter, so overall it turned out well. She is absolutely gorgeous and is such a good baby. She has been breastfeeding very well and she barely ever makes a noise. I know....barely 24 hours into the world...not a fair judgement probably. I'll keep you posted on that I'm sure.

I'm still very exhausted, so I'm keeping it short...Basically the c-section was scheduled for 8:00. Anesthesia switched my epidural to a spinal block and apparently it was bad. I felt the incision the dr made, so they administered a local anesthetic - Ketamine, a dissociative drug that is used freqently in military hospitals. It was the worst drug I've ever taken...made me very disoriented and I still felt the section. I screamed lots and cussed even more....such a sailor, you know. Cliff was there for it all and he was wonderful! At one point, I thought I was dying. It was so scary and I had adrenaline shakes that were terrible! When AnnaJo was here Trum politely told Cliff to go with her to the nursery. After he left, they knocked me out completely to finish the surgery. He ended up opening up my cervix from the inside to make sure it was okay. Good choice about the c-section...my cervix was NOT going to dilate. He had to use some sort of metal instrument to get it open. I woke up in the recovery room and had no clue what was going on. I didn't get to see AnnaJo until after 11:00, but it was worth it. She is gorgeous. It was a very long night and I only ended up getting about 4 hours sleep last night after getting only 4 the night before - I'm tired!

The grandparents and aunt & uncle didn't get to spend any time with her last night, so they came up today and spent all day. We had a few more visitors too, so our room was only empty for about an hour today. I apologize for not answering the phone today - I know everyone has been concerned. To be very honest...I just didn't have the energy to talk much. Thanks for the messages though - I promise to catch up with you soon. Here are her stats and some pics...

AnnaJo (middle name still unknown) Hill

Arrived 8:26 PM - September 27 2008

7 lbs 13 oz - 20 inches long
love to all! - Kate, Cliff & AnnaJo

Check out these feet!

Here is happy Mommy...ignorant and clueless

Here is a very proud Daddy and a nearly dead Mommy in the background!

Decision has been made....it's c-section time!

2008-09-27T18:36:00.002-05:00

Trum came in about 15 minutes ago and decided to go ahead and do the c-section. My cervix is not cooperating still and is not dilated at all. I have to be shuffled around a hip replacement and some other surgery, so I'm not sure what time everything will go down. BUT....we'll have a beautiful baby girl in just a few hours I'm sure. So...gotta make sure my makeup is on and looking good for the pictures. :-) Priorities you know...

love you,
kate

Nearly 6pm...she's still not here!

2008-09-27T17:41:00.002-05:00

Nearly 6:00 PM....my epidural was put in at 11:30 this morning. The nurse came in and said my lovely personality was fading. And boy was it....my bitch switch was flipped for sure! The nurse has checked me a few times today and my cervix is just plain incompetent. Damn thing won't dilate and she cannot tell if she is on my cervix at all. The dr has been delivering babies left and right today, so I'm not the main priority. I know....shocker. :-) Since I'm comfortable, he's not too concerned. The pitocin is working...my contractions are strong and VERY regular. Yes, I can still feel them, but they aren't painful.

If you are trying to call me, I'm sorry for not answering. I'm tired of being on the phone and quite frankly, I don't feel like talking. Sorry! As soon as this child is here, we'll post it and send out a text message. At this point, it will probably be a c-section as soon as he has time. With cervixes like mine it is not uncommon to labor all day long, dilated to a 1 and then all of a sudden be ready to push. We shall see...my water is still there too, so it could still be a few more hourse. In fact, you'd better plan on it. Trum said that we'll have a baby by midnight though, so hold tight.

love to all...
kate

In the hospital and hooked up to the Pitocin!

2008-09-27T10:00:00.002-05:00

10:00 AM... We arrived at the hospital at 7am...a little late of course, but who would expect otherwise! :-) We didn't get much sleep last night, about 4 hours to be exact. They hooked me up to the Pitocin about 7:30 and we are on our way. There is a chance that we will still have to do a c-section, but we shall see later. I'm having contractions now, so who knows! The dr hasn't checked my cervix yet, but I will keep you posted.

Dad came to the hospital with Cliff and I this morning. It was kind of sad to leave the dogs...you could tell that they knew something was going on. Poor puppies aren't going to know what to do when we get back home! Mom arrived about 9:00 and we are watching a movie now. Daddy to be is sleeping and starting to snore loudly. Nana is videotaping him as I type. Too funny...if I figure out how to post video, I'll do it. tee hee

Another contraction...can't type. Later!!

25 minutes away from AnnaJo's birthday!

2008-09-26T23:37:00.002-05:00

Can't believe the day has nearly arrived! I just walked in my front door for the last time as an expecting mother. We just got back home from Donna & Gary's. Dad is up here too. Mom and Jim helped us get the house all ready today...put up a shelf in the nursery and cleaned the windows and the rest of the house. Jodi is still in Springfield with the kids, but will head up tomorrow morning. I'm headed downstairs to double check that I have everything I will need. The computer has been acting up today, so my post about the dr's appt was short and sweet! Sorry. I'll try to update as things progress tomorrow...so keep checking back. :-)

Love to all...
Kate, Cliff & AnnaJo (nearly here)

One more pregnant day!

2008-09-26T13:36:00.003-05:00

Here is the plan...Cliff and I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 AM tomorrow morning. The dr will start a very small dose of Pitocin to see if my cervix will react. If it does, we'll have a baby sometime in the afternoon or evening. If it doesn't, he will do a c-section tomorrow early afternoon. Either way...we'll do our best to keep everyone updated.

Last prenatal appt at 10AM today! OMG

2008-09-25T06:25:00.002-05:00

Nearly 6:30 am on Thursday and I've been awake for the last 2 hours. Preparation for the little person that is scheduled to arrive in another 2 days if not before. I cannot believe we are only 48 hours away from having AnnaJo in our world. It's been a crazy pregnancy and this is by far the worst week as far as being uncomfortable. However, for the first time (at 4:20 am) I thought that I might actually miss being pregnant and being able to feel her move and grow inside me. If it weren't for my stupid cervix, I might be good at this whole "pregnant" deal!

My 38 week appt is this morning at 10...so excited that I didn't go into labor while Trum was in Chicago!! I am very anxious to see if I've progressed at all this week. I've been having contractions, but nothing major. At this point, nothing is going to surprise me! I am just now reaching my pre-pregnancy weight, so hopefully I won't go past it with water retention in the next few days.

The basement (our bedroom) is finally starting to look normal again. We've dried the carpet out completely, the pad is gone and the carpet has been stretched back in place (thank you wonderful husband with newly bruised knees!!). The weird carpet odor is still lingering a bit, but it's not overwhelming when you walk in the door anymore. I'm sure we'll be using the febreeze for a little while longer, but that's better than living upstairs in the small extra bedroom. :-) AnnaJo's nursery is taking shape. Mom finished sewing her curtains last night and I made her a little picture memory board yesterday too. Her dresser is due to arrive in the next few weeks, but it isn't holding up any other progress, so that's okay. Cliff is off work tomorrow and I'm hoping to finish the painting projects and any other final little projects that need to be done before miss AJ arrives. If anyone LOVES to paint, call me! I'd welcome any volunteers at this point.

Love to all...I'll update again this afternoon to let everyone know what the news is today!

kate, cliff & annajo

Week 37 Dr appt....very good!

2008-09-17T21:07:00.002-05:00

So the dr confirmed that I went from being one of the highest risk patients in his practice to one of the most boring. :-) I guess that's a good thing! The u-sound was good today. AnnaJo is weighing in at 7 lbs 4 ounces now. We are officially 37 weeks and 4 days, so if I were to go to 40 weeks, she should be 8 1/2 lbs. My dr is headed to Chicago on Monday, so I'll be lying low until after he returns on Thursday. My appt next week is on Thursday instead of Wednesday. If AnnaJo hasn't made an appearance by then, he will induce on Saturday, September 27. He checked my cervix today also and I'm dilated to about 1/2 a centimeter and effaced 90%. Keep in mind that my cervix didn't start out at 0%, so it's not like i've made that much progress.

Headed to bed now...hoping to wake up to a much better smelling house!

37 wks - 4 days...we made it!

2008-09-17T09:48:00.002-05:00

It's only Wednesday and it feels like the longest week ever! Our basement is finally drying out, but it still smells terrible. Did you know that wet carpet pad smells like cat urine? I would blame the cats normally, but there would have had to be a freakin pride of lions peeing down there to create the smell that we've had going on. Needless to say, we removed all the carpet pad and shampooed the carpet. We've got 2 dehumidifiers going and 2 fans and we've been sleeping upstairs all week. I'm hoping to get the furniture moved back into the bedroom by the weekend. The smell is getting a little bit better and will hopefully be gone by the weekend. If all else fails, we're going to steam clean the carpet with a vinegar solution. I'm hoping we don't have to do that though....I'm not a huge fan of vinegar odor either. :-)

Our weekly dr appt is at 4:00 this afternoon. I can't believe we made it to 37 weeks! Such a big difference from where we were in May....just trying to hold on until 28 weeks! AnnaJo is pretty comfortable apparently. She hasn't made any major attempts to make an appearance yet! Good thing too...the house is turned upside down from all the stinkin water!

Good thoughts and prayers for today...

Noah's ark...I mean Cliff's

2008-09-14T13:39:00.002-05:00

What a terrible morning! Who would have thought that two hurricanes in a two week period would effect Missouri? We've been awake since 3 am this morning. Vegas woke up whimpering at 3am and then at 4:30 or so Cliff got out of bed to find a bathroom full of water. We've had water in the basement before, but never where it was this morning. It was coming in through the foundation into our bedroom. By the time we noticed it, the carpet and pad was soaked all the way into the bathroom and there was 2 inches of standing water in our bathroom. Anyone know a good foundation person? :-) Called Mom and Jim at 5:00 to come over with the shop vac and then called Donna and Gary at 6:15 to come over with theirs. Poor grandparents thought they were getting the well anticipated baby call! Once it stopped raining, the water finally slowed down and we were able to catch up with it. It was about 10am by the time we were done. I've never seen water come into a house like that! All I could do was laugh for a little while because in 10 years, are we going to say "what a life...when all we had to worry about was water!"? Through it all, I had some contractions, but nothing major. The irony of it is that yesterday i finally felt like we were ready to bring home a baby. So much for that! It's true...we'll never be "READY". We had date night last night - went to see Righteous Kill....last one for who knows how long! Very good movie by the way! Vegas is still whining...his leg is hurting again. Seriously...can we get a break?!

What a day....a full days work put in before noon on a Sunday. Craziness! Guess I might ought to get used to waking up at 3am, huh? :-)

By the way, I'll have my computer at the hospital, so I'll update this blog and send out an email as soon as I can. I'll also send out a text message and leave a message on my voicemail to let everyone know she's arrived. If we don't answer the phone when you call, don't worry!

Love to all! Send us some hopes and prayers for dry weather for a little while!

-kate, cliff and annajo

Stitches are out!! - Week 36

2008-09-10T20:45:00.002-05:00

Week 36 appt was kind of stressful. Our ultrasound showed that AnnaJo's heartbeat was irregular. The u/s tech was sure we'd have the baby tonight. After the u/s, we headed for labor and delivery to get the cerclage removed. When we saw Dr. Trumbower he indicated that he wasn't really concerned about the heartbeat - he figured it was because I was pissed at Cliff. (long story short...cliff went out with the boys on tuesday night instead of coming home to help me the night before the stitches came out. I was pretty mad about it to say the least! :-) ) He took the stitches out and we hung out for about an hour being monitored. I had a few contractions, but nothing major. I'm dilated to a one now and I'll see the dr on Wednesday again unless we go into labor before.

Thanks for the continued support, thoughts and prayers! They are working!!

Love to all,
Kate, Cliff & AnnaJo

Pictures I have promised...

2008-09-09T17:40:00.006-05:00

Stitches are out tomorrow and I'm very nervous about it. I've finally realized what I'm such a nutcase about. It's not diaper changing or crying or even losing sleep. It is being responsible for raising a child to be a responsible adult and contributing member of society. I am a perfectionist... self admitted. If I don't know how to do something, I'm not the first to jump in and try it until I'm fairly certain that I'll be really good at it. I'm pretty sure that this is the reason I didn't head to medical school like I had always said I would. My first bad grade in college sent me into a downward spiral that changed my life forever. This is also the reason that I do not play softball and have never taken up any sport other than volleyball. I'm determined to be a golfer though - we'll see how that goes. If I can make some sort of mathematical sense out of it, I should be able to do it. So...that is my challenge...to be less of a perfectionist while learning how to be a parent.

OK...here are the pics that I've been promising...

This is my mountain man of a husband after one week's hair growth. He'll never be able to play Santa...that is for sure!

And Cliff putting AnnaJo's crib together. Such a proud Dad! And he did a good job too! He still looks sleepy. I'm pretty sure that was one of his days off that I was up early and ready to go! Poor guy's sleep pattern will never be the same!

Stitches are coming out next week!

2008-09-04T08:27:00.002-05:00

Great report for week 35!! AnnaJo is measuring at 6 lbs 2 oz!! She has moved into the 72nd percentile! I cannot believe she is getting so big. Although I am reminded everytime I see how big my prego belly is getting... I'm not sure why I'm so shocked at her growth. My blood pressure was back down to the normal range too...yea! I still have some protein in my urine, but Trum isn't overly concerned. He agreed to take my cervical cerclage out next Wednesday after our regular appt. He'll take it out over in Labor & Delivery and then keep me to see if I'm dilating. If by chance my blood pressure is out of control again, he will go ahead and induce to start labor. I'm not a big fan of pitocin, so he'll try the Cervadil first I think, if it comes to that. I'm not anticipating having to go down that road though. The bedrest seems to work for my blood pressure, so I should be able to go home Wednesday night. After that, she could arrive at any point! :-) I am still amazed that we are going to have a baby! Even more amazed that they will send her home with us alone...with no directions.

We still have lots of things to do around the house to get prepared! Her nursery needs to be finished and all the little honey do projects need to be finished. Cliff has a few cabinets to build (or buy or make happen somehow) in our bathroom and laundry room. Should be an interesting few weeks! Not to mention all the cleaning that needs to happen before she arrives. I hope my nesting instinct kicks in before long and lasts a little longer than most! :-) I know...keep dreaming. Have a great week and try to stay dry!

love to all.... kate, cliff and annajo

Made it to September!!

2008-09-02T14:15:00.002-05:00

Not promising much today...still recovering from a bout of the flu or some kind of bug that made me want to die. Cliff and I were both miserable on Sunday night about 2:30am. I woke up and didn't feel very good. To be honest, I was a little concerned that labor was starting. I'm not a good puker and Cliff did his best to console me...a back rub and a cold washcloth. I was convinced that we were on the way to labor and delivery until Cliff started too. We had had dinner that night at Mom's house with the nephews so i was praying that they weren't all sick too. We were up until 6am at least making trips back and forth to the bathroom. It's a great weight loss plan - i think we both lost about 5 lbs. He was supposed to work on Monday morning and made a good effort to do so. He went into work and ended up in the floor, unable to stand up. Luckily his boss was coming down from Columbia and he was able to come back home to bed. And that's exactly where we both stayed....all day long. I was worried that sleep wouldn't be possible last night, but I was wrong. I passed out about 10pm and didn't wake up until about 4:30 this morning. And then went back to sleep about 7am and slept hard until 11. To make things worse, I think i have a bit of a cold too. The drainage and coughing didn't help matters. Plus, my daughter moving around inside me (although comforting that she was safe) was pushing on my organs and made it a little more unbearable too. All I can say is that I am praying that I am not a puker during labor...i can only imagine how miserable that must be!

Other than being super sick on Sunday night, the rest of the weekend went very well. I had a shower on Saturday that was so much fun! I'll post those pictures as soon as I have them. Did I post about the surprise shower during Bunco last month? If not, that one was A LOT of fun too! It was a total surprise and was very sweet of the bunco bunch to do...thanks everyone!

Week 34....a bit of a snafoo

2008-08-28T13:19:00.002-05:00

Things have been going great! The dr made a mistake last week of asking me about all the drama and excitement. I aim to please, so drama and excitement is what he had yesterday during our appt. The ultrasound was great - AnnaJo is getting big and really is running out of room. We went over to see the dr and had some different news. My blood pressure was 150/100 (super high) and I had protein in my urine. He went ahead and checked my cervix to see if the cerclage is accessible and it was (yea!). Then he informed me that we were headed to Labor & Delivery for 24 hours of testing. His concern was about preclampsia/toxemia. As soon as we got over to L&D they hooked me up to the monitors and took my blood pressure. It was immediately lower, so I calmed down quite a bit. The first urinalysis was negative for protein too, so that calmed me even more. I'm stuck here peeing into a hat in the toilet and then dumping into a brown jug that's on ice. At 6:00 pm they will run the lab work and we will hopefully be out by 8pm. It is back to a little more strict bedrest after this though. I guess I will put my painting projects on hold for a little bit. That might be something I fit into the times when she is napping. :-)

Other than this brief hospital stay, life is good. AnnaJo is progressing great and we are slowly but surely getting ready for her to make an appearance. I have some pictures at home of Cliff putting her crib together. I'll get those posted soon. Everytime I think about uploading them, I get sidetracked and forget all about the original plan. Gotta love baby brain!

Love to all...Cliff, kate and AnnaJo

32 weeks...she is getting big!

2008-08-13T21:18:00.002-05:00

Great appt today with Dr. Trumbower! We are past the very important 32 week mark and AnnaJo is getting big! She weighed 4 1/2 lbs today...62nd percentile! I cannot believe she has gotten so much bigger in the last 2 weeks. For any other measurement she has not been above the 50th percentile. Makes me a little nervous that she is going to be a big baby! I'm praying that she doesn't get past 8 lbs before we deliver. For multiple reasons...first the obvious - come on now! It really does defy the law of physics! Second, because some of the really cute outfits I have are for newborns - less than 7 lbs! And i mean cute!!! She'll only be able to wear them a week at this rate...have to change her at least 3 times a day! She was very active today - had her arms moving the entire time. She even sucked her thumb for a long time! I'm really hoping this means that she'll be a good breast feeding baby.

I'm doing good too! My cervix is staying a little over 2 cm and Randi, my u-sound tech, thinks that I'll have no problem carrying to term. The dr is planning on taking out my cerclage around the 36 week mark, so that will be interesting. He is certain that I'll have to wait a few weeks at least once the stitches are out since it won't be my cervix holding her in completely. Not to worry...i have plans for moving things along after that. :-)

Funny story...our nephew Carter is up here visiting this week. It has been a lot of fun getting to hang out with him and he thinks its very strange that AnnaJo doesn't talk back to him. He stayed with Uncle Piff and I the other night and the following morning he did get to experience AnnaJo kicking...right in his face. He likes to talk to her and since she wasn't answering from my belly, he decided to try a different approach. He grabbed my face and opened my mouth and yelled "AnnaJo!!". It was so funny! He gave her zerberts today and made her kick...he is getting the hang of it. He let the dr know today that he was talking about 'his baby' in aunt Kati's belly. He is such a hoot!

Love to all!
Kate, Cliff & AnnaJo

Headed for the 32 week mark! woo hoo!!

2008-08-07T17:58:00.002-05:00

We're nearly at the 32 week mark!! How exciting! My dr is on vacation this week in FL so he has allowed me a week's break from the weekly visit. The next time he sees me, I will be 32 weeks and a few days along! He is going to be so thrilled that we've made it! AnnaJo and I are doing good....I can tell that she is running out of room though. She makes my stomach morph into some very funny shapes!

We're very excited about AnnaJo's first friends making their appearances! Rogun Burch arrived on July 31 (barely making the Kindergarten cutoff!). I hope they don't change the cutoff date before he turns 5! :-) Kale Bisges should arrive tomorrow, 8/8/08. I'm so jealous about the birthday! I'm such a numbers freak...8/8/8 is so freakin cool! Not cool enough for me to do anything to risk having her this early, but it will be a birthday that I don't forget. As soon as I find my camera cord, I'll upload pictures of the boys. It will be so much fun watching them grow up together!

August 1st already!! Almost 31 weeks!

2008-08-01T06:24:00.002-05:00

Can you believe it's already August? The summer is flying by and we're going to have a baby girl around here before you know it! I am nearly 31 weeks along and AnnaJo is growing fast. Our ultrasounds for the past 2 weeks have been very good. Week 29 was a measurement week...she weighed 2 lbs 15 ozs. She should weigh nearly 4 1/2 pounds at our next measuring appt in 2 weeks. I can tell she is growing though because my prego belly is getting bigger and I am very aware of her every move. It already feels like she is running out of room! I'm so glad we have less than 10 weeks left at this point! My cervix is shortening some more, but Trum said it was to be expected at this stage in pregnancy. I keep asking each week about removing the cerclage that is keeping my cervix tied shut and I'm told every week to be patient. Trum will remove the stitches as soon as AnnaJo is healthy enough to be born....probably around week 36 or 37. There is a small chance that I would go into labor once the stitches are removed, but it is more likely that i'll be sent home to start the labor process naturally. I won't go into detail about my plans at that time, but they will for sure include some repainting of the nursery and our dining room!

Sorry for the short update...I've been experiencing some insomnia and it's time to be over it. I need to get back to sleep before it gets really light outside and I can't. Have a great weekend!!

20 days later...sorry!

2008-07-22T11:29:00.002-05:00

I'm so sorry! I've been disconnected from the electronic world for a few weeks. We had the hardwood floors refinished in the office and living room and our computer/modem/router did not cooperate in it's new home. Plus I get a little cranky when my house is turned upside down and turn into a non-communicator. I'm sorry!

Here's the jist of it though...I am still very much pregnant. I'll be 30 weeks this Saturday. I cannot believe we only have 11 weeks or less left to go! AnnaJo is moving around like crazy and getting bigger each week. Tomorrow is a measure day, so we'll see just how much bigger she is getting. I feel fine, but I'm still on bedrest. It's a little modified so I don't have to be horizontal all day long, but it's better if I am. My cervix measured nearly normal a few weeks ago, but last week it had shortened b/c I did not follow dr's orders. So I'm back to it this week....we'll see how it goes. At least we are in a safer range if I should go early, but we really want to make it to at least 32 weeks and 36 weeks would be much much better. The dr will probably take the cerclage out at 36 weeks if we make it there.

I'll update on Thursday morning after my appt tomorrow afternoon. I hope all is well with everyone! Again, I apologize for being out of touch, but my wood floors are beautiful if you can look past the pet stains from 20 years ago. :-)

love to all,
kate, cliff and AnnaJo

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-07-02T23:22:00.002-05:00

Week 26 appt was very good...what a great birthday present to me! AnnaJo measured in at 2 pounds 2 ounces today. Her arms are longer than her legs! She is her Daddy's girl already. If you've never noticed, Cliff has monkey arms, so I'm not surprised that she does too. I imagine she will be a good ball player like her Dad too. On her ultrasound today we could see that she is growing quite a bit of hair! Cliff and I were both bald babies, so I can't imagine her having a head of hair, but it would be welcomed! Trum was pleased with my progress this week too...my cervix was about half a centimeter shorter today, but he said that it was typical for how far along I am. I'll be 27 weeks on Saturday! I can't believe it! I also can't believe that I'll be 30 years old on Friday. 30 years old and still on bedrest...how sad. :-) OR I can think about it like this....30 years old and expecting a beautiful baby girl in a few months...very lucky! Sounds better, right? I'll go with that one. Makes me feel better anyway! At least I'll be relaxing on a raft in a pool for my birthday...much better than being in the hospital!

Hope everyone has a fun 4th of July planned! Have a drink for me and enjoy a great display of fireworks. I think I'll have Cliff rent a movie or two that night so I don't have to deal with the crowd downtown. I'm hoping we can get back to our fireworks tour next year...baby girl in tow! Let's hope she doesn't react the same way I did to fireworks! Talk about sad...a fourth of July baby that was deathly afraid of fireworks. My whole family will tell you that I hid under tables, beds, whatever would shelter me from the noise. I remember sitting in the bed of a pickup truck with ear muffs on on July 4 so I didn't have to hear the loud ones. What a little nerd I was! And yes, i said WAS. Cliff would tell you differently, but don't believe him.

Week 25 Appointment....Fabulous!

2008-06-26T11:23:00.002-05:00

Fabulous dr appt this week! My cervix is staying strong...3.4 cm this week. :-) The progesterone is working great and Trum seems to think I can carry to at least 32 weeks and possibly even to term! How fabulous would that be!!! I'm still on bedrest with a few extra privileges...pool time and an extra shower here and there. I might even be able to celebrate my 30th birthday on July 4 vertically!!!! How exciting!

AnnaJo is doing great too. Next week is a measurement week, but we can tell on the u-sound that she is growing and filling out. Her little cheeks are looking baby like instead of resembling an alien! She is still moving a ton and making me very aware of how active she might be. Which to be honest, it's a little scary! We have some serious baby proofing to do before she starts moving and shaking around this house! Cliff is taking off a week in July to start some of that...refinishing the hardwood in the living room and office to get rid of the carpet is first on the list! He and Jim are working on the basement again today in an effort to finish the bathroom/utility room ceiling. Yea!!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Once again, it's raining here...just what we need!

love to all!!
k

A thought about evolution & adaptation

2008-06-18T11:18:00.002-05:00

Don't get me wrong, I am not a Big Bang believer. I am quite confident that the Earth was created in 7 days by God. HOWEVER, I do believe in evolving and adapting to your environment over a period of time. For example, some smart person believes that in the future our thumbs will be bigger because of all the texting that we are doing. Here's a thought...at one point, the hair covering our legs served a purpose. I'm pretty sure it was for warmth or something similar. But in 2008, is it really that necessary? Why can't we evolve into less hairy creatures? And what exactly is the purpose of armpit hair? I really don't get it. Here is my big complaint though about irony. Pregnancy has sped up the growth rate of all my hair. I appreciate what's on my head, but pregnant belly makes leg shaving a little more difficult. I've never been a big fan of shaving in the first place and honestly, in the winter I can go for a month without shaving. I know...kind of gross and poor cliff. But the hair on my legs has never been prickly or dark....just looks kind of fuzzy. Pregnancy has changed that too! It's really not quite fair and I don't like it at all. SO if anyone has a theory about how we should evolve into less hairy human beings, I am willing to try just about anything except shaving daily. I will not do that!

Hope everyone is having a great day! Today is dr day...my favorite day of the week. I will fix my hair and put on makeup and look like a normal human being. :-) What a fabulous day!

Happy Father's Day! And Yippee!!

2008-06-17T17:09:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a fabulous Father's Day!! Cliff enjoyed his first Father's Day. Can you guess what he did? Of course you can...he fished. Unfortunately he didn't catch, but there is a reason they don't call it that. He was home by noon, in time to take me to the pool for an hour before it started raining. I stayed in bed while he was out and I have to say it was a little rough. I'm a big fan of the Today Show and even watch it on the weekends. Sunday was terribly sad, as they had another tribute to Tim Russert on the Today Show and then on Meet the Press. I spent most of the morning in tears. I'm sure the added hormones didn't help much, but it really was a very sad day for the world of politics and journalism. At one point I had to remind myself to breathe through all the tears. From the conversation between his friends and colleagues, he was an incredible person and an unbelievable father.

We also celebrated Gary's 60th birthday on Sunday night. It was a shocker to him, but it was a good time. Eventhough I spent the evening in the recliner, it was very nice to have a change of scenery. The food was fabulous, but the company was even better! A large portion of Cliff's family was there and we had a good time visiting. Mom and Jim even joined us for dinner and it's always fun to combine the families like that. I imagine once this little girl gets here, we will be doing that often!

And a big yippee for making it to week 24!!! That's the first big milestone for this bedrest! My next appt is tomorrow afternoon, so i'm hoping for more great news! Keep your fingers crossed and I"ll keep you posted afterwards!

AnnaJo is over a pound!! Yea!

2008-06-11T17:20:00.003-05:00

What a great day! First of all, it was a very beautiful, dry day! My week 23 appt was early this morning and went very well. My cervix measured longer today than it has yet...3 cm! Yea!! Bedrest and progesterone are working just like they are supposed to! The U/S tech even said today that if I keep on this track, i may carry AnnaJo to term. The dr joked that we may even go over, but that will not happen if I have anything to do with it. We are due on October 4, but I really want a September baby. Why, you ask? Because the birthstone in September is a sapphire. I have nothing against the October birthstone, but my engagement ring is a sapphire and they are one of my favorite gemstones! I have some other sapphire jewelry too, so I think it would be so fun for them to mean even more!

AnnaJo weighed in at 1 pound 5 ounces today...she is getting bigger! I can feel her move around very well now too. She is a mover and a shaker. Randi, our u/s tech, commented on her muscle tone too. She said she has good muscle tone in her legs, so we are hoping that she will be an athlete like her mommy and daddy!!

The rest of the day went great too... it's dry! It's not supposed to last too long though. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday. :-( Cliff is off work this weekend, so the trim in my bedroom might be finished soon! We've only been living here for 2 years now. That's the plan at least. We'll see if I can actually mark it off the honey-do list after this weekend. He has been informed that the priority this weekend lies in finishing the bedroom rather than playing ball ... you might ought to say a quick prayer. I think he is fishing on Sunday for Father's Day, so that's something nice for him to look forward to. I think if he goes fishing, I'll head to the in-laws for some pool time.

Happy Father's Day! Enjoy your weekend!

Will it ever stop raining?

2008-06-06T12:45:00.003-05:00

I've told many of you that the weekdays of bedrest are not terrible because i have a rigid tv schedule that I adhere to. Most of my schedule is on NBC...the Today Show, Days of Our Lives, Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil and Oprah. I only watch one hour of tv on CBS. Do you know what's on NBC today? The French Open. What a disaster! I guess it's a needed break. I don't get anything else done while I'm watching tv, so I will make the best of it. Too bad it's not sunny outside, this would be a perfect day to be rafting it in the pool!

Baby update...I will be 23 weeks along tomorrow....yeah! This week's appt went well. Trum (my OB) is very satisfied with the progress and success of bedrest. My cervix was over 2 cm long this week and that keeps me out of the hospital. He has given me another freedom pass for a date night with Cliff. One of Cliff's customers gave him a gift certificate to Das Stein Haus, a German restaurant here in town. So tonight is date night....YEAH!! I've never been to this restaurant, so I have no clue what is good, but it will be a night out of the house and I would love that even at McDonalds. AnnaJo is doing very well too. She was sucking her thumb for the u-sound this week. It was cute! Next week is another week for measurements, so we'll know exactly how much she is growing. That is always fun.

Guess what!? Apparently the tennis match isn't an all day affair. Days of our Lives is on!! Yippee. Gotta run now. :-) The Brady Pub has gone GREEN!

Day 28 of bedrest - catch up

2008-05-29T12:44:00.008-05:00

I anticipated posting more often than I have. You would think that a woman on bedrest would have enough time to blog daily, get some shopping done, have the nursery planned and still have enough time to catch up on TV. Honestly, that is not the case. I make an effort to not take naps and i still don't manage to get all of these things done. Time management has eluded me since I started this! My guess is that motherhood will force it to become a priority again.

In an attempt to catch up... First of all, my appt yesterday went very well. We are at 21 weeks and 5 days. My cervix continues to get a bit stronger and the dr is very pleased. He approved of moving my bedrest poolside and to the raft. He actually approved that last week, but I chickened out before we went. He also approved for me to make an appearance at a wedding this weekend. I'm so excited to be there for Amanda (and Travis, of course)! He indicated yesterday that at 24 weeks we will start steroid shots to ensure AnnaJo's lungs are developed in case we deliver early.
Overall, bedrest is going okay. I only have dramatic episodes about once a week. I figure that that's not so bad. I keep myself entertained during the week with a rigid TV schedule. Weekends are a little tougher, but i have wonderful friends and family to entertain me and keep my company. Cliff is being a terrific husband - making gourmet meals and making sure his 2 girls are well taken care of. Unfortunately, he typically is on the receiving end of my emotional meltdowns and he is handling them in stride. He manages to fit some fishing into his schedule and he takes the dogs out to run at least once a week, so he is able to maintain some sort of sanity through this ordeal. Mom comes by often too and watches Young and the Restless with me and makes sure that my house is clean. Gotta love that! Thanks Mom! And i do have the most wonderful friends in the whole world. I rarely go a day without calls and instant messages checking in on me. AND last Tuesday i had a little suprise from my Scholastic buddies.

Coincidentally, that was a night for an unscheduled episode. Long story short...I wanted nachos from El Jimador, Cliff had a ballgame to go to and he construed some story about El Jimmies being too busy to get to my nachos quickly. He came home with sour cream and frozen shrimp and then wanted to leave for his game. After a few phone calls, tears and failed attempts to bribe someone to bring nachos, I threatened to stab him with an ink pen. He finally agreed to go get them and 5 minutes later Lori showed up to chat. A few minutes after i heard footsteps upstairs and 6 of my closest friends started making their way down the steps. And in hand, they had chicken nachos from El Jimador!!! It couldn't have worked out better. Ironically, they had planned this party a week earlier and that was the very day that I was willing to stab for chicken nachos from El Jimador!! It was great! They hung out for a few hours and left right before the finals of American Idol! It couldn't have been more perfect timing! Thanks guys...you're the very best!!

Day 17 of bedrest....

2008-05-17T16:23:00.007-05:00

I'm so glad to be back home, but being in bed all day is no fun at all. I was able to organize my pictures yesterday though, so I thought I would share.

Here are my beautiful boxers...this one is Jersey. She is a boxer mix and is about 3 years old, i think. She is a sleepy dog in this picture. her little brother Vegas keeps her awake a lot. He likes to play and she isn't always so willing. Here is Vegas. He was Cliff's birthday/anniversary gift this year. I bought him for Cliff, but he loves us both. He prefers the person with the yummiest treat! He is about 6 months old here. His birthday is July 9, 2007. He is a funny boy! We got him in August(an early gift) and he got sick in November. It was an awful time! We were not sure if he was going to make it or not. We have always been very strict with training Jersey...no jumping, no sitting on the couch, certainly no laying on our bed. It's been a little different with Vegas since we thought we may lose him. He is such a big boy!
He keeps us entertained all the time. He doesn't realize that he is over 50 pounds...he still tries to be a lap dog.

His favorite game is to chase his brothers, the cats. Monet and Mocha aren't real thrilled about that game, but they put up with him. Here is Mocha...he doesn't know he is a cat. He begs like a dog and climbs like a monkey. Mocha was our junkyard kitty. He came from the pound and we didn't think he would ever love us. To see him around us, you'd think that one of us gave birth to him. He tries to get as close as possible to us. He almost looks like a mink stoll. Funny little cat.
Monet is our other big boy. He is our first and weighs in at a whopping 20 lbs. He is a big cat! No picture of him on this computer though - i'll make it up later.

AnnaJo week 19 update

2008-05-17T15:55:00.000-05:00

Good morning!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers! They are working, so please continue to send them up! We had a great appt yesterday - the ultrasound indicated that my cervix is getting stronger and measured 2.5 cm. instead of 1.4 like last week. Generally, the measurement should be in between 3 cm and 5 cm with healthy normal pregnancies. The bedrest and the prayers are working great! The dr sent me home last night, but I'm still on strict bedrest with bathroom priveleges only. I cannot put into words how wonderful it was to be in my own bed last night!

AnnaJo continues to grow as expected. She weighed 10 ounces yesterday which puts her in the 37th percentile. I have a great picture of her that looks like she is blowing bubbles, but I need to get it scanned. I'll send it as soon as I have it downloaded.

I hope you are all doing great. If you need me....I'm in bed, or on the couch, or in the recliner. :-) I have my cell phone and yahoo Instant messenger (jkate1122) and email, of course.

I'll update again next week.

Love to all! Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!
Kate, Cliff and AnnaJo

Bedrest has only just begun!!!!

2008-05-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Week 18...so the news is a little different this week...i write this from bed 2 in room 1018 at Boone Hospital. My OB and u/s tech were not happy wtih my cervix again this week. It shortened and thinned out a bit, so i am now on hospital bedrest until further notice. The goal...make it to week 32 and then deliver the baby as needed. The reality is that we cannot deliver before 24 weeks, 28 would be better and 32 would be the best. I am on strict bedrest - only getting up to use the bathroom if I have to. They prefer the bedpan, so you can imagine my frustration.

I have a wireless connection, so my computer will not be leaving my side. I also have my cell phone. Feel free to visit, call, email...whatever. I will keep you all posted as things progress. Please pray for our health and my sanity. Oh wait...that would assume that i had a normal sanity level to begin with. :-)

Love to all...
Kate, Cliff and A.J.

Week 17 - Finally!

2008-05-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Happy May Day!!! I cannot believe it's already May! We finally have some news this week...after a very long ultrasound, Baby Hill decided to grace us with an answer to this everlasting question! It was very clear after looking around the foot that continues to be in its ass.

Unfortunately that wasn't the only news we received yesterday. The dr was not happy with the way my cervix was looking and I'm writing this from my bed. That's right....it's officially day 1 of bedrest. Hopefully there will only by 7 days. I'll find out during our next u-sound if I can go back to work. For all of our sakes, please pray that the answer is yes. I am self-admittedly lazy, but being sent to bed is not going to be fun. There is only so much that I can do to entertain myself, so you can count on getting a few emails. Our next u-sound is next Wednesday, so i'll get an update out as soon as I can.

Off to ....oh yeah, there is not much I can do. I'll sign off and let you get back to whatever you need to be doing! :-) Feel free to call me and chat. Or my yahoo instant messenger id is jkate1122. I'll be online or have my phone next to me for the next week!

Love to all...
Kate, Cliff & Baby Hill

Oh yeah....I failed to mention that it is a girl!!! AnnaJo has made her presence known to the world...

16 weeks - Baby HeShe is stubborn!

2008-04-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday!! Sorry I haven't sent updates in a few weeks, but we didn't have much news to share. Unfortunately, this week is no different. This child is keeping its identity a closely guarded secret. The cord is in between its legs and it likes to sit Indian style with its feet tucked under its butt. The pictures attached are the best we could do this week - I think it's laughing at us. It's only week 16 though and most people don't find out for a few more weeks. The tech is leaning towards girl this week, but I'm not buying pink until I see a clear picture with no penis present.

Regarding health....all is well. Baby looks great and I am fine too. I'll keep you posted as things progress! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Love to all...
Kate, Cliff & Baby HeShe

13 weeks and 5 days

2008-04-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

Not much news this week! The baby is truly ours - very stubborn. I'm pretty sure she/he comes by it rightly. We were anticipating being able to see its butt this week, but apparently the baby was not on the same page! I've attached some good face pictures - the details are kind of crazy! Randi (our ultrasound friend) said its fingers are super long...maybe a piano player and/or a ball player! Everything with the baby looks great! All is still well with my cervix too...yeah! The only problem at this point is that my placenta is blocking the cervix - something called placenta previa. It will more than likely move, but if it doesn't we will have a c-section for sure.

So, put up a few prayers that the placenta gets with the program and goes where it is supposed to!

Love to all! Our appt next week is Wednesday morning, so maybe he/she will be a little more cooperative in the a.m.

-kate, cliff and baby

12 week appointment

2008-03-26T15:16:00.000-05:00

OK....so my weekly updates aren't going to be as detailed each week because I'm sure you'll get tired of seeing them.

But...my ultrasound today went very well. Everything with my cervix looks great and the baby is doing wonderful. She (said in a very hopeful voice) didn't move much in the beginning but when we started looking at her tush, she squirmed away. She (hopeful) apparently doesn't want us buying pink yet. Good thing mama-to-be isn't much into pink! :-) OR the real reason could be that daddy-to-be wasn't there and she didn't want to give Nana the satisfaction of being the first to know!

Regardless, here is one of the pictures that we got this week. My appt next week is on Thursday, so expect another then.

Love to all and keep us in your prayers!
Kate, Cliff & Baby Hill #1

Surgery was a success!

2008-03-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I received a ton of emails this week....thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! The surgery on Tuesday went very well. The spinal anesthesia wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting - very strange, but not bad. I had a follow up appt with the dr yesterday and all looks very well. I've attached the latest pics of the baby. She/he would not hold still yesterday! It was comical and quite amazing! I now have weekly follow-ups and ultrasounds, so my baby scrapbook is going to be full before it even gets here!

First OB appt

2008-03-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

I promised an update...some of you already saw a text message today, but I wanted to keep everyone informed. We had our first OB appt today with our normal OB. The other appts have been with our fertility dr. Anyway, the baby is doing fine, but my cervix is changing quite a bit. It is half the length that it is supposed to be and it's starting to dilate. Needless to say, dr trumbower was not a happy camper. He is doing a cervical cerclage tomorrow afternoon. For those of you who do not know, that means he will put in a double stitch to keep my cervix closed and keep me from going into pre-term labor. As of today, we are 11 weeks, 2 days along.

I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about the anesthesia - it's a spinal block instead of general anasthesia. Other than that, I'm fine. Except for not being able to eat after midnight and my appt at the hospital isn't until noon tomorrow. I"m a little nervous about that too! :-)

Keep us in your prayers! Love you all!

A New Addition for the Hill's

2008-03-05T14:42:00.000-06:00

Hello and Happy Hump Day!

I thought it may be time to share a little news....Cliff and I are expecting a new addition to the family on October 5!!! I still can't believe it. Some of you have known for a few weeks, but I wanted to share our latest ultrasound along with the news.
We've been to the dr 3 times now - first to see the yolk sac, second to confirm a heartbeat and yesterday for a follow-up. The ultrasound attached is from yesterday - we can finally see a head and her arms. No, we don't know if it's a girl or not, but I am praying that it is. I'll let you know for sure as soon as we know. This Saturday will be the 10 week mark. :-) We've been seeing the fertility dr until now and I'll see my regular OB-GYN on Monday, the 17th. This pregnancy came as a total shock for us! I think it all happened the day that I told Cliff I wanted to wait for another year b/c I wasn't ready to be pregnant. Irony is a funny thing, huh?

I'll keep in touch as things progress...