Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Feelin' good...

I've had a lot of people telling me since Veronica's birth that I look really good for a woman who just had a baby. I'm vacillating between 8 and 10 pounds BELOW my pre-pregnancy weight. I have about 10-15 pounds until I'm feeling REALLY good, but I think I'm doing pretty good all things considered. I started on my thyroid medication again, so I'm hoping that will help me shed the last few pounds. Let us not forget that at this point after having Savannah, I started packing on about THIRTY POUNDS after losing all the pregnancy weight in the 6 weeks postpartum. Ah, thyroid condition, how I loathe thee...

Not only am I feeling better about my physical appearance, but I've had people mention how HAPPY I am now. I know that is totally from God. I withdrew emotionally, mentally, and spiritually after Savannah's birth. I do believe I had a good case of the "baby blues" after that. I don't think I truly shook them until after Veronica arrived. I prayed before I went into labor that God would give me a love for my girls that could not be shaken. I prayed that I would allow myself to see them for the blessings they truly are and that I would be the best mother I could be to them in all aspects.

Tonight, we went shopping for some things we needed, including a top for me to wear in our family pictures that we're getting this week. The first one I tried on was perfect. It was *just* form fitting enough without being obscene to show off the figure that I got from birthing children whom all hold a special place in my heart and soul. I put my hands on the hips that have spread slightly from carrying them for nine months. Without being vulgar, it accentuated the breasts that have provided nourishment for them. I rubbed my shoulders, stiff from carrying and snuggling them. I looked into the dressing room mirror, smiled back at the face with the eyes with a slight hint of circles under them from late nights playing with a toddler and early mornings babbling with a baby. And that's when it truly hit me...

I am a Mommy. I couldn't be happier.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Marley and Savannah...

Marley and Savannah are both ready for their close ups!


Marley's Ready from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

Veronica video...

I finally caught Veronica smiling on camera, which meant I could share it with my family. I love my digital camera - it makes it so easy to share things with them now! (Ignore the annoying baby talk, please.)


Veronica Smiles! from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

And here's some video of Veronica "talking" and practicing for her future career as an aerobics instructor.


Serious Kicking from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Savannah jamming with Daddy...

I looked into the other room, and this is what I saw. Take special note of how Savannah is standing - leg up on the table just like Daddy! Like father, like daughter, huh? If Jerry gets his way, this will be the loudest, most rockin' house in the neighborhood. I think I need to invest in a large stock of Tylenol for the years to come. :-D


Savannah's Jamming from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

This is after she was jamming with her Daddy. She was telling me that she fell and was going to go stand on the table before playing guitar again.


Savannah's Jamming 2 from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Family photos...


My favorite shot of Veronica, in my hands.


Savannah, looking beautiful.


Veronica in Jerry's hand.


The bandannas were the photographer's idea. Veronica was not pleased.


Mommy loves Veronica.


Savannah and Blake.


Veronica and Blake.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Big Sister

Savannah got to hold her little sister for the first time last night, and it was so stinking cute watching her get so excited!


The reaction to being asked if she wanted to hold her baby sister.


Holding her baby sister for the first time!


Giving big brother a hug...


...and kisses.


Being Little Miss Bossy.


Spending time with Mommy and Veronica.

Family Pool Day


On the way there, we told Savannah she needed to take a nap. She was so excited, this was the result. Yeah, not so much with the napping.


Blake played the "good big brother" that day and played with his sister a lot. She was LOVING it.


This was how I spent the better part of the afternoon. Not that I minded. SO SWEET! (I did get to dip my feet in the pool for about 5 minutes before she woke up hungry.)


Jerry took her so I could dip my feet in. Miss Veronica was not impressed with the heat.


Savannah "borrowed" Blake's goggles for a bit. CUTENESS!


Veronica was serious about wanting to go home at the end of the day.


Savannah was SUPER tired (and cranky) by the time we got home. Here Jerry wears his feelings on his face. I can't say that I blame him. Savannah was in RARE form.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

More pictures...

Here's some more pictures from Veronica's birth day!


Jerry and I before the action started. I seriously felt great until 10 minutes before she was born.


A cute shot of Veronica sleeping peacefully.


Such a pretty girl... She looks so much like her sister did!


Me and my girls!


Jerry's dad with his grandkids from our family.


Jerry's mom with Veronica.


There will be more, but that's what we've got off the camera for now!

Friday, May 30, 2008

VERONICA IS HERE!

I'll post a bit more detail later, but for now, here's a quick announcement...

Veronica Louise arrived into the world on May 30, 2008 at 1:05am. She weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and we're not sure on her length. (No one's told us yet!) The labor was very fast. I only had to push for about 10 minutes, same as with Savannah. Once I got the urge, the midwife told me to go with it and I did!

Jerry was wonderful, and I've been told I was a lot nicer this time around. :-D My midwife Jonne was perfect - she was exactly what I needed. I'm still kind of amazed at how quickly everything happened.

Well, back to oogling my new daughter. Here's a picture of her almost immediately after her birth...

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Say goodbye to work...

...until after maternity leave, that is!

I'm officially home from work after my trip to labor & delivery on the 22nd. I had a follow up appointment on Tuesday with my midwife and she sent me home with a letter saying I was signed out of work on medical leave due to pregnancy related complications. After my appointment, Jerry, Savannah and I headed to the branch to turn in my keys and I finished up some things that got left on Thursday.

And then I left, not to return until my maternity leave is over. We're hoping I'll be able to stay out the entire 12 weeks, but I might have to return earlier depending on the money situation. (I only get paid for 6 weeks.)

And this is what makes this a happy post...


I get to enjoy more of this now! YAY!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

My happy fun trip to labor & delivery...


I came home from work early yesterday due to some pretty regular contractions that were 10 minutes apart. They petered off after about 2 hours, though. I had some more after midnight, but they weren't regular at all.

Woke up this morning and the day was going pretty normal. I was sitting at my desk when a client came in to see me. As I was talking to her, I got a spot in my vision, kind of like what you'd get if you stared into a bright light. I thought it was odd and kept talking to her, as we were waiting for her husband to arrive. When he got there, I looked over at him and said hello and the spot was bigger. And it kept getting bigger. I was adding him onto her account, so I was looking at his ID and that's when it happened. I couldn't see anything at all. I tried not to show my panic to my clients. I closed my eyes tightly and prayed that I would be able to see when I opened them. I could see just a little bit. I stumbled through the rest of the time with them. The wife could tell something was amiss and asked if I was ok. I said I was fine, finished up with them, and then booked it to the back office to call my midwives.

I left a message for them and then called Jerry to tell him what was going on. I told him to get up and get ready, because I'd most likely need him to come get me. I then went to my manager and told him I was having some major issues and that I couldn't see. He asked if I was ok and I told him I was waiting for my midwife to call me back and that Jerry was ready to come get me. He told me to take it easy. The midwife called back and said I needed to come in ASAP. Jerry got there not too much longer after that and we headed to the office.

Got there and while in the waiting room, our friends from couple's group who were due on Sunday came in. We chatted with them until I got called back. I was woozy walking down the hallway. Gave my urine sample and then got to the exam room. The midwife came in and checked my legs, which were very swollen. She pushed her thumb into my calf and the indention stayed put. Not good. My blood pressure was normal, though. I did have a large amount of protein in my urine, so she wanted me to go to the hospital for blood work and monitoring. If things didn't look good, I'd need to be induced. Ugh, I was not happy to hear that. She also put me on official bed rest until my next appointment on Tuesday.

As we were checking out, we ran into our OTHER friend from couple's group who is due the same day as me. We told her what was going on, and she said she'd pray for us. We went to the hospital and got checked in. I went into a triage room and got hooked up to the monitors. I was so very uncomfortable on the little cot they call a bed. I have also been spoiled by the phlebotomist at my midwife practice because the blood draw HURT LIKE HELL. I never even feel it when she sticks me at the office. Jerry and I spent the two hours we were there watching game shows and guessing answers. At one point, Veronica kicked so hard, she flipped the contraction monitor up and off of me. The nurse came in and fixed it.

My blood pressure remained consistently low and the blood work was normal. So, yet again, I am a medical oddity and they have no idea what caused my issues today. I had some contractions while there, and the midwife checked me at the office and I'm only 1cm dilated. I'm not "on my way" or anything like that. I'm just having some issues. So, that's about it. We'll just see what happens this weekend and get to my appointment on Tuesday and hopefully I'll be ok.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Haven't posted in a while...

It's been a while, but there's been a lot going on. Between the branch I work at getting robbed, various illnesses running through the family and now having some weird ailment that is going to take blood work to diagnose... Well, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now. There's 6 weeks left in the pregnancy and all I can think about it getting healthy so that I'm able to go through the birthing process with little to no complications like last time.

Jerry has been wonderful through all of this. I've basically been on modified bed rest for the past month. I come home, come upstairs, and sleep. Sometimes I'm able to come down for dinner, other times I'm so weak or exhausted that he'll bring me something upstairs. Savannah's getting over conjunctivitis and a double ear infection, so he's been dealing with a cranky 2 1/2 year old on top of not feeling so hot himself. I seriously married Superman.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Happy Anniversary to US!

Today marks four years of marriage to the most wonderful man in the world. Last night, when I got home from our work outing, I went upstairs to find three picture frames that we had bought last year hung in the stairway, filled with pictures of the family. The last frame as you go up the stairs had new photos of Jerry and Savannah that he had taken at a studio without me knowing about it. They are so precious, and I am so thrilled with my gift. We bought those frames and I've been wanting to put them up for a YEAR now, and having him do it AND fill them with wonderful family photos just means the world to me.


(Click on the photo to read the text.) I made this graphic a couple days after the wedding with my all-time favorite wedding photo, and it still rings true today. I saw a couple do this shot at a wedding when I was 12 years old, and I swore I would do it if I ever got married. That's right, I got him! :-D


I love this one because of how happy we look. Never mind this was actually a posed photo from after the actual ceremony. Jerry was flaring his nostrils at me, which caused the laughing. The whole day was just a lot of fun, and this picture captures that.


No idea why I had my hands thrown up like that, but we sealed it with a kiss.


One thing I LOVE about our anniversary is that I'm always reminded it's on the way when the Bradford pear trees bloom. I love all the white, puffy trees this time of year. The courthouse grounds are well covered with them, so it was like God decorated for us. :)


Jerry, I love you so much. And you're right. This past year has been the best one yet. Here's to making them ALL the best one yet. I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Thursday, February 28, 2008


Metronome! from Katrina Marie on Vimeo.

This is video of Savannah that I took while we were out shopping for Jerry's new guitar. She was playing around with the keyboards and inadvertently started the metronome. She calls it a "choo-choo clock" (obviously, coo-coo clock) and when I tell her the real name, she repeats it back flawlessly. Man, I love this kid!

Monday, February 25, 2008

After I finished making dinner, I called into the playroom to let Jerry know dinner was ready. I hear him say, "Ok." The next thing I hear is the stompity-stomp of Savannah running into the kitchen and "Stetti! Stetti! Stetti! YAY STETTI!" I guess she was excited about the fact that we were having spaghetti for dinner. :-D

The funny thing is, I do not make spaghetti all that often. But, she obviously loves it when I do. Point taken kid, point taken. I do believe this is the only meal she's ever asked for seconds.

Her Daddy is currently washing off the remnants of dinner and she's enjoying bath time. They are playing "I Spy" too, which Jerry started playing with her before dinner (to keep her occupied until I got dinner to the table because she wanted "stetti NOW") and was caught off guard when she knew exactly what he was doing and pointed out all the right things.

This kid is so much fun. I can't wait to have TWO of them in the house. We are going to have so much fun. YAY FAMILY!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Easy Child

Savannah continues to self potty train. I don't know how we got so lucky. She just tells us when she needs to go sometimes, and it's on her own from there! Tonight as I was getting her ready for bed, she told me she needed to use the potty. I got her on there and she waved bye bye at me and I took the hint. The next thing I know, I hear her saying, "I did it!" I came in to find her beaming with pride, as she had completed the task at hand. She gave me a high five and then moved her stool in front of the sink and asked to wash her hands.

If everything is coming this easy, I wonder what the next little girl will be like. Vanessa and I are complete opposites in some areas, but very similar in others. I'm hoping these two little girls are similar in their ease of learning new things! Savannah took right to sleeping in her own bed AND room after co-sleeping with us for two years. She started going pee pee in the potty all on her own. Same with the other function. I just can't get over how simple things are with her!

She's making friends at church. Her best friend at church is our music minister's daughter, who is only a couple months older than her. Today, they sat together at the lunch table and giggled and ate and had a good time. I love seeing her making friends so easy, especially after not being around other kids for a good bit of her first year. She's very social and I love it!

She makes me a proud mommy. :)

Saturday, February 16, 2008

New Toys, Fun For the Family

My new laptop arrived yesterday, and as Savannah said, it's "pretty". I love it, and I'm glad to have it, as it means I don't have to hole myself up in the office to do something on a computer.

And thanks to the integrated webcam, it means pictures! Savannah was helping me check out the new toy (and having me play some games on the Noggin website for good measure), so I decided to snap some pictures.


Savannah making her "funny face" that she learned from "Yo Gabba Gabba", one of her favorite shows. This kid cracks me up. I didn't even say anything, she just started doing that when she saw her little face on the monitor.


She HAD been waving at the camera, but she was too quick for me to snap a shot, so here's her bored face instead.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Progress - Slow and Steady


Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by circlek71
Savannah has a knack of learning things on her own. One day, she patted the toilet and said, "Pee pee potty?" I sat her up on the seat and she did her business. She smiled and clapped and was ever so proud of herself. Much to our surprise, she kept it up - but only that one function.

So, imagine my surprise when I was giving her a bath and after the water drained, she turned and pointed to the toilet and said, "Poo poo potty?" I sat her up there and draped her towel around her since she was still wet. The picture you see is how she got her privacy. Too funny! She did it again today with Jerry.

Our little girl is growing up!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Who me? A girly girl?!

So, anyone who knew me back in my younger years knows I was most definitely NOT a girly girl. Even when Vanessa was pregnant with Grace, I swore up and down I would not buy that child a stitch of pink. I ABHORRED pink. I thought buying little girls pink things was so cliche and overdone.

Flash forward two years to when I'm pregnant with Savannah. I woke up one morning from a dream and immediately woke up Jerry. "Remember that sky themed, neutral nursery we had planned?" He nodded, blinking and rubbing his weary eyes. "Well, forget it. I'm dreaming about pink nurseries." Mind you, this was BEFORE we knew Savannah was going to be a little girl. Savannah ended up with a lavender nursery, but that's only because there was so much pink in the decorations and we didn't want it to look like a bubble gum factory exploded in there. Jerry also noticed that all the maternity clothes I was buying had pink in them in some form or another. It wasn't intentional! It just happened that way.

Well, now I love pink and I think I've officially become a girly girl. This was made quite obvious by my birthday gift and another recent purchase. I don't know what happened to me, other than the fact that I will soon be the mother of TWO little girls and I love everything about little girls. So it's only fitting that the mother of two little girls will be carrying around the following items:


Saturday, January 26, 2008

Good client service - it pays

This is how you know you're doing your job well. This is why it also pays to make nice with owners of the local diner. These are HUGE! The big pieces are 8 inches tall. Chocolate in the middle, white chocolate raspberry on the left and strawberry cheesecake on the right. I am one happy pregnant woman right now!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Consider this bandwagon jumped on!

I am, by far, not new to the blogging scene. I've been doing it for quite a few years - back before it was actually called "blogging" and was "online journaling"! But I realized my other online journals/blogs weren't really family friendly. (No, not THAT way, but they're for personal introspection, venting, and chronicaling some events in my life.) If you look at my Blogger account information, I've been a member since April 2000. I'm internet ancient! :-D

So, with that, I'm starting a blog to keep family and friends up-to-date on what we're up to as a family. FUN TIMES!

So, before I get started, what's going on with us? Jerry and I are quickly approaching our 4th wedding anniversary (March 19th). Blake (my stepson) is 13 years old, in 8th grade, musically gifted in ways that make me jealous (playing/learning multiple instruments) and, to be honest, a heckuva lot better at his age than I was behavior-wise! Savannah turned 2 years old in November and is growing up so fast. She's so verbal now, much like her Momma! Jerry and I have so much fun with her. And we're expecting our second little girl in June of this year. I was wondering what would happen if I had a boy. With all the girls on my side of the family, I'd really rock the boat!

That's a brief rundown. I'll get more into things as I post more here. I hope to fill this with photos, fun stories and musings on where my life is now. Honestly, I think I'm the LAST person who expected to be happily married and loving motherhood. Jerry and I both joke about how we each swore we were never getting married just a few weeks before we met. Apparently, we're mere humans who don't know what we're talking about. God had us all figured out, didn't He? :-D