The Reynolds Family: 2012

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Has is really been three and a half months?! I will be doing my very best to get all caught up over the next week, so for now we'll start where we left off, birth day.

Everything went well with the birth and Kaiya Jane Reynolds made her grand debut on Thursday July 5 at 9:23 am. She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long. She had 14 people waiting in the waiting room to meet her when she graced us with her presence, spoiled with love from day one! We were in the hospital for two days and had a steady flow of visitors the whole time. Doug took three weeks off from work, so it was a pretty easy transition once we got home. I was slow moving at first, but my recovery was quick and having Doug home definitely helped with that. He is an amazing husband and father and I wouldn't want to be on this journey with anyone else.

Kaiya has been a pretty good sleeper from the start, which of course, made our lives all the better. We actually had to wake her up for feedings. We still have our sleepless nights every now and then, but every night can't be perfect right?! Breastfeeding has had its ups and downs, but we've settled into a routine and we are both doing well with it now.

I must say that the last three and half months have been pretty amazing!!

Daddy's ready...

Mommy's ready...let's do this!

Kaiya's first picture (she still does this stretch)

Doug cutting the cord

First time meeting my daughter

That's one proud Daddy!

Kaiya getting her footprints done

The Reynolds Family

Proud poppa coming through!

Kaiya's entourage

Showing off the first picture

Our first family picture (not in a hospital bed)

I'm blowing this joint!

Not so sure about the car seat

First time outside, she loves the sun

Rafiki welcoming Kaiya home

Next up, one month re-cap.....

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Due Date & "Birth" Day Eve

Happy 4th of July!

Today is my official due date, Kaiya is 40 weeks! Tomorrow is the big "birth" day! We are scheduled for a c-section at 9:00am tomorrow morning and will finally get to meet our darling daughter. In the off chance that she has flipped herself into the proper position of head down, the procedure won't be needed (or wanted), but we will cross that bridge if or when we get to it. If tomorrow stands to be her "birth" day, she will share the day with her Gamma Patti who couldn't be more excited.

Doug started his paternity leave from work this week and we have spent the last few days making last minute preparations to the house. Our office is officially half guest room and the nursery is all but decorated. All we need now is our child, and she will be here before we know it.

Today we are also celebrating two years in our house! What better gift can we give ourselves than our first child? We're spending the evening bbqing in the backyard and relaxing on the couch enjoying our last night as just the two of us, for tomorrow we will be three. More to come on that later.....

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Progression of the Belly

Time flies when you're having fun! It's been a busy month and I just realized it's been awhile since I've updated here.

About 3 weeks ago we found out that our darling daughter is sitting in the breech position. She's actually what's called transverse breech, which means she's laying more side to side than up and down. I had about 2 weeks to try and flip her on my own, so I was going to the chiropractor and trying some breech stretches and exercises at home to encourage her to move head down....it didn't work. We had the option to try a procedure called an external cephalic version, where the doctor basically man handles your stomach to move the baby along. There are a few possible complications that come along with the procedure, and in the end Doug and I decided that the risks outweighed the benefit and she was breech for a reason, so we left her alone. There is still a chance that she will flip on her own before her arrival, so I'm continuing to do my exercises at home and we're keeping our fingers are crossed for that. If she decides to stay put we will be scheduling a c-section for the first week of July, although I could still go into labor before then. At this point it's basically a waiting game.

I hit 37 weeks last week and am officially considered full term, yay!! I also started my maternity leave this week, double yay!! I've been washing clothes and organizing the nursery getting ready for Kaiya's arrival and I get more excited with each passing day. In honor of being full term, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of the progression of the belly. So here we go:

14 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks, halfway!

24 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks, full-term!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Petaluma Shower

What better way to spend the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend than to be surrounded by my friends and mothers at my baby shower? That's exactly what I did!

Hosted by the "We Love Julya Club," Cheryl (cousin), Melissa (friend), and Kristin (friend) did an awesome job and threw me a beautiful shower at Melissa's home in Petaluma. Good food, good drink (of course non-alcoholic for this mommy), and great company.

Kristin, Me, Melissa, & Cheryl

Banner of onesies

Home made pink popcorn, courtesy of Cheryl

Pink lemonade and sangria

Delicious food

Fruit kabobs (love the watermelon stars!)

The best chocolate cupcakes, with pink frosting of course

We played the "How Big is Julya's Baby Belly" game....my Aunt Shelly won!

Guests were asked to bring a book instead of a card, so we got lots of fun books to add to Kaiya's bookshelf, I can't wait to encourage a love for reading in her. And of course, we were spoiled with lots of clothes and more baby goodies.