Ok, clearly I suck at updating this blog

Well....Myles is nearly 6 months old now and I'm just now getting around to updating again. WOW. I suck. In my defense, I have returned to work and have a very active little one on my hands!

So....here's what's new...I am back at work and enjoying it, though I hate that it cuts my time short with Myles. Some evenings I only get like an hour or two with him before he goes to bed, which makes me sad. :( But right now we are on winter break, so I'm getting LOTS of Myles time, which I loooooove!

Developmentally he is doing really well. He rolls both front to back and back to front and he does it a LOT. He has also started using his legs to propel himself backward while he is laying on his back. We find this quite hilarious. :) He's really verbal now and "talks" all the time. He says "dada" a lot, but I'm not sure he knows what it means, but we like to think he does. :)

We started Myles on rice cereal this week and he is getting pretty good at figuring out how to eat from a spoon. We think peas or green beans might be around the corner! Pretty soon he'll be ready for steak! (That was a joke, by the way...)

Myles had a great first Christmas and really enjoyed all of attention he got. He got a lot a great gifts, including an AMAZING toy chest that my dad MADE for him! It's beautiful!

Our five year anniversary is tomorrow. I can't believe that Brent and I have been married for five years! Time has flown. I still feel like we are newlyweds. :) My mom has graciously agreed to come babysit so that we can have an overnight date, and this will be the first time we've been away from Myles overnight. I am both very very excited and very very nervous! I know he will have lots of fun with Mimi but hope she doesn't mind sending me a bazzilion picture messages of what he's doing. LOL

Well, here are some fun pictures of Myles from recent weeks. ENJOY!

Love,
Kara :)


Myles opening his Christmas gifts




Myles' new toy chest that Grandpa built for him




Myles playing with his new toy from Grandma Betty




Myles' 5 month photo




Family photo December 2010




Myles on his new toy chest




Myles trying rice cereal for the first time - kinda messy!

Time has slipped away...

Well I haven't updated this blog in almost a month. Whoops. I really have very good intentions, but my free time has become less and less in the last few weeks. Mom stayed with us for three weeks after Myles was born, but then she had to go back to work. Then last week Brent had to go back to work. So for the last week and a half, Myles and I have been hanging out just the two of us - thus less free time (but also very enjoyable to get to chill just him and me).
So...let's see. At his 1 month appointment, Myles weighed in at 11 pounds 12.5 ounces (2 pound 10.5 ounce gain from birth) and measured 23 inches (1 inch growth from birth). He's in the 95th percentile for both weight and height - he's going to be a BIG BOY! I expect he'll be taller than both Brent and me. Here's Myles' one month picture:

Also since I last updated, Brent's younger brother Gaven, who is in the Air Force, and his wife Jillian came home on leave. It was the first time they got to meet Myles. So Myles got to hangout with Uncle Gav and Aunt Jilli - very fun. :) Of course, my camera battery died before I could get very many pictures, but here are a few.


As far as milestones go, Myles has gotten pretty good at holding his head up for several seconds when he's on his tummy and has just started to smile and laugh in response to us. Of course, Brent got him to laugh first (what would you expect when one parent is a comedian?), but I got him to do it too. :) Myles also has now taken a bottle a few times, which is new because I'm nursing. It's pretty cool for Brent to get to be involved with his feedings too, and Myles was much less confused after the first time. :)

So tomorrow I have my 6 week postpartum check up with my OB doctor, so I will officially be considered recovered from delivery. I feel really great, so it almost feels a little silly for me to need to be "released" back to activity. I've even resumed some of my cheerleading coaching responsibilities. :) But it will be nice to no longer be considered an invalid. Hahaha :)
Also happening tomorrow is the arrival of my Aunt Gayle. She is coming to visit us for about 2 weeks. I'm really looking forward to it because I haven't really had a chance to spend much time with her since my wedding week - and that was 4 1/2 years ago! I'm sure we will have some fun adventures and pictures to post later. And hopefully she can help me get the time to post them on here. :)
Alright, it could be a while before I get to post again, so to tide you over, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks.

Two weeks old

Myles is 2 weeks old today. I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks.... In another 2 weeks Brent will have to go back to work :( Thank goodness I don't have to go back to work in 2 weeks! I met with the powers-that-be at work and I now get to take the entire first grading period off of work! So I get to stay at home with Baby Myles until October 14th! I know it will be hard to go back even then, so I'm glad I was able to postpone it for a little longer. :)

This week Myles had his first bath - I was so nervous!!! Thank God my mom is here to teach me things like that. He actually did very well and didn't cry at all. In fact, when we gave him his second bath this week, he slept through the first half of it! Haha



Myles has also found a new favorite thing: HIS SWING!!! He absolutely loves it! He is so fascinated with the mobile on it and he seems to really enjoy the motion. He coos and waves his arms while watching the sea creatures on the mobile go by. So cute. :)



On another note, we had some excitement in the house today that was not entirely revolved around the new baby. I have so far lost 27 pounds since giving birth, so I thought I would try to get my wedding bands back on. BIG MISTAKE. They did go ON (admittedly after quite a bit of work), but it became very clear very quickly that they couldn't come back off. I tried and tried, and Brent tried and tried, and Mom tried and tried, and by then my finger was purple and majorly swollen. So...we packed up Myles and went to the fire station to have my ring cut off. The firefighters were really nice and didn't laugh at me at all (at least not until I left). They cleanly cut the rings off for free even though the exact same procedure would have cost us like $500 if we'd gone to the Emergency Room. When my fingers are back to normal, I can get the jeweler to fix my rings. They did a nice clean job. :) So the moral of the story is: if you get a ring stuck on your finger, go the a fire station, not the ER. Actually, the real moral of the story probably is not to force your wedding rings back on your finger 2 weeks after you had a baby.

The Birth of Myles Ray Owens

Myles is here!!!! And he is one awesome little guy - we are soooooo proud!

So here's the birth story (I'll try to edit so as not to give too many ewey details haha):
I went into the hospital Friday night (7/9/10) to be given a medication to "prep" me to be induced the next morning, and that ended up sending me into labor.



Sometime during the night I started contracting and then my water broke. By 6am I was ready for my epidural, and they gladly obliged. That was a relief! Around 9am they gave me the Pitocin to make the contractions come stronger and harder - which they did. I was actually having such strong contractions that I was having some breakthrough pain despite the epidural, so I was soooooo glad that I wasn't trying to endure WITHOUT the epidural! By about noon I was dilated to 4cm (almost halfway) and they said I was progressing they way I was supposed to. Then I suddenly started having searing pain in my right hip and the breakthrough pain was coming with a vengeance pretty much every contraction. They refreshed my epidural twice and then around 2:00 they checked me again to see how I was progressing, and we discovered that I had suddenly gone from 4cm to 10cm and it was time to push! AGHHHHHH!!!!!!

That part kinda sucked.....a lot....I won't go into much detail, but let's just say I tried really hard, but Myles REALLY didn't want to come out that way (I don't think he could fit). At one point I was begging for them to bring the anesthesiologist back in to refresh my epidural, but he was in surgery and couldn't come in right away. When he finally came in I yelled "Oh thank GOD!!!!" Hahahaha At least he felt loved. LOL

Anyway, I pushed for about 2 1/2 hours, and then Myles' heart rate dropped - A LOT. That was a very scary 15 minutes before they got him back up where he needed to be. At that point I had had it. I just wanted my baby to be born safely. Brent and I discussed options with the doctor and decided that it was time to do a C-Section. They had me sign some forms and gave Brent a sterile outfit that made him look like the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man, and we were off to surgery. That was also not a fun experience, but at least within 10 minutes of the start of surgery, we heard Myles cry!!!! I immediately burst into tears. Sooooo relieved! They brought him around the drape to clean him up and so we could see him - AMAZING!!!! That is a moment I will never ever forget...seeing him for the first time.....indescribable.....

After they got him cleaned up, assessed and measured (9 pounds 2 ounces, 22 inches long, and a head with a 13 1/2 inch circumference that was NOT going to fit through my body!), he was given to Brent who got to hold him for the 20 minutes that I was being sewn up (ew).

So....that's the story. Myles Ray Owens was born Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 5:54pm. He is ridiculously cute and is being loved on by pretty much everyone who comes in contact with him. :o)





We got to go home from the hospital on Tuesday and since then we have been settling in at home. He is such a good baby....very sweet and good-natured. He eats and sleeps well and doesn't cry unless he has a really good reason. We are super lucky! He is everything we could have possibly hoped for and more - we have truly been blessed!

This past Friday, Myles had his first appointment with his pediatrician. He got a great report - he's very healthy and is gaining weight and thriving! Yay!!! So he's now one week old and he is doing well and so are we. Just enjoying our little one....he makes it easy. :o)

It's time!

Ok....I am going into the hospital in a few hours to be admitted to get ready to induce labor in the morning. So...it looks like Myles will be here sometime tomorrow, assuming everything goes on schedule. :)

I'm not sure when I will have a chance to update this blog again, but I just wanted to update everyone! Thanks to you all for your love, support, prayers, and good thoughts as we head into this new phase of our lives. We are so excited, and we can't wait to share Baby Myles with you all.

Love,
Kara :)

It's my "dude" date! :o)

Yesterday my friend Kimberly commented on Facebook that it was nearly my due date, but had a typo and ended up putting "dude date" which I thought was hilarious. So...yes, today is the little dude's due date or my "dude date."

Even though today is the day we have been looking toward for nine long months, it appears that today is just another day. I don't think little dude has any plans for being on time. I have a tendency to be tardy, so I guess Myles takes after me in this respect. So...more waiting. The doctor is still planning to induce me on July 10th if Myles doesn't decide to come on his own, so it looks like we've only got one more week until the BABY IS HERE! I can't wait!!!!!!

So even though I am totally ready for the baby to be born, there is one perk to not having him here yet - I get to go to Corey and Shawna's wedding! Brent is the best man in his buddy Corey's wedding tomorrow, and for the last 9 months I have been worried that the birth of the baby was going to throw a monkey wrench in their wedding plans. Now I know we aren't totally out of the woods yet, but so far it looks like we are both going to get to go to the wedding (knock on wood). Since we've made it this long, I'm hoping Myles doesn't decide the middle of their reception would be an awesome place to announce that he is coming soon. Hahaha.....

Waiting Game

Myles is not ready to come yet. We had our 39 week doctor appointment today and so far we are a no-go for launch. I am so eager to hold my little one, and I'm a little concerned my tailbone is going to snap off if the baby doesn't get off of it pretty soon! Anyhow, the doctor did set up a date to induce me in case Myles doesn't decide to come on his own before then. So, assuming I don't go into labor before then, it looks like July 10th is the deadline. While that seems FOREVER away, it would be a cool birthday for Myles to have because he would share it with his Grandpa Gary. :) But in the meantime, we are just playing the waiting game. Maybe he will come soon........

We've had a LOT of rain this week. Thunderstorms have hit most days this week, and a few days had multiple storms! In fact, yesterday the storms were so bad that a dam broke and the lake that Brent's mom lives on rose about 10 feet! YIKES! Their pontoon boat very nearly was at their back door! The picture below shows their boat when the water was still up WAY too high. About half of their deck stairs are underwater in this photo. Luckily, the lake has receded back a lot and is now almost back to normal. Thank goodness! Let's hope Mother Nature gives us a break for a little bit. I'm kinda over the storms for now!

Wrapping up loose ends

With just a few short weeks to go before D-Day (delivery), I've been trying to get some things in order since I figure I won't have the energy to do much except newborn care here shortly. :)

We did finish our gardening project. I am really, really happy with how it turned out, and the plants seem to be doing very well, which is a feat in and of itself. :)



I've also been working on wrapping up sub plans for my maternity leave. It makes me very paranoid to have someone in my classroom for that long, especially at the beginning of the school year. I've realized that I definitely have some control issues with my classroom! Anyhow, hopefully I can get the finishing touches on my binder of materials, and I can put that out of my mind...at least for now!

We've also spent some time hanging out with friends, swimming, and otherwise enjoying ourselves. Not much left in the lazy days of summer, I guess. Better enjoy it while I can. As much as I want Myles here (NOW!), and as sore and achy as I am (and I AM!), I realize that things will never be as they are now, so I'm trying to concentrate on enjoying this last little stretch.

37 weeks preggo

3 weeks to go! Nothing to report about when Myles is coming, but in somewhat related news, my cousin Cheryl had her baby today! Welcome Elliana! She and Myles will only be a couple of weeks apart, which is fun because Cheryl and I are only about 6 months apart in age.

Brent and I did some planting this week, with supervision from Mom. :) She is definitely in charge of the planning phase - Brent and I don't really know what we are doing! She chose beautiful flowers though, and we are very pleased with the results. We will be adding some creeping plox on the right (the hibiscus that is there in the picture isn't really part of the deal....it just happened to be there for the photo-op), but we are waiting for it to come in. I'll post a picture of that when we get that part planted.



In other news, we are enjoying our summer vacation and enjoying the last few weeks of it being just "Brent and Kara." It still seems crazy (but very exciting!) to think that pretty soon it will be "Brent and Kara and Myles" WOW....

Officially entering the world of blogging

As we are getting closer and closer to Myles' arrival, I decided I wanted to get something in place to update people with pictures and info about the tail end of my pregnancy and, more importantly, MYLES...when he gets here. :)
Hopefully this will be a good way to get stuff out to our loved ones. I hope I can keep it updated!

Sooo......update for today....I had my 36 week OB appointment today. (ONE MONTH TO GO!) Everything looks good and it seems like Myles has moved down into position for birth. That doesn't mean anything is imminent, but it does mean I now have to pee.....all the time. Thanks little dude. :) I go back to the doc next week...and every week from here on out.

On the subject of doctors...we will be meeting with two potential pediatricians next week. It feels strange to "interview" a doctor.... What am I supposed to ask?

Love to all,
Kara