Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas: Friends, Family, "Firsts"

Its taken me a few days, but I have finally uploaded our Christmas photos (and there was a lot of them). We had a great Christmas! We got to see a lot of our family, spend time with friends, and enjoy a bunch of Kinley's "Firsts". I made the mistake of taking Kinley to see Santa on Christmas Eve. I made a second mistake by not taking the stroller or carrier so I stood in line by myself holding her, a diaper bag, and my oversized purse for over 2 hours!!! But I just had to have a picture of her with Santa, so it was worth every minute and pain!!! My family from Pennsylvania/Missouri/Washington came in for Christmas and got to meet Kinley for the first time so that was really special. Kinley got a lot of great things from all of our family members. She got a bunch of toys, books, some clothes, and even some cash! She is a lucky little girl! She's only 7 1/2 weeks old and she has packed in a lot to her short little life. She's had her first Thanksgiving, her first Christmas, her first photo with Santa, her first visits with family from all over the country, trips to the mall and restaurants, gifts, visits, etc.

She went with us to our Sunday School Class Christmas party which was a lot of fun! We love our church family! She went with me to her first HEJ Party.

She's really starting to recognize Bryan and me, but especially Bryan's voice. She will hear him walk in the room and she starts looking in the direction of his voice with her big, bright eyes.

She also spent her first morning in the nursery at church during Sunday School.

Another big first actually just happened last night...she slept all night long!!! I put her in her bed about 10:00 last night and she slept straight through to 6:00 this morning. I was totally shocked. I expected to have to feed her around 1:00 or 2:00 but she just kept on sleeping. She got a sound machine from us for Christmas and I play the "womb" sound in her room at night. That seems to be comforting to her.

Thanks to all of our friends and family who helped make Kinley's first Christmas so great! We are so lucky to have all of you!

On Christmas Eve, Kinley was 7 weeks old and Bryan & I had been married for exactly 2 1/2 years.

I've loaded a lot of pictures into this post and I tried to put them in chronological order, but some of them are not:



This is the Rogers' Family with Kinley (minus Kevin and Presley). They are wonderful people who have always been there for us. They even watched Kinley for me when I had to go to the ER with kidney stones. We are so thankful to have them in our life.
Me with Amber and Lindsay at our Sunday School Christmas party

Kinley was 7 weeks old on Christmas Eve!


Here she is playing on the play mat that Dr. Rhodes got for us.


Her first day in the nursery with Isabella who was born 2 weeks after her. She is being held by Mrs. Raines and Izzy is with Mrs. Whitlock.

Her first time with Santa (on Christmas Eve)


Little Miss Bright Eyes on Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house

Kinley got to meet the Tracys for the first time
(Cousin Matt, Aunt Karen (my dad's sister), cousin Jennifer, and Uncle Joe)

The ladies of the family
(my mom, me, my aunt, my cousin, and my granny holding Kinley)
The gentlemen of the family
(my brother, my husband, my dad, my uncle, my papaw holding Kinley, and my cousin)

4 Generations of Hookers: my grandparents, my dad, me, and Kinley

Kinley on Christmas morning at our house with her presents


Kinley with my father-in-law on Christmas afternoon
Kinley and I with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law on Christmas Eve

Our Family on Christmas Eve at Bryan's grandparents' house
Kinley eyeing her daddy on Christmas morning

Opening some of Kinley's presents at my parents' house on Christmas night
This toy had a mirror and she was looking at it

Me and Kinley with my mom and my grandmother

I changed Kinley into something more comfortable after we finished with presents

Kinley with Uncle G

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Christmas Time

Obviously, this is Kinley's first Christmas and my first Christmas as a mom. I am so thankful to be able to be off work during this wonderful season to enjoy my new baby. She is smiling more and more. Her smiles are so sweet and you can tell when she is really looking at you.

We had our Sunday School class Christmas party last Saturday and it was a lot of fun. Kinley got passed around to everyone. She slept through most of it, though.

Tonight was the annual HEJ Christmas Party. (I grew up spending a lot of time with two other families: the Johnsons and the Easterlys. My maiden name is Hooker. At some point, someone came up with the idea to call our group "HEJ".) I was so excited to take Kinley because some of our friends from these families hadn't met her yet. It was also exciting because Holly just got engaged last night! I grew up with her and her sister. They have always been like sisters to me. In fact, we often refer to each other as sisters! They will always be considered family to me. I am so happy for her and I can't wait for her wedding. Lauren is the other sister and her little boy, Will, is about 18 months. He was so sweet tonight. He came up to us as soon as we got there and he gave Kinley a few kisses on the nose. He can even say her name! Kinley will be running around and playing with him before we know it!

We're hoping to drive around and look at Christmas lights on Monday night. Our Christmas "festivities" will technically begin tomorrow, I guess, when we do Christmas with my brother-in-law. Then we go to both of our grandparents' houses on Christmas Eve. After we have our own Christmas at our house on Christmas day, we will go to my father-in-law's, and then to my parents' that night. We will be pretty busy this week, but I love Christmas time! I will hopefully have plenty of pictures from Kinley's first Christmas to share soon.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

First Smile!!!

Kinley is 6 weeks old today!!! We had a rough couple of days (Sunday night thru Tuesday morning). I've heard that babies have some sort of growth spurt/weird phase right around their 6 week birthday and that they can be fussy and different than normal. Well, this must be true because Kinley was almost inconsolable! She would cry for no reason, which is abnormal for her. She had to be held but that didn't keep her from crying completely. She seemed very uncomfortable and fussy. But by yesterday afternoon, she was sleeping better and seemed to be back to her very content self! And last night when we were getting in bed, she started smiling at us when we talked to her for the first time!!! Babies smile as a reflex pretty much from birth. It is as cute as can be, but you know that they're not really interacting with you or smiling for any reason. But last night she was grinning like crazy as I talked to her. She was so happy and you could tell that she was really looking at me and smiling on purpose. When I reached for my cell phone to try to get a picture, she followed me with her eyes! It was amazing and made the previous 2 rough days all worth it!!! I've included the only picture I could get last night of her grinning. All of her previous smiles were much bigger and open-mouthed! Isn't she beautiful?!?!?!


Monday, December 8, 2008

Random Recents...

This past week, Kinley has turned 4 weeks old and then 1 month old. I would say she's getting so big, but she really isn't. She is starting to fit into her newborn clothes better, but she's still a petite little thing. She's awake a lot more and she looks around a lot trying to figure everything out. She is so sweet and really only cries or fusses when she's hungry or really tired. This past week, Kinley also stayed with her first "babysitter". I had to take myself to the emergency room last Thursday because I was having extreme pain in my left side. I had to drop Kinley off with Lindsay (LiLi) who is going to be taking care of Kinley when I go back to work. It turns out I had/have 3 kidney stones on my left side. I pretty much slept for the next 2 days on pain pills while Bryan stayed home from work and took care of me and Kinley. He was great. Here are some recent pictures of Kinley that I haven't been able to upload and share until now...
Kinley's 4 week picture...I follow a blog of a friend of a friend and I stole this idea from her

Kinley on her 1 month birthday looking up at me from her pack'n'play

Kinley sleeping on the couch one day while I was on the computer

Kinley sleeping on me...this is her favorite position

Hanging out with her daddy (sleeping) while he was home for lunch one day

Looking up at me from her pack'n'play

Maggie (my brother's girlfriend) & Kinley

Sleeping in front of her heater in the bathroom before a bath
She loves her Uncle G...and he loves her, too

Christmas Photos

This past weekend we went over to my parents' house for dinner. We decided to try to get some Christmas pictures taken so I could get cards made. I wanted to share some of the pictures from our "shoot". She is starting to be awake a lot more so we are really getting some good pictures of her lately!


Kinley on the floor in front of the fireplace...she loves being warm

Me & Kinley in front of my parents' tree

Our family taking pictures for our Christmas card



1st Time to go to Church

The Sunday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 30th), we decided to take Kinley to church. I am still not ready to leave her in the nursery so she went with us to Sunday School and to the worship service. We went again this past Sunday and then Sunday night to our "Hanging of the Greens" service. So far she's done really good, but I still can't bear to leave her in the nursery. I like having her with me. I'm going to spoil her, I know, but I can't help it right now.
Kinley & Mommy before church
Kinley & Daddy before church

Our Family at church standing in the nursery where Kinley has her own "cubbie hole" for when she does start going to the nursery

1st Thanksgiving

Wow! Its been 2 weeks since the last time I posted. Kinley has had a lot of "firsts" in those 2 weeks. I also have a lot of pictures to share so this may be a long post. We have a lot to catch up on. I am going to make it all separate posts, though.

She had her first Thankgiving. We went to my parents' house for lunch and then to Bryan's Mimi & Papa's for dinner. After dinner we stopped by Bryan's dad so he could see Kinley, too. It was her longest day away from home. We had to pack a lot of formula, bottles, and diapers. But Kinley did great and everyone had a good time.


Kinley with my parents and brother (her Coach, G'Ma, and Uncle G)

Our Family

Me & Kinley with my Granny & Papaw

Kinley with my Granny Phillips

4 Generations of Phillips/Hooker women:
My Granny Phillips, my mom, me, and Kinley






Monday, November 24, 2008

Due Date

Today was Kinley's actual due date. Its hard to believe I could have been pregnant all this time. I wonder how much bigger she would have been if she had stayed in there. I took her to be weighed last Thursday and she had finally made it up past her birth weight and was at 5 lbs. 11 oz. Since she had made good progress with her weight, they said we didn't need to come back until her 1 month check-up unless there was a problem.

She is still having some episodes of projectile vomiting but its not everyday. She seems to be sleeping better at night, but I'm still getting used to sleeping in increments instead of all night long. She also seems to be awake more during the day and to be more aware when she is awake. She will sometimes follow Bryan's face with her eyes. She will lay there for up to an hour sometimes looking around and looking at us.

She had her first major "outings" last week. On Thursday, we went to be weighed at the pediatrician. Then we went to my work so everyone could meet her. Then we went by a friend's house to see her before she moves to Alabama (Bye Stephanie & Lilly...we'll miss you). Thursday night we met all of our church friends at Shorty Small's for LiLi's surprise birthday party. Everyone got to hold her a little bit and she even had her eyes open for awhile for them. Friday night, the 3 of us (Bryan, me & Kinley) went out to eat at Moe's. Then we went to the mall and Barnes & Noble. She was so good while we did all of these things. So far she is a really good baby! She always seems so content and really only gets fussy when she's hungry. I've noticed she seems to like music because she will lay awake in her pack'n'play if I turn the music on and she will calm down if I sing to her when she's fussy.

I would like to ask everyone who reads our blog to please pray for our friend, Angel Duncan, and her family. She had a baby last week on the 18th. Her husband found her this morning on the floor with the baby, who was crying. I was told she was having seizures and was now in the hospital. I do not want to start any rumors or give any false information. This is just what I've been told. Please pray that she will be OK and that she has no permanent damage or effects from whatever was happening to her and pray for her family as they wait to find answers right now. We go to church with this family and they have been waiting to have this new little girl for a long time. You are in our prayers, Angel!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A little personality!

Since the last time I posted, I've noticed a few things about Kinley that I wanted to share with everyone...

1) She LOVES bathtime! I have a small heater that I plug in to warm the bathroom up and lay her in front of when she gets out of the water. I have a changing pad that I lay down in front of the heater and I lay her there while I finish getting everything ready. The other night, she rolled over onto her right side and was just snoozing in front of the heater (I have a picture but I will have to upload it later). When I lay her in the sling part of her little bath tub, she seems to automatically relax. She straightens her legs out in the water (which she keeps scrunched up to her alot of the time) and she opens her eyes (which is a rare thing right now, but occurring more and more). She will just lay there looking around and looking at me and she seems so content. Then I lay her back on the pad and wrap her in her towel. She will lay there in front of that little heater as long as I will let her and she continues to look at me with her big, beautiful eyes.

2) She loves warm things. She gets very cozy and sound asleep when wrapped in her blanket. She likes to lay on one of our chests. She refuses to drink her bottle if its not fairly warm (what you would expect to be warm enough for the typical baby is just not acceptable to her). She is perfectly content in her carseat inside her "bundle me" which is a very warm lining that zips up half way and makes like a little sleeping bag for her in the carseat.

3) She seems to have her days and nights mixed up or she just likes to spite me. She will sleep for an extended period from the middle of the day into early evening sometimes. But she loves to lay there looking at me and looking around after her 1:00 am or 4:00 am feedings. Then when people come to visit her, she lays there snoozing away so no one believes she ever opens her eyes. Trust me...she does. And when she's awake like that, she does not want to lay on my chest. She wants to sit where she can look around. But my dad reminded me this morning of that song "You're going to miss this". He was basically telling me I should enjoy those "wide awake in the middle of the night" sessions because they'll be gone before I know it and she'll be all grown up.

4) I think she has Bryan's temper! When she decides she is hungry, she is hungry right then. She cries and her face gets red. She will then either grab her face or rub her fists across her face (which I hate because then she scratches herself sometimes). She continues this little tantrum until a pacifier or bottle is put in her mouth. She's very smart, though, and that pacifier does not fool her for long. She'll go to town on it for a few minutes but when she realizes there's nothing coming out of it, she shoots it out!

Her little personality is definitely starting to show and I'm loving every minute of it...even when I can barely hold my eyes open at 4:00 in the morning. She is so sweet and loves to be with her mommy or daddy.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Pictures...Finally!!

Well, I finally got all of my pictures on a CD so I could upload them. I have included a lot of them in this post but for some reason, they're in the reverse order of what I wanted them in...sorry.

Kinley had her first pediatrician appointment on Monday and it went really good. She has lost one ounce since coming home from the hospital, though. So they are going to monitor her weight over the next few weeks to make sure she gains.

We went on our first "outing" yesterday. I took her to see my mom at work and give her a CD with all of the pictures. She showed her off to everyone at work. Then we went to see my grandparents.

Unfortunately, she's had some difficulties finishing her bottles and started spitting up a lot. Then last night she spit up a lot in her bassinet and was coughing a lot. She then had an epidsode of projectile vomiting after a bottle this morning. So we went to see the pediatrician again this morning. I was worried about reflux and the doctor confirmed my concerns. She started Kinley on a reflux medication today and we're going to see if it helps. She had gained 2 ounces, though, so that was good news! Hopefully, this med will help her and then in a few months, she'll grow out of it.



First trip to the pediatrician

First bath

She's laying in front of a little heater and she liked it!



Already a daddy's girl!



Second family photo



Stretching her long legs out


First family photo...minutes after her birth




He is such a proud daddy!



Being weighed and measured...5 lbs. 10 oz. and 19.5 inches long



Me and Manda at 6:30 am before starting my induction



Early in the morning before staring my induction