time flies...

...when your having fun. Or when you are watching your baby boy grow up too fast. Tonight we put him to bed in his own room. For a while now I've been saying we were going to do it, but I kept putting it off because I just wasn't ready to have him down the hall. However, I know in the long run it'll be better this way - we won't have to fight to get him into a routine when he's older if we have a good one now. So we gave him bath, Lollie read him a bedtime story over the webcam, he ate and passed out, then Daddy carried him upstairs and put him to bed. Of course I had to check the monitor and watch him sleep for a while - and of course take pictures of this important event - and now he is sound asleep in his own bed.



We are still working in the backyard - Jess just finished building a planter box on the front of the deck and it is really starting to shape up.





Today Jess sent me flowers at work and the card read simply "just because"... how sweet is he??




My first Mother's Day was great, we spent it in Victoria with the family. We ended up having Mother's Day with my Mom at the hospital, but it was fun - we are really good at making the best of a not so great situation. Jake had a ton of fun all day visiting with all the family - he had so much that he really did not want to ride back to Austin that night, which made our trip home rough, but we survived it!







Oh and I think Jacob is working on a tooth! It hasn't popped through yet, but he's been fussy, drooling, putting everything in his mouth - including his hands - CONSTANTLY! So wish us luck.



until next time...

An update...

Ok so I kinda suck at this! I can't seem the keep it up, but I'm going to keep at it and one of these days I will get into a regular routine - a routine for my life in general... So anyways - I went back to work last week and while it has been really hard I think we will survive it. The first day was the hardest - tears pretty much all day, but after that first day it has become easier day by day.

Jake is growing like a weed - at his 2 month appointment he was 14 lbs 9 oz, 23 1/2" long and his head is 40.8 cm in diameter, which means he was above the 95th percentile in weight and the 75th percentile in the others. What can I say - he's just a big kid!



We went to Victoria for Easter and really enjoyed ourselves with our very own little Easter bunny!







A few weeks ago Jess, Jason and our neighbor John starting tearing apart our deck in an effort to repair the hot tub surround - so while it is still in the works there has been a lot of good work done in our backyard! Hopefully we will be able to fire up the hot tub sometime this week and soon there will be a party to celebrate!

Jake helping with the work!


Before...


During...


Stay tuned for the AFTER!

Jason and Brittany got married last Friday - the wedding was a big success! Laura came to Austin and took care of the baby on Thursday and all day at the wedding on Friday. Brittany looked absolutely gorgeous and I guess I have to say that Jason looked pretty handsome as well. Jess got to catch up with a bunch of his guy friends from back home, so all in all everyone had a great time.

Let the tooting commence...

So tonight I am laying in bed trying to go to sleep and all I can hear is Jacob in his cradle next to me tooting up a storm! Which is wonderful because he is sleeping right through it and hopefully we won't have to work it out later on tonight when his is awake after a feeding. Poor little boy just has a heck of a time getting his own gas out - we have taken to giving him a combination of Mylicon and Gripe Water, which helps a lot - but I just hate having to medicate him!

I decided I better get back to writing on here because he is growing up so fast I feel like I'm going to forget so much! Within the last 2 weeks he has started to smile in response to things - so when you are talking to him in a happy voice you can typically get a little grin. He still doesn't smile in recognition, but it's coming soon! Jess weighed him at bath time tonight and he is about 14 lbs! His 2 month drs appt is next week so we will get the official length and weight then, but I just can't believe how big he already is. He also gave his Lollie (Jess' mom) a little giggle on Sunday at bath time - she was tickling him under his chin and talking to him about his granny beads and he let out a giggle twice - of course he wouldn't do it when I was listening, but I'm working to get another one out of him.

It looks like I will be headed back to work in the next couple of weeks. I am not at all ready to go and have been putting off even thinking about it for over a month now, but the time has come. I'm calling tomorrow, but from the people I talked to today it looks like they are looking forward to having me back and hopefully I will be coming off of the sales floor - which means a SET SCHEDULE! Send positive thoughts my way - this would be a wonderful thing for me if it works out.

Oh! Jake did attend his first wedding (Jess' cousin Katie - Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Gage) - it was a beautiful wedding at the church where Jess and I got married - felt like we were at home again. I love that church - I spent so much time there growing up that it just makes me so happy to be there... Anyways - Jake looked adorable in an outfit made by Laura - and he slept the ENTIRE time. Normally that would be great, except we had to drive home right after the wedding and he no longer wanted to sleep - which turned our trip into and 3 and a half hour one rather than the 2.5 hrs it normally takes.


We ordered a new fancy camera - so stay tuned for some great pics as soon as it gets here this weekend! I have started taking little video clips of him - again trying not to miss anything - so I'm going to try to start posting some of them as well.

This is harder than I thought it would be...

I started this blog and thought to myself that I would be busy with a new baby at home, but I didn't see why I wouldn't be able to write a little each night and keep everyone up to date... Well - HA! So far I have not done so good, but I'm going to do better! There has been a LOT going on here at the Kinnison Casa. Jacob is a growing like a weed - he's quickly growing out of his clothes! He is already over 11 lbs! Last week we started having some gas issues - which landed us at the dr's office last Thursday - the dr suggested Gripe Water to help ease the gas and I am here to tell you that product rocks!! While at the dr's office he noticed that Jake was wheezing a little, but since he didn't have a cough he wasn't worried about it. Of course over night he developed a cough. After ANOTHER visit to the dr it was determined he has an infection in his chest and we have to give him breathing treatments a couple of times a day, but I think he is starting to get better.



Today was Jess' 27th Birthday and Jacob turned 1 month old - while we didn't do too much to celebrate it does make me take a moment to look back on the past month and how much our lives have changed. Jake is simply amazing and beautiful - I find myself just staring at him trying to memorize every detail and hoping that I will always be able to remember this time, even though I know I probably won't. Jess is the best partner and father - I always expected him to be a great dad, but the love and joy he has for Jacob warms my heart like you would not believe. I know that I am so blessed and I don't even know what I did to deserve this life, but I am so thankful to be Jacob's mommy and Jess' wife.

The story of Jacob Clayton

Jacob turned 1 week old yesterday - time is passing us by so quickly already! I have started this blog on multiple occasions, but keep getting pulled away, go figure life with a newborn :). So let's see if I can get it written this time! For those of you who have not heard the story of how Jake entered the world here is the short version.
It all started Monday (Feb 9) morning very early - I woke up and lost my plug and started having contractions - I knew these were just early labor b/c I was able to pretty much go about my day as usual. I did end up having Jess come home from work mid morning because I was not sure how quickly the contractions would progress and I did not want to be surprised! Anyways, we had a drs appt already scheduled for that afternoon at which time he said I was 2-3 cm and 70% effaced - that he would expect it to be 24-48 more hours. We came home and ate an early dinner, I took a bath and tried to get some sleep, but by about midnight my contractions were really starting to hurt (I thought) so we called the drs office and they told us to go on in to the hospital. We were at the hospital from 2-4 am about and in those 2 hours I didn't progress so they decided I wasn't in active labor, gave me 2 Ambien and sent me home to rest through the rest of "early labor". This would have been a great plan, unfortunately by the time I got home my body decided it was a good time to go into full on labor - problem was I was so doped up on the sleeping pills I could not figure out what was going on! I'd sleep for 5 or 10 mins and then have a contraction that would have me coming out of the bed crying out in pain and I couldn't process what was happening to me, at around 8 am I was able to figure out that I was seriously in labor and needed to wake up, so I went downstairs and started pacing around the living room. Luckily it worked and by 9 I was calling the drs office to get an appt to make sure this was the real deal. Sure enough it was and I was admitted and had a wonderful epidural by around 11 AM. Unfortunately, my contractions never really got regular - I stayed at 6 cm dilated for hours and hours to the point where they were pretty certain there was a c-section in my future, but with the help of a tiny bit of pitocin I started to dilate more rapidly. Unfortunately during that time my epidural stopped working. They adjusted it twice and then had to replace it - however I was in so much pain I could not even sit up to do it, so the wonderful dr put it in with my laying down. So then they checked me and I had dilated to a 9 while I was off the pain meds (go figure). So then it was just time to wait for him to get into place and for me to be ready to push. Oh I almost forgot! Early on at the hospital the dr determined that he was facing sideways, so he needed to turn face down to come out - my dr was sure he would do it on his own and he did, but he ended up face up instead of face down. So at about 9:30 I was ready to push - which btw for anyone who has not had the joy of pushing a baby out I think you should know that it is not a quick thing like it looks like on TV - oh no. I think I did pretty well and it took me about an hour to push him out - of course the dr did say my job would have been a lot easier if he had been facing down! So after 40 or so hours of labor we were able to welcome Jacob Clayton into the world. In the delivery room I had a wonderful set of cheerleaders - Jess, My Aunt Sara, and our friend Patricia - I could not have done it without them. In the waiting room waiting to meet him we had a huge crowd that included Laura (now Lollie), Aunt Kiki (Kristi) and Uncle Will, Gerald, my Uncle Rick, Jason and Brittany, and I heard that Sandra and Justin were there. Thanks to everyone for the love and support that got us through that, I know there were a lot of people out there sending us positive thoughts!
Since Jacob joined our lives we have been unbelievably blessed by Laura coming to stay with us and filling our pantry and tummy's with good food - not to mention having an extra set of hands with experience around. Also, my Aunt Sara, Uncle Rick and Kimberly were here this weekend making double sure that we did not go hungry and blessing us with their company. On Sunday we got a SURPRISE visit from Aunt Kiki and Uncle Will - sneaky guys! Also, we've had visits from various friends in Austin - which we LOVE!
What they say is true, once you meet your little bundle of joy your life is forever changed. I can hardly remember the pain that it took to get him here, but I know that it was well worth it. We are breastfeeding, which has been a little bit of a challenge, but each day that gets a little bit better. Jess is an amazing father, he never tires of loving on his little boy, jumps at the chance to change a dirty diaper (he's better at it than I am), is sweet and affectionate and concerned about my well-being constantly.
I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends! This weekend Jake will get to meet his grandparents on my side, his great grandma on my side and his great grandparents and aunt on Jess' side and he is so excited!
Oh I almost forgot the best part - he's already sleeping 4-5 hours a night - it is wonderful! I was blessed with a GREAT baby! Here are a couple of more recent pictures!

It's a boy!

Jacob Clayton Kinnison was born February 10th at 10:22 PM. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. We were all released from the hospital today, so I am pretty worn out, but I wanted to stick a few pics up here and give the site for all of the pictures for anyone who might be interested. I have a picture website at www.flickr.com/photos/sjhkinnison - that is where you will find LOTS and LOTS of pictures so go there! Here are a few to wet your appetite!

Sick!!

Well, the good news is there is no baby yet, but the bad news is that both Jess and I are terribly sick!  Jess was feeling a little bad over the weekend and by Monday he volunteered to go to the dr - for fear of being kept out of the delivery room I think! So even though I made him sleep in the guest room Monday night I still managed to catch it from him and I'll be heading to the doctor tomorrow morning.  

In the mean time I did go to the OB on Monday and have not made any additional progress, but my dr seemed to feel it could take until I actually go into labor for me to really dilate.  If there's no baby born by next Monday he said we would discuss medical interventions, but I'm not sure what we'll do.  So I need everyone to hope that we all get better here and THEN we have a baby before Monday!