The Kennedy's

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:28:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our lovely family!

We're enjoying a great day together, watching the Macy's parade. Turkey is in the oven and some awesome food to make and bake later.

Some great football games to watch today too!

We hope all our family is having a great day and enjoying family and friends. We're so thankful to have such amazing people in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Riley–3,4,5 month comparison

2011-10-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

Thought I’d compare the last 3 months of pictures, even if he’s not smiling!

Such a cutie!

Here are some from today!

Videos of Riley–5 months old

2011-10-08T20:02:00.001-07:00

Riley is getting so big! Here are a couple of videos I took today.
He’s a pro at rolling over. He’s been doing it for about 3-4 weeks now. He rolls from back to tummy. He’s okay for a few minutes but quickly gets frustrated and starts to fuss. We’ll turn him back over to his back but he rolls right back over to this tummy within minutes (if not seconds!).
He LOVES bath time. Always kicking and slapping the water. I love the tub I picked out for him. We’ve been using it since he was about a month old. We’ll get tons of use out of it, even though it’s quite big and bulky.
His next doctors appointment is on the 31st (Halloween!). His last check up went great. He weighted in at 16 lbs. 5 oz. and 25 inches long.
He’s started to eat some rice cereal. I give him a little when I’m making dinner each night. He’s always watching me eat dinner so I thought I’d offer it to him and see how things went. He didn’t spit it out so we’ll keep going with it for now.
He’s doing great that’s for sure!
Here are his monthly pictures and those videos!

He wouldn’t smile while sitting in the 4 month picture. He was a happy baby during the 5 month pictures though!

Riley rolling over

To see Riley's bathtime video follow the link, didn't want it posted on here. This video is unlisted on YouTube.

Toothless Madi!

2011-08-11T14:54:00.001-07:00

Madison lost her second front tooth today!

Riley - 3 months

2011-08-03T17:56:00.001-07:00

Here's Riley at 3 months old! He was not in the mood for picture taking in the first picture.

He's doing very well. He had a snotty nose this past weekend and week
but it seems to be going away now.

He's really growing up. He's following faces and locking in much
quicker now. He's grabbing hold of toys, smiling a ton and has started
laughing. He talks up a storm too!

I'm sure there's more to tell but I can't think of anything else.

Hugs from us all!

1st Week Work and Daycare Update

2011-06-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

What a week!

It's refreshing to be back in a strict routine. I managed to get to work 5 minutes early on Friday as opposed to 25 minutes late on Monday. Success!

I had a decent week at work. I was mostly busy so that helped me not worry about Riley and Madi at daycare. I did call in Monday afternoon to check on Riley though. Just to make sure he was taking the bottle and he was!

Riley had a superb week. He mostly slept. He's a great sleeper. He took all but one bottle but only because he wanted to go back to sleep instead of drink. He comes home smelling like the daycare and for some reason it really bothers me. Needless to say he's been getting a bath just about every night.

Madison had a good week too. She went to Pen Mar Park on Monday, Northside Pool on Wednesday, and the Antietam Dairy on Thursday. Next week is full of fun too! Unfortunately she's also been having an attitude problem and giving me such a hard time in the mornings. She'll be going to bed this week at 8:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm.

I'm excited about the weekend even though it's full of things to do. Sunday afternoon is my 10 year High School reunion picnic and today Patrick is taking Madi to go see Cars 2 with Kevin, Lori, and Lucas then we'll be doing some yard work.

A couple of recent pictures:

Here's a new video of Riley! The other videos are at the bottom of our home page.

Back to work and daycare!

2011-06-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's officially that time: back to work.

I've been home since April 13th, delivered Riley on April 25th and will be returning to work on June 20th. Riley will be 8 weeks old!

I'm so grateful to the time I've had to stay at home getting ready for his birth and now the 8 weeks of watching him grow. I'm sad to have to leave him with strangers, even if it is at a very nice daycare.

The tasks we'll all have to overcome this week seem monstrous at the moment.

Me: Leaving my baby boy and little girl! Pumping! Working! Driving! Waking up (and staying up) early! (with NO coffee)
Riley: No mama for a whole day! Bottles?!!? (he still isn't taking one!) New people and a new place.
Madison: Making new friends and meeting new teachers.

The reward of picking them both up on Monday is going to be phenomenal. Only to have to turn around and do it again on Tuesday.

Riley is really going to have a terrible time if he doesn't buckle down and accept a bottle. I've been trying most of this past week getting him to take the ones I bought (Breastflow -- good for switching back and forth between breast and bottle) but I'm thinking I should have started a lot sooner or maybe I need to buy a different brand. He acts like the nipple is too firm. I'm going to look at different brands today to see if he'll accept something different.

I just hope he accepts one on Monday!

Madison is super excited about going to Noah's Ark. I have no doubt that this transition will go smoothly for her. She has a field trip the very first day! She gets to go to the pool every Wednesday and even a trip to the Antietam Dairy this Thursday!

Riley has his 2 month check up this coming week as well. I'm excited to see how much he's weighting now. He's such a big boy!

He'd been having fits every night for the past few weeks. Right around 7-8 pm he'd get super fussy and eventually vomits all over me. I've stopped drinking coffee this week and so far it seems to have helped. He hasn't vomited for the past 3 days. I was getting headaches w/o the coffee but that seems to have stopped just today. I miss drinking it so I may grab some decaf while at the store today.

Wish us luck for this week! We'll need it!
Until next week....

Riley’s Birth Story

2011-05-03T08:39:00.001-07:00

12:17 a.m., April 25, 2011

7 lbs. 9.3 oz.

21 1/4 inches long

Riley Shane made his appearance just minutes after Easter Day. My water broke around 11:30 am on Easter, April 24, but we had a whole day’s worth of awesome to attend to and I wasn’t having contractions, nor was I Strep B positive so we went about our day.

Some people, mainly women that have had children before (mother-in-law Kim) thought I was crazy for not going to the hospital ASAP but I knew I wasn’t progressing and from my first birth knew it would be at least 6 hours before anything major happened and that it was safe to just hang out with family and friends before heading to the hospital.

So, on to my sister’s Easter Egg Hunt we went. Madison had some fun, we had a few bites of food, well hubby and Madi did, I was holding out for dinner with hubby’s dad’s family. :) We left there and I was comfortable, dripping a bit but comfortable. We dropped Madison off with hubby’s mom because we knew we’d proceed to the hospital from the dinner.

The dinner was great. I told myself to not eat too much because I knew I’d probably get sick at some point of the labor, and I did, but it wasn’t terrible.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:00 pm. I was given Pitocin because I wasn’t contracting and they start to get worried if you’re not in labor within 6 hours of your water breaking. At about 9:00 pm I was in some pretty bad pain and they started to get me ready for my epidural. I requested some IV drugs to hold me over until the epidural was given. Stadol is my new friend.

I have no idea what time the epidural was actually given. I remember being so hot right before it was given and sweating profusely, so much so that the EKG pads wouldn’t stick to my chest and spray adhesive was used on those as well as the sticky tape that holds the epidural in place. The epidural was amazing. It worked so well that I couldn’t feel my entire right leg. I couldn’t move it to save my life. I had to ask several times during pushing for them to adjust it, the nurse was holding that leg and would put it down during contractions in the stirrup things but I could feel it wasn’t in there right. Any who, I only pushed through 4 contractions and Riley was born at 12:17 am on April 25, 2011. He weighted 7 lbs. 9.3 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. He cried so much when they were doing all they do to newborns I felt so bad for him!

It was such a great experience compared to my first labor and delivery. It’s amazing how much kind nurses, awesome doctors, and amazing drugs will do to make a situation so much better that you’d actually think about doing it all again. Only not really. ;)

Without further ado here are some of my favorite pictures. Please feel free to see the rest of Riley’s pictures in his Facebook album. And I just took this video a few minutes ago. He’s been doing a lot of grunting and throat clearing, or something, yesterday and today so I tried to capture the moment but instead I got him getting the hick ups, which he hates. Enjoy!

Riley Shane–1 Week Old

Week 29 Update

2011-02-21T07:03:00.001-08:00

Nothing new to report other than some new clothes and his nursery almost being done!

My glucose results were perfect if you were wondering and the last ultrasound came back with nothing to worry about. The fluid is fine.

Baby Stuff

I told you last week that I ordered some things from Old Navy, well they came! I ordered 3 sizes of the middle outfit because I LOVE it!

We also picked up his furniture and spent all day Saturday putting it together. I LOVE it. I can’t wait to buy some accessories to finish off his room. We have a few final touches to do: install closet doors, paint touch ups, paint the mural, install new ceiling fan/light combo, install new blinds, buy a soft rug for the middle of the floor and paint the door white. (Click image for larger picture.)

Kitty Cookie Monster approves. We’ve caught her sleeping in the crib several times already. The other cats have been checking this out too.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant today. I’m hoping to delivery the week of April 11th, but not the 14th cause that’s my birthday and I want him to have his own special day; so about 6-7 weeks to go! I’m so ready for him too!

When do you think I’ll deliver?

Week 28 Update

2011-02-13T08:47:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update!

Yesterday was my 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I was 2 points above the maximum results of my 1 hour test so they ordered the 3 hour test. Initially I refused to do it because I remembered how awful it was when I was pregnant with Madison, only to pass the test with no issues. But after my last doctor's appointment they convinced me to do it. And, alas, it sucked again.

On the 7th I had some contractions that scared me so I went to the Chambersburg Hospital to be monitored. All is well, the contractions weren’t regular but were pretty painful, which they shouldn’t be if they are just practice ones. They did a protein test that’s good for two weeks that came back negative, so apparently I will not go into labor for the next two weeks, which is awesome because it’s entirely too early for him to come out!

My hips continue to give me issues. I’m definitely waddling and moving around in bed or not sitting completely flat hurts. I did get a belly support band that helps a little but I can’t wear it too long.

Baby Stuff

I took a trip to Target and got a few frog themed items. I’m afraid that the things I see available for purchase now will disappear before people buy us anything for him. So, yeah, I’ve spent quite a bit on some clothes. Just last night I ordered a lot from Old Navy because, I <3 Old Navy, and they have some adorable frog outfits! Here’s what I got at Target:

See? Too cute! I’ll be sure to post the Old Navy purchases next week.

You can see our current baby registries. We have one on Amazon as well as Target. Both are pretty much the same but Amazon has some other items because they have the Universal Wish list option, where you can put items from any website on your list. I like that feature. Plus Amazon is usually cheaper than Target.

We also picked up his changing table from JCPenney yesterday but haven’t put it together yet. We were supposed to take home his dresser too, but it arrived damaged so we asked them to ship it back and try again. They were really great to work with and gave us 10% off the replacement dresser. I wasn’t there to see the damage, I was busy taking a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance Test, which sucked and ruined my day. I planned to paint his room but I had NO energy to speak of after I got home from the test. So, we’ll be trying to paint his room today. :)

ETA:

We got the walls painted and after dinner I hung up the valances! Here’s what it looks like so far:

27 Week Ultrasound!

2011-01-31T15:04:00.001-08:00

We had our follow up ultrasound appointment today. We’ll know how the amniotic fluid is doing when they call or at our next appointment, which is February 10th.

Here are the pictures! Or you can see them on Facebook (no account needed).

We’ll be starting to paint and decorate Rylie’s room soon. We just finished Madison’s room last weekend and still have a few more minor things to add: paint her door, hang closet doors, and install the closet light.

We’re supposed to get a decent amount of snow and even a layer of freezing rain tonight and tomorrow morning. Hope everyone is well!

Adorable Booties! And a baby update!

2011-01-12T18:29:00.001-08:00

I haven't done much of a personal update about my pregnancy for a while but I just ordered some of the most adorable booties I've ever seen and I must share them!

I found this Etsy shop via a Pregnancy blog I follow, which is Pregnancy & Newborn: Baby Buzz.

Bison Girl Shop (discount below) hand makes these adorable baby booties and I just had to have a pair. So I ordered these:

And then I saw that she also makes custom pairs too! So, I had her go shopping for some cute frog fabric, we picked our favorite and she went right to work! Here are the custom froggy ones:

Erica (Bison Girl Shop) has offered 10% off her shop for my readers! Just enter COZYREADER11 before February 1st! Thanks so much Erica!

Our nursery theme is frogs and we already have a few froggy outfits so these will be perfect additions.

You're probably wondering about our theme and thinking...hmm, frogs and blue and green are awfully boyish things. That's because we're having a boy!

We've already picked out his name: Rylie Shane (Shane is my hubby's middle name).

We're so excited about his arrival. We've started to transform our 6 year old daughter's, Madison, playroom into her new room. We've started painting and should have it done this weekend. Then we'll start on Rylie's room. We've ordered the bedding:

Click picture to see close ups.

We also ordered the matching crib mobile as well as the mural pattern as seen in this picture.

We also love the furniture in this picture so much that we tracked it down and hope to either order it ourselves or hope that maybe the grandparents can help fund the purchase. We have our old furniture but we'd love to get this dark wood as well as the advancement in safety this crib has to offer.

We had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound just before Christmas. Obviously finding out he's a he, we got a few great pictures. Here are just a few:

To see the rest, feel free to check them out on my Facebook album. It's public so no worries about having to sign in or create an account.

All is well with little Rylie, however, my amniotic fluid measured in one point above normal so they want to double check it at 28 weeks, which will be February 7th. We're hoping to get another peek at Rylie. I'll be calling to find out if that's possible, otherwise I'll want to schedule a private 3D/4D ultrasound with StorkVision, which we did with Madison and would hate to not have one for our son.

As of right now I'm 24 weeks and 2 days. I've been feeling good, definitely feeling pregnant. I've been sleeping pretty good since I treated myself to a maternity pillow. I haven't gained too much, about 10 lbs., so I don't feel like a whale quite yet. I gained 70 lbs. with Madison. I'm really hoping to get no where near that!

He is so active it's crazy! I've been able to feel him move since about 14 weeks and it's like he hasn't stopped since! He's so active I thought maybe there was something wrong but the doctors insist that it's not a bad thing when they move regularly, even if it's forceful, but to worry when they aren't moving enough. I'm glad that's one thing I don't have to worry about right now. :)

I'll be sure to update you with any more cute purchases as well as updates from our next ultrasound.

Technorati Tags: baby booties,booties,Etsy,Bison Girl Shop

Madison Gets Her Ears Pierced!

2010-11-14T18:04:00.001-08:00

Today I took Madison to get her ears pierced!

She did great! It hurt but she handled it well. Take a look!

Oh Baby!

2010-09-25T07:20:00.001-07:00

Thought I’d fill you all in on the topic of our household!

We’re expecting baby # 2! After 3 years of hoping for another baby it’s finally happened.

We went for our first appointment yesterday. All is well!

Baby is measuring in at 9 weeks, has a strong heart beat and was moving around a lot.

Our due date is technically May 3 but with the early measurements being above we're told it could be as early as April 29th.

I’ve been really tired and not doing much of anything except eating and sleeping. I’ve been reading a bit but not too much more than before. I can’t wait for a few more weeks to go by so I can get my energy back!

I hope you all are doing well! I’ll keep you updated as we go along.

Happy (belated) Halloween!

2009-11-10T08:51:00.001-08:00

Here’s a slideshow of Madison dressed up for Halloween!

She went as a pretty witch!
She even ran into a random black cat while out trick or treating!
We hope everyone had a great time on Halloween!

My New Niece! Cadence Mariee (with 2 “e”s!)

2009-11-08T18:09:00.001-08:00

We welcomed a new niece on Friday, November 6th.

Cadence Mariee

(my middle name and her daddy’s mom’s middle name, hence the 2 “e”s)

November 6th, 2009 at 7:42 am

8 pounds 4 ounces

19” long.

She’s a super cutie! She looks a lot like Madison when she was born! :)
Here are some pictures of her from just this evening.

Mom, Jennifer, my sister, and Cadence

Me, Madison and Cadence.

Patrick and Cadence.

Isn’t she dear?!

Pappy’s Hay Ride 2009

2009-10-25T12:11:00.001-07:00

We did our annual Pappy’s Hay Ride and pumpkin patch picking yesterday evening.

Here’s a brief video of the happenings and a few pictures. :)

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AFK: Wrist surgery

2009-09-23T08:17:00.001-07:00

Some might know from Twitter or Facebook that I had surgery on my right wrist on Monday. I had a ganglion cyst removed.

All is well except that it’s not easy typing with just my left hand.

So, I’ll be AFK for a few weeks. 2 weeks with this soft cast at least.

I hope to recover quickly so I can catch up on my book reviews.

I like these and may have to order some to wear after this soft cast!

Aren’t they cool! I love Perpetual Kid!

See you in a few weeks!

Madison’s First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-01T13:09:00.001-07:00

Today was the day!

I watched our baby girl hop onto a big, yellow school bus that took her away….

To her first day of kindergarten!

It was a bittersweet moment for me. I was so happy for her! She was glowing with anticipation. Ready to embark on the first day of 13 years of learning. Although, I doubt she understands that.

I asked her how her day was when I brought her home. She said they colored first. Then they had circle time, which was the reading of a book called “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO BED!.” I hope it was informative for her because getting her into bed at time can be a struggle sometimes!

She had Art Class today. She colored her name with crayons. She didn’t bring it home so I’m assuming they keep them at school or toss them? Not sure.

She said she used the potty in the classroom and it was old. It had a shelf with cleaning supplies and a duster.

She said there were two boys who were bad. They kept talking and got in trouble for it. I asked her if she raised her hand to talk, one of Mrs. High’s rules, and she said she did but Mrs. High didn’t call on her. I asked if she held her hand up high so Mrs. High could “see” it and she said, “No. I only held it up a little." So I showed her how to properly hold up her hand. ;)

So there you have it. First day of kindergarten from a five year old. Here are some pictures from this morning!

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We’re taking Friday off to spend the day at Hershey Park with Jennifer and baby Wyatt.

Meet & Greet Day!

2009-08-31T09:12:00.001-07:00

Today Madison met her kindergarten teach, Mrs. High.

It was very brief. She got to color a frog with her name on it for her cubby while I filled out a few forms. I was sent home with a packet of I don’t know how many more forms to fill out. I’ll be sending most of the day doing that!

She was just a jabbering with her teacher. There was only one other child in the room while we were there. The rest must have been there super early!

Tomorrow she’ll hop on the bus from the daycare and ride it to school. She’ll ride the bus back to the daycare afterwards.

I’ll be there to see her off in the morning but I have class tomorrow so I won’t be there when she gets back. :(

Here are a few pictures from this morning. I wanted to get a few of the classroom but forgot. She was too cute this morning!

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I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on how her first day goes!

Madison Starts Kindergarten: August 31

2009-08-16T13:52:00.001-07:00

Madison will be starting Kindergarten on August 31st! It will be a brief meet and greet with her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. High, and her classroom. I'll be going with her as well. She'll have her "real" first day the next day on September 1st.

She'll be riding the bus in the AM from daycare to Fairview Elementary and then back to the daycare in the afternoon.

She's getting excited!

I'll post pictures from the first day on here!

I'm a Phlebotomist!

2009-08-16T13:44:00.001-07:00

I've been on my Phlebotomy externship for the past month and it consumed most of my waking hours. I'm done now though! Woohoo! 3 more weeks of some other classes and I'm all done with school!

The next few weeks I'll be concentrating on finding a job in the health care industry. It helps to just get my foot in the door that way I can be considered for future openings internally before external applicants. So wish me luck!

Happy 5th Birthday Madison!

2009-07-26T08:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated Madison's 5th birthday!
We had a small gathering down at the "yellow park" as known as The Rotary Park.
We invited all of the family and a few friends from Madison's daycare. Sadly, the turn out was minimal. A few of her friends from the daycare did show up and that was great. Jennifer, Eric and Wyatt attended as well as my Mom. Patrick's Dad and Kim were there too. Aunt Nickie stayed for a few minutes and let us know that Cal would be by in a bit. He stayed for a while. That was about all there was! Gail and Darryl are still on their month long road trip. It just seems like the time of year when everyone is out and about doing their own thing.

It was a great time though. Despite the wind! We had a few issues with the wind. Balloons flying away, paper plates, and the Cheetos bowl blew over too! Cheetos were every where!

Madison got some great gifts!
Pappy and Granny got her a Princess bike with training wheels! And a Barbie helmet and knee and elbow pads set. She wants to ride it today but she keeps refusing to clean up this huge mess in the living room!

She also got a Barbie from her friend Kaylen and a Hello Kitty purse with a hair brush, comb and some hair clippys from her other friend Peyton. Jennifer and Wyatt got her a cute makeup set and some Tinkerbell and Princess stickers. Mom got her some new clothes! Aunt Nickie got her some very cool Bendaroos! We see them on the TV all the time. GG got her a cute Princess backpack with an arts and craft set. And we got her a small Scooby Doo doll and the Mystery Machine and "the gang" figurine set too. As well as a few new outfits.

Overall, it was a great birthday for her. She's excited to be going to school soon. She has her 5 year check up tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures:

Welcome!

2009-05-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Kennedy's!

This is a blog dedicated to news involving the Kennedy family of Patrick, Jessica and their daughter, Madison.

Stay tuned for updates!