Beautiful Dreamer

2011-02-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM0ed8BgbOk

Musical Mayhem

2010-03-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

6 Minutes in the Life of Nina the Bean

2010-03-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

A Few Over Due Videos!

2010-03-03T20:29:00.002-08:00

Just Some Good Ol' Nina Videos

2009-08-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

Enjoy! We know we are :)

Rollin Rollin Rollin, Nina's Really Rollin!

2009-08-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

This is so flippin exciting! We are way proud of our little Punky!!!!
We get a bit loud so don't have ur volume to high, lol :)

What a Beautiful Day!

2009-08-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful family outing today. Jason and I took Nina to Pisgah Forest and found a little space of heaven. We are so going to miss this place.

Mommydom

2009-05-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

Where does one begin? So many weeks have passed and I don't know where the mommies find the time to update their baby blogs!!! Nina will be 7 weeks this Sunday! Where has the time gone?? Since I am not able to write a bunch, I will post some pics. Enjoy :)

We got to see our cousins and get a whole lotta of pictures taken of us!! It was a really fun visit. Thanks to Aunt Kim and Jerry for letting us come over to their beautiful home!
Nina meet her Great Grandpa and Grandma Allen!! I am pretty sure that they liked her! I also would like to thank Grandpa for Nina's beautiful skin tone!

We went out to the Farm to see Melissa, Don, and Delaney. It was a wonderful visit. Sarah and Zack were there and Paster Grace was kind enough to perform a blessing for our little Nina.

Although she doesn't seem to be in this picture...Nina loves taking a bath. It took a little over 3 weeks for her umbilical cord to fall off, but when it did, the bath was the place to be!

We went to VA when Nina was 3 weeks old. We spent a few days at Mom-Maw and Paw-Paw's house. I am thankful that we did. Paw-Paw passed away on 5/20/09. He will be missed greatly. It was truly an answered prayer that he got to hold his great-grandaughters.

Nina is all about the fashion. This little ensemble is thanks to Auntie M!!!

I am leaving so many things out but truly, this is the most time I have had to do this and I really need to go. Real quick some things Little Bit has been doing....

She is starting to smile....sorta. She has a weird sense of humor I think...She can hold her head up a lot now and loves to look at us and make funny faces. We have been playing peek-a-boo and she really seems to enjoy that game ;) She can roll over to her side as she HATES to be on her back and she eats A LOT! She is about 10 pounds now and 22 inches long!

I will try to get on again soon and make a better blog, but I don't know when, Nina demands attention...who does that sound like????

Nina Sophia has Arrived

2009-04-18T16:14:00.001-07:00

The Easter Bunny brought us the best present this year! Nina has arrived!!! She made her big debut on 4/12/09 @ 7:34 pm Easter Sunday. We are simply and overwhelmingly in LOVE!

She weighed in at 8 lbs 7 ounces and is 20 inches long!

I was very happily surprised that she came on her own instead of me having to have the Dr break my water. I will tell the story here and hopefully it won't be to long.....

On Good Friday morning I woke up to go potty. When I painfully rolled out of bed I felt a lot of "moisture" in my nether regions. I had no clue what it would be like to have my water break. I had read that it could be a big gush or a small trickle so naturally I was a bit nervous and excited. I wasn't having painful contractions either so I was unsure if this was the real deal or not. My mom and Jason felt that it would be in my best interest to go to the Dr and get it checked out. I was not so sure. I was in the foulest of moods cause I just felt like it was a false alarm and I didn't want a big deal made of it. On the other hand I wasn't sure so I felt incredibly out of control and frustrated. I waited until 9 am to call the Dr and realized that it was closed due to the holiday. I called the answering service and was advised to go to the hospital to be checked out. I get there and I get all hooked up to a machine and checked. Baby is fine, blood pressure ok, dilation 3 centimeters. They performed a litmus test to check if the fluid was amniotic and 30 minutes later was told it wasn't. I was discharged from the hospital and told to come back on Monday for the induction. Sooooo, did I pee my pants?????? Anyway, lol..... Saturday I wasn't feeling very well so while mom and Jason installed the closet organizers I laid on the couch and tried to relax. I wanted dinner but didn't feel like going out so Jason went and picked up dinner. He got home at 7 pm and as he helped me off the couch my water broke. No real missing it, but since I had the false alarm on Friday I wasn't completely convinced and I was determined to stay at home until I started having contractions. I never really did. I was feeling discomfort but no real contracting was happening. I went to bed about 12:30 and at 2 am I got up to potty and was soaked. I woke Jason and told him that we'd better go cause I was pretty sure my water was broke and I didn't want the baby to get an infection. I told mom we were going in but to stay home and we will call her if the hospital were to admit me. Jason and I got to the hospital about 2:45 am on Sunday and again got all hooked up to the machines and checked. The night nurses were awesome and old school so they just did the old fashion litmus test and I knew immediately that my water had broke and I was going to be admitted!!!! I still wasn't having any contractions but knew that they had to be coming sooner or later. I tried to rest but was to anxious to sleep. My Dr was out of town at a baseball game that day. I asked the nurse to call her and at least let her know that I was in labor and to have a great day at the game. Dr Moore was on call and she came by to check me at 7 am. She had the nurses start me on pitocin and fluids. The iv was a nightmare the nurse had put one in earlier and it was painful and didn't even work. I got really upset at this point and started kinda freakin out so they had to call in the anesthesiologist to actually put in the IV. He did a great job. OK, so I thought now I had to be on my way to having contractions....ha...nope. The nurses all kept asking me if I was feeling them and I kept telling them I wasn't sure. I didn't feel very good and sometimes I hurt but nothing was regular and I didn't think they were contractions. The monitor wasn't showing any real ones either. I was so tired at this point that I wanted some relief and I did ask for pain meds. I also ordered the epidural because if I was that miserable now and I hadn't even started real labor, I knew I wouldn't be able to take it when the real pain started. At this point I was at the max level for the pitocin, the Dr came in to check me again about 4 or so and I was only 3-4 centimeters and she said I still had some of my bag in place. She broke the rest of the bag and then the real fun began!!!!! I now know what a contraction feels like....and it freakin' HURTS!!!!!! I was begging God to make the pain stop. At this point I decided that Nina was going to be an only child as I could never go thru that amount of pain again! The anesthesiologist couldn't get back to me fast enough! When he did get there I was to bend over and hang on to Jason. I asked how I was supposed to do that when it hurt so bad to sit up. It felt like I was sitting on the baby's head!!! I did get up and assumed the position. The epidural process began. When the Dr put it in the needle, my water gushed out all over Jason. I felt so bad. His poor shoes and socks were soaked!! Well as with every other time I have to be poked with a needle, the first stick didn't work. The Dr had to try again. With the next needle came another gush. I finally felt some relief so I was able to catnap for a short time. The next thing I know is that I am starting to feel my contractions again, but only in one place...my hooha...It hurt so bad they called the Dr back to re-dose me. Now my legs are completely numb....I did not like that at all. Shortly thereafter I felt the need to push. I am pushing and Jason is telling me to stop cause the Dr wasn't there. By this point a nurse came in to tell me that my Dr, Dr Das, called and was back from the game and was coming to deliver the baby. I was so happy!!!!!! It took her a little over an hour to get there but she arrived and was so excited. She checked me and let me know that I was fully dilated and ready to push! I was so ready at this point! I could feel my legs again and I was able to move into a good pushing position. I was so excited! Jason and my mom were GREAT!!! I pushed for about 23 minutes and she was here!!! Jason got to deliver her pretty much head and all with Dr Das sitting right there and helping him out. I watched the whole thing happen in the mirror and it was the coolest thing I ever saw. I am so proud to say that there was very little blood and even little grossness, lol!! It felt so good to have Jason pull her out. He immediately put her on my belly and she was so calm! I was a little nervous cause I wanted her to cry really loud and all she was doing was making little crying sounds cause I guess she is just a chill baby and that's all she needed to do! I had a very small tear that required 1-2 stitches so Dr Das took care of that and the fun afterbirth part (whole other story) and the nurses took little Nina Sophia to the table next to me to be checked out and cleaned off. I looked at my mom and said "I just had a baby...that wasn't so bad!" That made mom laugh pretty hard! I had Nina back within about 20 minutes and was able to start nursing her right away! She latched on very well so I was very relieved. The hospital stay was pretty great. My nursers were amazing and I would have gone insane without them. Since it took Nina 24.5 hours to arrive after my water broke we had to stay in the hospital for 3 days and my little angel had to be constantly stuck with needles and have blood drawn. They had to make sure she didn't have any infection and her white blood count did come back a bit high. After all was said and done, our little over-achiever passed all her tests and we were released. The only problem that we had was that it was taking more time than usual for my milk to come in and we have a very VERY hungry baby!!! She would put herself into what I can only describe as a suck frenzy. I thought well, we got a fussy angry fire sign baby! I had never seen anything like that before and it broke my heart. It also broke both my nipples.....I caved in and asked Jason to buy a soothie....she wouldn't take it. She wanted food not a pacifier! The pediatrician had us supplement with a bit of formula but the staff still did not want her to be bottle feed so I had to feed her the formula thru a syringe and small tube while I nursed. Well once that little girl had some food in her, she became a whole new child! She was calm and happy. Jason and I were pretty upset about the formula but in the end all that mattered was that she was getting food. She was 7 lbs 9 ounces when we left the hospital so she needed to gain some weight back! We began to bottle feed breast milk I was pumping and supplemented with formula. So far so great! She is doing wonderful. We are still trying to get her on schedule since she does have her nights and days confused, but it gets better all the time. I mean, she is only 6 days old....God, does it really go that fast? Is she really almost a week old already???? Ahhh, cry.....Yeah hormones are fun....

Anyway, please keep checking back as I will continue to post pictures and fun stories. Its great to have you all on this journey with us. We are so proud and happy to have this wonderful little girl. She is perfect in every way. See for yourselves :)

I was "That" girl

2009-04-10T23:10:00.001-07:00

AHHHHHHH frustration! So we spent the morning in labor and delivery as I suspected that my water may have broken....well, really I wasn't convinced at all but the hubby and mom thought it best to make sure. So in I go...with a bad attitude! I was so grouchy today! I knew it wasn't happening and I was really disappointed. I wish she would come on her own, but I know that Monday will be the day I get induced. I did take a nice nap and finally woke up in a better mood. Mom and Jason have worked really hard to get the condo all nice and organized. My closets are FANTASTIC! The nursery is BEAUTIFUL! I am so lucky to have such a great husband and an amazing mother. I would be out of my mind if it weren't for them.

I will let ya'll know how it goes... Stay tuned!

PROGRESS!!!!!

2009-04-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

I seem to really like surprising my doctors. Its what people get for thinking I am in anyway normal! All my test results have come back very good. No preeclampsia!!!! Nina is weighing in at 7.7 lbs. She has very long legs and big feet! (she gets that from her daddy) My blood pressure is now about 120/80 and as long as I stay in bed most of the time, it should stay stable. I am 2 centimeters dilated and had the joy of the membrane scrape! Yeah, ouch! I have another appt for Thursday the 9th (full moon) and the Dr will check me again, scrape again, and according to her go to hospital and rupture my water. The end is near folks!!!! I can't wait to meet our daughter!!!!!!

Why do I even bother to plan?

2009-04-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

It is the 5th and tomorrow starts my 1st official day of maternity leave. I was truly hoping that I could make it up till the day I went into labor but my body had a whole different idea. Good news is that I did pass my additional tests Dr Das gave to me. More blood work and 24 hour collection of urine. She called me Friday to let me know that my liver is fine and she was "tickled" with my urine :) She did reiterate I was not to be going crazy. I have actually been told to stay in bed. HA, what a major bummer right? I can't get comfortable to save my life! Oh well, I will rest as much as possible. I have a Dr appt Monday @ 1:30. We will be doing another ultrasound to check fluid levels and to see how big she is. Dr Das has made it pretty clear that we will have her sometime next week. I am praying she doesn't change her mind since my test results came back better than she expected. I am also praying she isn't bigger than 8 lbs cause OMG! LOL! I will post again tomorrow when I know more.

36 1/2 Weeks....There is a Light at the End of This Tunnel

2009-03-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

WOW! So finally we have made it to my 3rd trimester! Yes, thank you, thank you all!

I have been wondering why we are such an over-populated planet thruout this last trimester and at this point believe Nina Sophia may just wind up being an only child! I almost hate to be so whiny since I know others have had such great pregnancies.... but not me!! I am currently giving Fred Flinstone a run for his money regarding fattest feet ever and although I have been a plus size girl most of my life, I have NEVER EVER had cankles and now my legs look like tree trunks! My long ligament is very painful so I can never get into a good position which means forget about sleeping at this point. I had about 2 months were I was elated and happy, other than that its been poopy. I know once she is here it will be all worth it though and I wouldn't change my mind for a single second about having her.

My last Dr appointment was on Wed. My blood pressure has gone from 112/70 to 140/90. This is pretty high for me and although my Dr isn't overly concerned at this point, she is going to make sure to monitor me closely. I may have to go on bed rest but I won't know until Monday the 3oth. We shall see. We are planning on inducing 4/19 at night for a 4/20 birthday. That is what we are hoping for at least. As long as my blood pressure cooperates. Dr Das has made it clear we will take her at any time if my blood pressure gets worse. If all goes to plan, I start my maternity leave on April 13th. That whole week I will be laying in bed with my legs crossed as my Dr is out of town leading a conference! GO FIGURE!!!! I welcome prayers people, lol!

Thanks for reading my whiny post. For those of you I haven't called, this is why....who wants to hear me complain all the time???

Jason and I can't wait for Nina to get here. I can't wait for her to meet all of you!!!

Oh, and as of this week, we are not moving to Ohio until January. I did get a good promotion and am very happy with the job offer. New Adventures are scary, but man, they are SO FUN!

Sweets for my sweet!

2009-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

My fear of having blood drawn has always been great. I knew when I saw that blue line on the stick I was in for it! I had my 1 hour glucose test a couple of weeks ago and I failed. I was very very upset. I knew that meant I had the 3 hour test coming and coming up fast. That is where they stick you 4 times in 3 hours. Not what I call a fun time for sure. I went on Monday. I told Jason he didn't need to come because I was going to be a mother soon and I need to get past this fear. I wanted to do this on my own! So on my way I went. I got to the appointment and the nurse took me back to a room where I could lay down. After that, I think I must have channeled someone else because I did GREAT! I was a trooper. I had to giver her 4 vials through the 3 hours, but my veins are crappy so all said she had to stick me 6 times. I never flinched, cried, panicked, puked or passed out once! Test results came back Thursday and I am diabetes free! So thankfully I don't have to totally give up my ice cream and rootbeer cravings (thanks Kat).

Nina Sophia is doing really great so far. I am measuring right on schedule, weight gain normal for well , a normal weight woman, but a little to much for me. I think I have gained about 12 pounds so far. Not to great, but I feel really good. I do get pretty sore in all the usual places but everything is very normal. Life has thrown us some curve balls but we are getting thru it all together and are very happy that this little angel is on her way soon! I am 28 weeks this week! The start of the 3rd trimester :) Its all down hill from here.....right?

Auntie B....again!!!

2009-01-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

I am horrible at keeping this blog up-to-date like my sister-in-laws. I will try to do better.

My sister Sarah had a beautiful baby girl on January 14th @ 3:42 pm. Isabella Nicole Velez. She is just so perfect. She weighed in at 5 lbs and 9 ounces . Sarah is the only one I know of in my family that had such a tiny baby. She is tiny, but healthy and very happy! I can't wait to meet her!

I am a new Aunt!

2008-12-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law and brother welcomed a BEAUTIFUL 8 lb 13 ounce little angel @ 6:08 am on Christmas Eve! She is so precious. Her name is Audrey Catherine. I have never in my life heard a baby cry quite like she does, lol. She is a sqeak toy :) Little one has to be on a glow light pad for a few days to get rid of jaundice, but she is doing very very well and I had such a wonderful visit with her on Saturday.
Her mommy let me feed her Breast Milk in a bottle and that made my day. I am a bit sad I will miss so much of her growing up, but her mother is really good at posting pictures and updates. Hopefully she will have time to keep that up now that little bit is here.

Holding Audrey is making me so much more excited to meet our Nina Sophia. This is the most amazing thing I have ever done and I truly can't wait to be a momma.

Fun Stuff

2008-12-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

So as of Saturday I am having one of the worst pains I have ever had. It is on the right side of my tummy. I knew that it was just normal growing pains, but I will tell you that it puts me right back on my rear sometimes when I get up from sitting. It was so bad I did call the Dr to make sure. They wanted me to come in just to be on the safe side. I went in this afternoon and just as I thought...all normal. Dr says its just the uterus stretching and it should subside in a few weeks. A FEW WEEKS!!!!??? Lol, oh well. No pain, no gain....speaking of gain....I have gained 5 lbs... Bad Brandy. I have to be careful with that. Dr says I am to hard on myself and to just do my best. Jason went out and got me a yoga tape as well as a aerobics tape. So wish my big butt good luck!

Little Miss Nina Sophia

2008-12-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

We are so pleased to annouce that we are having a healthy baby girl! We went for the ultrasound on December 1 and it was amazing. Nina Sophia is very active. She enjoys rolling around and kicking me now...mostly in the afternoons and early evening! She is measuring right on time so our due date is still April 22nd so as of this posting I am 20 weeks along .

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support. It was such a rocky start but all things worked out and now I am just having a blast putting the registry together and we are looking forward to getting the nursery painted.

Love you all!

Surprise Surprise!

2008-09-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already been told.....I am 10 weeks preggers!!!

Long story short:

Dr was dumb and didn't know how to use an ultrasound machine. She also just tried to group me in with "normal" people....I mean me...normal? HA! Well I have since left that woman and have gone to greener pastures. Hopefully my new Dr will even let me have the water birth I so very much want to have. Thank you all for all your love and support! I am so happy that things went this way instead of the other.

Keeping Positive

2008-09-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't update my blog after the second blood test. My HCG levels did go up. They did not double but they did go up. I have another appointment on the 3rd. I have been having a touch of morning sickness. I take that as a good sign. I am just trying to stay positive and trust that all things happen for a reason. Its all i can do. Thank you all for your love and support. We are hoping for a happy healthy baby sometime in April :)

To soon to tell

2008-08-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Dr appointment came and we saw a sack w/nothing in it. They did locate a cyst (which I am told is very normal). I maybe only 5 weeks pregnant or this wasn't my time to have a baby.... Dr says "You are in limbo right now."

I will know more in 48 hours I guess when they recheck my hormone levels.

Is This Real?

2008-08-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to be a mother. I was never exceptional in school, although I did alright, I never had a exciting job, and most of the men I dated were less than savory characters. The one constant - the one true dream - was to have a child of my own. Someone I could love unconditionally and someone I could help become, well become whatever they dreamed.

I am a worrier by nature. There were nights I sat up worrying that I would never have a house, a career, a husband, or a child. I wish that I could have just listened to my mother when she told me time and time again "It will happen when its supposed to happen." She, as always, was so right! Life has been such an emotional roller coaster for me, but at this point in time, there is only 1 thing in my life I wish was different and that is to still have my dad here with us. He is missed everyday and I hope that he is able to look down on this world and see how happy his children are.

I have a wonderful family, the best mother that anyone could have, a man that would do anything and everything for me. and now I am so very proud to say I am carrying his child.

If this is a dream I hope I never wake up.

And it Keeps Getting Better

2008-08-23T01:17:00.001-07:00

We bought a king size bed today!! I am so excited. It will be delivered next Saturday and all I can say is that it can't get here fast enough!! Thanks mom!