Dear Olivia: Toots

Dear Olivia,

This letter is about something adorable that you do on a regular basis. You cute little thing! So, you are a pretty dang good sleeper. You love sleeping on your tummy and especially curled up on somebody's chest. Usually mine because we are best friends and spend a lot of time together, which I love! However, you sometimes get a little gassy and when that happens, you wake yourself up and send me into a laughing fit. I haven't been able to catch it on film yet, but here is a pretty good example of what you are like:

It's little things like this that make me fall in love with you all over again. One thing though, your toots are more like an adult and anything but lady like. I can't imagine where you got those from *cough* Grandma Wilcox *cough*.

Love you,

Mom

Dear Olivia: It is so nice to meet you.

Dear Olivia,

Since, as your mother, I am a terrible journal keeper in the traditional sense and writing individual letters would ultimately get lost before you could actually read, I'm going to write you letters here. I want you to know that I absolutely adore you. You have the sweetest personality and are so special to your father and I.
Today I wanted to show you some pictures of when we first met you! Everything about you is perfect. Yes, I know all mothers say that about their daughters but I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart. I wondered what you'd look like from the moment I found out that we were pregnant. I even dreamed about you! Nothing could have prepared me for the beauty I saw when I first laid eyes on you.

I couldn't believe how tiny your feet were.

You have a tight little grip. Your dad is so proud of that.

Your Grandma Wilcox kisses those cheeks like crazy!

 Honestly, little girl, you were beautiful from day 1 and so far you have only improved upon perfection. You are going to be one of those girls who is beautiful inside and out. I'm so proud to be your mom.
Well, there are a million pictures that I will be posting of you and experiences I'll be writing about. For now, I'm going to go and feed you because you just woke up!

Love you pretty girl,
Mom

Olivia Ephra Kelley

Monday was Olivia's 3 week birthday and since she is sleeping on my chest right now after her usual 2 o'clock feeding, I decided it is the perfect time to write about the day she came into our lives.

My last post was about the first time we thought we'd be parents and the heartbreak I felt when I was sent home from the hospital. This time started out the exact same way.

On Saturday night, April 19th, I had another gall bladder attack and was in excruciating pain yet again. I had followed a strict no-fat diet and it didn't make any difference. John and his friend gave me a blessing and I managed to get some sleep. The next morning I was getting ready for church and the same symptoms started up again. I really didn't want to go through this again without medicinal intervention, so off we went to the hospital. 

After checking in and getting medicated, my doctor decided to try and start me again and if Olivia didn't come by choice, we were going to have to take her with a C-section because my pancreas levels were extremely elevated yet again. To be honest, I was not happy. I had already been down with road and in my heart I honestly thought I'd be sent home again.
Regardless, I allowed them to start me on the pit at about 1:30 p.m. I was dilated to nearly a 2 and had to make the arduous journey to a 10 before I could greet this little girl. Well, hours came and went with John faithfully at my side except for the one moment he ran home to grab some clothes for this little girl to come home in. I was so certain they wouldn't keep me that I hadn't bothered to bring her diaper bag! Some mother, eh?
We watched t.v., talked and I listened to my music and prayed. At around 8 at night I was able to finally get my epidural. That blessed miracle. I will never understand those who go all natural after experiencing the beautiful peace that an epidural brings!
I was still only a 5 for several more hours and while I wasn't in a lot of pain, I was still very uncomfortable. What was the hold up? Why wasn't this little girl coming? Didn't she know how excited we were to meet her? Was she scared to come into this world? Can't say that I blame her. I started praying hard for my body to relax and just dilate to get her here.
I prayed for such a long time and then felt some serious discomfort at 5 a.m. I called for the nurse to help me understand why I was feeling such discomfort and she did a check to see if there had been any change. Surprisingly, she said I was at a 9 and a half and left the room to call my doctor to get there because Olivia was ready to make an appearance!
Suddenly, the room was in a frenzy. Loads of nurses started coming in, adjusting the bed, telling me to breathe, setting up equipment and ordering John to grab one of my legs because he was going to have to help me push. I was really excited, nervous and scared. This was the moment! It almost didn't feel real.
My nurse was fabulous as she coached me through with steady count downs from 10 to 1 and telling me to push, breathe, push, breathe. John held my one leg and another nurse held the other. I felt an incredibly amount of pressure and just wanted to push this little girl right out but my Doctor hadn't arrived yet. I guess the lady next door and I were neck and neck at this point, but I won in the end! My Doctor arrived, sat down, told me to push three more times and then all of  a sudden I felt this intense falling sensation and the most beautiful little girl came into view.
She was crying, gray and unfortunately bloody but she was mine. John cut the umbilical cord, the nurses grabbed her and put her on my chest and I stared in awe at this beautiful little creature who I felt so much love for. She was mine. I had talked to her, felt her kick, wondered about her and finally here she was in my arms. I was overwhelmed and so happy to finally have met her.
Olivia was born at 6:28 a.m. on April 21st.and weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz and was 19 inches long. She is perfect.

Labor: Take 1.

Good Morning!

I thought I'd take a minute and update you on what happened. If you are my Facebook friend, this is all old news so feel free to skip over the following...or not!

My story begins like so: Monday night I woke up from a nap with terrible upper back pain. It felt like there was something blocking me from the inside. Almost like when you dry swallow a pill and it just hurts going down, you know? This had happened before, about two weeks prior and again I was woken up from my sleep with this pain that I couldn't get to go away. That time it had gotten so bad I threw up everywhere. Embarrassing, I know, but it is what it is. I got some great "mommy, I don't feel good...*puke*" experience. After the projectile episode was done, I felt fine and was able to go back to sleep.

But moving on to what happened this time...I decided that if it worked once, maybe letting everything go was the solution again. I was wrong. I hurt and it wasn't going away no matter how I sat and for sure not if I laid down. I called the hospital and the on-call doctor told me to take some Tylenol and use a heat pad for 40 minutes and then call back if the pain didn't at least start to go away. John was the sweetest and got me everything I needed before he went to work but after he was gone, I was on my own. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as bad so I decided to sleep in my recliner. At about 12:30, the pain was back and in full force but moving towards my lungs and upper abdomen making it really hard to breathe. I called the doctor back and he said to come in.

Luckily, my brother Jarom was in town and was kind enough to drive me to the hospital. When we got there, they took some tests and propped me up to make me comfortable. The pain started moving down my right side and then it was gone. We waited for about 3 hours until the tests came back and they showed that my pancreas had an unusual amount of enzymes, over 3,000. Normal is between 10 and 140. This was pretty worrisome and they thought, due to my history with cancer and since a couple members of my family have died from pancreatic cancer, that I had cancer again. So, I called John and had him come from work and stay with me since Jarom had more than fulfilled his brotherly duty...he's the best :).

When John got there, they took me for x-rays. They didn't see anything particularly wrong with my pancreas but they did see a lot of gallstones in my gallbladder. There wasn't one blocking my pancreas but just to be safe, they wanted to get Olivia (my baby) out of her comfy spot in my uterus  as soon as possible. 

Me during a very long labor.

I was scared and so excited at the same time! I was going to see my baby girl early! They started getting me prepped and I'll spare you all the gory details, but I will tell you how awesome it was to have my husband John, my mom and my dad there with me through this. Also, my two incredible friends Ally and Holly cleaned my house, brought my makeup and even washed some of Olivia's clothes so we would have the cutest outfits to put her into! I had the best support team. 
I was on the pit for 20'ish hours and had contractions but nothing else. This little stubborn thing just didn't want to come join the rest of us!

 They took more blood tests and my enzyme count was back to normal after awhile and they determined that it wasn't cancer after all but just gallstones. My gallbladder has to come out after I deliver but since neither she nor I are in any immediate danger, they sent me home to wait until she is ready to come out. I was incredibly sad about this...mostly hormones I assume, but still. I had been so looking forward to meeting this little miracle and now I'd have to wait again. Even so, I'm very glad everything is ok and I can wait.

Chanel perfume on a Spring Day...

 Coco Chanel Perfume…I've missed being able to wear this. Since being pregnant, my tolerance of smells has been anything but forgiving. I used to love perfume and would wear so many different types, but now I’m limited to mostly deodorant or light rose scents. That being said, today I was getting ready for work and saw my old bottle of Coco Chanel Mademoiselle that John had bought me nearly 2 years ago. It seems crazy that it’s been so long since we were dating and falling in love in Salt Lake City. This particular bottle of perfume has profound value to me because it was the day I knew John was the one for me.

The story goes like this. John and I had been dating regularly and been having a great time. I loved him, but still was hesitant to fully give my whole heart to him. Past heartbreaks have a way of making you wary. City Creek Mall had just opened up and John took me on a little day date to see this feat of architecture and couture. The first place we stopped was Macy’s and John, impish smile intact, promptly took me to the perfume counter and said, “Ok, pick one!” I just looked at him like ‘you've got to be kidding me!’ No one I have ever dated has done anything like this before. I asked him again and again if he was sure; to which he just smiled and said yes. I looked at every single bottle (none of them cheap by the way) asking him which one he liked, telling him how much fun it would be to work with perfumes and just being the happiest girl alive.

I finally settled on this beautiful bottle of Chanel:

I couldn't believe how special John made me feel. I had mentioned how much I loved perfume and he remembered. But not only remembered, made my day extra special. Here we are married and it’s been nearly two years since that day and he hasn't changed a bit. Even the small, ordinary things he makes special. He treats me like I’m something to be treasured and I’m so lucky to have him be the father of my daughter. Just wait Olivia, your childhood is going to be fantastic.

Playing Catch Up

Ok, my New Year’s resolution is to keep this thing updated at least once a week! I am so sorry for not posting in such a long time. A lot has happened to us since we left off. I’ll do a list for you here instead of going into detail:

• We got pregnant! Olivia Ephra Kelley is due on May 1^st and we are so excited.
• We moved…across the street. After tripping down those dang stairs one too many times, we decided maybe a 1 level is for us and it has proven to be an excellent decision. 
•  John has switched majors and we are both very happy with his decision.
• We got rid of Oliver, our one time guinea pig. Pets are for people who a-have time, b-have money and c-have their own homes. His new residence is with our friends and their two boys love him.
•  I am cancer free for almost 1 whole year! I feel immensely fortunate and so much more at ease.
• We got another car! Denise sold her “green machine” to my brother Kambren who in turn sold it to us. Blessings just keep pouring in.

This should sum everything up. I’m sure there are more updates and I’ll try to remember them as we go along, but for right now this catches you up.

How have you all been?

Weekly Menus and Shopping Lists

John and I love to eat out at restaurants. We love the atmosphere, the friendly service, discovering new favorites and just the idea of having a fun night on the town. However, going out frequently and then trying to save money? You can't get two more opposite hobbies. That's when I found an article, which unfortunately I can't find again. But all the recipes I loved I saved on Pinterest.

If you go to my Pinterest account you will see the board that I named "Food Truck Recipes". If you aren't following me, do so and I'll approve you right away so you can see my brilliant pinning life.

Anyway, these are cheap, easy and for the most part, not terrible on the calories. There are ways to dial back the fat if you want but I like them just how they are!

Here is what our Menu and Shopping list look like. The Menu is taped to the back so I know exactly what I'm having and have all the ingredients right there. I wrote the price and where I got each ingredient as well which will make shopping in the future easier. Hopefully. Is there anything you do to help make the weekly chore of shopping easier?

Wednesday night was Chicken Po Boy for dinner and lunch for today. I figure it's a lot easier to make a lunch with stuff you already have out than try and have inspiration during the morning rush. Therefore, save money, time and give you a couple extra minutes before you run to work. Here is my creation. Didn't have the bun, but I had everything else, so whole wheat bread it is!

Next Up: Getting rid of the clutter in our closets.