silly rabbit!

kevin is a very hands on daddy during the day. not so much at night because, well, i'm the only bar in town if you know what i mean.

anyways, i fed nora lunch today while he was home and when i was finished i handed her off and asked him to burp her while i ran and got something to drink out of the kitchen. he said, "surrrre!" and started patting her on the back.

when i came in a couple seconds later i found him patting her tummy and then her butt, then her tummy and then her butt again.

i said, "ummm... surely you don't think you're going to get the burp out that way, right?" he goes, "well... i tried it your way and it didn't work."

great. gotta love kevin and nora bird.

BFP! (BIG FAT POSITIVE!)

exactly one year ago today. :) hahaha - gotcha.

i can't believe it has already been an entire year since that day. time has FLOWN by! i can't even begin to imagine how fast this next year is going to go. nora bird is exactly 4 months old today and it seems like may 19th was just yesterday.

isn't it crazy that i kind of miss being pregnant? :) it's just such a miraculous time in a woman's life. feeling movement and the anticipation of a new family member is just amazing.

my oh my, what a difference a year makes!

hush my mama...

so it really is no secret. i've often been told i talk a lot. i didn't think i talked THAT much...

until now. bird folded both ears over and fell asleep. bwwwahahahaha! she was tired of listening. great. a little preview of whats to come in about 15 years. :)

skidmarks are no fun...

i know... sexy. don't you love it when you blow your nose so much you accidentally rub off a good portion of your face? i know i do.

so, bird and i are sick. sick as crap. it's not fun. just when you think you kind of have a handle on this whole being someone's mommy thing something comes up... this time it was illness.

i was talking to kev today and asked him, "remember when i just drank a bunch of NyQuil, mixed in some decongestants and just slept sickness off like a bad hangover? yeah... those days are long gone my husband."

bird and i are all stuffed up, can't hardly breathe hot messes. it absolutely breaks my heart to see her sick. she doesn't know how to blow her nose so while her precious face doesn't have skid marks the inside of her little nostrils show some wear and tear from my boogie-plunging efforts. she's got little red rings around her eyes and every now and then a tear streams down her face. she's not crying... just tears.

the what to expect in the first year book said that there is nothing more sad, vulnerable and pathetic than a sick baby... except that baby's parents. so true. soooo true.

i took bird to the doc today just to make sure she didn't have the swine flu. cause i'm cool like that. :) good news... she doesn't. yikes. give a first time mama a break, k?

we're running 101 degree temperatures - which is always really fun. except not really. i wish i could just take her sickness away. i'd be double sick for double as long if i could. breaks my stinkin' heart.

i asked her pedi if he would just admit both us... i have no idea what i'm doing and am feeling a little out of my league... he thought it was funny. i was serious.

so please... if you pray - please keep bird in mind. sick babies are just heartbreaking. :(

my little bird is growin' up!

so i'm really bad at blogging! i spend so much time with my little bird (yay!) that i just have no time for it anymore. :) perhaps i should spend less time on facebook during her naps and just stinkin' update the blog. i'll work on it. :) hahaha.

anyways, my little bird is growing up so fast. it's a fast gradual change... if that makes sense. i can see that she's getting bigger and doing new things everyday but when i put on an outfit she wore the week before and i can't button the buttons it's apparent she's getting huge... fast.since i last blogged bird had her three month birthday, rolled over for the first time and now is little miss chatty patty grabster. :) so many milestones.

i absolutely adore being a stay at home mommy and am just so blessed to be able to see all these changes on a daily basis.

kevin is the best daddy and husband i could ever ask for. i try to record a little movie or two a day for him to watch when he gets home from work to see what we did for the day. he really enjoys it. :)

i am shreadder! hear me rroooaarrr!

the bump ladies swear by it... and it works.

i have been "shreadding" for a few days now and i'm sore! ouchie! :) it's working!

i stick nora bird in her swing and start the shread. it's only 20 minutes (thank goodness since it was a MAJOR reality check as to what pregnancy did to me... bwahahahaha!) and she smiles and squawks at me the whole time. she thinks it's really funny.

well fine nora bird. :) whatev. things are shakin' and jigglin' - things i never knew could shake or jiggle. :) it's a work in progress.

and... the good news? well, my legs are so sore that i "drop" onto the toilet to go potty because it hurts too bad to squat. yep. that's where i'm at. good stuff. :)

misadventures of a newlywed giveaway! :)

first things first - thank you mrs. goodson for turning me onto this site! :) http://www.misadventuresofanewlywed.com/ is my new favorite blog. you've got to check it out! free give-aways! yay!

how desperately do i need a monogrammed pair of moccasins? very badly.

don't hate the playa' hate the game!

oh how i adore my little nora bird.

she's a playa - a heartbreaker. :)

here she is with her boyfriend haylon (she is only 7 weeks older than him!)
and here she is with her other boyfriend carson (he's about 6 weeks older than her):


here's her other boyfriend alden (who sadly lives a state away):
and finally, her boyfriend tank (who actually is a couple months older than she is but we don't spend enough time with his mama... nora is still in my belly in this photo):

4 AM comes early...

who would have thought that getting up to feed nora bird at 4 AM, then pumping for 40 minutes with my stupid hand cranker pump would lead to a burst of energy that prompted me to clean my entire downstairs in nothing but my underwear... in the middle of the night. certainly not me... because if i had thought that silly idea up i would have reminded myself how crash dead tired i would be beginning at about 2 in the afternoon. what a dummy i would be... ::falls into a deep slumber at the computer chair::

today is kev's birthday. what an amazing amazing man he is. i am so incredibly blessed to have such a kind, loving man for a husband and daddy for nora bird. when i say my prayers i thank God for him, twice. when i count my blessings i count him and nora bird about 5 times. :) he is just such a good person with a huge heart and an amazing soul. i don't know what i did to deserve him... thank you Father God for my kevin. :)

nora bird's first fourth of july :)

we went to kev's parent's ranch for nora bird's first fouth of july. luckily we've been blessed with an incredibly good baby who sleeps through the night, through moose and katie's barking and through the big bangs of fireworks. nothing seems to bother her sleeping... except doing the dishes. perfect, huh? oh well... i hate the dishes anyway. :)

nora bird mostly slept through the day's events but we managed to take a couple of cute pictures of her. i can't believe how fast she's growing. :) or how much i love my little bird. :)


how cute is that outfit too? i'll have you know this bargain hunting mama bought that little dress at a garage sale months ago for a quarter! :) hahaha. :)

time flies when you're having fun...

my sweet lil' babe is growing up so fast. i can't believe it's already been a whole month! my days get away from me sooo fast these days - it's crazy. we seem to live life in 3 hour chunks. :)

nora changes a little bit each day. its bittersweet. while i am looking forward to her interacting with us more, at the same time i just want her to stay little forever!

i adore being her mommy. there is nothing in the world that compares. :) she's starting to smile... just a little bit. sometimes while i'm feeding her i'll look into her eyes and she'll look back and grin. it's funny because her grin breaks the latch and milk trickles onto my stomach and into her neck... great. :) LOL. it's the cutest thing i've ever seen.

i now know why people who have kids terrorize people who don't have kids. kevin and i are now 100% on the "when are you guys having kids" bandwagon because being a parent is the coolest thing in the world. your old life (pre-baby) slips completely away and just doesn't matter anymore. :) in a good way though. i just can't explain it. :)

man i love me some nora. :)

Happy Stinkin' Father's Day

yep. that's what you think it is. :) for father's day this year nora bird decided she would poop all over her daddy. happy stinkin' father's day. he looks very happy, no? bwaaahahaha. ahhhh the joys of parenthood. :)

in addition to this poopy mess of a shirt nora gifted to her daddy she also graced him with the new nintendo wii version of punch out (you know... little mac style). it was all fun and games at our house. :)

did i mention he changed the poopy diaper that preceded this lovely mess? what an awesome daddy huh? there he was, in all his glory, poop all over him changing the baby. i love love love me some kev. :)

ps - if you are a member of kev's family or know him at all in real life... ummm... please don't mention this post. he'd KILL me if he knew i stuck it on the internet! LOL!

glug, glug, glug...

man, i can't seem to find the time to blog! i've been so busy with nora i often don't even make it to the shower. :) sexy, huh? :)

the long and the short of it is this: we are doing awesome. everyday nora changes a little bit. she looks so different than she did when we brought her home. it's amazing. i can't wait to get up each day and see whats new in her world. i love being her mommy. being at home with her each day is the greatest blessing i've ever experienced. i love her ohhh so much. :)

i asked josie if you would know if you had an ugly baby once when i was pregnant. she said, "you would know... trust me." well... i don't know. :) i'm quite certain nora is the prettiest babe i've ever seen. :) she's just so cute! i can't even barely stand it. :) she looks like her daddy. :) good thing, huh? LOL!


breastfeeding is going well, although i wish God would have installed a little gas gage on babies tummys that say when they are full and when they are empty because i hate guessing. :)

so i had my first dream last night. i realized when i woke up that i never dream anymore. apparently i had my first long stretch of sleep since nora has been born that i got in a little dream. :) thank you nora, my sweet lil babe, for those amazing four hours of semi-interrupted sleep.

here's the backstory of my dream: we gave nora bird her first bottle of breastmilk last night - it went terribly wrong - and as kev was disposing (ack... i HATE throwing away breastmilk) of the excess he says to me, "what do you think this tastes like?" i replied, "well, i'm not sure but i've been wondering the same thing." nooo... don't worry, he didn't. it was just too weird. i think he thought about it... but he didn't. :)

during nora's last feeding before bed we watched the tivo-ed episode of survior man with will ferrill. i don't really watch tv anymore but it was background noise before bed.

mmkay - and now, to my long awaited synopsis of my dream. i dreamt that kevin and i and some other un-named members of his family were with survivorman on some african safari. we were all stranded and hungry and (you must have seen this coming) dehydrated. survivorman suggested that we all boil our pee and drink that to stay alive when a (once again un-named) member of my husband's family stated, "well, kenzie is lactating... let's drink that." i know this dream is weird. trust me. I KNOW. so here i was in the african safari pumping breastmilk to feed all these people in the mother-loving jungle. it got weirder - i only had my little hand pump and my hand got tired so i turned into a pump your own buffet... it just wasn't pretty. and so weird.

i woke up thinking... hmmm... maybe its a good thing i don't dream anymore. because this was a nightmare! ack! :) LOLOLOL!

our first family picture

oh! and i forgot! our first family portrait as mommy, daddy and nora bird:

she's here! she's here! :)

i am oh so sorry for the major major delay in blogging. i have been oh so busy. my little nora bird is here! i can't believe it... even still and today is her 2 week birthday. :) i wish i had a cupcake to celebrate. hahaha... :)

so let's see. where to begin... mmkay - may 19th, 2009:

1:45 am - i woke up from my peaceful slumber in a pool of what i first thought was pee. then i remembered my friend brittney telling me that when her water broke she thought that she had peed her pants. :) so, in all my glory, i reached down and made sure i was soaked and said, "kevvvv! i think my water just broke!" he sleepily replied, "no, no, no, no, you're fine. no. no." i rolled out of bed and waddled into the bathroom trying to keep my legs together so that nothing came out... LOL. i sat on the toilet and started saying, "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." i guess all the frantic calling to God woke kevin up because at this point he was standing in the door to the bathroom. he says to me, "well maybe nora just punched you really hard in the bladder and made you pee." i looked up and said, "kevin... do you hear that noise? (water was very obviously dripping into the toilet) it sounds like i'm peeing right? well, i know when i'm peeing and i'm not peeing right now. we've got to go to the hospital!" he goes, "welll... maybe we should call someone! we need to call someone." so i say, "oh... good plan. ok. let's call someone. who should we call?"

nice, huh? so we called the hospital and they told us we needed to come in and get checked. i knew this was not your standard "checking" that we were going in for... this was it. sooo... i stood up from the toilet and realized at 37 weeks 3 days i had not yet packed my bag. who does that?! :) so - there we were, middle of the night, kevin in frantic daddy helper mode, me leaking amniotic fluid all over the house packing our hospital bag. nothing like the last minute, eh?

so we get to the hospital at about 3:30 and they did a test on the fluid to confirm it was in fact my water that had broke and they brought us into our birthing room. it was awesome! flat screen tv, leather couch and ottoman and my personal favorite - big ole' jacuzzi tub. :) my contractions were few and far between and i actually hadn't even felt any of them so when the doctor came to talk to us at about 4:15 she put me on pitocin to get my contractions going and get them regular. then she told us to take a nap because we would need our energy because it was going to be a long day. :) so kevin took a nap... and started snoring. loudly. :) ohhh how i love me some kev. :)

at about 10:00 i started feeling contractions. and it progressed into some serious pain at about 10:30... so i hopped into the tub. and that's where i stayed until about 1:00. it was awesome. i wish that deaconess offered a water birth. at about 1:00 i got out of the tub and tryed everything i learned in our birthing class to escape the pain. i tried to sit, i tried to stand, i tried to squat, i tried to hang off kevin, and i even tried to dance away the pain. i just couldn't escape it. at one point i started bargaining with the nurse, "pleassseeee lori. just give me like, i dunno, 10 minutes with no contractions. i'll give you anything." as if she could do anything... i felt like my hips were in one of those crank machines where you turn the handle and it smashes holds whatever you are trying to grip. so - my labor nurse, lori checked me. i was only at a 3! ack! so - my birth plan was to wait as long as i could and only get it if i needed it... well, i needed it. :) part of me was really hoping lori would say i was at an 8 or so. HA. so i opted for the epidural.

the epidural guy came in at about 2:00 pm and gave me the epi. it was a two part deal i guess. i got an inital shot of something that stopped the pain almost immediately and was supposed to work until the epi kicked in.

when he was setting the epidural in my spine he told me, "ok - you are going to feel a little twinge down either your right or your left leg any second now." and about two seconds later the most gut wrentching pain "twinge" shot down my right leg and it automatically reflex kicked high in the air and missed kevin's head by about a centimeter. i just about kicked him in the face. funny, no? i was so worried he was going ot pass out and instead i almost knocked him out!

soooo - the initial shot was amazing. i was feeling no pain at all. none. i still knew when i was having a contraction because my stomach tighened up but zerrrrooooo pain. in fact - kevin took these goofy pictures (below) of me in the middle of what was the hard part of my labor where i was two thumbs up. i was feeling good. they told us to take a nap... so we tried. for about 40 minutes.


and then it happened... boooo. i started feeling contractions again. except this time it was worse than any of the other ones. and it got worse and worse. i told lori (my labor nurse), "you better get that guy back in here! he did it wrong! it's not working!" of course this was in my nicest angry voice. hahaha. so while someone was working on getting the epi-giver back in there lori says, "well, let's check you." and she did. and she said, "ummm, i need to grab someone else to confirm but i think you're at a 9."

at this point my doctor, who was not on call, walked in and said, "hey! how's it goin?" "aaaahhhhhh." was my reply. apparently she had a scheduled c-section at 3:30 and just happened to be in labor and delivery and was just stopping in to see how things were going. how awesome is that? so she checked me and said, "tell them we're going to deliver this baby first" and started to suit up. i had gone from a 3 to a 9 in less than an hour.

now i've watched enough baby story on tlc to know that when the doctor suits up - it's business time. no messin' around. and the next thing i knew i was pushing. and it hurt. i was so far ahead of my epidural that i felt everything. i mean everything. i think the most painful part of the pushing was nurse lori and kevin pushing my legs back up towards my head. i'm a pretty flexible person... but dang that hurt!

i really only pushed for about 40 minutes but i remember saying, "ohhhhh LORD! dr. augustyn, how many more?!" and she said, "well, i don't know for sure. maybe 2 or maybe 50." and i said, "FIFTY?! ohhhhhhh! FIFTY?!?! are you kidding me? fifty more pushes?" and she said, "HEY! didn't you hear what i said first - i said maybe TWO!" and i said, "fifffftttyyyy.... oohhhhhhh!"

i was in labor and delivery about 3 months ago for one of my friends baby's birth and there was this crazy lady down the hall from her room screaming like a maniac - scared me half to death. wellllll... after i assured myself it couldn't possibly be that bad - that crazy banshee screaming lady was me. hahaha. i actually felt really bad about it later. i told my nurse to tell the rest of the girls in labor and delivery i was just kidding. :)

dr. augustyn also made sure kevin got a good view of everything... i mean everything. i remember her saying, "ohhh kevin, take a look at this!" and "ohh, kevin, you don't want to miss this! come and see!" great. thanks dr. augustyn. apparently she doesn't want to see me as a return client. LOLOL.

right before nora came out dr. augustyn said, "mckenzie - listen to me. look at me right now. FOCUS! look at me right now!" and as i was moaning out my next moan of pain i looked down and saw her catch (for lack of a better word) my little nora. i felt nora come out and dr. augustyn had my little baby in her arms! she suctioned her out real quick and set her right on top of my once baby belly. it was amazing. i really have no words to describe it. amazing. everything good i've ever done all added up don't equal having my sweet little healthy nora in my arms. it was the most intense moment of my entire life.

i'm so thankful that dr. augustyn delievered nora. i had pretty much prepared myself to have a stranger deliever my sweet babe but fate dropped my most favorite doctor into our room just in time. :) it was awesome. she is amazing and i adore her. i'll also never forget her yelling at me to look - had she not told me i would have missed it. i was in another time zone! LOL.

and so - here we are. i love my little nora. she is amazing. and such a good baby. she really only crys when she's hungry and she loves to cuddle. :) i am oh so in love. and so incredibly blessed. :)

yellowjackets and papas...

so kev and i decided we'd eat at my most very favorite restaurant, the garage, yesterday afternoon. God decided to give montana a little break from the blizzards and gave us this beautiful afternoon of 75 degree weather and the garage has outside seating and so, kev and i took full advantage.

as always - the food was amazing. i'm talking amazing, amazing. i love the garage soup shack. soup from the shack, even on a 75 degree day, makes the world go round.

then my mom called. she was in town and decided she would join us. so she got there and placed her order and everything was great. there was only one problem - yellowjackets. boooo. and they were all over the place. me? i didn't care. i was too busy enjoying my lunch but my mom on the other hand was going nuts. i mean coo-coo-pants. everytime a yellowjacket would get close she'd jerk her body around as if she were having a major seizure and then if that didn't work she'd start swatting. mind you, here we are, this beautiful day out on the patio surrounded by the other 30+ tables and here's mamacita - losing her mind over the bees. (sidenote: apparently she was stung about 10 years ago and her jerking/seizure methods have worked since then). so i calmly say to one mamacita, "ummm, yo, mama... be cool my baby. if you don't bother them, they don't bother you." so right after i finish my sentence one starts flying around her head and she closes her eyes (tightly) and starts to shut down... or so i think (as pictured below): the bee flew around for a second and i said, "ummm, mom... he's gone." she ignores me. i briefly looked at kevin, whos face was red from holding in the monster laugh he was about to let loose and then i say, "MOM... HE'S GONE." to which she replies, "i was praying." bwaahahahaha! seriously gotsa' love the mama.

so after that little yellowjacket episode (and my 4th ice tea) i decided i needed to go potty. so i go on into the garage and head to the rest room. this is where it happened friends. i stooped to a brand new low. as i was approaching the rest room i noticed this very nice looking old man (you know the type... sun shade hat to block the sun off his head, big ole' sun shades to go over his regular glasses, hawaiian shirt, long pants, velcro shoes, 80+ years old) very obviously looking around for the bathroom. we were both directly in front of the unisex bathroom door... he was there first people... but i knew where it was. so i cut him off at the pass. that's right... i barged on in and quickly shut the door.

it should make you a little less judgemental to know that i did hurry. i really did. and when i came out, he smiled. maybe he didn't even realize what i had done. (i'm going to stick with this story...)

gotta love lunch at the garage on a tuesday afternoon. :)

who's baby is bigger?

i absolutely adore my nieces and nephews. that said, i had a particularly eventful weekend with my seven year old niece kenedy. she is obsessed with my belly and the fact that there is a baby in there. so obsessed, in fact, that she often comes over to me sticks out her belly and says, "look! i gotta' baby in my belly!" and then laughs hysterically.

she just recently got to the point where she remembers that kevin and i are naming our baby nora. she always recognizes that nora rhymes with dora and can't help but calling her "nora the explorer." at easter dinner she told my mom, "i know what the baby's name is." and my mom said, "oh really? what is it?" and kenedy said, "nora!" and my mom said, "what's her middle name?" stumped her. she looked up, obviously hard in thought, and replied, "dora the explorer! her name is nora dora the explorer!" she's so crazy. :)

when i was about, ummmm, 12 weeks pregnant she said, "ummm, can i have your baby if you don't like it?" i said, "well, i suppose you can if i don't like it." obviously joking... but she took it as fact and often tells complete strangers, "she's got a baby in her belly and if she doesn't like it she's going to give it to me." yep. gotta love seven year olds.

anyway, kev captured the cutest picture of my pregnancy this weekend and it's just toooo good not to share. so, without further ado:

here we are, in all our glory. me and kenedy comparing our "baby" bellies. is she not the cutest little thing you've ever seen? :)

i can't wait to have one of my very own. :)

rockin' the papa shoes!

mmk, no frontin'. i'm swollen. i thought i would avoid this lovely part of pregnancy where my feet and calves swell up and lose their ability to circulate my blood as they should but nope... no such luck.

and so, friends, with this swelling comes set-backs. my shoes no longer fit as they should so i had no choice but to pursue other avenues. this, friends, is what i came up with (and yes, i took it off, set it on my desk and took the picture for no other reason than for you to see it):


yep. your eyes are not deceiving you. these are the same shoes that my papa rocked the last 20 years of his life. the cloth slip-on. except my version has very colorful skulls on them because i'm bad to the bone. oh yeah baby. i wore these to work today. and i plan on wearing them again tomorrow and most likely the next day too. they are cloth and comfortable. now i know why my papa rocked them. and i love him even more for it. i just wish he was still around to sport the skull version... (haha - funny visual huh meme?).

my boss was like, "ummm... those are colorful shoes mckenzie." i said, "why yes dean. they are. they most certainly are." bwaaahahahaha! :)

and God said, "give out floor! pregnant lady comin' through"

mmkay, let me begin by saying so sorry for the three week hiatus. i know three weeks in blog time translates to about five years... but i've been really busy. and there was a brief stint within this major lapse in blogland that i had the flu. and then there was koinonia... i've been busy, pregnant, sick and tired. please give me a pass. :) thank you.

so there really is no time to catch you up, so we'll just start fresh, from today. i had a doctor appointment today. since my last appointment (2 1/2 weeks ago) i've gained a pound. yep, that's right. one pound. eat your heart out. :) i was pretty happy. well, until i laid my big ole' pregnant arse onto the table in the room. my doctor says, "ohhh, you've certainly got a big belly! let's measure that baby, mmk?" ummm, ok. whatev. so she measures me and says, "well, everything looks good but you're measuring at 34 weeks. you're 31 weeks, right?" i said, "yep. 31 weeks last saturday." so she then proceeded to tell me that if i were still measuring 3 weeks ahead we'd take a look at nora at the next appointment and do a "dating" scan. soooo... i suppose i could potentially be going into labor a little sooner than planned. i'll keep you posted on that situation as it progresses.

that said, when i returned from work i was greeted by my co-worker, heather. she very excitedly said, "soooo? how'd it go? do you have a picture?" (**sidenote: heather has no babies and is a little obsessed with ultrasound pictures. i can't count on both hands how many times i've told her i don't get a "picture" everytime i go and also that i probably won't be getting anymore "pictures" until i take them of my born baby in a couple months). mmk, so i say, "well, i'm a biggin' and no i don't have a picture." she laughs. i said, "no, i'm serious. i'm measuring about three weeks ahead." and at about this moment i feel the floor beneath my feet give way. yes, i'm serious. i look down and realized i had been standing on the heater vent in my office and i had just fell through. yes people... i fell through the mother-loving heating vent at the exact moment i told heather i was measuring three weeks ahead of schedule. classy, no?

so i sat there... mortified. and since heather was looking at me and heard the very obvious ::thud:: when the heater vent gave way i had no choice but to address the issue. so i said, "well. i just fell through the floor." she laughed. and so did i... because seriously, that's pretty funny. and the timing. great job God - couldn't have produced a more perfect moment for an almost 8 month pregnant lady to fall through the floor myself.

and then she did the most generous thing anyone has ever done for me. and i mean that. she, in her 125 lb glory, got up from her chair, walked over to the heater vent, stood on it and pressed her heel into the vent and broke it... same as i had just done. and she says, "well, see... i broke it too. you're not fat. it was just the heel on your shoe." i hugged her... through tears. and then we laughed as we had never done before.


and above you will see that glorious heater vent we smashed up. about half way through you'll see two little rungs that are just demolished. one for me and one for skinny, not pregnant heather. :) that is why i will miss my job. thank you heather. thank you very much.

oh... and dean (my boss) if you read this... the heater vent on the side of the filing cabinet was damaged by a big heavy box of dead files that accidentally fell onto the vent a long time ago. we did not swap it out for the one pictured above. no sir, we did not do that.

you gotta fight for your right... to potty.

women have this unspoken, unwritten law about potty etiquette.

if in the event you go into a public bathroom having to go number two - you walk in, scope out the scene and make sure you're alone. if you are alone, all systems are go. if you're not alone, you quietly walk into the stall, sit down, go number one and wait politely for your neighbor to get up, wash their hands and leave before letting er' rip. it's just the way of the world, yes?

well... i walked into the bathroom at the hospital today, scoped the scene and realized that i wasn't alone. so, following all set etiquette, i sat down, tinkled and waited for the woman with the velcro shoes next to me to get up and leave. but she didn't and i quickly realized i had forgotten the second part of the law. if in the event you are interrupted while doing your business, you do all you can to shut it off while you are in company of a potty stall neighbor. so here we were... me stuck in the first addendum of the law, her stalled at the second. we were at a stalemate. great. i had an appointment... i realized i couldn't wait. so... i did what i had to. sorry velcro shoe lady.

ugh to multiple bathroom stall bathrooms.

also... on that note: i'm getting bigger, this is no secret. therefore it is no longer an easy task for me to maneuver myself and my lulabelle belly in and out of the stalls. clearly bathroom stalls were (poorly) designed by men as if they had been designed by women they would function properly for both pregnant and non-pregnant women and open out instead of in. seriously...

i'm such a stinkin' wimp!

so... as posted below i had my gestational diabetes test on friday (to which i passed, thank you very much). well... in my excitement over my cake, i left out some of the gory details. like the mother-loving lab phlebotomist who needs more practice on an orange. she was a jammer-inner and a ripper-outter. but don't worry. my arm vein took it's own revenge when it just about squirted her coat. this is about the time i dang near passed out. (yes, i'm serious).

i'm not sure that getting blood drawn has hurt like this... ever. i do recall one event long ago in which i had to be poked about 20 times to get an IV in that hurt much worse... but this was up there on the hurt-o-meter. and... i still have a bruise. and i'm a whiner. a wimp. and... reality check: i'm getting an epidural.

yes. this is a three day old bruise. but i'm still going to whine about it. and... holy crap... i just realized how full my inbox is. ack. i better get on that... booo.

gestational diabetes and cake...

this summer i ate the most magnificent cupcake i've ever had in my life. while at the bite of bozeman i came across the super-cupcake confection from sweet pea bakery. it was a raspberry lemonade cupcake made from scratch. i seriously can not put into words how good this sucker was. thick, creamy raspberry frosting (and lots of it) over a moist lemonade cake bottom... mmmm.

mmk, fast forward to wednesday. since i've been pregnant i've been dreaming about this cupcake. i'm talking literally. i go to bed and i dream about eating this cupcake and can sometimes taste the pastry perfection.

in a moment of weakness, i decided that i'd stop in at the sweet pea bakery this week and just see what they had... all the while secretly praying to God that someone at the bakery had the urge to bake my sweetly perfect raspberry lemonade cupcakes. no suck luck. shocker. so as i was walking away from the counter... obviously looking defeated, the nice young man behind the counter said, "you know... we can make them for you on a special order." whooo hooo! so i said, "great! how many do i have to order?" and he replied, "at least a dozen." awww crap. seven months in and i've already gained 34 pounds (ack!) so i said, "well, i really don't need that many." and he said, "well, did you know that we make raspberry lemonade cakes?" whoo hooo again! i said, "i most certainly did not! let's do it!" somehow ordering one cake made me feel a little better about myself than ordering 12 cupcakes... no comments about this please. :) so i ordered and agreed to pick up the cake this afternoon. i've been waiting for today to come for 48 looooong hours. :)

mmk, you are finally up to speed. fast forward to today. i had a doctor appointment today and my gestational diabetes test was scheduled to be done this morning. ever since i ordered myself a whole entire raspberry lemonade cake i've been a little concerned about the results of the test coming back positive and then i'd have to watch my lovely hubs kev eat MY cake. sooo, when i went into the docs office this morning i said, "dr. augustyn, i have something to tell you. it's important. i take my prenatal everyday, without fail. even though i often eat too many burritos in a weeks time i do try to watch what i eat. i haven't had a drop of booze or even so much as an aspirin in the seven months i've been pregnant." she said, "ok. sounds good..." i continued, "i ordered a cake. i pick it up this afternoon and i'm eating it regardless of my diabetes test results." she said, "mckenzie, you are going to be a terrible mother. how could you even think of eating the cake without getting the results of your gestational diabetes test? don't you understand what eating a lot of sugar at this point could do to your fetus? you should just consider adoption." ok, ok... she didn't say that. that's what i was expecting her to say. gotcha. she said, "sounds great. enjoy." HAHAHAHA. :) perfect. so - that, friends, is exactly what i did:yep... that is me and my cake. thank you sweet baby Jesus for inspiring someone at the sweet pea bakery to come up with this confection. it was everything i remembered it to be.

oh, and i passed my 1 hour test with flying colors. no gestational diabetes for this cake-eatin' mama. :)

me like-a-do da' bumbo...

sooo... whenever kev and i get new baby stuff, we always call katie and say, "kaatttiiiieee! you wanna play baby?" and she (reluctantly) comes because she knows we are holding a cookie that she will earn for whatever stupid thing we make her do. we figure we need practice and it always is good for a laugh.

last night was no exception. i love this dog... i do. she will seriously do ANYTHING for a cookie. anything. including, but not limited to, sitting in the baby bumbo with a big goofy grin on her face all the while looking like she likes it:

your jealous she's not your dog, huh? hahahahaha! this picture seriously makes me laugh, out loud, everytime i see it. in fact, when i was taking the picture last night i had to pull a do-over about four times because they pictures were all blurry because i couldn't stop laughing and shaking the camera all over the place. hilarious.

love you katie dog. :)

this is the day...

this is the day friends. week 28, day 4. the day the belly took charge. kev and i went to rosauers for lunch today and as i was putting my ranch into my dressing cup i turned around to head back to my table to eat my lunch. the belly, however, decided to linger and knock off about 30 plastic salad to-go containers onto the floor. lovely.

the girl in the salad bar line next to me goes, "ohhhh, rough day, eh?" i said, "umm... you have no idea." :)

holy mother of infant bows...

i love that we're having a girl. :) i have so much fun shopping for swimsuits with ruffles and cute little bright pink dresses. my most recent obsession has been with cute little hats with big flowers attached to them and infant bows. yep, that's right. despite major resistance from her daddy, my sweet little nora will be one of those accessorized princesses. i can't wait.

anyway, during my search for newborn bows on my new favorite website, etsy, i ran across something that absolutely blew my mother-loving mind. now... please note i'm a newbie. my sweet husband and i are taking parenting classes two nights a week to be sure we can keep nora alive when she comes. :) i don't know what kind of mama i will be because i just don't have a lot of experience. but, i will try. very hard. anyways - i was drawn into a particular site by this adorable photo of a little baby with a bow:she's cute huh? i love the expression. so i enter the site. (**disclaimer so my bump ladies don't think i'm a dummy: noooo, i wasn't really going to PAY $6.95 for bows that i know i can make for $.99 - i just didn't understand how to stick them onto nora's head (especially if God chooses not to bless her with a full head of hair), so this esty search was for research purposes. sheesha!) so i find a picture of some bows i think are cute for sale in this shop:
i click on them and start reading about how they stick to a baby's head and am confronted with this picture:
GLUE! bwahahhaha! this lady seriously uses surgical lubricant to GLUE bows to her baby's head! LOLOL! seriously? this cannot be how this is done! i thought i must be missing something... and that's not all friends... she says in her listing that in the event you'd rather not use the GLUE you can use KY Jelly.

::jaw drops wiiiide open::

really? can you imagine? if kevin walked into nora's bedroom and found me attaching bows to her head with glue or KY jelly he would have me locked up in the nuthouse. HAHAHA! wouldn't that be funny? he would think i had lost my mother-loving mind!

and so... my search continues. i will find a better way. there must be a better way... LOL!

alas... i will just pray that my sweet babe has a full head of adorable blond hair for me to affix my little bows to... otherwise this mama has no choice but to stick to hats. :)

confession...

well... i don't know where the montana girl scouts are hiding. perhaps they are warm inside their homes since it's
-10 and blizzarding again... but dang it... if you want to sell those cookies you have to get your butt out there and push em, right?

ugh. well, ok. now to the confession part. i don't know how - but my boss has a contact where i have none. a girl scout contact. he brought in a box of thin mints today... i devoured it. absolutely devoured it. as i wiped the last of the crumbs of my chin i said, "ummm, hope you didn't expect that to last long. until tomorrow." bwaahahahaha! the evil seven month pregnant woman strikes again!

i have my gestational diabetes test on friday... so i figure just in case i better make dang sure i'm satisfied. (ack! red flag - bad mom alert!) mmkay, in all actuality though, this is the first incident where i took out a box of cookies. not good. my weakness is cupcakes, not girl scout cookies.

so, once the box was gone i realized... i don't even like thin mints! i like tagalongs!

::silently prays for God to send a girl scout bearing cookies, no tagalongs, to her office during this wonderfully snowy spring break week::

that's all for now friends. ack. :)

i hate being sick...

i do. i really stinkin' do. i hate being sick. i try to fight it off with sleep but i can't lay down for more than 30 seconds without my mother-loving nose becoming plugged and so i open my mouth only to have it dry out and then my throat hurts all day. it's a vicious cycle...

and, i haven't so much as taken an aspirin in the last 7 months so cold meds are out... not because i can't take them but because i am stubborn. so there.

that's where i'm at... i'm rollin' hard these days. booo.

words of wisdom...

in all actuality, i've had a relatively easy pregnancy. sure, i'm exhausted and my hips fall out of their place every now and then and yes, i wake up almost nightly with a charlie horse straight from hell, but otherwise i'm doing good.

that said; in these moments of weakness i secretly wish i could fast-forward through the rest of my pregnancy and just push play right after i've finished pushing and am holding my sweet babe nora in my arms. i received an email from my awesome mom this afternoon and this is what it said:

If I could do it all over again, instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

wow. aren't moms awesome? well said my mama. two points for you. oh, and by the way... i love you. :)

labor and delivery class, take one...

i love kevin. i do. he is so amazing. that said; i need to share something with my blog people. i just don't feel right keeping this to myself... ::giggle::

we went to our second night of labor and delivery class last night and we watched "the video." for those of you not already pregnant or having kids - "the video" is the video they show you in the classes of the actual birth. it highlights some strange woman's vagina and shows the progression of labor... and then delivery. it's great.

so here we are sitting in this class with 9 other couples watching "the video." i'm actually quite sure that none of the wives watched "the video" because we were all too busy silently dying of laughter at our husbands reactions to "the video."

it was awesome. and then... when it was all said and done and the credits were rolling i caught kevin secretly taking this very deep breath and mumbling under his breath, "oooohhhhhhhhh God...."

bwaaahahahaha. i can't wait for the real thing. i found out his dad wasn't actually in the room for any of his four kids births because he about passed out. haha. i'm going to make sure there is a second bed in our room for this very reason. i swear internet blog readers... he will stay in the room and pass out or leave the room and get divorced. LOL! i love him. :)

one crafty mama...

this weekend was full of nora crafts. i started my big painting for over the changing table, got the crib mobile done and hung (thanks to my awesome hubs kev for the help) and kev hung the shelves. whoo hooo! we are making real progress now. :)

here's a little pic of nora's name i made and stuck on the shelves:

also, i got to debut the room this weekend. my first real visitors! kev's mom and aunt susan came over and i think they were impressed. go me. :) haha.

mmk, more later.

hello belly, goodbye feet!

well, i finally can no longer see my feet when i look down. all i see is belly. rock hard, solid belly. (mmk, i know that sounds crazy, but my belly has never been harder. thanks for nothing gym... bwaahahahaha!)

anyways, without further ado:

a sad day for bozeman...

above you will see what's left of a portion of downtown bozeman. it was a very sad day for our town.

when i was driving to work this morning i noticed a very large cloud of black smoke over downtown so i switched on the radio and heard the news. there was a major explosion caused by a gas leak at a downtown restaurant, boodles. the gas leak exploded boodles and the surrounding businesses at 8:12 am this morning. to make matters worse the building then caught on fire and it's almost five now and the fire is still burning because the fire department can't find the gas shut-off and they'd rather let the fire consume the excess gas than let it pool.

downtown bozeman is a staple of our town. it's beautiful. the rug gallery, the rockin' r bar, pickle barrel, boodles, the legion bar, the art gallery and lilly lu's is completely gone (as seen in picture). since downtown is so old the fire department and police department haven't gone into the destruction to look for survivors because they aren't sure the buildings surround the devastation are structurally sound. i just pray no one was there...

i've been filing insurance claims for downtown businesses all day. windows were blown out of all the buildings within 5 blocks. there is debris everywhere. city officals have said it looks like a bomb went off downtown. the initial explosion blew cars 10 feet into the air and store fronts for boodles and the gallery were blown into the middle of main street.

this explosion made national news - i watched it with kev on fox news at lunch. i've got to hand it to the city officials. for small town montana they did a great job.

i will miss the pickle barrel oh so much. rest in peace sweet pickle paradise.

sneak peek and the dropsies...

here is what my sweet babe nora's room looks like today... a sneak peak of what is to come if you will:

in other news... i've all of a sudden become the most clumsy person i know. and just so you know, this is saying something. i know some clumsy people. i won't name any names (tiffany hartpence). :) hahaha. you know i love (and miss) you lady. :)

anyways - this morning while i was at work i had a couple little mishaps both within an hours time. i was standing at the water cooler filling up my water bottle and when it was about ummm 3/4 full i just let go. i can't explain it. my brain told my hand to hold it there but my hand just decided it was tired of doing that. blah. so it spilled all over the place. and everyone in my office was watching.

then... if that's not bad enough i was headed back into my office, coming in (we're talking about 20-ish minutes after the water incident) in from my hourly bathroom break and went to open the door into my agency and rammed smack dab into the glass door. i swear, once again, my brain told my hand to turn the mother-loving door handle but it just wasn't listening... the biggest problem was my body was listening to my brain and it started walking... and i smashed smack into the glass door. you see how this could very easily become a problem when my pregnant body refuses to work as a team, right? ugh. oh - and again, dean and heather were looking right at me... through the glass. laughing. ha-ha-mother-loving-ha. :)

jo' mama is sorry about that nora d. whoopsies. :)

i got my paint on...

those of you that know me in real life know i'm not only cheap, broke and a coupon clipper but i'm also very picky. i don't think i've been this way my whole life, but who knows. :)

so i went to mike's this weekend (my favorite neighborhood craft store) picked up some $1.00 wooden picture frames and a few bottles of the on-sale $.50 paint and went to work. here's what i came up with:

i figure i'll stick nora's ultrasound picture in this one until after she's born. and then there's this one:

i'm going to stick a picture of my dad in this one. he passed away in october 2008, just 13 short days after we learned we were pregnant with nora. :( but i know he's watching out for her. :)

more crafts to come later... :)

my little babe and big ole' moose...

i love my big ole' boombie dog. he's so funny. since i've been pregnant with nora he's been my shadow. he follows me everywhere. we took the 25 week belly shot outside yesterday (i know, i know... put on a coat. nahhh... i'm from MONTANA!) and we got this priceless shot of moose and nora's secret conversation.

isn't it cute? love me some babies and puppies.

whoa big mama...

"wow mckenzie... there's not very many people we can't fit but you are definitely one of them. and just wait until your milk comes in. you are in big trouble sister."

this to me from the very nice bra lady at the uber-expensive boutique that claims there is "no one they can't fit for a comfortable bra" i went to today at lunch. my thoughts were filled with big comfy bras and being able to go a whole day without a backache because i didn't hoist my ooties on my desk for a rest long enough that day... i dreamt of frolicking in the park in my big comfy bra...


ok, so i'll admit... my daydreams didn't include little boys dragging my big bra through the park... but you get the point, right?

based on their claims, i went with high hopes of buying a stupid expensive bra that actually fit me. i'm desperate... and after trying on (and off) 30+ bras... nothing. blah.

those of you that know me know that i've always been, well... for lack of a better word... "blessed" in the upper region. top heavy if you will. ugh. well - since i've been pregnant with my little babe nora i was hoping she would steal my thunder, right? you know... take a lil somethin' somethin' from her dear mama. ummm... yah. no such luck. just when i could FINALLY fit into a victoria's secret bra for the first time in 10 years i get pregnant. and now... all i got is a sports bra that gives a pregnant sister a big uni-boob. great.

why do i blog this you ask? isn't this too much information for strangers to read on the internet? yes. yes it is. but i blog in hopes of a rescue. there has got to be "blessed" women, much like myself, out there somewhere with a cure for this disease. :)

so i decided i'd contact edna and have her make me a bra... and this is what i ended up with:

i absolutely love being pregnant and feeling my sweet babe moving around all day. i do... but for the love... couldn't God have given me just a little break? ouchie is all i have to say. ouchie.

houston, we have a name...

thank goodness. kevin and i have finally agreed on a name. a beautiful name. we will name lulabelle (drumroll please) nora danielle sacry. isn't that the cutest?

nora is a combination of two of kev's awesome (late) grammys nonie and cora. it also means sunshine; light. and trust me friends, nora is our sunshine. :)

danielle is after my dad, daniel, who sadly passed away in october 2008... just 13 short days after we found out we were pregnant with nora.

also, kevin and i's very first "song" was "what am i to you" by norah jones (who i still love and adore).

a strong name with strong family history and a great meaning. :) we're feeling oh so proud of ourselves. :)

lulabelle's first boyfriend...

yep. you read that right. lulabelle officially has her first boyfriend and she's not even born yet. :) what a lil' heartbreaker, huh? here they are together... their first picture. :)


my good friend brittney had her perfect little baby boy today at 2:10 am. lulabelle's first boytoy, brody "TANK" jeffery smith was born 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. i got to the hospital before brittney had her epidural... and let me tell you friends, it was a major reality check. she was in early labor and her early contractions (while dilated to only a 4) had her in tears. yikes. i'm scared. :)

but - she was a trooper and pushed for almost THREE hours. and she didn't die - she made it. so i figure if she can do it... well, so can i. LOL.

brody, who i have lovingly referred to as tank for the last nine months, is beautiful. i mean BEAUTIFUL. he's perfect. he is sooo cute. seeing him and holding him and feeling lulabelle moving around inside of me as i was holding tank was surreal. i'm having a baby. this is really happening.

the labor got bad - the epi started to wear off and about that time a lady down the hall started screaming like a banshee... so i had to get the crap out of the labor and delivery department. not good. :) LOL. so i left.

when i got home my doggies rushed to the door followed by kevin who was pushing the bumbleride down the hall. :) he's getting excited too. i walked in... pale from listening to the crazy banshee and he said, "how'd it go?" i simply said, "umm... this shit just got real." yikes. :) LOL.

anyway - i visited my very tired mama friend britt and tank today and here is what i took away:

oh, and i also learned (via picture coded handout from britt's nurse) that baby poop on day one is black and sticky and later on it's ok if it looks "seedy" but not ok if there is even a little bit of blood in it. there you go... you learn something everyday. it's just too bad i didn't have the pictures to show you too. LOLOLOL. :)