Thanksgiving and Birthday Week!

We had planned that if Kenna came before Thanksgiving, we would drive into Raleigh to spend Thanksgiving with our families... since she arrived on the 23rd, it worked out perfectly to drive our little 4 day old bundle to see her grandparents and cousins!
Matt's parents put on a delicious spread of all our favorites, and we stuffed ourselves as usual! They also were sweet enough to practically make double of everything so there would be lots of leftovers for us to take home. We've been eating them for the past several days and it's so nice to not have to cook!

Later in the evening, Kenna got to meet her great Grandma Dean for the first time, and had the honor of visiting with both of her great grandmothers at the same time:
It's so special to me to see how excited they both are and how much they love their sweet great-grandbaby! We have enjoyed having Grannie stay with us this week, and hearing lots of baby stories about everyone in the family. We're getting spoiled having her help, especially since she keeps us fed, doesn't mind getting up early, and loves our sweet girl!
The sleep deprivation is hitting Daddy worst of all... I think God makes Moms so fascinated with their babies, a they are mostly in a love fog with the baby anyways, so a little extra sleep deprivation fog doesn't matter. I laughed so hard when he gave me a birthday card this morning that said happy birthday "even though we may be sleep deprized" ...I think that says it all!

Kenna's gift to me on my 25th birthday today was the biggest blowout of poop she's had so far. Matt went to change her and had to call Grannie and me in for back up... we ended up having to strip her down and clean her off in the sink! The good part is, that means she's eating right which is a relief to me after struggling a bit in these early days of nursing. No matter what, she is the best present I have ever gotten by far, birthday or not!
We didn't plan much for this birthday, since we're all pretty exhausted from having a six day old babe around. Matt got cupcakes when our plan for ordering a cake fell through, and I realized we literally did not have a single birthday candle except for the individual number ones from Matt's cake last year... so I stole the 2 and improvised my own 5:
Believe it or not, in all the picture taking, we did not get a picture of the three of us on our first Thanksgiving. Our attempts to take one today to make up for it were really disappointing... I guess the "photographers" of the family can't all be in a picture at the same time! Kenna was not a fan, and we just look soooo tired no matter what we do!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Now That We're Home

I couldn't resist sharing just a few more pictures!
Making friends with the boppy pillow, which is great for giving my arm a little break. I want to always remember how tiny she is, everything feeling miniature, even for a baby.

After she nurses, she'll make little faces at me until she falls asleep. She likes to sleep with her mouth open in a tiny little o.
Then she passes out!
The funniest things so far are her squeaky little outbursts when she's warning you that she's thinking about really crying... like a little bird squalking... and when she got the hiccups at about 4 something a.m. this morning, I laughed so hard I cried. They were high-pitched and hilarious.

She is, by far, precious in every way this mommy knows!
I think we'll keep her :)

Family and Friends at the hospital

I have planned to upload at least a handful of pictures to our flick'r website later this week when my sleep deprived state becomes (at the very least) more of a habit or less and less as Kenna settles into a routine. Either way, I'm so thankful for God's provisions for our healthy girl and for Lindsey's continued healing and amazing attitude. "Thankful" falls dreadfully short to describe how we felt about all our visitors that made the effort to get to the hospital. I'll miss out on many if I try and name them all, (see sleep deprived state mentioned above) but here are a few of the pictures we took throughout the day.
Mere minutes after she was born, Nana Brogli was anxious to hold our new little one and Grandgraddy (as Ansley calls him) didn't pass up up the opportunity either.
Early Sunday morning, Jason and Alisa arrived and they stayed for a few wonderful hours where we visited and simply enjoyed being a 7lb 13 oz bigger family.
Evan came a couple of hours later, but I unfortunately missed my sweet buddy by mere minutes while I was running home to grab a much needed shower and a few things we needed from home.
When I returned from that much needed shower, Leanne, Sandy, Ansley and Beckley were there, along with Mom and Dad. Beckley had his dedication in Raleigh that morning and then they were sweet enough to drive all the way down here to see Kenna. We have amazing familes to say the least.
And of course we had to get the first full grandkids shot.
After my side of the family headed home, many of the members of our sweet church came to meet our little one and congratulate us. It warmed my heart to see so many different people have the same reaction to my daughter's face. Some cooed, some asked to hold her, some hugged their own spouses (I LOVED THAT!), but all smiled. They smiled at our blessing and I got to thank God, because at the moment he made our miracle, he blesses everyone around that miracle with joy and hope. Joy for what HE has done, and the hope for all that HE will continue to do.
Today we departed home with our blessing and we'll just have to see what's next...

She's Here!

We're so happy to let everyone know that our baby girl is finally here!

Kenna McKay Brogli
2:03 am on Sunday, Nov. 23rd
7lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches long

...with strawberry blonde hair, daddy's lips and mommy's nose!

We are all three doing very well, and survived a long night of anxious expectation and pushing. We'll have lots more pictures and stories for you in the next couple of days, but for now it is 5am after an incredibly long and full afternoon/night, and we are all getting some rest. Here are a few quick highlights:

39 weeks: The Very Last Belly Pic

The very first look at my daughter:

A happy new family:
Praise the Lord for a safe and healthy delivery and baby, great medical staff, bodies that heal, and the wonderful wonderful invention of the epidural. Thank you for your prayers!

Cold Weather Hats

It's finally feeling like fall/winter here, and we love it! Matt loves it because it's cold, and I love it because we're nerds and I made us cold weather hats:
We are in the car on our way to a chilly OB appointment this morning. And yes! That smidge of green right between us is a recently-installed baby car seat!

Update on all 3 of us

We are still on high baby alert here, with lots of anxiousness and the last-minute crush of trying to plan for the unplan-able and wait at the same time. Even though I'm tired at night, I have a hard time going to bed because I think of all the things I still need to get done... make overnight plans for Pontouf while we're in the hospital, call the pediatrician, finish the last little bit of packing for my overnight bag (which requires laundry, of course), and even getting a few things ready for Christmas while it still feels like I can. I'm feeling a rush of mental energy, but not so much the physical.

38 weeks:
(The giant smile is because it was warm enough wear the one other pair of pants that fit other than my jeans!)

A good friend told me she thinks the last few weeks are more stressful than the whole 9 months put together. I'd have to agree because I think this is the only major life event so far, other than my mom's death, that has had a huge impact on every aspect of my life and yet has been completely out of my control and that in the end I haven't been able to plan for! Plus, there are lovely 9 month indignities that they don't really tell you about, such as losing your balance when you put on your own underwear, and it taking 10 minutes to put on your shoes as if you're 3 years old again. The very worst this week has been the severe back pain. Right now my little one is kicking and flipping so hard, it's as though she might try to break out.

I have to brag on Matt a little bit- he has been wonderful to still take care of me and try his hardest to weather my snappy moods, random crying, and occasional whining, while being in pain and discomfort himself. He's had really bad knee pain since the car accident we were in, and had xrays and an MRI done last week to check it out. We were told by the orthopedist that it's most likely a torn ACL, but go back this week to find out hopefully for sure and possibly discuss the option of surgery if need be.

Between weekly doctor appointments for the both of us, we managed to take a few fun maternity shots out in the beautiful fall leaves, something both of us had wanted to do for awhile. Next time I think I'll try harder to do it before I'm quite so big! I'm excited to have a few pictures showing that K is an autumn baby, and I have to also brag on Matt for how pretty they turned out.

Routines

I find an odd sense of comfort sometimes in our routines that we don't even realize are routine. Patterns seem to just spring up in our lives because of who we are and what we like to do, and sometimes even just how we photograph them in some of the same ways. I was looking through and updating some of our many folders of photos on our computer and noticed a few that made me smile and think of how two photos can look practically the same at first glance, but reflect such different times and even how two people can change through the start of a lifetime together.

Pilot Mountain, 2006
Blue Ridge Parkway, 2008

Matt with newborn newphew Evan, 2007
Matt with newborn nephew Beckley, 2008

My Mom and brother Jason, 1981
My Mom and Jason's son Evan, 2007

Good Friends in Town!

We've been really happy that we've been able to see some of our really good friends the past couple of days! Last week Beth Anne and I had talked about trying to get together real quick before our baby gets here and to celebrate the announcement of her and Doug's baby on the way! It turned out that Doug was going to see family in Winston on Saturday, so he dropped Beth Anne and a huge box of cinnabons by the house! Talk about a killer combination! We completely indulged, talked all things baby, and got ourselves some lovely pedicures to celebrate.
We had a good chuckle at the pregnancy advice everyone in the nail place wanted to give us. It was so nice to have a great friend to spend some time with! Beth Anne and I have known each other for forever it seems like, and it's so fun to be reaching this new stage of parenthood together! I know we'll be a good source of encouragement and advice for each other as these little ones grow up!
I think our babies are making friends already, even in utero... my belly is so huge these days it likes to commandeer other people in pictures. I am so excited to have such a close friend about to embark on this crazy belly trip that will hopefully be ending for me soon! Thanks again so much for coming Beth Anne, and Doug, thanks for letting me borrow her for the day!

36 Weeks and a Bargain

Here is my current look at 36 weeks, with one pair of pants that fits and lots of anticipation:
What the OB is saying about our progress:
-We are dilated 2 centimeters and starting to efface!
-She's not premature at this point, so she safely can and might come at any time now!
-They gave us all the warning signs that require an immediate call to the hospital (I'll spare the details of those) and that we should call when the contractions are 5-7 minutes apart... or when they "have me cursing" as the OB said!
-If we keep up this progress, it looks like little K will be making her appearance sooner rather than later...

Some of the things I've been doing to get ready:
-Eating whatever I want, whenever I want! The intensive baby-weight-be-gone diet must start sooner than I want to think about!
-Finishing up little things here and there for the baby room... hanging things on the wall, labeling dresser drawers, and putting away clean laundry.
-Packing my hospital bag, just in case!
-Becoming close friends with Matt's sweatpants.

I also thought I'd mention to anybody that's interested that Old Navy is having a $10 and under deal sale right now, and also some 75% off clearance from the summer. Matt and I just happened to stop by the store because I had a $6 gift card from a return that I wanted to use up, and we got some great deals! Matt got a really nice brown and blue dress shirt for about $12, and I got a nice little haul of tank tops, one long sleeve maternity shirt, a 'tshirt skirt' as I call them, and a navy blue summery top, 8 items all together for just under $30!
I get super excited when clothes are on sale for $1.99, even if they are just little tank tops! I'm also noticing that CVS is a really good place for bargains... they offer grocery staples like milk for much cheaper than stores, have some buy one get one free things, and also have a store card that earns you free "bucks" which are like store credit based on your spending. I started using them for prescription filling, and now we can use the bucks on things like photo processing and the occasional shampoo, etc.

Pumpkin Carving Party and Trunk or Treat

Pumpkin Carving Party:
This past week, we were invited to Mark and Missy's house with Jon and Julie for their annual pumpkin carving party! Missy made a delicious pot of chili and had lots of other munchies on hand for us and the kids. Then they bravely spread two huge sheets of paper across their living room floor, put out two buckets for the "gunk," and let us have at it!
Mark and Missy had an impressive collection of pumpkin carving utensils, including patterns and the really good kind of scoopers. Matt and I usually carve a pumpkin each year, even if it is only to leave it on the front porch when we go do something else on Halloween. That's what mine was for this year, so I drew and carved a friendly man-in-the-moon smiling face.
Matt carved his pumpkin into a helmet to use as part of his costume for trunk or treat, but didn't know yet quite what kind of helmet it would be. He (we really, I knew he would!) had a hard time convincing everybody that he would actually wear a pumpkin on his head, but it turned out amazing!

Trunk or Treat:
We spent all day Thursday and Friday running around decorating, making games, and taking trips to Wal-mart for supplies to set up trunk or treat for Friday night. It was a pretty stressful thing, especially not knowing how many kids to plan for, since this is a big outreach event for the church and lots of neighborhood and local kids show up, but I think it turned out well!

We didn't get to take too many pictures since we were so busy setting up and then running everything, but luckily, Matt came and grabbed me in time when people started tearing down and putting things away that we got a few pictures! My favorite part was painting signs for some of the games and a big banner for the kitchen island.
Our games included face painting, a balloon dart board, beanbag throw, basketball toss, cup and ball toss, a cupcake walk, a gift card raffle, costume competition, and bobbing for apples! Then we lined the 200-plus kids and families to trick or treat through the circle of trunks, which included a great white Jaws and a steer-roping truck!
As for costumes, I wanted to do something fun in case I am never 9 months pregnant again on Halloween... and this smart girl also figured out a way to basically wear pajamas the whole night! I made one of Matt's old white shirts into an egg with a deviled yolk (paprika and all!) and wore green fleece pants as a 'bed of lettuce' underneath... I was a deviled egg!
After Matt made his pumpkin helmet, he said he wanted to paint a big glow-in-the-dark cross on his face and black out the rest, so I jokingly said he would look like a Christ-o'lantern instead of a jack-o'lantern... and he loved it! So he wore all black and I painted his face, and he wore his pumpkin helmet the whole night while guiding the kids through the trunks. This is the only picture we got of us together in our costumes:
What an exhausting but fun time!