Ohio Plates?

Every once in a while you have one of those moments you just know will stick in your head forever.  Many times the memories or images that shape our lives happen and we don't recognize the significance or importance.  However, there are those times that you are sure right away an image will stick in your head for a lifetime.

Last Thursday I pulled in to our driveway from work and saw an Ohio license plate belonging to my brother's family van for the first time in Fayetteville!  Sure, I knew they were coming in to town, this was not a surprise visit, but it was still surreal to know that they had sacrificed time, money, energy, and patience to load up their three kids and drive over ten hours to see us.

We had a perfect weekend.  Northwest Arkansas did its best to show off in a big way.  The weather was perfect, the fall scenery was in full bloom, and we were able to see all NWA had to offer.  We took in the Walmart 5 and 10, toured Crystal Bridges, explored the local parks, visited the farmer's market, did a little shopping at the new Cabelas, went to a fall festival, and Ben, Scott, and I got in a couple of intense games of front yard football.

While we certainly miss the days of being able to see them whenever we wanted, this time of being together for an extended period of time was truly special.  It re-emphasized how lucky we are to have such great family in our lives, and of course made us anxious to see them again at Thanksgiving!

A New Monday Routine

I really don't know where the days are going or what Kennedy and I do that make them fly by.  We've mastered the diaper changes, feedings and laundry and even enjoyed play dates and shopping adventures. But, I have to admit, we haven't been great about blogging and posting pictures!  So, my new goal is to update the blog on Monday mornings.  Here are a few from our trip to the park yesterday.  The weather was beautiful here so the three of us walked the trails, sat in the park and enjoyed coffee on a patio!  It was a perfect afternoon!

More Tummy Time

One Month

We celebrated Kennedy's one month birthday on September 25th.  How can one month feel like the days flew by so fast yet at the same time lasted forever?  These four weeks have been wonderful and have far exceeded any and all expectations Nick and I ever had of parenthood.  Last week Nick came home with this cake from Rick's bakery and two pints of Graeter's ice cream (yes, we finally found Graeter's in Arkansas!)  For the first two weeks of Kennedy's life, my mom, aka Nana, was here to completely spoil her.  My Dad, Grumpy, (he picked that name but we all know he is the furthest thing from "Grumpy") was able to fly back for the weekend before they made the drive back to Akron.

Kennedy's First Month - a few highlights

• Her Hair - I just love it and although it may be thinning just a bit, it still is adorable
•  Tummy Time - she can turn her head from side to side and even lift it up on her own...it's keeping it up that she needs to work on!
• Social Butterfly - Fortunately, in Fayetteville, Kennedy is surrounded by lots of friends and we've had fun having lunch dates, dinner dates and play dates even though she tends to sleep through most of them.
• Her Hands - she loves her hands up by her face - too bad we swaddle her when she sleeps!  She can know hold her hands together and also loves to grab anything in reach - most recently my hair and Nick's shirt collar.
• Sleep - she sleeps like an angel for the majority of the day.  We are still working on the late evening hours but until then we refer to her as the party girl and as Nick likes to say, the bars don't close until 2 so if she is sound asleep before then we are doing alright!
• Her Eyes - We love when she looks at us but she especially likes staring at lights and ceiling fans.
• Walks and The Car - She loves both and Jack especially enjoys the walks!
• Pacifier - an instant soother.  If only we could teach her not to spit it out in the middle of the night!

Here are a few pictures to document her one month birthday.  I struggled to find the right pose and the right place with the right bow and the right blanket.  All I kept thinking of was the huge commitment over the next 12 months that I would need to continue!  So, I've included a few and have the next month to decide which to repeat!
 

One Month Old 

Kennedy's Birthday

August 25, 2012 - - -  8:08am CST - - - Kennedy Grace Spicher - - - Her Birth Story!

This blog post has been on my to do list for just about three weeks now (yes, KGS is already 3 weeks old!) but between the feedings, diaper changes, laundry, more laundry and I don't know what else, the days have been flying by.  We've had an amazing time with our little girl and are absolutely crazy about her.  So, before we share about all of the little things new parents like us get excited about, I do want to document the day our lives changed forever - 8.25.12

Nick and I enjoyed our last date night as just the two of us that Friday evening at Ruth Chris.  We had an amazing dinner and ended our night on our front porch just hanging out and talking about the anticipated arrival of our little one...which I thought surely would be after my hair appointment that was scheduled for the following week.  Well, OB wasn't too concerned about my hair or my final two weeks of early maternity leave.  12:40am was when the fun began.  I woke up and glanced at the clock as I was rolling over to get comfortable and felt what I later found out to be my water breaking.  No, it was not like the movies or even a little bit obvious.  After some waiting and excited chatter about the potential of could this be the day, Nick was convinced he should start packing his bag.  I decided to take a shower and by now was having lower back pain that was unlike any of the braxton hicks contractions I had been experiencing for the many weeks prior.  Nick texted our doctor as she said to let her know when we thought we were in labor because she was going to do her best to deliver us!  Nick started timing the "pain" and we soon realized that the consistent pattern of 4-6 minutes meant we were headed to the hospital.

Nick had to get a few pictures on the way...

We walked into the ER at 2:45am and were quickly told we would be heading home.  The doctor on call took one look at me and said it was impossible that I was in labor but was required to keep me for an hour to monitor things.  Thankfully, after an hour of waiting and some crazy back pain, a wonderful nurse confirmed that my water had broken and we weren't going anywhere.  Nick called our parents and we were officially admitted.

By 4am we were now in our private room waiting on the anesthesiologist for the epidural.  I was SO thankful for the epidural.  I actually received a light dose.  I learned (after asking the poor guy a million questions) that the dose of an epidural is based on height.  Despite my 5'9" tall girl classification, he gave me a regular girl amount so I was able to feel my legs and wiggle my toes but still have the positive effect of no pain!!

So with the epidural going and an IV in, we thought we were settling in to a long day of labor when all of a sudden things became quite eventful.  A crew of nurses came rushing in as we later found out the baby's heart rate had dropped.  After 45 minutes on oxygen and being tossed from side to side as if I was in a tumbling class, the nurses finally determined that I had quickly progressed from 1.5cm to 10cm and this baby was ready to go!  After 10 minutes of pushing, we heard from Dr. Paige who couldn't believe things were moving so fast.  Her husband was actually on call and there at the hospital to deliver us.  The nurses were amazing and such an encouragement.  It literally felt like a party in the room in between pushes, ice chips and taking polls on boys names as we had yet to make a final name decision.  At 8:08am, just 4 hours after being admitted, Kennedy Grace was in my arms.  A GIRL!  I couldn't believe it.

I can't even describe all of the emotions that I felt at that moment.  Excitement, Shock, Amazement, Joy - how did this happen so fast and was she really ours?!?  I spent the next two hours just staring at our precious little girl before they took her to the nursery for the standard tests and what not.  Nick and I were officially parents and our life as the two of us had now become three.  She's perfect and so is our new adventure that we've just begun and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Kennedy's first birthday cake!

Heading Home!

A Prayer of Thankfulness

Ever feel like a 'thank you' just isn't quite enough?  That is the feeling Nicki and I have had since 8:08 a.m. on Saturday August 25th when Kennedy Grace Spicher met the world for the first time, weighing in at 6 lbs 4oz.

Without question, this week has been the most magical, special, unbelievable, and many other adjectives combined, week we've had in our lives.  I will let Nicki post the labor and delivery story, but over the past week there have been so many moments where we have said to ourselves how thankful we are for this blessing, and it seems appropriate to stop and say a prayer of thankfulness:

God,
We want to thank you.  That's it.  Just thank you.  An all encompassing thank you for the blessing of life, and the perfect miracle that surrounds it.  We thank you for your constant presence now and forever.

We thank you for entrusting us with the life of Kennedy Grace and providing us with the wisdom, patience, humility, and faith it will take to raise her in your image.

We thank you for allowing for Nicki's incredibly smooth labor, delivery, and recovery. We want to thank you for the nurse at the ER who refused to listen to the ER doctor who told us we were "definitely going home and not having this baby for another two weeks" about five hours before Kennedy was born.

Nicki arriving at the ER at almost 3 a.m. (Kennedy was born just 5 hours later) 

We thank you for the nurses at Willow Creek who stayed another hour beyond their 16 hour shift just to be able to deliver Kennedy.  We thank you for Dr. Hix and Dr. Partridge who have guided us through this pregnancy with such love and care.  We thank you for the nursery nurses who cared for Kennedy during the first days of her life like she was their own child.


We thank you for our grandparents.  We thank you for the safe 14 hour drive from Akron and flights from Cincinnati.  We thank you for their unending love and support.  We know without them we would have been lost.  We thank you for the model they have set before us, and thank you for their unselfish giving of their time to love their new granddaughter.

We thank you for our incredible friends.  You have surrounded us by a group of people both here and around the country who have showed us limitless love through hospital visits, home visits, meals, and simple phone calls.  These friends have also shown us what it means to rely on You in times of parenting trials.  We never would have imagined a day we would deliver our first child in Fayetteville, AR - and now we can't imagine it any differently.

We thank you for our wonderful work families.  You have blessed us with co-workers who go beyond just being co-workers and truly care for our well being and our lives.  We recognize this is not common practice and want to thank you for these friends.

I want to thank you for giving us a daughter who was born with more patience and understanding than I have.  You recognized my fear of very limited knowledge of how to raise a newborn and brought us a baby that seemingly has agreed to put up with my learning curve of how to change a diaper, bathe, swaddle, and change clothes with such grace.

I want to thank you for my incredible wife, who has made pregnancy, labor, and parenting look easy.  She has proven that all the reading, preparation, nesting, organizing, was actually worth it and has made for a smooth transition in to parenting.  You made her to be a mom and for that I am thankful!

We have so much for which to be thankful, and the words thank you seem to be so insignificant.  You have given us a magical experience.  And You know, that in the coming hours, days, weeks, months, and years we will come to You asking for many many things - patience, wisdom, grace, peace, comfort, understanding, amongst others.  But at this time, in this moment, we want to just stop asking for things and offer a thank you.  We thank you.

Amen

"They" call us full term!!

37 Weeks and loving every minute of it!  I've just completed my first week of maternity leave and am still enjoying every day to the fullest.  I know the countdown is on and so we are really trying to maximize our time as the two of us before Baby Spicher arrives!  Here are a few highlights from the week...

37 Weeks and headed to the Miranda Lambert Concert!

1. Mornings with the Today Show Crew.  I've especially enjoyed Kathy Lee and Hoda during the 10am hour!  Now, if only I could enjoy a glass of wine with them every morning....3 more week

2. Weekly Doctor's Appointments.  I'm sure we've mentioned this before, but Nick and I LOVE our OB.  Nick has been wonderful throughout this entire pregnancy and joins me at every appointment.  At first I never thought we'd be "that couple" but I absolutely love it.   The clinic I go to has over 8 or so physicians, but Dr. Partridge (aka Paige) agreed early on to that we could see her exclusively and not rotate through docs at every appointment.  We think this fact alone has drastically enhanced our entire pregnancy experience.  Not only is it great to see a familiar face every time we go into the office, but we really feel like we've gotten to know her.  I swear we spend 10% of the visit talking about this baby and 90% about Nick's latest adventure or serving as each other's travel agent.  Our hope is that she may just like us so much, she will come deliver our baby even if she isn't on call.  Wishful thinking I'm sure, but we're still hopeful!  As of last week, our trips to Park Hill will be weekly.  Last Wednesday the 15th, I was 1.5cm dilated and Paige said this baby's head is really low.  We should have a better idea of timing based on this Wednesday's appointment and if there has been any progression...I'm still hoping for a September Birthday!  We had an ultrasound too but the baby is so scrunched in there that it was hard to see a lot.  The tech did predict that OB is currently 6lbs so if we make it full term, we can expect a 7.5lb baby (of course, I know this is a major estimate and never really correct!)

3. Nursery.  Our chair arrived on Friday afternoon and our nursery feels almost complete.  All we are missing is our "pop" of color which can't be added until Baby Spicher makes his/her debut!

Jack loves my time home the most!!

About 91 weeks of pregnant ladies in this picture at the Miranda Lambert concert (from left to right Jessica is 20 weeks, Lindsay is 34, and I'm 37)

36 Weeks

I CAN'T believe we only have four weeks to go!  Here are a few of the highlights of what life has been like over the last two weeks in the Spicher House as we prepare for OB!

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

1.  Maternity Leave - I have to start with this one because I am officially done with work!  I am so thankful and feel very blessed that Lilly has an amazing maternity leave.  Today is day two and it hasn't sunk in yet that I don't have to go to work on Monday.  Nick is counting down the days until my boredom sets in but I keep telling him that my to do lists keep growing and I will more than enjoy the next four weeks :)

2. Nursery - We are making progress!  My mom and dad came in town last Friday and we had a get things done kind of weekend.  The beautiful artwork and craft project are on the walls, our fancy color video monitor is installed, and my mom and I spent some time purchasing some little things to make the room cozy.  The one (but major) piece missing is our chair.  I was hoping for a phone call this week to tell us it was in, but no such luck...maybe next week!  We also put together a lot of the typical baby items - the pack 'n play, the bouncer, the strollers, and installed the car seats!

Nick spray painting

Then came the Mod Podge

The Masterpiece!

3. Showers - My wonderful girlfriends in Arkansas threw me a baby shower last Saturday!  I loved every bit of it and it was so nice to have my mom in town to meet all of my girlfriends.  I feel so lucky to have these girls in my life especially with our families so far.  My work crew also hosted a joint baby shower for Kia (she is due just one week after me) and me this past Monday but unfortunately, a stomach bug got the best of me and I wasn't able to make the 6 hour drive to and from Little Rock.  However, I am so thankful for such supportive and loving people to work with.

4. Ailments - As I just mentioned...that stomach bug.  I really can't remember the last time I had a stomach bug that was quite so terrible.  It started last Sunday night and seriously knocked me out for two days.  Not only did I get it, but so did three others, including my mom and Nick.  Yuck.  On Wednesday, I thought I was back to my normal self when a lovely case of heartburn struck and has continued for the week.  I can honestly say I've never had to deal with heartburn before.  So, despite very little sleep and slowly and begrudgingly giving up some of my favorites until this passes (Chai Tea Lattes, tomatoes, fruit and lemonade) I'm praying this ongoing burning sensation will cease!  I feel very lucky that I've had such a smooth pregnancy thus far so can handle this week's adventures.  

5. Pool - I don't even think it's fair for me to add this to the list quite yet, but after such a relaxing Friday afternoon, I can't help it!  Combine 90 degree weather (instead of 100+) and the fact that Nick got off work early today, and it was the perfect time to relax poolside.  Well, let's just say that I spent the time relaxing while Nick swam laps.  Nonetheless, it was exactly what we needed and made our Fayetteville Athletic Club membership (which I don't use very often) worth every penny!

So, as I write this we are sitting on our front porch enjoying the cool weather and some good music and I'm counting down the days until I can join Nick in a nice cold cocktail!