Adjusting to being a Mom of 2

Well, Kamry will be a 4 weeks old on Tuesday and I am still trying to figure out how to adjust to everything going on in my life. At Kamry's 2 week appointment she had weighed 6lbs 15oz, gaining over half a pound in 1 week. My hopes of her staying little are quickly dying. She is still small and cute, but I am sure that won't last long. I am struggling with keeping Richie off of all the "cool" baby toys. He especially loves the swing, which looks like it could break under his weight at any moment. This last week Richie has been a little more demanding that I take hold him and comfort him. Both of my kids have stuffy noses, making for sleepless nights for Mom.

Kamry at 3 weeks old


After getting use to Kamry for the first week and a half, Richie decided he loves to hold her. This is slightly scary for me since he thinks he should be able to pick her up as well. He does a great job at holding her and is a great big brother. Anytime Kamry starts to cry he finds me and lets me know.

Richie holding Kamry


I am struggling with finding time to read scriptures, exercise, and do homework in between feeding Kamry, taking care of Richie, cooking 3 meals a day, and getting some type of sleep. Bobby is hardly home with his work schedule, and when he is home he thinks he should get to relax. This makes it even harder to keep up with everything I'm suppose to do, so obviously right now my house is not clean and am hoping to rememdy that this weekend.

Bobby and Kamry

Kamry Renae Bennett is HERE!

Well, Bobby and I came to the hospital at 9:00p.m. on Sunday, January 31st. I was given cervadil for 12 hours to help prepare my body for labor. At 11:30a.m. Monday morning I was started on pitocin. I was having painful contractions, but had enough time inbetween contractions that I could handle the pain. I was really expecting things to go quickly and was told at 2p.m. that my doctor could break my water. My doctor never came to the hospital, so my water did not get broken. At 6p.m. I was having difficulty handling the contractions, so opted for an epidural. I was disappointed that labor wasn't progressing and that I wasn't having Kamry on Monday. At 3a.m. on Tuesday I still wasn't progressing, so the pitocin was turned off to give my body a break. At 6a.m. I again was given pitocin. My doctor came by at 9a.m. and broke my water. Pretty much after my water was broken labor started moving. Around 10:30a.m. the nurse called my doctor to let him know I was delivering. My doctor got to the hospital around 11:10a.m. and Kamry was born at 11:16a.m. after pushing only 4 times.

Selina and Kamry


Kamry looks a lot like Richie, she is 6lbs. 6oz. and 20 inches long. She has a really long torso. She has rarely cried all day and has been really calm. She is having trouble keeping her temperature up, but doesn't have to be under any heat lamps. We are keeping her double wrapped in blankets and holding her to give her more warmth. I am really sore, but so glad to have Kamry here and to be done being pregnant. Mom brought Richie to come see Kamry, but he didn't want to hold her. It was nice to see him and I'm grateful my mom could be here to take care of him. He did have trouble leaving me at the hospital, but he's been a real trooper. I can't wait to get a picture of my 2 great kids.

Kamry

Busy, Busy Week

Well, it has been a VERY busy week. On Monday I started school, I have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. I will be very busy the next couple weeks trying to prepare my assignments so I do NOT fall behind when Kamry comes.

Tuesday Bobby had an interview with the City of Queen Creek, and he felt it went well. We should hear back sometime next week if he gets the job. I have weekly doctor appointments, luckily Richie doesn't mind because they give out suckers at the end. There was a really good sale at Carter's clothing store, so we went out to Chandler to do a little bit of shopping. Richie and I rode a small train at the mall we went to, Richie thought it was really cool.

On Wednesday some of the ladies in my ward threw me a Surprise Baby Shower during our weekly playgroup. It was a lot of fun and really nice. I got some fun girl clothes, a baby album, a gift certificate for a pedicure, and Richie got a dry erase board and marker.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. We cleaned the living room, made freezer dinners, and put-up blinds in the windows. They had curtains on them, but Richie would pull on them and I was afraid we were going to break them. We invested some money and definately time to putting them up. There are still 2 windows and the back sliding door I would like to do, we'll see how much of a tax return we're going to get before doing this though.

Saturday Night we went to Disney on Ice that was showing in Phoenix. We had a fabulous time and Richie loved watching his favorite characters ice skating. Richie said he wanted Pizza for dinner, but ended up eating only 3 cookies. I did realize that Richie has never seen The Lion King, so he really didn't get excited at that part. We had a really good time, and appreciate getting the tickets for Christmas.

Bobby eating Pizza


Richie wouldn't let me take a picture of him, this is the best I got.


Selina and Richie


Lightning McQueen


Sebastian - The Little Mermaid


Tinkerbell


Sunday, I got a new calling as the Ward Music Chairperson and I conduct the music during sacrament as well. I am really excited for this new calling and was able to attend Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society for the first time in 18 months. Richie is doing well in Sunbeams.

Kamry Update

I went for my 34 week appointment and an ultrasound to see how Kamry is doing. Everything looks great: she weighs around 4.5 lbs, is head down, has a ton of hair, and is looking pretty squished. She wouldn't cooperate so we couldn't see her face or check that she is in fact a girl. She is in the 35th percentile for her weight and I get to start going to the doctor every week now. I have six weeks to go and am realizing how much needs to get done before I have her.

Christmas Joys

Well, it was our first Christmas just our small family and it was definately a different experience. I was all gung-ho to keep our family tradition alive of getting up at 4 or 5 a.m. to open presents. Due to being pregnant (pregnancy = sleep), Richie not going to bed until 11 p.m., and not getting to bed myself until almost midnight I did not wake up until 6:30 a.m. I woke my family up a little before 7 a.m. so we could open presents. Richie got really excited when he woke up and saw that Santa brought him a train. Richie got train sets from Santa, Mom & Dad, and Grandma & Grandpa Bennett, so we got a whole little village set up for him to play with.


Richie's Train Village

Richie got some cars and a punching bag from Aunt Jodi and Uncle Brad (Bobby's sister) and a Game Boy with a Sonic Game from Grandma & Grandpa Jones. Aunt Melanie and Uncle Nick got the whole family tickets to Disney on Ice that we will get to see in January. After opening presents Bobby made breakfast while I helped set up Richie's train tracks. This was surprisingly a difficult feat for an 8 month pregnant mom, sometimes I still forget that I can't do everything I think I can.

Richie opening presents


We spent most of the day at home relaxing and playing with toys, though I had Bobby throw in the baby laundry that I've been meaning to wash. We decided to go see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 movie, which came out yesterday. I don't think I have ever seen Casa Grande so empty as on Christmas Day, since the movie theater was the only thing open. We had a pretty fun Christmas, with a somewhat spiritual Christmas Eve. We hope everyone had a good Christmas and was able to share it with those they love.

Catching up with Christmas

I can't believe it is already Christmas, time seems to have flown by. In November we didn't do anything terribly exciting EXCEPT going to Lund and Ely for Thanksgiving. We had a really good time, and even though the car ride wasn't fun (Richie got sick on the way up and I had morning sickness on the way home), while we were there it was really enjoyable. It seems like so long in between seeing family, eventhough it was less than six months since we saw everyone at the family reunions this summer. At Thanksgiving my mom and sister, Melanie, threw me and my sister, Chelsea, a joint baby shower. It was a lot of fun and I got some really cute hairbows for the baby and beautiful girl clothes. I tell you baby boys get the short end of the stick in the clothes department.

In December I finished up my first full semester of grad courses. I brought in a total of 3 A's, 1 B, and 1 Pass. I still have a 4.0 because my B was in an undergrad course that did NOT count towards my grad GPA, I thought that was crazy but yeah for me!!!

The baby is doing fine, no chance of having a pre-term labor or anything (it seems like many of the ladies in my ward are on bedrest or dealing with pre-term babies). I'm just hoping this one decides to come and I don't have to be induced, but we'll see I might beg my doctor to induce if she's not here by the 9th of February. I think Bobby and I have FINALLY decided on a name. I'm almost positive this baby is going to be Kamry Renae Bennett. Bobby says he needs to let the name grow on him a little more, but has pretty much told me he'll come around. We may end up nicknaming her Kami, but we'll see when she gets here. I get to have another ultra/sound on the 29th to see how big she is. At 20 weeks she was a little underweight, so we'll see.

On Saturday we had our ward party. It turned out really nice, the couple was just called 2 weeks before and were told we needed a Christmas Party. I have been wanting to make Gingerbread Cookies for years, but never had a recipe or decided to do it. I really didn't want to have a gazillion Gingerbread Cookies lying around the house for me to eat all day long either. I made 60 cookies and took 50 to the ward party. The children were not limited on how many sweets they could have and all of the desserts were wiped out. I only let Richie get 1 item, while others were walking away with heaping platefuls of sweets. I was just glad not to have to take anything home with me.

Gingerbread Cookies YUMMY!

Halloween Fun and Not So Fun

Friday, Oct. 30th was our Ward Halloween Party. My plans for the day included making Chili for the party, working on homework, signing up for WIC, and getting Richie dressed in his costume. Well, sometimes things don't go according to plan. I get a wake-up call a little before 5:00a.m. from my husband who has a flat tire. At 5:15a.m. my husband calls back to tell me the spare has a flat as well. So, I get dressed wake up Richie (who doesn't want to get dressed) and pile in the car. I'm thinking we can just put the spare from my car (Chevy Cavalier) on the Ford Escort. I drive almost an hour to where Bobby is and he pulls out all the stuff from our trunk (lots of misc. stuff) to pull out the spare, which of course has different lugnuts than the rim on the Ford Escort. We put all the stuff in the Ford's trunk and put the two flat tires in our car. Wondering what tire place will be open at 7:00a.m. -- Yeah for Walmart!!! Bobby heads to work around 8:00a.m. in our car and I head back into town to replace two more tires that the threads are showing. Richie and I don't get home until 10:00a.m. where I get ready for my WIC appointment at 11:00a.m. and get the Chilli started. We end up waiting at WIC for 30-40min. before getting in. Needless to say by the time we got home I only had enough time to take a shower and get Richie's costume ready.


Richie as Spiderman at Ward Halloween Party



Richie Trunk-or-Treating

At the Ward Party we had Chilli for dinner and did Trunk-or-Treating. Richie even would say "Trick-or-Treat" very quietly as we went around to the trunks. He really enjoyed getting candy in his "Pumpkin".

On Halloween, we didn't have anything planned and I didn't want to go around our neighborhood at night. I found a mall in Phoenix that did trick-or-treating at the mall from noon to 3:00p.m. Bobby ended up with the day off, so we spent family time driving to this mall. Richie had a lot of fun wearing his Spiderman costume (minus the face paint) all day Saturday. He really got into the getting candy part of the holiday. When we decided to leave he was upset because they had a trampoline that you could pay to let your kid jump on (which we didn't do). We ended up being gone all afternoon and so rented a couple movies and had pizza to finish off our Halloween. It was a really fun day, but we didn't get any work done.


Richie eating at TGI Fridays for lunch

Richie smiling with his balloon while "Trick-or-Treating" at the mall