MERRY CHRISTMAS

Making Christmas sugar cookies with Gram

Annual family PJ picture!

Evelyn's first smile!

Mommy and baby!

Merry Christmas to all......

This has been a very wonderful Christmas since it has been filled with children's laughter! All three Kensing girls with all the Kensing grandkids have gathered at my parent's house for a big family Christmas! This includes a 12 year old boy and 5 girls ranging from 5 weeks to 10 years old! We were missing two husbands, Chris and Shaun are both deployed overseas.

Evelyn and I also spent some time with Shaun's family! There were lots of relatives down from South Dakota and very happy to meet the new addition.

4 weeks

Look! I am 4 weeks old!

Bright-eyed!

Chandler watching over Evelyn

I dunno

My new pacifier that I actually take!! Wohoo!!!

Cute Christmas baby!

We made it through the weekend without any major events happening! :) We actually went to our first post-baby party! A friend of mine hosted a Christmas party on Saturday night and Evelyn and I decided to attend for as long as she would cooperate. She actually surprised me by staying awake, alert and happy the whole time we were there!! Once we got home, it took her a little while to get settled--too much excitement at the party--but then she slept for 5 hours!! I need to repeat that: Evelyn slept for 5 hours!! Wohoo!! I don't expect that to happen every night, but it's nice to know there's a possibility it could happen again in the future!

Today we went on a shopping adventure! I needed to get a pair of pants that fit without having an elastic waist band! Once again, Evelyn was very cooperative until she got hungry. I have discovered the back seat of our Explorer is very comfy and a great place for nursing! :) However, I have learned to always have a spare set of baby clothes on hand at all times! Evelyn poopy diaper decided to leak and so I needed to take her outfit off. But, I didn't pack anything for her to wear! Luckily, our shopping spree included a little outfit from Old Navy, so it got put ti use right away!! :)

My new Old Navy outfit

That's really all to report from our exciting lives. We have a countdown going for Shaun's return: 25 days!! The time really has gone by quickly and the holidays approaching make it seem to be going by even faster! We can't wait for our little family reunion!

Absent-minded Mommy

Trying out our cool baby sling!! It's very comfy and holds her close! Now we might be able to take the dogs for their walks! :)

Well, I am proving to be a very absent-minded mommy when left all by myself!! On my first afternoon (not even a whole day alone) I managed to stub my pinky toe on a base board and break it! (my toe, not the base board) In my defense, I was just wanting to get to my crying baby as quickly as possible!

Then, while preparing to give Evelyn a bath this morning, I put the tub on the counter and started filling it with warm water. It wasn't until I had her undressed that I realized the stopper in the tub had been open the entire time!! I look at the other side of the counter and see water had gone EVERYWHERE!! Since I was holding a naked, unhappy baby I just put the stopper in and finished her bath. After she was clean, dry and dressed my kitchen floor got a good mopping! :) So clean baby and a clean floor!! Wohoo!!

My little sleeping beauty!!

We're so lucky to be surrounded by lots of little babies! Evelyn is going to have plenty of friends to play with as she grows up! Our neighbor, Whitney, just had a little girl 4 days after Evelyn. And of course, Sydnee can't wait for Evelyn to get a little bigger so they can play all day! :)

Since we had our little umbilical incident, we can officially have a bath instead of just using the washcloth!! She still didn't like the bath part too much, but having her hair washed is one of her favorites!

Updates and Decorations!

Well, on Monday our little Evelyn turned 2 weeks old! Seriously, I wish I could make time stop. She is just so sweet and little I want to keep her this way!

On Tuesday her umbilical cord decided it was time to let go. Since I hadn't taken a good belly picture, I wanted to hold on to the cord long enough to take a picture of it next to where it had been. I placed the "stump" on the bed and then carried on with changing Evelyn's diaper. When I turned around, the cord had mysteriously disappeared. However, Chandler was on the bed. It only took a second to realize that Chandler had consumed the cord and now he and Evelyn will forever share a rare bond. It made me want to laugh, cry and gag all at the same time. My mind immediately thought of my niece Emma who would go around telling people that their dog, Gabby, "ate my poop." Now Evelyn can share her gross story with strangers--when she starts talking! :)

Today was our 2 week well-baby check up and she passed with flying colors! She had not quite made it all the way back to her birth weight (just 2 ounces shy), but she has gained 12 ounces in 12 days--so the pediatrician says she's right on track! We don't have to return to the doctor again until her 2 month check up!

As for the rest of our time, mom and I have been busy getting the house Christmas-y! We even made a trip to Garden Ridge to get some wreaths for our outside shutters!! I plan on leaving everything up until Shaun returns so he can experience the Christmas spirit--and so he can help clean it up! :)Her very own ornament from Aunt Kiss

Some random pics!

Talking to Daddy on the webcam!

My little Aggie girl--too bad it didn't help the score!

Thanksgiving at my house!

Aunt Dot holding her newest niece

Fresh and clean from a morning bath! :)

1 week already?!

I can't believe it! My baby girl has already graced us with her presence for a week!! What do I know about her so far? She loves to eat!! She loves putting her hands up by her face. She likes to get a little fussy before doing a poo! She can sometimes smile a little in her sleep and it makes me fall in love with her a little more (which I didn't think was possible)! :)

Over the weekend Shaun's Nanny and Pops came down to meet the newest great-grandchild! They were amazed by her full head of hair and small size! She of course lovingly slept in Nanny's arms for a while! :)

Today Shaun's Dad (aka Humpa) came up to visit the wee one as well! It was love at first sight! He immediately said that he would be tagging along on Evelyn's first date to scare the poor boy!

Tomorrow I am being left by Yaya (Shaun's mom) since she must return back to her normal life. She has made my transition from the hospital to home with a new baby seem so natural. Her support is GREATLY appreciated, especially getting past the bili-lights and helping me with some of the latenight wake-ups!

Evelyn Update

Yaya giving Evelyn her sponge bath

Evelyn in her disco bed! I like how you can see her little toes pressing against the cover! :)

Hi everyone! Well, since our baby was so active and hungry we needed to give her a little formula to feed her until mother nature could bring me my supply (which fortunately arrived today). She is also getting some UV therapy in her special "disco bed" to help with her jaundice. After only 14 hours of treatment her levels were almost where we needed them to be, so we're hoping tomorrow everything will be back to normal and we can say good-bye to the disco bed!

She also had the pleasure of receiving her first sponge bath from her Yaya! She didn't like it too much, but it went very quickly and then she was all wrapped up and warm again! :)

I will keep y'all updated on any changes!!

EVELYN IS HERE!!!

One little baby and one big fur baby

So happy to be home!

A cute face during her hearing screening

Mommy and baby

Sweet little girl

Our beautiful baby girl has arrived!! She was delivered on Monday November 17th and 5:32pm. She weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 and 1/2 inches long! I am happy to have her home now and she's doing very well! She loves to eat and be cuddled, which I am happy to oblige! :)

Chandler and Monica are having to adjust to their new house guest. They have been a little sad that they cannot jump all over me or her, but Yaya (aka Shelley) has made their transition easier by giving them plenty of attention.

Proud papa has seen lots of pictures and was able to see her on the webcam just a couple hours after she was born! As if he didn't want to come home already, this has made him long for his homecoming even more! I can't wait to see his face when he comes home and gets to hold her.

Countdown continues......

Monica ready to pounce on her toy

Chandler being a mama's boy

LAST DAY OF WORK!! Also, 39 weeks!

Well, the countdown continues! And it seems as if the countdown is going to go past the due date. Our little girl is already proving to be strong-willed and determined to stary in her cozy cocoon until she's good and ready! The good news is that I'm now officially on maternity leave!! Wohoo!! I have received the advice to rest up while I can, but I also want to take advantage of this free time to get things done! So, I will work on my projects with plenty of rest in between! :) What I think is funny is when I see pictures of myself I can't believe how big I look! I swear I don't look like that when I look in the mirror! Must be some sort of optical illusion on the camera because there's NO WAY that I actually am that big! Anyway, I promise to keep everyone updated if there are any changes!!

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Ugh!! 38 weeks and starting to get to the uncomfortable point! The good news is she's pointed south, but not quite ready to make her appearance yet. I keep trying to tell her that I AM ready, but I guess we have to wait on her!!

This afternoon was a little crazy. They were forecasting some yukky weather as this cool front came through, but I usually never believe them. But, just in case I took the puppies for a nice long walk in the park early in the day. Sure enough, around 5pm today it really started raining and then HAILING! Yuk! Thank goodness for 2-car garages!

Oh! And it just started up again while I'm writing this! Good grief! Well, at least it's supposed to be sunny again tomorrow!!