Happy Birthday Landen

We arrived at the hospital this morning at 5, ready for them to just start the c-section and take Landen out. Instead, we got to prep and wait around until 8:02 a.m. when Landen Reese Kelly was officially delivered! He came out looking great, with an awesome set of lungs to boot. The official stats are: 8 lbs 8oz and he was 20 3/4" long. He looks incredibly small to me, but when I see the 4 lbs baby in the nursery, he's a giant! Sandra and he are doing very well, and Emerson and Braeden are so excited to finally see and hold him. We thought people might want to see some pictures. I'll post some videos of him on youtube in a while, but the site won't load right now. Enjoy!

One week away!

We're one week away today from having our newest member of our family arrive. Wahoo! Landen Reese is scheduled to be born Friday, February 20th at roughly 7 a.m. (we have to be at the hospital at 5 a.m. ugh!).

I'm in my living room right now listening to Jon snore and the kids are still quiet in their rooms and I'm realizing I have only 7 days left until this peace in my morning will be gone for a while. I am rejoicing having my new little one here. I know that he will change our lives, all four of us, in such a wonderful, unknowing way, but at the same time I'm grieving a little of the time when there was just four of us. Emerson is old enough, I think, to remember this time before Landen, but Braeden probably won't. And I'm hoping that the following week will be a sweet one with my family preparing together for our baby. I ask for your prayers that my already born babies will know and understand how much I love them and how they fit in to loving and caring for their new sibling.

It's ridiculous, but every once in a while, I think that there is no way that I have enough love in my heart for all of them. I love Emerson and Braeden so much that how can I possibly give more, however, I had these exact same feelings when Braeden was growing in my belly and obviously my love for him was instant and big and continues to grow every single day, so I know that this thought is silly. I worry, too, about them thinking the same thought as I am. I'm about to invest a lot of time nursing and diapering and caring for this new little one. I'm praying that God will show me the best way to include them in caring for him and showing them how important and loved they are still and how baby Landen needs his big brother and sister as much as he needs Mommy and Daddy.

So, I ask for your prayers this week as we look toward and get ready for Landen's big arrival. And I ask personally for prayers for safety and ease of getting through the surgery as, like last time, my anxiousness grows the closer we get to the big day (I absolutely HATE the thought of them giving me an injection in my spine. That is SO scary to me).

I'm so very excited to share our new baby with you all! Be assured that many pictures will be posted for you who are not near. And thank you, thank you for your love and encouragement and prayers! We are a very, very blessed family!

The results are in...

Discussions have been had, the polls have been tallied, and the final decision has been made (see Jon's blog for the polling outcome)! We ended up going against the majority for the spelling of the first name and went for second place for his middle name. So... the verdict is....

Landen Reese!!

The more I looked at Landen, the more I liked the "en" ending. And Jon surprised me with Reese. I suggested it several weeks ago and he nixed it, but when discussing it recently, Jon brought it up again and today, when making the final decision, I was leaning toward Daniel and Jon suggested Reese again! I've liked it from the beginning, so Reese it is. And I love that Braeden and Landen are spelled similarly.

Thanks to you who gave input and are excited to share our new baby boy with you! Only 2 weeks and 3 days to go! :)

His name shall be...

Baby #3 will be here in exactly 2 weeks and 6 days (not that I'm counting or anything) and we have yet to make a final decision about this little baby boy's name (does this make us bad parents?)! So, as we are narrowing down this HUGE decision of naming our boy, a name which will be his for the rest of his life, we are asking for friend and family input.

We have officially picked his first name, however, we are uncertain how to spell it. Both of our kids have names ending with "en" and "on" (Emerson and Braeden if you don't already know) and were thinking that we'd continue with the "en" ending being the second boy, but have received feedback saying that the "en" ending could be weird. Anyway, this beautiful name we have chosen is Landon/Landen. While we have a first name for sure, with spelling nailed down or not, we do not have a middle name. Now, I'm not going to list the names we've been narrowing down here (with one exception. Keep reading.), but instead am going to direct you to my husband's blog where he has conveniently placed a poll.

I did just say that I would not list the middle names, but this is the exception. I have one request. If you do decide to take part in the polling, do not - I repeat, DO NOT vote for Oliver. It will absolutely not be our son's middle name.

Thanks for your thoughts and input and suggestions! You could forever have an impact on our little one's life, so think and choose carefully. :)

Disclaimer: Jon and I reserve the right to choose, regardless of polling outcome, the final and official name of our baby (for those of you who are now going to vote 50 times for Oliver).

Merry Christmas from the Kelly kids!

 

 

 

 

A typical "down" day...

Today was a "down" day for us. Here is just a small sample of the things that transpire in a typical day at home. And don't let Emerson's costume changes fool you. It's normal for her to wear several dress up outfits a day!






And finally, this last video may not be typical, but it was sure funny!

It's been like 6 weeks!

Well, I've been harassed about how OLD my blog has become with no new information. So, being as many good and exciting things have occurred since Jon's horrible day (see last blog), I suppose it's time to update you. Or since most all my readers (all 3 or 4 of you) already know whats been going on, it'll be a good place for me to come remember what a great month it's been.

SO, we did, in fact, get our house! And God was looking out for us because after all the hooplaa with our sellers, we actually ended up with a better deal than we even imagined. Wahoo! Our first home! And to boot, we live next to our good friends Matt and Shelly! It is truly a different feeling when you own your own home. It's ours! And we've done things to make it so. We've painted, hung up pictures, and added our own little touches to make it the comfortable home I've come to enjoy. As soon as get around to pulling the pictures from our new camera (woo hoo, we finally got one of those, too!), I'll post them for all to see.

Also, since the last I wrote, on August 25th Braeden celebrated his birthday. Our big boy turned 2!! With two parties (one with my family and one with Jon's), he made out pretty well and enjoyed both his cakes. He got lots of car things which, by the way, is his favorite subject to talk about - just ask him about cars and he'll begin a long, long, mostly understandable talk to you (you don't get to talk, sorry) about Daddy's car, Mommy's car, Grandpa's truck, Grandpa's motorcycle and the garage door. Anyway, all that to say, it was a good week for Braeden, which made it a good week for me! :)

I enjoyed my 27th birthday the day after Braeden's. Mine was much less interesting, however. Although Jon did get me a new Bible - one I've wanted for a while and he even had my name engraved in it, so that was very cool. Oh, and I did get some much needed maternity clothes and beautiful jewelry from my friends and family (thanks, guys!).

We celebrate Big Girl Emerson's 4th Birthday tomorrow!! I just can't believe she's 4 already. She's just so tall now and what a sweet girl she is. She just had her tinkerbell party with her friends on Saturday and had a grand time. Tomorrow she'll open her present from Jon and I consisting of a princess chest filled to the brim with dress up clothes, jewelry, and tiaras. I can't wait to see her face when she opens it! Since we've moved away from the Archers, she just hasn't been able to dress up, which she LOVES to do, since Aliyah always had all the cool dress up stuff. So now she has her own.

And last, we had our ultrasound today. The baby is healthy and strong and growing just as HE should. YES! It's a boy!! I think our wee one (Jordie, as my sweet Grandma has fondly nicknamed him!) wanted desperately for us to know that he was a boy. It was absolutely impossible to miss! It was a good thing we wanted to know! We came home with some beautiful ultrasound pictures and a DVD of our sweet one. Emerson came to the appointment and found out the same time we did as well. I'm sure I'll be carrying the pictures around for a while, so if you'd like to see them, I'd be thrilled to show you! And, if you have any name suggestions for us, please send them along!

I think that's the short of it! Thanks for coming along this fun ride with us and for all of you who have been supportive and celebratory with us and our family! It's good to have you along!

Would you believe...

Would you believe that in one 3-day period one could find out that the house they're buying could quite possibly fall through, their laptop computer would be dropped on the floor and the screen destroyed, and their husband was temporarily paralyzed and an ambulance had to be called to take him to the ER where they were afraid it could have been a stroke? Well, it happened to our family!! This weekend was possibly one of the worst weekends ever, mostly because we were so afraid for my husband's sweet life.

First, about Jon, so that you have all the information and updates. About 1 1/2 months ago, Jon hurt his back while at work. After visiting the chiropractor for several weeks it wasn't getting better so last week the chiropractor ordered an MRI. The MRI revealed he had a herniated disc in his very low back (his L5S1, for you back bone savvy readers). A few days later (which was this past Friday) we went to a spinal specialist. He confirmed the herniated disc and gave us a few options, the most promising of which was injections of a steroid in the space around the disc to reduce inflammation and swelling to allow his back to better heal. Sounded good to us (not pleasant, but the best option!), so at 4 pm on Friday Jon had these injections done. He did great, his back was sore (which wasn't too unusual as it'd been sore over the last several weeks), we went home and relaxed and retired to bed (after watching a few hours of the Olympics, of course!).

Saturday, Jon woke up before I, and being the ambitious one, got ready and spent the next two hours shopping. When he came home, he felt he deserved a good game of rock band (which he really does rock at, by the way) and proceeded to play the drums for the next half hour. I was sitting and watching when Jon, very suddenly, turned to me and with great effort explained that something was not right. I wasn't sure if he was referring to the game or his back or what, but just after he said that the sticks he was playing with dropped to the floor and Jon slumped over. Jon was able to stand up long enough to take two steps toward the couch where he collapsed and from there, could not move. He seemed almost slightly disoriented and complained that his body felt too heavy to move. I immediately called an ambulance. Once they got him into the ambulance, he began to shake (almost spasm) uncontrollably. He had no control over his arms or legs. At the hospital the doctor concluded that Jon needed an MRI right away and we needed to see a neuro-surgeon. He was transported to the Cheyenne hospital where they took an MRI of his neck down and then a CAT scan of his head. By the time he was done with these tests that evening, his body had begun to settle down and much of the shaking was subsiding and he was gaining more control of his limbs.

There, after the doctor concluded that Jon was truly the weirdest case he'd ever seen, he relayed that other than finding an additional herniated disc, everything else looked normal, which was good news, but still cause of concern because we didn't know why he had such an episode. He was admitted overnight and after watching overnight and after Jon had regained control over his now weak muscles, they declared him fit to go home. They concluded that it had to be some sort of reaction to the steroid. Jon is now home, and while he is feeling much better, his body still seems to be very weak and if he's not careful about how long he stands, he gets very shaky all over.

Needless to say, it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life (and Jon's, for sure) and praise God he seems to be ok. The kids were with my parents at the time Jon collapsed so they kept the kids, which was also a huge relief because I knew they were safe and ok while we took care of Jon. And we knew we had several, several people praying for Jon's safety and health which is why, I'm convinced, Jon's body recovered so quickly (in less than 24 hours). So thank you, if you were one who prayed.

And as far as the other stuff. The house appraised for less than it was worth if you know lenders, they won't lend you more money than the house is appraised for. The seller wasn't excited about that (obviously) and didn't think he wanted to sell it for that much less, but he's supposed to let us know today. The chances are very much against us, but we keep praying that out of pure kindness he sells it to us for the appraised price.

And the laptop... remember how I only a month or so ago spilled water on it and it miraculously came back to life? I think the computer is now officially dead, again thanks to me. As soon as we got home from our ordeal yesterday I sat down on the ottomon next to the computer and somehow knocked it onto the floor and completely destroyed the monitor. Jon, once again, was very merciful, even though he knew no surgery could fix the injury the computer sustained this time. So, now we're looking into a new laptop.

All in all, it was a great weekend. And by great I mean anxious, scary, emotional, tiring and possibly the worst ever!

Braeden Continued

I read back over my blog and realized while I got some of the cute things Braeden does, I didn't expand much into what's made me love him so deeply. Let me make clear that there is nothing that Braeden could or couldn't do that would make me love him more or less. God has placed in me, very graciously, the knowledge and understanding that I love this boy unconditionaly, but these are some of the things that God has been doing in Braeden that just get me right down deep in my heart about this boy.
First, he has such sweet blue eyes. It's those blue eyes that seriously can change my mood in a matter of seconds. And he's very good at using them already. He just tucks his head down and looks up a little and then that's it! If I was mad, I can no longer be. If I had things in my mind I had do to, I stopped. If I were sad, they immediately lift me up. It's true.
I love that when he gets hurt, he only wants me. I love his sweet hugs and sometimes slobbery kisses. I love listening to him play by himself in his room. Every once in a while, I'll hear him laughing when he's all by himself and just knowing how happy he is makes my heart fill. I love how he talks about church and Jesus already to Jon and I. He calls my Bible, Mommy's Jesus, which to me, is incredible because we have never taught him that. When we read the Bible, it's his and Emerson's kids' Bible, so I didn't even know he knew what that book was, but he's connected the dots somehow.
He can sing from memory several praise songs. Granted, they're not always understandable, but if you listen closely, he knows them. He'll sit at the piano sometimes and "play" and sing to all of us.
I think I already shared how he loves to console anyone who is crying. I love the tenderness he's showing now when he's so little. Yet he's no wussie (is that a bad word?). He's tough. Matter of fact there have been a few times when he's taken a digger and whatever he's done has made me just cringe to think of the pain and just wait for the tears to come and instead he just stands up and keeps on playing.
He loves to read books, as do I. So many times he'll keep bringing me book after book to read until I have to stop so I can get some other things done. He's also great at "reading" them himself.
He's clever. If he's stuck with something - can't reach something, can't get something to work, or whatever, his mind gets to working and he does his best to find a solution. I love to watch him think.

If you haven't gathered already, I love my babies. I'm so thankful that God has placed in me this strong desire to love and care for my kids. They evoke such emotion and passion in me. And what a gift that they are my full time job, too! I really have it made. So, sorry about all this mushy, gushy stuff. After writing and re-reading my last blog, it just got me thinking about all the beautiful things in my kiddos. If you're just now reading, you should go back to Braeden's first blog as well as the Beautiful Frizzy Hair blog and Sweet, Sweet Girl blogs. You'll see why I'm so blessed.

Hopefully this will have gotten the cheesy mushy, gushy stuff out of my blogging system so that you'll want to come back and read more and know they won't all be like this! In the meantime, know that my kids are the best and they make my and Jon's world so much better!

Baby Braeden

So, I've decided to dedicate a blog to Braeden. It's been easy to mention more about Emerson because she is such a talker now (and Braeden is beginning to be) and being a 3 (almost 4) year old, she is discovering her true personality and with her vocabulary expanding every day the combination of those things creates great moments to remember and note.

But onto Braeden, my sweet baby Braeden, who really isn't a baby anymore. He turns 2 in a little over 2 weeks, which is truly hard to believe. Time has gone by faster this time around, probably because there are two, and maybe because Braeden is much more of my, should I say, active child! He was born in August of 2006 and from the beginning was a talker. The first weeks he was home we discovered that he is always making noise. We also learned he DID NOT like to sleep and was always moving. And now, almost two, he's evolved into a wonderful sleeper, still is always making noise, and moves and climbs and throws and runs more than even I'm able to do!

One of the things I love about him is that he is always singing and talking. At this point, I can understand 90% of the things he says, most of which usually makes me chuckle and many times makes me break into laughter. Some of my favorite Braeden sayings, in no particular order, are:

"Watch, otay?" -- He always prefaces this to ANYTHING he may be doing. He wants me to watch every activity, small and large, at all times.

"Bubbles, not today." -- And shakes his head vigorously as he says this. He has this unusual fear of bubbles in the bath tub. I honestly think it began when someone (Jon!) turned the jets on in our bathtub once to make the bubbles bigger and better, thus giving a scary association to bubbles! So, every single time I say it's time for bath, this comes out.

"Right there, see it?!" -- He loves airplanes, trains, tractors, trucks, lawn mowers, and motorcycles (such a boy, isn't he?) and every time he hears or sees one of these fascinating machines, he says, "Bopane, Mommy! Right there, see it?!" (Bopane is Braeden's word for airplane) Now the funny thing is, many times he cannot see the things that he's hearing, but no matter, he always follows with "right there, see it?!" pointing in a direction of one of our windows regardless if that's where the object is or not.

"Good morning, seester!" -- Every morning, this is the first thing Braeden says at the first sight of Emerson. It's one of my favorite things to hear.

"Luz you, Mommy" - Now, these words have to be some of the sweetest a mommy could ever hear, and it is.

"I run away." - The great thing about this is that he says this before he does this. This, then, gives me a chance to get him before he runs away. It's great!

A few more things to note about Braeden. He is ALL BOY. He's rough and tumble, has a classic little boy laugh, can run seriously fast, can throw EXTREMELY far (I have witnesses to this), and his favorite things are trains, tractors, and cars. He loves his car pajamas. Everytime we get out of the car, he tries to race to the drivers seat so he can "drive." He loves to throw balls through his basketball hoop. He is also a lover. Whenever sister is crying (unless he caused it), he gives her a hug and a kiss. He adores babies (and is most surprisingly good with them) and "holding" them. And best of all he loves to snuggle and cuddle, which I am very thankful for.

What a combination, huh? What a sweet, wonderful, strong little boy he is. And here you have just a little glimpse into what a beautiful little boy God has created and lovingly gave to Jon and I. Oh, how I love him!

Our little Teddy Bear

Today was our first baby appointment since discovering we have a little one in my belly! We went through the first appointment rigmarole with talking to the financial people, urine samples (I'll have to do this EVERY appointment - yuch!), blood samples, but finally the best part... the first ultrasound! Our little peanut (note: only one, for those of you who teased about twins!) is only 3 centimeters long at this point and on the ultrasound looked more like a teddy bear than anything, but it was an exciting and beautiful site for Jon and I. Our little one was so squirmy, too, let me tell you! Maybe that's why I feel so sick all the time - my tummy can't handle all that movement! :) Anyway, it was a fun day. And the official due date is March 3, 09, however I had Braeden by c-section, so that guarantees that this baby will be a c-section baby as well, which means that this one will be an end of February baby. So, make your plans now to celebrate the arrival of Kelly Baby #3 (a.k.a. our little teddy bear)!

Sweet, Sweet Girl and We took the plunge!

Tonight Jon, the kids, and I came home from buying a new fridge (more on the fridge in a little bit). We walked into our home that is covered in MESS. If you know me at all, you know how much I HATE clutter and mess. Well, Jon went to making dinner for us (hooray for the men who help their wives with tasks such as these) and as soon as the smell wafted under my nose, my sensitive and, recently, unfriendly sense of smell kicked into gear and immediately sent me into nauseousness. It wasn't that it wasn't a good dinner, it's just that darn symptom of pregnancy!
Anyway, just before dinner I had a moment of stress over our messy home and pure tiredness of feeling sick and I broke into tears. Emerson and Braeden were sitting at the dinner table waiting as I was trying to conceal my emotions (as to not worry Emerson especially), but observant girl that she is asked me if I was ok. I quickly reassured her that I was just not feeling well again, but that I was ok. Her response? She said, "Come here, Mommy" motioning with her finger for me to come to her. So I did and she took my hand and pulled me down to her level and gave me a big hug and said, "It's ok, Mommy. I'll take care of you. Eat your supper and go upstairs and take a nap, ok?" Oh! What a sweet, sweet little girl she is. This, in turn, made me cry more. THEN, before we eat, we usually pray and Emerson decided she wanted to help Braeden pray by telling him what to say. The first things she had him pray for were that he would feel better (he hasn't felt well today either. I think he's coming down with a cold) and that Jesus would be with Granny and take care of her "owies" on her arm. Once again, the tears were flowing! I just couldn't get over the very obvious gifts of love and compassion this girl has. And it is most certainly not Jon and I who have given it to her, it is our beautiful and loving Father that is showing Himself through this precious three year old. I just couldn't believe the ammount of love this girl wanted to show me and also Braeden and Granny by praying for them. Oh, I love that girl. Even if she weren't so wonderful sometimes, I'd still love her so much, but this certainly makes it easy.
Oh, and I just now (as I was typing this) went down stairs to help Braeden, who was crying in his crib, and again Emerson called me over and asked me if my tummy still hurt. I told her, "I'm feeling much better, thank you!" and she said, "I'm so glad, Mommy, that I could help you feel better. I love you so much!" and gave me a hug. You may think I'm making up these words or exaggerating, but I am not. These are word for words from her mouth. Ah! What a gift she is!

Now, about the fridge. Did you notice, included in the title, that we took the plunge? This big plunge we took was the life changing decision to buy our first home (if you didn't guess from the hint of buying the fridge)!!! Long story short, we decided that we needed to stay in Laramie. That God still had plans for Jon to work with the hurting youth of Laramie and for us to remain and enjoy and grow in our already wonderful community and friendships here. Knowing that our family is about to expand, we knew we needed to find a place with more space for our babies. We began looking at our options and, not kidding, buying this house is cheaper than renting a decent three bedroom house or apartment anywhere in Laramie. We were able to get a great deal on our loan and found a brand new (not yet finished being built even) 3 bedroom home. It's such a big decision, but I feel excited and very at peace with it. I know that we'll be in Laramie for a few more years at least, which I'm excited about and looking forward to. It's also a little scary financially, but I know that God will provide! And now we'll have our first home to make our own! So, what an exciting summer, huh? First our pregnancy news and now our new home. God is good, isn't He? :)