Posted
12/23/2009:
Merry Christmas and happy new year! Here is the Year-In-Review that was
supposed to go into our Christmas cards. With two kids and enough design
business to keep me beyond busy, the cards didn't go out until the 22nd
and they had to go out without a letter and not very many personal
greetings. But, if its the thought that counts, know that you have all
been in my thoughts.
Enjoy this list of highlights and the pictures in the photo gallery and
have a wonderful 2010!
January:
Morning sickness is
thick and the nausea won’t stop until August.
Jason turns 31. It is a good age for him.
February:
Nothing notable
ever happens in February.
March:
We were in
disbelief to see on the ultrasound a little girl. We also got out to a
Sharks game for a date night. Go Sharks! Daisy dog gets her first
ultrasonic dental cleaning.
April:
The worst flu ever!
A week before the swine flu hit the news, our family was hit by the
worst virus that has ever entered this home. Fevers of 104+. We send
all the food we had ready for Easter to my brother’s house and he
hosted a last minute Easter feast.
May:
I still have
bronchitis (leftover from that flu I was talking about). I celebrate
my 32nd year. Nathan turns 4 and has a Star Wars Lego party. Nathan
has taken to kissing the baby belly goodnight each night. He is very
sweet.
June:
I’m concerned that
I haven’t gained much weight during my pregnancy, but my doctor
lovingly assures me that I had enough to start with. Jason and I
celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary.
July:
I am convinced all
month long that this baby is coming well before her August 8 due date.
That or my pelvic bone is just going to crack in two under the
pressure (can you say waddle). I joke that I’m holding out for a baby
with a peridot birthstone because I like green. My mom comes to stay
with us just in case the “time comes” in the middle of the night.
August:
The time comes at
12:18 am and Katelyn Ann is delivered at 3:20 am. She was beautiful
and full of glorious cries. It was a great thing having my mom
sleeping at our house so we didn’t have to wake Nathan.
September:
Nathan starts
pre-school at Our Savior and loves it.
October:
The kids are Darth
Vader and Wonder Woman. We have a month full of Halloween festivities
and a beautiful night for trick-or-treating.
November:
Turkey at my cousin
Tammy’s home followed by more Turkey at Jason’s mom’s. How lucky we
are to have such good eats. The next day we celebrated Christmas at my
folks’ house. My dad had back surgery just two weeks before and was
unable to travel so our time together was even more meaningful.
December:
With two sick kids
in the car, Jason does the fastest Christmas tree shopping trip ever …
and you would never know it by looking at our beautiful, green,
sturdy, evenly spaced branches Christmas tree. He even spent one
freezing cold night hanging our outdoor lights after work. And, we
woke up to a dusting of snow in our town.
Those are the months laid out. In between, Jason squeezed
in a few golf games, and I squeezed in a few moms club outings,
playgroups, gymnastics classes for Nathan, and the such. Christmas cards
are finally out and our presents are just about wrapped. All in all, it
has been a wonderful year for our family and we are so grateful. We are
thankful for our health, and wonderful family and friends to share our
time with. Love to you all.
That is all from us for now. If you want to check in for
an update, email us anytime at
kimberlyandjason@yahoo.com.
Posted
10/20/2009: Katelyn
is 10 weeks old now. At her two month check-up, she already weighed 13.5
lbs. She is wearing 3-6 month and some
6-9 month clothes. We are so lucky
that she is a healthy girl. Her jaundice is gone and she is very smiley.
She looks a lot like Nathan did. And Nathan is really beginning to love
her. I guess he has gotten used to the routine now. He
keeps her company while I wash my hands after diaper changes. And when he
doesn't think anyone is listening, he sings to her. I love that. She smiles lots and talks and squeals, but we are
all still waiting for one of her giant smiles to explode into a giggle. So
sweet.
Nathan started school (pre-K) right after Labor Day and
loves it. He will be starting back to gymnastics this week too and is very
excited about it. This month he has really been into watching the new Super Hero Squad cartoon on
Saturday mornings (he has never had a favorite Saturday morning cartoon
before). And he also LOVES this song & video by Weird Al Yankovic called
"The Saga Begins" all about Star Wars and Anakin Skywalker turning into
Darth Vader (by the way, he is going to be Darth Vader for Halloween,
pictures will be posted soon). We sing this song at least 5 times
everyday. Enjoy!
Jason is working from home doing outside sales for
Execustaff. He only has to go into the office a few days per month and
attends 1 or 2 networking events in the evenings each month. It makes my
life so much easier and I know that with all my heart. I am so grateful
for each and every day that he is here with us. It beats the heck out of
his 3 hour commute each day to and from SF.
As for me, I am actively involved in the moms club here,
sitting as the newsletter chair on the board and keeping their website
updated. In addition to our moms club activities, I actually have a wait
list for graphic design work which is very cool. The hours I keep to keep
up with the work is exhausting but my little dream of being able to work
from home and care for my babes has built into reality. As the kids get
older and spend more time in school, I will have plenty to keep me busy.
I am such a lucky girl.
That is all from us for now. If you want to check in for
an update, email us anytime at
kimberlyandjason@yahoo.com.
Posted
08/31/2009:
Our little Miss Katelyn is just over 3 weeks old now. She was born 8/8/09
and weighed 8 lbs 7 oz, and was 21.5 inches. At her two week check-up she
weighed 9 lbs 12 oz.
And here is how she made her debut into this world ...
At 12:18 in the morning, my slumber was disrupted by a sudden flash flood
of my water breaking. Unlike contractions which could be either true or
false, the rupture of the bag of waters is a sure sign that baby is coming
and coming soon. Anyway, I tippy-toed as quickly as I could to the
bathroom to get dressed while Jason phoned the labor and delivery ward.
The hospital let him know that they were full and we would probably be in
triage for 2 to 3 hours, and suggested that we drive a little farther
(about 45 minutes away) to a hospital that currently only had 2 patients
in labor and delivery.
So, since I wasn't currently having any contractions, we woke my mom
(thankfully she was at our house waiting for the baby to make her arrival
and to be with Nathan when that time came), and we hopped in the car and
headed to the hospital.
The first contraction, a very mild cramp, came about the time we got on
the freeway. I told Jason and he looked at the clock. The next one came
about 7 minutes later. By the time we got to the hospital 40 minutes
later, the contractions were happening about every 3 minutes or so and
were pretty intense. I got my gown and a room and was being checked in
when the nurse had to leave to help with another delivery (at this point I
was dilated 8cm of 10). Thankfully, she left the door opened when she left
because it was only a few minutes until I was starting to feel the
pressure of a new little person wanting to be freed. My groans (or yells,
as Jason might describe them) were apparently heard by the staff and a
nurse came in, checked my cervix again to see that I was at a full 10.
She picked up the phone and said "I have a natural mom ready to go. Can
you send up a doctor?" The midwives on duty were helping deliver other
babies, so I got an ER doctor to help deliver mine.
Three
hours and two minutes after my water broke, Katelyn was here to hold. It
took all of about 3 pushes for Katelyn to make her arrival and her lungs
were quickly primed and ready to make her first wonderful cries.
It was a wonderful morning to see our new little girl.
Jason drove home a few hours later, took a quick nap, and then brought my
mom and Nathan out to the hospital to meet his new little sister. He
climbed up on the bed with me and looked at her in the bassinet. He
thought she was cute, but didn't want to touch her.
Three
weeks later, he thinks she is kind of cute but really noisy and needy of
mommy's time. And he still doesn't really want to touch her, unless it is
tickling her feet :) This photo was taken just yesterday and is only the
2nd time he has held her.
Our life is settling in. Nathan, Katelyn, and I are making our usual
rounds now to the park, grocery store and Target. She sleeps for 3 to 4
hour stretches at night, so that isn't so bad. And we are all thrilled to
have our little one here with us.
That is all from us for now. If you want to check in for
an update, email us anytime at
kimberlyandjason@yahoo.com.
Posted 03/17/2009:
Okay.
So, I am really behind in updating this website. If you are reading this,
it is because I have your email address. If you have a sibling that you
think might enjoy reading this also, feel free to pass it along. And tell
them to send us an email so they can be in our address book and I'll let
them
know when I update this website with new photos and stuff, too.
Mostly, here, it is the same old story. Jason spends three
hours per day commuting. He goes in extra early
when he can so he is able to get home for dinner and play time with
Nathan. I am still staying at home with Nathan and we go on playdates
twice per week. He also goes to preschool twice each week. He loves it. I
think I'm over the morning sickness. I still have moments of nausea and
food aversions but overall, I feel pretty well. And, on March 16, we found
out that the new baby will be a girl.
Last year at this time, we were just settling back into our
home schedule after returning from our two month stay in Boston. While in
Boston, I received a couple graphic design jobs as referrals from the
local winery I did work for. Last March, I had enough business
to force me down to the city offices to apply for a business license. As you can see from the
address, I am
Mann Graphic Design. Feel free to browse the website. Right now, I do
all my work while Nathan is sleeping at night. I am exhausted but I have
hopes that once Nathan starts school full-time, I will have a nice little
home business to add to our family income. Plus, I just really enjoy it.
Daisy dog has lost the weight that she gained last year at Grandma & Papa Brown's
while we were in Boston. She stays active chasing the squirrels out of our yard. When
she can, she digs up and eats the peanuts they and the blue jays have buried.
At her wellness check-up in January, the vet discovered she had a
heart murmur. She had a chest x-ray and ultrasound to check the severity and
decided that for now, she won't need medication or diet change. She also got
her teeth cleaned for the first time. She has such a pretty smile now. She is such a good old dog. We
would be lost without her comedy in this house.
Nathan is almost 4 years old. He says and sings
everything. He loves to rhyme words that he hears or
makes up. He counts to 30 and up and knows the alphabet and numbers. He
writes his name,
and can spell Mommy and Daddy, too. He
likes to take the letters from our Scrabble game and spell words on the
board. He is beginning to sound out words and shows interest in reading to
himself.
At his last pediatric appt., he was 39 inches tall and 39 pounds ... and
growing. He loves to run, dance, sing, pretend, and
play catch. He has a mean spiral on a football already. He plays with super
heroes, knights, Peter Pan and pirate toys, and blocks. We also recently
discovered that he can put together a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle by himself. He
amazes us.
Katelyn
is 10 weeks old now. At her two month check-up, she already weighed 13.5
lbs. She is wearing 3-6 month and some
Posted
08/31/2009:
Three
hours and two minutes after my water broke, Katelyn was here to hold. It
took all of about 3 pushes for Katelyn to make her arrival and her lungs
were quickly primed and ready to make her first wonderful cries. 
Three
weeks later, he thinks she is kind of cute but really noisy and needy of
mommy's time. And he still doesn't really want to touch her, unless it is
tickling her feet :) This photo was taken just yesterday and is only the
2nd time he has held her.
Mostly, here, it is the same old story. Jason spends three
hours per day commuting. He goes in extra early
when he can so he is able to get home for dinner and play time with
Nathan. I am still staying at home with Nathan and we go on playdates
twice per week. He also goes to preschool twice each week. He loves it. I
think I'm over the morning sickness. I still have moments of nausea and
food aversions but overall, I feel pretty well. And, on March 16, we found
out that the new baby will be a girl.
and can spell Mommy and Daddy, too. He
likes to take the letters from our Scrabble game and spell words on the
board. He is beginning to sound out words and shows interest in reading to
himself.
At his last pediatric appt., he was 39 inches tall and 39 pounds ... and
growing. He loves to run, dance, sing, pretend, and
play catch. He has a mean spiral on a football already. He plays with super
heroes, knights, Peter Pan and pirate toys, and blocks. We also recently
discovered that he can put together a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle by himself. He
amazes us.