Saturday, October 29, 2011

Bitsy Bag Product Review


Everly is now the proud owner of her very own Bitsy Bag! I have been a fan of Bitsy on facebook for a while now and one day they were giving a way a bag and I happened to be the winner. It is an awesome product and I was so excited when I finally got it in the mail. The reason I love the bitsy bag so much is because our little girl is pretty active. She kicks and moves around a lot in bed. We will put her in the bassinet facing one direction and when we wake up she has moved 90 degrees in another direction. I know that it is great that she is so active, but it means we can't keep a blanket on her! She also squirms her way out of a swaddle too. The only thing that seems to work is the bitsy bag! It is also great because she can still move her arms freely, which she loves. It is easy to get her into, and super soft on the inside.  If you are looking for an alternative to a swaddle or blanket I highly recommend the bitsy bag. You can shop online for your own bitsy bag here!

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Friday, October 28, 2011

Kitty Love Friday

Why do cats love boxes so much? Justin found this picture on pinterest and I thought it was a good inspiration for Kitty Love Friday this week. 

funny pictures of cats with captions

As soon as Justin emptied the diaper box, Oscar just had to get in. Note to self, save all boxes so that I never have to buy Oscar a toy again!





Thursday, October 27, 2011

Desert Botanical Gardens




Last week my sister invited me to go with her to the Desert Botanical Gardens for a special free day. She was invited to go through the Sharing Down Syndrome organization and I was her guest. They were having a pumpkin patch and we also got free access into the butterfly exhibit. It was really fun despite the fact that our kids are not really old enough to enjoy it all, although Cameron really loved his pumpkin. We went on a hay ride to pick out our pumpkins where they had a maze and a small petting zoo as well. The butterfly exhibit was really cool as well and I can't wait until the are old enough to really enjoy it. If you have never been to the Desert Botanical Gardens before, I definitely recommend it! Here are a few pics from the day...














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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

3 Weeks Old!


Everly is 3 weeks old today! She is doing a lot better with feeding, but we are still working on her consistency. We are also still trying to figure out her sleep schedule. She sleeps a lot, but she likes to be awake from like 10 p.m. until midnight when we are exhausted! This past weekend Everly was baptized in the Catholic Church along with her cousin Cameron. She was a pro and did not cry at all when they put the water on her head (which was quite warm, by the way). We have had family in town from both sides and so we have been busy with them lately. She is changing so much every day and although we are excited to see her grow, we are trying to enjoy her while she is tiny too because we know it won't last long! 

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Two Weeks Old!


Everly turned two weeks old today! In the past week she has become a lot less fussy. She is also staying awake for longer periods during the day. She smiles a lot and we have been lucky enough to get some pictures of her smiling. She also does this really funny face where she scrunches her eyebrows and looks like she is disgusted by something. We think it is really funny because I make that face all the time. She had her 2-week checkup today and she is in the 25th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Her next appointment won't be until she is 2 months old! Sometimes it is tough during the day when I am by myself with the hound dogs and Everly, but each day is getting better. We are really enjoying our tiny little princess!



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Monday, October 17, 2011

Instagram Photos!

So if you follow either me (klarkins) or my husband (justinlarkins) on Instagram you would know that we love it! We use it all of the time and so I thought it would be appropriate to start sharing some on the blog. So, every once in a while when I get enough, I will be doing a post of just instagram photos that we have recently taken. Here goes!











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Friday, October 14, 2011

Kitty Love Friday

Oscar has really been enjoying the fact that both Justin and I have been home most of the day. Normally he sleeps in the guest room all day long but he has been hanging out a lot in our room lately. Here is him the other morning trying to share the pillow with Everly. He seems to be doing pretty good with our new addition. He tried to jump in the bassinet once and we had to kick him out of the bedroom for the night but he hasn't tried again since then. It will be interesting once she starts grabbing at him!


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Thursday, October 13, 2011

1 Week Old!


Everly in the hospital the day she was born!

Everly at 1 week old!

Yesterday Everly turned 1 week old! For the first 4 weeks I am going to try and do weekly updates on her and then once a month after that. We will see how that goes. It has been a very busy 1st week for Everly. She has already been to the doctors, church, target, a soccer game, and the Race for the Cure. She has visited her Daddy at work and has even already experienced a Larkins Family roast dinner! She was pretty fussy the first two days but now she is much more calm. She sleeps a lot and we are working on getting that to be more at night and less during the day....easier said than done. Yesterday we had my friend Jamie from Making Memories LLC Photography take some newborn shots of Everly and I can't wait to see how they turned out. We are so happy she is here! 

2011 Race for the Cure

               
Last Sunday Justin ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k supporting breast cancer research and awareness. We have been participating in this event for several years now. It is a great organization and especially important to us as Justin's mother, Sandra, passed away from breast cancer. My sister Kim and her husband Doug ran as well, while my mother and I walked around with Everly and her cousin Cameron. We were so happy to be there to support them. I can't wait until I am able to run it next year. Here are a few shots from that morning...


      


          Justin running for his mother.                                                                                                   Our little family        


                                        

Super cute Cam in a pink shirt he borrowed from Everly.
Everly at 4 days old! 
                                    

The three runners after their race!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Everly's Birth Story

I love reading birth stories, so hopefully you enjoy reading mine...


During my last couple of OB appointments my blood pressure was acting a little funny. It would be high when I was on my back and fine when I was on my side. They were having me come in twice a week to keep an eye on it. In addition, I was tired of being pregnant and uncomfortable. I wanted to meet our little girl badly but my body was not making any signs of going into labor soon. My doctor suggested I participate in a trial study that was administered through their office for a drug that helps soften the cervix and get you ready for labor if you are 39 weeks pregnant and not progressing. I looked over the information about the study and we decided to go ahead with it. In this study, the drug was actually already FDA approved, however, it was just not approved for labor induction, and so it made me worry a lot less. So, we scheduled my induction for Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m.



When Tuesday morning arrived, we woke up around 5:00 a.m. and got ready at home. We were already packed, just had to shower and get dressed. We took the dogs for a quick walk and my sister stopped by with my nephew to wish me luck before we headed to the hospital.

Saying good morning to my nephew Cameron


We kenneled the dogs and said goodbye to them before heading to the hospital which is less than 15 minutes from our house. On our way we stopped at our favorite coffee shop, Dutch Brothers, for some Pumpkin Lattes (decaf for me of course!).






           Roi on the left, Minnie on the right                                                                               Yay for Dutch Brothers!



We got to the hospital right on time at 7:00 a.m. and right away I got hooked up to monitors and had to get in bed. I filled out some paperwork and then they checked me to make sure I still qualified for the study. If I had progressed too much, I would not have. Once they determined that I qualified my doctor came by to insert the drug. The drug is inserted like a tampon, that way if there are any adverse reactions, or once active labor starts, they can remove it. The drug was inserted at about 7:45 a.m. and from then on they would check my cervix and progress every 6 hours. I was not allowed to get out of bed, other than to use the restroom. When I checked in I had a really great nurse named Jenny that was on shift. She communicated very well with me and was very helpful. At this point in the morning we were just hanging out and waiting. We watched TV and I wrote in my journal. It was pretty boring, and it wasn't fun to not be able to get up and walk around, but I was glad that we were getting close to meeting Everly. 

I'm ready!

The nurse came in to check me again at 1:45 in the afternoon. We were happy to find out that my cervix was softened and that I was 3cm dilated. It looked like the drug was working and we might have her by the end of the day. I was having contractions but nothing too bad. I was getting a little irritated and uncomfortable about being stuck in bed, but I was trying to remind myself that it wouldn't be that much longer. I watched Bridesmaids on my ipad and then later that night my mom and sisters stopped by to visit me. I also got a little more Cameron time in!

I had no idea how big he would seem once Everly came!

Later that night I tried sleeping but I started getting exhausted from being in bed for a day. I hadn't made any more progressin in dilation. I could not get comfortable so I asked for the nurse. She gave me some paid meds that she said would probably make me fall asleep. I was looking forward to that, however, that didn't happen. Instead, immediately after she started the drip, my pain increased. I made Justin call her back in. She checked me and my water broke. At this point I was dilated 5 cm! I was ready for my epidural. It felt like it took forever for the anesthesiologist to get there. It was almost 2:00 a.m. by the time I got the epidural, but once I did everything was smooth sailing. I was finally able to sleep. 



                     The peanut                                                                                                                        Relaxing
 

I woke up around 7:30 A.M. I was about 7cm dilated now and they decided they would check me again around 9:30 a.m. so I relaxed and watched some morning news. I could feel pressure but no pain from the contractions. At 9:30 a.m. things looked good and we started pushing at 10:00 a.m.  Justin had some music playing on the ipad while I was pushing which was really nice. The nurse from the previous morning was back and assisting me in the delivery process. She really did more work than the doctor! She was very positive and encouraging. at 11:15 the baby was almost here so she called in the doctor and I had to stop pushing. Once the doctor came I pushed twice and she was here at 11:29 a.m. on October 5, 2011. I was shaking but so relieved when they put her on my chest for the first time. 

<3

She was screaming but it was funny to me how girly it sounded already. Justin cut the cord and then they cleaned her up and cleaned me up. She weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 21.25 inches long. 






After they were done he got to hold her for the first time. He is one proud daddy!




At this point my mom, sister Katy, and brother Kory came in from the waiting room to meet our little girl for the first time. There are no photos of my brother because I found out after the fact that he left my dogs out of their kennels (which they are not mature enough for yet) and so he had to go back to my house pretty quickly!

My mom and her first granddaughter

My little sister Katy - an aunt to two at age 16!

Justin went with Everly to the nursery for her first bath while they moved me to another room for the rest of my stay in the hospital.
















Once we were in the new room we got lots of visitors. My brother-in-law was awesome and took some great pictures!



        With her Aunt Mandy                                                                                                                     With her cousin Hailey







With her Godmother/Aunt Carly                                                                                                     With her grandfather/my Dad


 With her Aunt Kim

Grandpa holding his two grandchildren

We are so thankful for everyone who came to visit us in the hospital. My brother also helped by dog and cat sitting for us while we were in the hospital. The next day we had an exit class for new parents in the hospital and then a few screenings for Everly before we left. We were very glad to be able to go home 24 hours after she was born. We missed our hounds and our bed! Before we left, the hospital photographer took some pictures of Everly. They cost too much money to buy but here are a couple I snagged...





We got the clearance from the nurses to checkout of the hospital and so we packed up our little girl and headed home!


In her Little Angel going home outfit!



Headed out of the hospital in her car seat.                                                                  
                                


    
Meeting Oscar and the hounds for the first time                                                                      


We are so excited she is finally here and so happy she is healthy and everything went so well! 






Weekend in Review

Summer is basically here and we are already in full on pool season. On Friday I had the day off so I spent some time with Aspen and took he...