Scott and Katie Kenney Family

Monday, October 4, 2010

We have a name!!!!!!!!!!

Enter the third Trimester!
It's crazy to think that I will soon have another boy to take care of and love! We are getting more and more excited as time goes and although we are nervous about what to expect we know we're in store for a lot of fun. This trimester we taught Beckton to find the baby in Mommy's tummy, push a baby around in a stroller and when we ask him what Kalvin says - Beckton says MOO!!! Clearly he thinks we are asking what a Cow says, but who cares it's the cutest thing ever.

The back story on the name Kalvin -Honestly we don't have the greatest story but we both really liked the name. We decided against the traditional spelling of Calvin mostly due to the fact that Calvin Kenney seemed too much like Calvin Klein and I liked the double K and Aly who really thought the K was a good idea was very persuasive!!

Week 27 - somehow this picture turned out well despite the fact that I have no makeup on and I'm wearing a beater and jean shorts! Cropping and editing photos works wonders!

28 weeks along at a friends baby shower!

30 weeks along and I got to get all dressed up for a friends wedding! The below pictures make me smile because we had such a fun night with our friends! Aly took the picture of me and all of my drinks, a coke, a water and my FAVORITE DRINK WHILE PREGNANT - VIRGIN PINA COLADAS.

There is something about this photo that I love. I think it's just the fact that we are outside and I am not completely huge yet! I was headed to one of MANY baby showers since there are so many of my friends and family that are pregnant. It will be so much fun to have babies together and enjoy maternity leave and play dates! I will get a taste of what being a stay at home mom is really like!

Katie at 34 weeks - this week I decided I wanted a day away at the Beach! Since we don't really have one close we went to the Beach Water park! We floated around the lazy river, laid in the sun and swam in the wave pool. Something about this pregnancy has made me just want to stay in water at all times! This summer I longed for the pool everyday and took many baths. Although we only went to the real Beach in Siesta Key once I could have lived in that Ocean! Maybe I should try a water birth! Haha.

35 weeks - headed to the Greek Festival for some great food!

Me at 36 weeks - in our backyard!

Can hardly believe I made it to 37 weeks! Below are some fun family pictures of Scott, Beckton and I awaiting the arrival of Kalvin. I love the below photos but somewhere between week 36 and 37 I really started swelling!

As the time approaches I have so many emotions. Beckton has no idea what's about to happen (and I'm guessing neither do we!) I am certainly in nesting mode and have been for weeks and weeks. It's like I keep preparing and running everything through again and again ... did I miss something? Do we have diapers? Who will take Beckton if something happens in the middle of the night? Are we ready? I KNOW we're ready, we have everything done and set-up, bags packed, pictures hung, work getting closer and closer to feeling like I can take my 3 month leave ... I am just in anticipation and I'm trying to have everything done so that I can rest and take care of my boys!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The second trimester

Another update showing some progress of Baby K!

The bare belly picture on the left is me at 13 weeks and the black and white is me at 14 weeks. The beginning of the second trimester is always filled with a little bit of excitement for me. For one, we started blabbing the news to everyone since we were feeling a little more assured that things were safe - passing the 12 week mark. The other reason is that I am always hopeful the sickness will pass in the second trimester! NO SUCH LUCK! This time around I am also getting some varicose veins and migraines! A little different than with Beckton that's for sure. I haven't yet found any stretch marks but I'm not ruling them out this time. This little one boy or girl is making me look less attractive! Maybe it is a girl, as they say girls steal your beauty! Hmmmm....

13 Weeks

14 Weeks

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Katie at 15 weeks - on Beckton's first Birthday!

Yes, I'm still sick but happy to have a new baby on the way and our sweet little man turning 1! We spent the day (the 3 1/2 of us) at the Boonshoft Museum playing and running around. It was a really great day and one I will always remember (minus the sick part). Beckton's Birthday Party was the following week - a baseball theme. We partied and had a wonderful time with family and friends.

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Katie at 17 weeks - I'm still sick :( but Baby K is doing well!

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Katie at 19 weeks - the day of our ultrasound!

Today we had our ultrasound and everything looked great! Prior to the start of the ultrasound we told the nurse we did NOT want to know the sex of the baby right away but instead asked her to keep it from us and seal it in an envelope. We had to turn away several times so we didn't see anything but I think I saw a little something anyway. We saved the envelope to take with us on vacation to open on our 4 year wedding anniversary. Scott headed down a few days before we did for work and the last thing he said to me before we left to join him was "Forget the envelope and you're dead!"

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Next up our first family Beach vacation! We headed to Siesta Key with Beckton and Baby K in tow, along with Scott's parents and we met my parents there too. We had a pretty relaxing time though beach vacations pregnant and with a one year old are a little different than what Scott and I are used to! Our last beach vacation was on our honeymoon and we did nothing but swim, sleep, eat and drink! Before we left for vacation we had our 19 week ultrasound which went very well. We are blessed to have what appeared to be an active and healthy baby .. but we didn't find out the sex! The envelope you see below held the fate of our future ... which we opened a week later on our anniversary in Siesta Key! Scott took me to dinner on our anniversary and his parents stayed with Beckton. We had dinner outside at Cabana Jack and just before we ate we tore open the envelope because we couldn't wait any longer! I had a hunch the whole time based on what I thought I saw during the ultrasound but was still surprised! During dinner we tried to think of life with two boys, names and just enjoy the great food! After dinner we called friends and family and posted the belly picture below to facebook to spread the news ...

A picture of me at 20 weeks in Siesta Key!

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Katie at 21 Weeks on my 28th Birthday!

So far so good ... Baby K is not making me sick and that is wonderful. The picture below in pink is me on my 28th Birthday. The day was great complete with flowers from my team, lots of calls, texts, and emails and little get-together with friends and family. My lovely Mom offered to make me one of my favorite things - a pineapple upside down cake and we celebrated on the back porch with babies (Mia and Beckton), pregnant bellies (Me and Marisa), food, drinks, music and fun. Scott got me an i-robot which cleans the floors for us! I really like it and we name it Karl. He's like a member of the family!!

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Katie at 23 Weeks

This picture was taken on yet again a hot day but a beautiful day at that! The weeks leading up to this proved to be tough for me as Scott was "gallivanting" and working too in Europe. He left us for about 12 days and visited Barcelona, London and Oxford. He had a nice time but we missed him and I found out what it was really like to be a single Mom! EXHAUSTING! Besides being tired though, little man and I had so much fun together. We had dates at Bills Doughnut Shop, shopped, went to the park and enjoyed some quality time.

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Katie at 25 weeks

Well I'm feeling better - craving things like strawberry shortcake. Better watch out or I might have a lot of weight to lose after this little guy is born! These pictures were taken over the 4th of July weekend. We enjoyed time with friends and family (including pool time with Laura, Rachel, Amber and I and all of our babies!) Afterward Scott, Beckton and I watched fireworks at Grandma and Grandpa Kenney's and Beckton yelled "Boom Boom Boom!" Too cute. On July 5th the big celebration happened in Centerville. We spent a lovely morning at the Hinkebein household enjoying breakfast and then headed to the annual parade. It was so hot that we really couldn't stay long and had to rip Beckton's clothes off of him in a hurry! I would have done the same but thought it might be inappropriate. The pictures taken below show me with a little belly on the left and a huge belly on the right! Same day! Baby K seemed to enjoy himself and did not make me sick so that was nice!

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A "27 weeks" comparison ... Apparently you get A LOT bigger with the second! The left is me pregnant with Beckton at 27 weeks.

The right is me pregnant with Baby #2 at 27 weeks!

Stay tuned for the next update coming very soon!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Guess we'll have two under 2!

Well, the saying goes that with the second pregnancy, second child ... you just don't have the time like you did with the first to document it all with photos and stories, scrapbooks, albums or blogs. I am living proof! I promise to love my second child just as much as Beckton but clearly I let some time go by (in blog land anyway) without the back story on how our family is growing ... yet again! So here it is.

With the New Year (2010) came cold temperatures, snow, and apparently not very many people were leaving there homes last winter because so many of my friends ended up pregnant, including my friend Katie who happens to be due 5 days before me! I should note that Scott and I had no plans of a second Kenney so soon after our first. We had discussed having more than one child many times but the reality of it seemed very far off! We said we MIGHT try for another well after Beckton was 1 year old, maybe even 2. Clearly, if that was our plan we should have “planned” a little better! We still can’t figure out how it happened but have had many offers from friends (and even my Dad) to tell us “how” our little “oops”, I mean “miracle” came to be. Dad asked if Scott and I had a night in a hot tub with cheap wine … sadly that was not the case but would have made for a better story! Truth is we don’t really know when it happened like we did with Beckton – again the best laid plans …

So this story isn’t all that different from when I found out I was pregnant with Beckton. I had a funny suspicion that something was going on due to my cravings for cold pizza which I think is utterly disgusting. I mean I was eating it for breakfast and thinking I was in heaven. Then came the fruit cravings again, just like with the first pregnancy. It was the dead of winter and I was dying for watermelon. The other clues were exhaustion, the fact that no matter what I tried I could not feel comfortable in my clothing (aka I felt like a cow) and I shouldn’t leave out my outbursts to my lovely husband, which included “Unless you are going to help, then shut the hell up” (who knows what that was about) and the frequent meltdowns after leaving Beckton at daycare.

Here I am … pregnant and I don’t even know yet…

I decided that I was crazy and I didn’t even speak about it to Scott. I told no one except my friend Aly that I thought I could be pregnant. I told Aly at work one day and the next day she brought in a pregnancy test set it on my desk and said “let’s go, we’re doing this.” So we headed to the bathroom at work (which is not private but has 6 stalls and is frequently crowded) and I did the test right there. Apparently I was not supposed to find out that day as I accidentally dropped the complete test in the toilet. Aly and I tried to dry it out but it was digital and so we just laughed hysterically. We told no one.

So a few snowy days later in February… the 10th to be exact Scott and I were both working from home and we had 9 month old Beckton with us. At lunch we went sledding outside with him … though we didn’t have a sled so we used his infant seat, strung a rope through it and pulled him through our backyard. Some would say we are a little white trash but I like to call it resourceful.

After sledding I told Scott I needed to run to the pharmacy to grab a few things. I took Beckton with me, grabbed a box of pregnancy tests and stood in line. The cashier looked at me a little funny as I had a baby on my hip already and so I just said “I’m hoping that one of these will tell me why I have been so tired lately.”
At home Scott was on a conference call so I took Beckton in the bathroom with me while I took the test. I couldn’t do it alone! I needed morale support and for some reason I thought if it was positive it might be fun to surprise Scott. Well about 5 seconds after I did the test it was clear as day. At that point (after looking at my face in the mirror several times with eyes popping out of my head) Beckton and I went into his room, grabbed a white onesie and a black marker and wrote the following "I'm gonna be a big brother." When Scott got off the conference call he came in, read Beckton’s shirt and looked at me puzzled. So, I said “Beckton give your toy to Daddy” (yes, I washed it off first) and he handed the positive test to Scott who said “No way are you serious?”

After a hug and congratulations from Scott who was ecstatic, I should note just for memory sake, that we got into a fight instantly because I said there would be no way I could take care of two babies and work full-time so I would have to quit my job and we didn’t speak for a few hours! Luckily he knew I was just hormonal so he went out and came home with flowers to make everything all better!

The weeks that followed were filled with angst and excitement as we began to tell our family and friends. Most were shocked but after the initial shock they were mostly excited for us!
A few memorable quotes –
"You have to update your blog and call it Oops I did it again" - Aly
“What the hell are you doing?” – Katie’s Dad
“How are you going to take care of two?” – Katie’s Mom
“What? You’re kidding?” – Katie’s sister Julie
"The only thing better than one Beckton is two" - Scott's parents
“That’s like having one dog and getting another; why would you do that?” – Scott’s cousin Bart

In all seriousness, the trouble we had getting pregnant the first time was tough and so the fact that this little one just came out of nowhere was pretty exciting. I can remember standing in Beckton’s room one night rocking him to sleep and thinking … I will never forget rocking both of my babies at the same time. How lucky I am and how precious this little life is

The first trimester was not unlike the last pregnancy – sick ALL the time. I can’t even begin to remember the amount of times I threw up in a plastic bag in the car, in my trashcan at work, or on the side of the road. I also grew very fast! Below is a picture of me on Easter at 11 weeks.

March 30th we had our first ultrasound! We were both very excited to see a happy and healthy baby and that's exactly what we got. We had no word on the sex yet but didn't really care anyway. At this point Scott was thinking BOY and I was thinking GIRL and we were both really excited!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

It's been a while here's an update over the past 12 months!

It's been over an entire year since my last post! That's crazy. I last posted the birth story and pictures of Beckton on May 21st 2009 and here it is June of 2010. Below is just a little on our year in review which included many firsts for us as a new family ... first smiles, first vacations, first airplanes, first surgeries, first holidays, first teeth and the list goes on and on. Below are a few pictures from the past 12 months. One thing we know for sure is that there is nothing quite like parenthood and Beckton is like our own Christmas Morning every single day.

April 29th Beckton James is born! Mommy and Daddy fall instantly in love ...

Beckton's First Bath!

The weeks ahead proved to be just as difficult as we had heard they might be. Lack of sleep and out of whack hormones contribute to Mommy's diagnosis of a bad case of Post Partum Depression. There were days when I really thought I might not make it. Days when I felt completely lost. But Beckton's little face and the strength of my family and friends supporting me and pushing me to move forward kept me going. My Mom and Scott saw me at my worst and I thank them for literally saving me. My dear sister and Dad/Jeanne called almost daily to check on me and I don't know if to this day any of them know how much they helped. My friends and family who sent cards, called, stopped by, brought meals, e-mailed etc. were essential to me getting better. Also, my doggies were so supportive - they laid with me often and Ms. Lily sat with me while I fed Beckton in the middle of the night AT EVERY SINGLE FEEDING FOR MONTHS. The best way to describe what I went through is what I call a switched a birth story in reverse ... Beckton came home with the wrong Mommy. It was as if the me I knew just ceased to exist. I didn't recognize my own face in the mirror and all I could do was hold that baby in hopes that I would come back. I will never forget that feeling and quite honestly I talk openly about it now because there needs to be a support system for women and their families. There needs to be a voice and if I can be that voice even for one person, I think I am doing my job. The good news is I did come back, I became aware and got I help! From here, things improved drastically!!!

Beckton 1 month!