Wait, you left Hawaii..why?!

People can't seem to grasp that we voluntarily left Hawaii (Well, it's half and half) The government would have made us come summer so the kids and I decided to head back home and catch up on some much needed time with family and friends before we head to Quantico to ride out the rest of Patrick's time in the Marine Corps! We will be there until the summer of 2016. We've been back in Virginia for a little more than a month and it's exhausting trying to wrap my head around my life right now. I moved across the country & the pacific with a 3 year old and a 2 month old within 12 hours of telling my husband, "See ya later" and giving him one last kiss for 6 months. That day is such a blur now but I was the closest I've ever been to "losing my mind" I had been up for 24 hours+ cleaning and painting and we just flat out ran out of time and I sucked it up and ended up paying a fee because my oven wasn't clean. (this was a $50 fee if you're curious) TO CLEAN AN OVEN. Fastforward, we had a great Christmas and I'm glad we're home. We are finally adjusting and Aiden started preschool 2 days a week, he loves loves loves it! He asks everyday if he's supposed to have school. I'm glad he can concentrate on something steady amongst all of our crazy back and forth-ness over the past month. Ryleigh is now 4 months old! She is the best baby and has such a cute little personality. She smiles at everything and everyone is her friend but when she hears her dad or her brother she perks right up and searched for their faces. Whenever we Skype/facetime with Pat she gets super excited and kicks her legs 100mph. It's heartwarming to watch. I recenetly started advocare, (I'll blog about this separately) and I'm excited to be losing weight and getting back on track with fitness! Basically that's our update as of now, we are missing the biggest piece to our family puzzle but thankfully communication is currently great!

1 month check in!

I seriously can't believe how fast time goes when you have kids

 (or even when you don't, I think it's just easier to see when your heart is literally growing up right in front of you)

The past month has been challenging, wonderful, amazing and exhausting.

With Aiden, it was SO much easier to catch up on sleep because you know, "nap when the baby naps" but with Aiden being a rambunctious ball of non stop energy, it's a little hard to nap with Ryleigh when you are playing trains, wiping boogers and being begged for just one more popsicle.

Thankfully Patrick was able to stay home a little longer than the normal 12 days the Marine Corps gives you because the rest of his battalion was still in California, so basically he checked in with some other peeps in the morning then came home for the majority of the day so that was very nice!

Recovery has been so much easier this go round! Well, besides getting sick and almost being admitted back to the hospital, but that's just my luck. I am feeling much better finally and hopefully I get the go ahead next week to resume activity and exercise, I am ready to get back into my skinny jeans :) (literally and metaphorically)




FAQ about Ryleigh :

Is she a good baby?
Yes, she is such a sweetheart. She seems very laid back so far and doesn't really fuss unless she's hungry

How did you pick her name?
Ryleigh was actually our girl name when we got pregnant with Aiden and we just kept coming back to during her pregnancy. It's Irish so it pairs with Aiden quite well.
Her middle name is Jordan, which is my grandparents last name. They have had such an influential part in my life and I wanted her to have a part of them for the rest of hers.

How is Aiden with her?
He likes to help us with her, he will give her, her binky or cover her up. Sometimes he'll go give her kisses on his own, but he has NO desire to hold her. If he's somewhere he's not supposed to be, offer to give him Ryleigh and he'll take off running. No joke. Oh, he will ask for her though. Where's Rywee? Oh no! Where'd Rywee go?! That melts my heart everytime.

Who does she look more, you or Patrick?
Neither, Aiden.

Have I mentioned that I wouldn't trade my life for anything?

well, a nap..maybe anap.

Our sweet girl's arrival. 9/19/13

As a warning, if you don't want to hear about placentas, dilation or other random nonsense please close your browser. ;)

Ryleigh's birth story : An (wanna-be but your kid had other things in mind) intervention free birth.

(and then some) (this is long) (sorry not sorry)

Patrick came home from California (he had been training in the desert for a couple of weeks) on the 13th of September and I just knew he was either going to miss her birth or barely make it. (sike) I had been having pretty steady contractions and I had other signs and symptoms of impending labor, & with having Aiden at 36 weeks and a couple of days, I was nervous to say the least. Fast forward 6 more days and ta da, Ryleigh finally decided to make her appearance.

Like I said before, I had been having contractions for days.. so this was nothing new to me, and since we were on a Marine Corps time table.. we resorted to some myths & wives/wise? (typing this I have no clue what it really is) tails to try and get things to get consistent and steady. We walked ALOT, drank raspberry leaf tea, ate pineapple, made labor brownies (yes you read that right! I got the recipe from another Marine wife!) I don't know what seemed to do the trick but the morning of the 18th I felt a little different, and I could feel that she was lower than she had been. Anyhoo - I have no clue what we did that day, but later that night things started to pick up and by 10 my contractions were every 3 minutes and getting to where I couldn't talk through them. I had previously told Patrick I wanted to wait and labor as long as I could at home, but he really didn't feel comfortable with waiting too long, he wasn't okay with delivering a baby in our living room or me giving birth in the car haha, so we decided it was time to call Alex who would be staying with Aiden and head to the hospital. We left the house around 12:15 and I ended up getting tickled with Patrick who automatically drove to the back gate...which closes at 10. *HUGE Thank you to Alex who dropped everything at midnight to come have a sleepover with Aiden & Thor. Poor girl had no clue what she was getting into with my long labors ;)*

We got to Castle Medical center and got checked in and went to our itty bitty triage room. This is where they decide if you're staying or going home, you apparently don't rate a big room until they are sure you are staying. Sure enough I was dilated to 4 (I had been 3 for a while) and my contractions were consistent and strong, so we got moved to our big room and was told we weren't leaving without our sweet girl! Well, once again she decided well, maybe not. Slowly but surely my contractions spaced out (never stopped, just got less intense, and less frequent) So we walked, and walked, and I use the birthing ball, and walked, and did the other 100 things my midwife wanted me to try and I gladly obliged because I knew pitocin would be recommend within a certain amount of time. Have you ever had pitocin? No? Well it feels like someone is trying to remove your uterus (if you are a man reading this, just pretend) (do men read blogs?) through your belly button in the most violent way possible.

 Like with an ice pick. That has been dipped in lava.

I had pit with Aiden, and it was awful. But if you were around during my labor with him, you may also remember crazy day shift nurse who didn't do anything right so I'm not sure if that had an effect on it.

The tub I labored in, seriously need one of these in our next house. 

Fast forward back to present day - 14 hours after we had been admitted I was a 5. Which I had been for the last 13 hours, and I Just wanted to cry. My widwife knew I didn't want pitocin so we once again tried another round of everything under the sun.. but my contractions just wouldn't stay close together. They were consistent - just about every 6 minutes apart or so and I wasn't dilating...there was some talk about a C section coming down from the Ob... so I agreed to the pitocin. I was started at the lowest interval and they increased it every half hour. I will say I am very proud of myself for laboring with Pit the way I did. For the most part I kept calm and breathed through contractions, all with my handsome husband by my side.

(I mean, technically this is by my side...right?) 

It's okay... this was a lot of work for him, he needed his rest. ;)

I'm pretty sure my friends and family on the east coast thought we were ignoring them because no one expected my labor to last for 25 hours, between that and the time difference it made it a little difficult to communicate.

Fast forward another 9 hours of laboring, and I am exhausted. I can still handle the pain of the contractions (which were a 14 out of 10 on the pain scale at this point) but I just wanted to cry (ok, I did) because of how tired I was. We had been up since early Wednesday morning and it was now Thursday night, I was losing focus and I was just breaking down in fear I wouldn't have enough energy to push (if that time ever came) So my midwife came in a checked me and WALA! I am still a 5. FIVE. F-I-V-E.

What in the world.

After that I broke down. I now realize why minimal checks can also be beneficial emotionally because that wrecked me. I lost it and just started bawling, My nurse was amazing and so was Pat. (I had about 5 different nurses throughout our labor but the Lord definatley knew I needed her, she was a little bit older and had such a mothering quality.. which being 4000 miles away from my family was really nice) They both comforted me through my mental exhaustion and then we started talking about my pain and realized alot of it was in my back. That combined with being checked, Joan realized our daughter wasn't fully engaging in my pelvis because of the way her head was turned. She explained it as trying to fit an oval through a circle so we tried hands and knees combined with back massage and hip squeezes and rocking back and forth and EVERYTHING we could do to possibly get her to turn her head.

At this point Joan mentioned that I may want to consider an Epidural. (We had an open option on this, just in case. We had previously discussed I was going to try my best but I didn't want to say I was 100% against it because I didn't want to feel like "I failed" I know myself, and that would have been harder on me than taking it in the first place)

I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, I was upset about it - but I knew it was best for me. Probably my emotional state more than anything.. As soon as I got it I burst out laughing and couldn't stop. I was in that stupid state of tired and I was laughing and somewhat crying at the same time because I could breathe, I could actually rest for just a few minutes, that is until it made me itch so bad I wanted to literally rip my skin off. (Patrick had to keep telling me to stop scratching) So my new nurse (another shift change!) brought me some IV benadryl which knocked me out for about 45 minutes. (I needed that sleep BADLY)

Joan comes back in to check me and sure enough.... I'm a 5, maybe a 6.

You have got to be kidding me.

We both decided it would be beneficial to break my water at this point because Ryleigh was starting to have issues with my contractions and we didn't want to head down the road to a C section. I'm not sure I even had energy to object at this point, so she went ahead and broke my water and told me she'd come check on me in just a bit. We were laughing at Patrick because he was snoring through this entire process.

This was around 10:50 p.m

Around 10:52 I felt pressure. Lots of it.

My nurse went and grabbed Joan who hadn't even had time to get to the nurses station and she came back and asked if I was sure if it was pressure. YES, I'm sure.

9 centimeters!

Having my water break allowed Ryleigh's head to turn and drop into my pelvis!

and by 11:00 p.m I was fully dilated.

Joan sat on the side of the bed and had me do a test push, and said we may need to wake up Dad... we're having a baby.

I can't remember how many times I pushed but I loved the environment. The lights were dim, everyone was happy. Patrick sat beside me and held me hand and Joan sat on the side of the bed...they didn't even break the bed down, and our little girl was born at 11:12 p.m

They put her straight to my chest and she wouldn't cry (for what felt like the longest time) and even with skin to skin and rubbing her back she wouldn't pink up so they took her just to get her upright and suction her and returned her to me still all purple (but breathing) and covered in vernix :)

It quickly didn't matter to me that I had an epidural, that my water didn't break on it's own, that pretty much everything I "wanted" didn't happen. 

.....except for this sweet healthy happy baby laying on my chest. 

"In that moment, I knew I had all I was ever going to need" 

I had been praying for 9 months that the Lord would give me guidance through my pregnancy in making decisions, that he would protect her and help her grow strong and he would help me and continue to mold me into an example of a Godly woman for this little girl, and every other worry I had fell to the wayside when I saw those big blue eyes. 

Ryleigh Jordan Webber

9/19/13 11:12 p.m 

8lbs 3 oz, 21 inches long

Born In Kailua, Hawaii.

Our little family feels so complete. 

Oh and just for kicks, the midwife made Patrick look at the placenta while she told him, "It was the most beautiful placenta she had ever seen" 

I snort laughed, and I'm pretty sure I thought he was going to throw up.

Back to snuggling my babes!

Kelsey

37 weeks pregnant!

I saw another blogger do this and I thought it would be fun. And I'm bored.. Aiden is asleep and I'm enjoying a pumpkin spice latte while watching twister so I figured why not! Plus, it reminded me of those surveys we used to do in middle school or on myspace haha, guess I'm feeling nostalgic!

How Far Along? 37 weeks on Sunday!

Symptoms: Um, I'm huge? Is that a symptom?

Total Weight Gain/Loss: bahaha, um. 2 lbs...for every square inch of my body.

Sleep: Non existent. I pee every hour or two, and sometimes I fall back to sleep in between those, sometimes I don't. I can't stand when people say, "Sleep now, you won't sleep once the baby comes!" Oh yes, yes I will, I would much rather comfort and nurse my sweet girl all night than try my best and roll my beached self out of our very tall bed. :)

Food Cravings: Coffee,tokyo express and salad! I would kill for some tokyo right now!

Best Moment This Week: Hearing my husband should be home soon! That and Aiden telling me, "Oh thank you so much mama" for breakfast :D

Movement: All day, err day. She never stops!

Labor Signs: I've been having alot more braxton hicks, but I'm having real contractions as well. Some of them are pretty uncomfortable! And she is pretty low, I don't think it will be too much longer

Gender: Sweet baby girl!

Name? Yes we have a name picked out! :)

Belly Button In Or Out? In, I have the world’s deepest belly button!

What I Miss: Seeing my feet & sleeping on my stomach and rough housing with Aiden without feeling like I'm dying haha

What I Am Looking Forward To: Seeing Aiden become a big brother,seeing what this little girl looks like!

Milestones: Full term baby, let's go!

Enjoying your pregnancy? Yes! I am, I love feeling her roll around and I love being the one to carry our children, I think it's a huge blessing... that being said, I'm ready for her to be here ;)

Weekly Wisdom: Being positive about a situation really is the only way to get through it, trust that God knows your heart and remember he loves you and won't let you fall!

This top picture was last week at 36 weeks ^

This bottom picture is from today, she's sitting SO much lower!

(Ignore the look on my face hahaha)

Kelsey

A long overdue update!

If you actually take the time to read this, we're more than likely already friends on Facebook or in REAL LIFE. Which means you probably know what's going on in our lives but on the off chance I'll update yall anyway. I use Fb pretty often but I don't post everything as to not blow up everyone's news feeds and whatnot, but when I live 4000 miles away it's nice to stay in touch!



We're having a baby! (obviously this news is shocking, because I'm 9 months pregnant as I type this)

36 weeks preggo!

I am already dilated, and somewhat effaced and have been that way for quite some time. At one point we thought we we're going to have a premie on our hands because I started having contractions at 32 weeks and they wouldn't stop on their own. A hospital stay,drugs and "light activity" later here we are 1 week away from full term! Aiden was born at 36 weeks 4/5 days so if she makes her appearance when he did, that's WAY too soon because Patrick is still on the mainland, gah. The Marine Corps hasn't quite decided what they are doing with him at this point but rumor mill is that he can take his Paternity leave at any time, I just have to have her within that 10 day span or they ship him back to California. (On our dime, might I add) 

I think. Who know's really. 

Aiden turns three next month! 

HE IS TOO BIG. I can't grasp that he is already turning 3. I feel like I was pregnant with him yesterday and I should just go ahead and order his graduation announcements tomorrow so they'll be in on time :( His personality is coming out full force and he is talking so much more these days! He can recognize all his numbers,colors, shapes and letters and occasionally will sing his ABC's.. and by that i mean A..B..C..D..F..G..H..ELEMENTOPEEEEEE! He graduated speech therapy last month because he was in 90% of his milestones speech wise! He still has some catching up to do but his progress has been massive, thank the Lord for second opinions on ear tubes!He is your typical little boy who loves trucks,trains, playing outside and climbing anything he can. His current obessions are his trains, the movie Cars and chocolate milk.

The Marine Corps life. 

Patrick is deploying (fingers crossed it's the last time!) this winter so the kiddos (Ah!) and I are packing up our lives and heading back to Virginia for the duration of the deployment. This was a HUGE decision with a lot of thought,headache and prayer poured into it. The biggest reason we went ahead with it was because he will be getting new orders once he get's back and we will be moving to the next duty station, so we are officially telling Hawaii goodbye come winter months. This process is going to be a pain in the tail but it will be worth it to let Aiden and baby girl spend some much needed time with our families and friends. We are praying for an east coast duty station this go round and Pat should find out sometime in the spring where exactly we are headed!

Welp, I think that's all for now! 

I love having my blog back!

Kelsey

FAIL.

I am just going to pretend that I've used my blog within the last couple of weeks and all is good.

FAIL

I have been looking to redo my blog for months now and I finally got around to it! So I can get back on track with writing and keeping updates going. :)

Will update asap!

Kelsey

Husband - Wife challenge.

So, patrick and I have this challenge of who can become more fit during the course of the deployment. Well, so far I can bet money he's winning.. 

A.Because he was in great shape before he left
B.I think I went backward when I went home, oops.

SO, I have a new found determination to completely kick his tail .. and it's called Insanity.

Well, thats the title of the 60 day work out, and well, I think i'm insane for doing it.

Before you can begin they require you to do a "Fit test" where you do as many of the specific "moves" as you can in 1 minute, and they help you mark your progress by repeating it every 15 days...

Well, i'm sore from the Fit test, so I can say with confidence that it's going to be a LONG 6o days.

I'll be posting my results as I go along!

Good Luck babe, you may not win after all ;)

-Kelsey.