Texas HERE WE COME!!!!

So... Big news in the King Household. WE ARE MOVING TO TEXAS!! :) Though it has always been in our plans to eventually end up there... we have decided this will be the summer... Not that we don't like Nebraska... well, we DO hate the winters... especially this past one... but Texas is so sunny & bright.


And... ready for some other big news, I mean really, brace yourself...

AUSTIN IS GOING TO LAW SCHOOL! Yep, you read it right! Austin came up to me last summer & told me that he wanted to go to Law School... I nearly fell off my chair when he told me... But... he went and got LSAT practice books & even took a class to help prepare him to get into school. I knew he was REALLY serious when he decided not to play softball last season so he could study.

Austin has been accepted to St. Mary's University of Law in San Antonio, TX. This couldn't have worked out better for us because that is where my folks live. (Not to mention my little sis, Bridget, and Molly & her family (John & Jack)). So... we are pretty thrilled. I am not sure how thrilled Molly & John actually are though... they have been living in my parents guest house for the past year & we are giving them the boot. She is a hot-shot lawyer now, and we are once again poor students so we figure we have more pull, right?!?

Anyway, this couldn't have worked out more perfectly for us so far... We put our house up on the market a few weeks ago, moved the pooches to Texas, while we were there sold our house, and now Austin starts a summer prep course the end of May. We thought we would have a bit more of the summer to say goodbye to all our friends, but we got a shocker in the mail yesterday saying the class starts on May 31st... so Austin will be heading down Memorial Day weekend. I am going to stay up in Nebraska with Brady until I can find a job down there... which is already looking mighty promising....

So... lots of big changes already in our lives this year... having a kid, moving to Texas, starting law school.... who knows what's next for the King Family....

Missing our family.....

So, this is a post all about my 2 lovely puppies... Hannah & Mylie. Hannah is a black lab that already knew her name when we adopted her from the Humane Society... and Mylie's name we gave her when we adopted her a year later.... She is too stupid to know her name, however.

Hannah


Mylie



Anyway... Austin & I recently went to Texas for a visit & we brought our dogs with us.... well... that is a lie. Austin & his mother drove the pooches down to Texas while Brady & I flew in luxury. Anyway... My parents have a pool & Hannah absolutely LOVES swimming... so when we go to Grandma & Grandpa's house it would just not be fair to leave her at home when she could be swimming.





Don't tell my father, but this last time we were visiting Hannah discovered what a hot tube is too... and no matter what I did I could NOT keep her out of it... It was all funny until I had to clean up all the dog hair. :(



This last trip was a bit different from the rest though... This time when we brought them to Texas... we... we... we left them there. This almost makes me cry just to type it... okay... now I am really tearing up. For real... my eyes are moist. Anyway... The pups loved it down there so much that it would be an injustice to bring them back up here... and besides that... they were tearing up our yard awfully bad. We had holes all over our yard & one GIGANTIC crater right next to the house. We filled in all the holes and even planted a garden next to the house. It really looks good... but I can't help but think of how much I miss my pups when I go outside & see my garden. :(

So... Here I am... I have been too fat & Pregnant to play with them for 9 months, then I ignore them because Little Brady joined our family, and now I ship them to Texas. What kind of mother am I?!? On top of all this, my sister & her husband are helping take care of them & they despise them... not just hate, despise. It is super sad hearing about how much everyone hates my family members that I love so much...

Luckily it is just a temporary situation & we will be reunited soon...

The Poop Saga....

You were warned. The title of this post tells it all. We are having issues here in the King Household. Brady is having issues going "Number 2". Since he came into our lives, Brady has been a very consistent pooper. He poops, or at least "wet farts" (as Austin calls it) every 3 hours... This has NOT been the case this past week.... I believe it all started when I started to give him a vitamin supplement. I read that breastfeeding mothers should give their child a Vitamin D supplement because it cannot be passed in the breastmilk. I called my doctor and sure enough her nurse told me to give him a Vitamin called Poly-Vi-Sol. So, I went out and bought this stuff... but only found it with Iron in it as well.


The first day I gave it to Brady he spit most of it up all over his play-mat. Since one of the warnings on the label says that overdose of Iron supplements is one of the most common causes of death in babies, I was not going to give him another dose. Brady's bowel movements were pretty normal that day....

The NEXT day (Wednesday)... Brady got his vitamin in a bottle of breastmilk that Austin gave to him that night. Brady pooped at 7pm that night....

Thursday... No poop....

Friday... No poop... Now we are talking about 48 hours here of no poop. This is crazy for my little guy! Not only had he not pooed, but no smears or anything! Brady is also generally a very happy baby.... he rarely cries, except when we don't feed him fast enough... or when he's cold. He usually makes some noise when he is trying to poop, but nothing crazy. We stopped giving the vitamin.

Then Saturday came... and Brady was NOT his happy baby self... he would cry, his face would turn bright red, and he would just fart. It was obvious he was full of you-know-what.... He went the whole day being cranky.

THEN... he does this....


Sure enough... there was an explosion in his pants at 8:30pm (73.5 hours later)...

And he has not gone since then....

de Quervain’s Tendonitis

For those of you that know me.... know that I am a bit of a hypochondriac. I do not think so though... I REALLY think that I can self-diagnose many of my medical problems. :) For instance, I am fully convinced that I have Diabetes Insipidus. This is not the diabetes that most people know of that affects blood sugars... the main component in D.I. is always being thirsty, drinking a TON of water, and peeing ALL the time. I "thought" I had D.I. when I first learned about it in Anatomy class at Metro... Then I "knew" I had it when I learned even more in nursing school... a couple more signs of D.I. is high heart rate and low blood pressure... Do you think I can fib about my blood pressure & heart rate? Nope. I have it. I'm convinced. I actually have convinced many people that know me that I have D.I. too... because they see how water-obsessed I am. It was the WORST when my OB doctor limited my water intake (actually said NO WATER) after 6pm... (due to my severe heartburn). Every morning I woke up feeling like I had many alcoholic beverages the night before.... What I really wanted was pure and simple:

Just a nice tall glass of H2O.

So... As you can imagine... when I woke up about a week ago with bilateral wrist pain... I was convinced I had Carpal Tunnel. It wasn't until today that I really researched Carpal Tunnel and realized that I had no numbness or tingling... so I couldn't possibly have Carpal Tunnel... Good thing... because it sounds dreadful!

So, what DO I have? de Quervain's Tendonitis AKA "Mother's Thumb." This affects JUST the thumb, and hurts when I move my wrist or thumb a certain way, "catches" much like trigger finger, and hurts like a "b" when I snap my fingers. It is prevalent in new mothers and grandmothers from picking up their child/grandchild the same way over and over. The Internet (which is ALWAYS correct) says to diagnose "Mother's Thumb" you make a fist over your thumb & then move your wrist out. This is very painful for someone with de Quervain's Tendonitis... Is it painful for me? HOLY COW YES!



Breast-feeding moms are even more prevalent due to the positioning of the baby & boob for feeding. WELL... for those that don't just know me, but have SEEN me since given birth, you know that my boobs are as big as basketballs...


When I feed little Brady I must really squeeze and squish my boob into his mouth so that he can get milk. Such things I didn't realize before pregnancy.....

So, what are the next steps? I am hoping that I can treat it with some ibuprofen & changing the way I pick up the little stinker... and hopefully I will figure out a different way to get my boob into his mouth still... otherwise my wrists are just gong to continue to hurt. :) The next step is wrist splints, therapy, steroid injections... and even surgery! Luckily... they say if you figure it out early and change things that you have a better outcome. Good thing I am such a good investigator! :)

Who would have known that I would get something called "Mother's Thumb" from taking care of my beautiful baby!

Brady's Baptism!

This past Sunday Brady had a big day... He was baptized! Grandma & Grandpa Mac flew in from Texas and Aunt April & cousins Spencer & Max drove from Quincy, IL. He is such a lucky boy to have such a great family!

Brady's Godparents are dear friends of mine, Laura Reifenrath & her soon-to-be husband (wink, wink) Tono Fernandez. They will eventually be moving to Texas, which is where Austin & I will also end up eventually, and they will be able to make sure my child does not go to hell.....



Okay... he won't go to hell... he is WAY too cute for that! :)

Laura & Tono live in Spain right now... so, needless to say, they could not make the trip for Brady's baptism. That was okay though... we had some of the best stand in's! Meghan & Shawn (My sister & brother-in-law) are Brady's Nebraska Godparents! :) You need a set for wherever you live, right? So... here are some pictures of the big day!


Mom & Brady


Dad & Brady


This is a cute little bonnet from Nana... and it has a cute little story about how when he gets married his wife can carry it with her as "something old.".... but when I put it on him Austin said NO WAY! He said that he felt like Brady's balls were shrinking right then... and made me take it off...


Another baby got baptized with Brady...


The King Family


Austin's Family!


Browyn's Family!


Aunt April!


Brady wearing his new shoes from Spain from Laura!


The King Family with Pastor Schneider & Auntie Jenna... who helped with the baptism!


Great Auntie Jenna hosted a party for Brady after the ceremony... Brady showed his support by wearing a onsie for Auntie Jenna! :)


Austin with his nephews... Spencer & Max! (and Brady of course!)


The cake Great Auntie Jenna made for the occasion!

Brady's First Vacation!

Last week Brady had many "firsts." He went on his first plane ride, first vacation, first smile... but probably most exciting was his first time meeting his identical cousin, Jack. (though meeting Aunt Bridget, Aunt Molly, Uncle John, and Grandpa Mac was pretty exciting too....)

Jack & Brady really hit it off. The first day they were already so close & did so much that they tuckered themselves out! They really had a blast in their bouncers together!


Brady & Jack

They even went shopping together!

Brady & Jack

One day they even got really excited learning about Prom & Homecoming so they decided to get dressed up and pretend they were at a dance.... They even fought over Grandma Mac as their date! Already fighting over girls...


Brady, Grandma Mac, Jack

Molly & I were jealous though and had to get pictures with them too...

Jack, Molly, Brady


Jack, Browyn, Brady

Anyway.... as you can see... Jack & Brady had a real exciting time together!


Jack & Brady


Jack & Brady

Who does Brady look like?

So... The first time anybody meets a new baby they always ask, "Who does he look like?" This question has been asked to us numerous times... but neither one of us can figure out who Brady actually looks like. Most people swear that he looks like Austin... I just don't see it... and I honestly don't think ANYONE has said that he looks like me... All what I know is he is the cutest baby in the world.

I will say Brady has big lips. I never realized it until I met his cousin that is just 8 hours older than him... Brady definitely has bigger lips than him. Austin has big lips... Brady has big lips, for a baby.

I'll leave it up to you guys.... Who does Brady look like?


BRADY


AUSTIN AKA DAD


BROWYN AKA MOM

Is Brady Ours?!?

Austin & I knew exactly what our first boy would look like for many years. Some couples have a "pretty good" idea of what their kid will look like.... not us... we KNEW. You see... few years back Austin & I got a very scientific test done that showed us exactly what our boy would look like.... at Dave & Busters.

So... you can imagine our surprise when Brady came out looking NOTHING like this little guy....

WHAT OUR KID IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE:


WHAT OUR KID ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE:


It has actually caused quite a stir in our marriage because Austin knows that our baby looks nothing like this guy... and has been accusing me of some pretty awful things since then....

Anyway... just thought I should warn others out there not to spend their hard earned money on this VERY SCIENTIFIC test to show what your babe will look like...

Brady & Liam

So... As you all know/should know Brady has a cousin that is just a few hours older than him. His name is Jack. Neither Brady nor I have met Jack yet. Apparently Jack is having some troubles adjusting to life outside the womb... (sleeping, eating, crying uncontrollably). Next week we get to meet Jack... and we are thrilled. Molly & John (Jack's parents) have apparently set up some "teaching stations" so Brady can teach Jack how to sleep, eat, and calm down correctly. This is not what my post is about, however... but please do keep my sis & her family in your prayers... they truly are having a tough time with the little booger not feeling well due to acid reflux & a milk protein allergy.

Well... even though Jack is far away & we have not been able to meet him... we HAVE been able to meet Liam... Brady's cousin that is 6 months older than him. Liam is the cutest kid (greater than 6 months) & I LOVE playing with him. It wasn't until I had a kid of my own that I realized how BIG Liam is! :) Brady & Liam have had many play-dates since Brady's appearance into the world... but Brady doesn't really know how to play... at all... and Liam does not know how to play with a newborn. So.. it requires much adult supervision.

Here are some pictures of 2 of my 3 favorite men. Be prepared for some pictures of Brady & Jack next week. :)











(I could not get this picture to post facing up. Apologies.)