baby b: week 2

Baby Brayden's 1st Week

Brayden Harter Knetzer was born at 12:40 AM on October 17, 2008 weighing 8 lb. 8 oz.

Personal down time is a rarity these days....I'll write about everything soon, I promise!

spelling & grammar disclaimer:

for some reason i decided to take a walk down memory lane and read my past bloggings. HOLY CRAP!!! my grammar and spelling are atrocious!! i'm pretty sure a first grader would be able to type with less errors. as sad as it may be, it's true....i'm a horrible speller. thank goodness for spell check...that is when i actually use it.

now in my defense, my brain has officially been on vacation for almost 10 months. i've become as dumb as a brick. i remember a lady i used to work with who said that she couldn't do her job because her brain did not communicate properly with her fingers in order to type correctly. oh, how foolish i was to laugh at the poor woman! i just told jared the other night that i truly have become a disgrace as i reread my emails before i send them off to clients...only to find that i type actual words but they do not pertain or have any relevance to what i intended to say.

really what i'm trying to say is i apologize for my never failing spelling and grammatical errors. If you are a elementary teacher, i hope i have not been your daily source for teaching material....you know, those sentences your teacher would write on the board and you had to find all the errors and write the sentence correctly......

oh, how i have regressed......

just shoot me now!

i don't know what in all of god's creation is going on, but my ankles and feet look like they've been beat with a sledge hammer! i actually have creases from the skin that is hanging over my feet!!! I've learned that when you are pregnant, certain body parts tend to disappear. if you never had the pleasure of experiencing kankles before, don't gloat in thinking you never will. trust me, i know from experience! all I have to say is thank goodness i only have 3 more days!

there's a full moon tonight and i'm going back out to walk my 11th mile for the day....hopefully these feet can carry me!

precious moments

one thing i look most forward to is having my good friend genya of vue photography take pictures of our new little one and family when brayden arrives! i can't wait!!!! ahhh!

In our doctor's office i kept seeing these precious pictures and finally decided to pick up pure 7 studio's business card. so cute!! I went to their blog and laughed when i saw these precious pictures!

i might just have to snag this idea now that i have my very own peanut sling! i love this!

how hysterical is this picture?!

i have to say though, i'm still very much partial to genya's vue! but now i just have another photographer to use for weddings....since genya is always booked!

lets get this show on the road!

for 3 days now i have been have irregular contractions...until tonight. around 9:30 they began to be 4 minutes apart....and still continue to be 4 minutes apart. groveling and debating whether or not to call the doctor, i finally decided to after 3 hours of non-stop contractions. the nurse informed me thanow all i have to do is wait the consistent sharp pains to where i can barely breathe through them.....which i'm pretty sure are beginning to make an appearance. let's just say that if this is only the beginning, i'm afraid to find out what the middle and end have in store!

time will tell.....only i'm tired and wish it wasn't 1am!



yep....barely breathing! OUCH!

let them buy gas!

i now can say that it excites me to purchase gas! gas has dropped below $3.00/gallon. it's a miracle! i'm slightly shocked that such words would ever come from my mouth! i remember strongly stating that i would resort to riding a bike if gas ever reached $3.00/gallon. sad to say i was still driving around my suv when gas hit $4.00 a gallon. all i can say is i'm a prisoner to the convenience of air conditioning...especially these days! what a sorry sight it would be to see a hot, sweaty, pregnant woman peddling her little heart out in 95 degree weather down back beach.

at least there's something to be excited over with the state that the economy is in. so much for my stock in mcdonald's.....i guess i should have pulled all 10 of my shares 10 years ago. eh, i'm not stressed.....$600.00 is nothing compared to $600,000.00.

baby update: no baby yet.

beaches and bellies

with all the constant, never ending contractions i continue to have, I've been hoping that all the walks jared and i take would start to have an effect. my body is becoming so worn out that i'm beginning to become concerned about my mental stability.

with the beautiful weather we've been having the past 2 nights, jared and i have gone to the beach. i really do love it here this time of year! last night all our long walks did were cause more contractions that ended up being the bridge to no where....hence my writing at such an ungodly hour in the morning. i just couldn't take laying in bed any longer! we have a doctors appointment today and these contractions better not have all been in vain....there better be something going on!

being that i have been quite the slacker when it comes to documenting those monumental "belly shots," i suppose i am trying to make up for lost time now. nothing like having your picture taken at 9 1/2 months pregnant (i had to go and get a new drivers licence on friday.........no comment needed).

a well done turkey

"Beginning somewhere around the middle to end of your second trimester, your enlarging uterus swells enough to push your abdomen forward, making your navel pop out like a timer on a well-done turkey." - www.whattoexpect.comas insulting and scary as this may be, i have managed to make it 3 extra months without this happening....until now. it's true. i now look like a well done turkey who's timer as popped. accepting this realization required a long moment of silence....

i must look as though this baby is going to arrive any second. since it is such a beautiful day, i headed to my favorite work place, panera, as you all know. after sitting outside and working for a couple hours, i decided to take a walk around pier park and then head over to target to get a birthday present for one of the little girls i used to nanny.

timeout just for a moment....
kamryn is now 8 and in the 3rd grade. i called her mom to find out what she wanted for her birthday and much to my surprise i ended up getting her the jonas brothers cd since she already had the camp rock cd. since when did kamryn stop watching sponge bob and signing songs from the wiggles?! this growing up thing is going to be quite a struggle for me i 'm afarid!

anyways, walking around i had 5 people make comments about how i looked like i was ready to have this baby any day. perhaps the slow waddle and over sized belly gave it away. granted, i didn't take the time to get ready this morning. i look like a homely, unwed, knocked up woman. quite frankly, i don't care what i look like anymore! yesterday my feet were purple and i had kankles! these changes that i can so gratefully attribute to being pregnant are starting to freak me out! i just want to wear my normal skinny clothes again! i learned today, that when you are 9 months pregnant with ridiculously swollen feet, you are only torturing yourself when you walk through the doors of a shoe store. don't do it! i have a gap gift card and ended up having to use great restraint to just hold off a couple more weeks so that i can buy somewhat normal clothes again. thank goodness God has shown his mercy on me in the sense that i have not put on that much weight. perhaps with all this walking jared and i have been doing, i'll be in skinny clothes in no time.....
i'm trying not to get my hopes up. only 16 more days!

hang on tight!

it is officially october and i don't think i could have asked for a more perfect fall october day! as much as i miss not being home this time of year with all the leaves changing colors, it is always beautiful here in florida. all it takes is the scent of a lit pumpkin spice candle to remind me of home....hence the 5 candles and febreeze plug ins that are all over my house right now!

the past 2 weeks have been rather eventful! last wednesday began all the baby shower festivities that last through this past sunday. to say I am truly blessed is an understatement! God has put so many wonderful and special people in my life who i love dearly! jared and i are well stocked and ready for brayden's grand arrival thanks to all our friends and family! once i have pictures to post, i'll put them up.

speaking of brayden's arrival, i have exciting news! today jared and i had our weekly appointment at sacred heart hospital in destin only to find out that dr. graham is going to be on vacation the week of my due date. now, most people would probably be freaked out in such a situation. i on the other hand laughed and couldn't be happier for two reasons:

Reason for my laughter: my best friend jessica (i've been waiting to have an entire post dedicated to her which will be soon) sees the same doctor as i do. jessica is a little more cautious and nervous about being pregnant and her delivery than i have been....or at least she is a little more vocal about it. at jessica's first appointment, she might as well have made dr. graham sign in blood that she would not be out of town the entire month of her due date. i wouldn't put it past jessica to find ways to induce or stall, whichever it may be, mccabe's delivery in order to see to it that dr. graham delivers her first born! go figure dr. graham be on vacation the week of my delivery....maybe having her sign in blood wasn't such a bad idea!

Reason for my happiness: forget that whole signing in blood nonsense! due to dr. graham being out of town, she has scheduled for me to be induced on October 18th, unless brayden decides to arrive sooner. the end is now officially in sight! so at this rate, i will be holding my precious baby boy in 17 days or less!

i must say, at times it feels like i have been a miserable, swollen, waddling whale for 2 years and other times it feel like the clock is running faster than my swollen feet carry me! does anyone even remember september? i'll keep you all posted. in the meantime, forgive me as i say goodbye. pineapple, herbal tea's, and long walks (i think i'll pass on the caster oil!) are screaming my name!

jeremy riddle.sweetly broken

Check out this video: Sweetly Broken Video

can't touch this

low and behold, i do believe in miracles! and if this one is correct, then we might have a baby on the way soon. the 'nesting stage,' as they call it has finally arrived in all it's magnificent glory!

"Many women also experience a certain nesting instinct as labor approaches. If you find yourself with a sudden burst of energy and the need to clean and scrub your house spotless, baby may be on the way! " ~thebump.com

tuesday night was by far the roughest night i have had. i tossed and turn in bed wide awake trying to count how many contractions I was having until 2 am and finally got up because i couldn't take it anymore. after pacing the floor until 5 am, i made my way slowly back up stairs in hopes of falling a sleep. no such luck. the last time i looked at the clock was when the sun was coming up and it read 6:45am. lets just say that 9 am came way too soon. on my way out the door for work, i had to stop abruptly due to the immense pain...the utter shock and absence of breath is comparable to being doused with ice water in the shower. breathing slowly it let up and i made my way to the car. walking up the the door once i arrived 10 minutes later, it hit me again.

after an hour passed and they continued on, i finally took the plunge and called the doctor. mind you, i have only called the doctor twice my entire pregnancy1.) when i couldn't walk for days due to back pain and 2.) for a prescription for pepcid because my throat was constantly on fire from heartburn and indigestion (supposedly brayden is going to arrive with a head full of hair...as the old wives tale goes)...i just haven't wanted to be 'that lady.'

on the phone, the nurse said to make my way to the birthing center. i knew they were just going to monitor my contractions and the baby's and then send me right back home. which is basically what they did....however, i was having 6-8 contractions every hour...but it wasn't time. they gave me a horse pill to stop the contractions...which didn't help and told me to call if i was having more than 6 every hour.

here's my beef with the whole counting thing....if i sat and counted my contractions every hour, i wouldn't be checking into the family birth center, rather i'm be making a beeline straight for the loony house! i would go crazy!

the contractions have continued on since and are only more painful now. regardless, they have not stopping my recent obsession with cleaning and organizing. i have officially confused my dogs and worn them out immensely as i run up and down the stairs. they have no idea what to think! i haven't done one single thing around this house in the past 9 months. you might think i'm exaggerating, but jared will gladly testify! now, i'm unstoppable! i've done everything from 9 loads of laundry (those loads to include baby clothes, blankets, etc.), organizing the pantry and cabinets, to scrubbing the baseboards! jared's biggest surprise...i finally hung up all my clothes that have been in our room since my family was in town. he was running out of bribery options and was about to just give up.

so here i wait. cleaning frantically. i guess i better start counting.

ice ice baby

the only thing that seems to be constant in my life these days is change....and my craving for fla-vor-ice popsicles. call it silly, childlike, what ever you wish, but i'm addicted. so addicted that one at a time just will not do. maybe my mind is trying to prepare my body for the fact that during labor this is all i get. and at this rate, that is fine by me!! give me one of these (any flavor), along with bags of ice for my hands and feet and i am one happy little lady!

the other child

much to my surprise, i am not expecting my first child, but my second. over the past month, our puppy lulu has mysterously transformed into a human.

• animal planet is her favorite channel...as long as there are animals on the screen, she is captivated.
• her dog bed does not meet her standards....she must sleep on the same Egyptian Cotton sheets like the rest of us and her head must be rested on a pillow.
• after realizing that the pool is not a giant bathtub, she enjoys the outdoor pool life.
• she has separation anxiety when her mommy and daddy leave.

i'm hoping these animal behavior shows have a positive influence and helps her separation anxiety. Who needs the dog whisperer to come to the house when your dog will just watch him on tv?! please notice her rubber chicken. she loves her rubber chicken and brings it to bed with her....my bed mind you. poor callie finally caught on to lulu's high maintenance and expects to sleep in our bed as well. i'm about to set up camp on the couch! i thought callie, lulu, and at times jared, were supposed to be the ones in the dog house? something is seriously wrong with this picture and yet awfully cute at the same time!

mother nature needs to chill out!

i think it is time mother nature and i had a come to jesus meeting. this heat thing is out of control and seriously cannot be good for this whole global warming ordeal. last night i kindly demanded that the thermostat remain at 73.....and that was only me being nice. i'm pretty sure 68 would be more ideal and conducive to my condition. however at this rate, i'm officially emptying out jared's wallet as rapid speeds. tacking on another $100 to the electric bill would probably cause him to strongly consider slapping a "return to sender" stamp on me and ship me home!

it's not that i have not enjoyed being pregnant, but seriously...those women in hollywood who make comments like "i have never felt sexier" and "i have enjoyed every minute" is full of you know what!!! being pregnant has been exciting, but my days of excitement are quickly coming to an end. I'm ready for the next phase.

In addition to being hot all the time, I feel kind of gross. I get out of breath just walking across a parking lot. And my back hurts. My feet hurt. My ankles are swollen and my toes look like cocktail wieners. My engagement ring barely fits on my ring finger and I'm thinking I should stop forcing it on each morning. and the leg cramps - good lord almighty, the leg cramps have arrived with a dreadful vengeance!! i wake up in tears and loud hollers. poor jared and lulu wake up thinking an axe murderer has enter into the room. when brayden moves around, it feels like he's just got no room left in there. my doctor continuously reminds me that there is room and my stomach will continue to grow. thus far she had not proven to be misleading. it seems, from my perspective, that brayden can't find a position he likes, but he's going to keep trying no matter how much it might feel like he is stretching the very limits of my uterine walls. so i imagine we -- me and my sweet boy -- are equally uncomfortable, as we count down these remaining six weeks of gestation. people keep telling me that i should enjoy these last few weeks of peace and quiet, before there's a crying baby keeping me up all hours of the night. i assume these people have no recollection of what it is like to have leg cramps keep them up all hours of the night. at least babies, even crying ones, have a cute factor to them. nobody keeps photo albums of their leg cramps. at least i hope not. but then again there are very strange people out there...

forgive me as i sign off to go massage my sore and swollen calve muscles with bengay.

baby brayden briefing

jared and i had a doctors appointment this afternoon. brayden is doing well and growing fast. he is already 5 1/2 lbs. at first i was worried but my doctor quickly comforted me saying he should be between 71/2-8 1/2 lbs. i'm happy with that.....as long as i'm not popping out any 10 pound baby!! according to the dorctor's words, everything is "perfect."

47 more days!

political brain washing?

today has been yet another lazy day for jared and i...mainly consisting of naps. at this rate 6 weeks seems like an eternity away! I find myself singing "i will survive, hey, hey!" every now any then....here in the knetzer household, jared and i have spent the past 2 weeks immersed in the political realm. as an american citizen i feel that is my civic responsibility to be well educated about american government and politics. the beginning of these past 2 weeks consisted of watching the democratic national convention. my political views are conservative however, i feel that it is important to know what goes on across the board...otherwise i'm making uninformed, uneducated and ignorant decisions. so, i spend that entire week listening to each speech...michelle obama, hilary, bill, biden and obama. hardly impressed to say the least. i'm always intrigued by obama's capability to captivate his audience. i've known people like him before. he's the kind of person who after listening to them speak about the sky being purple will walk away from the conversation seriously considering whether or not the sky really is purple! i'll give it to him, he's a very charismatic and captivating person. but i'm affraid that's as deep as it gets.

i'm pretty sure every american agrees that we are in need of serious change. however, i truly believe former mayor rudy giuliani said it best,

change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy (website)

jared and i listen to talk radio every now and then. one of the radio hosts conducted a survey in manhattan and interviewed individuals who were registered voters. all of them were obama supporters. what was most shocking about this interview was the fact that they do not know why they were voting for him other than for the reason of:

• getting the troops out of iraq(even if it is at the cost of loosing the war and our troops dying in vain)

• tired of paying $5/gallon for gas (even though not one of them knows what obama's energy plan consists of)

• they believe he is going to bring about change (even though obama doesn't have a political record nor has he ever actually brought about change....unless you consider helping people move out of asbestos infested homes as a community organizer...as one of his spokesmen informed us).

when asked if they could name 3 successful things obama has done as a senator, not one person could name even one successful accomplishment. are these really the people that are going to be putting our next president in office?
with the announcement of sarah palin being on the mccain ticket as VP, there has been much excitement as well as controversy. funny how the questions she is interrogated with in the first week of her announcement, are questions not one person has asked obama in his 19 months of running for president. i don't have an issue with anyone questioning her political record and what her accomplishments have been, but is it really necessary to drag her 17 year old daughter through the mud or the fact that her husband had a dui 22 years ago. what about obama's admitted heavy drug use around the same time or his affiliation with criminals and communist fascists? i find it ironic that the party who supposedly is for the middle class and minorities, is berating one who is just that. perhaps their justification is due to the fact that she is a conservative and actually had her child even after finding out he had down syndrome.

after her speech at the rnc, she had the media in a tizzy as they stated her speech was full of pithy, hateful attacks on the obama/biden ticket. i'm sorry, but obviously they have a hard time accepting the truthful facts. last time i checked, sarah palin has more executive experience than obama and biden together and actually has a voting record that doesn't just say "present."

personally i'm quite sick of all the ignorant political rhetoric and democratic propaganda that has flooded all forms of media. for example, i watched the first 20 minutes of the vma's this evening and was repulsed. who is russell brand anyways?? i don't know about you, but he looks like he's been on a coke binge and needs to be in a nut house! and does does he really think we care what his political views are?! he's british and cannot even vote in america. his comments, which no one laughed at, about palin's pregnant daughter were comments that disgusted me. i'm sure if they were remarks about obama's daughter, he would be beaten and burned for years to come. ironic? of course not. go back to britian....

being a soon-to-be first time mother myself, i have never felt the need to be well informed as i have in this election. i've realized you have to be very careful however.....it's quite obvious who the media is rooting for. political brain washing. when it comes down to it, there is a huge difference in someone claiming to do great things and someone who has done great things. i want a president who is capable of bringing about change, not someone who has a hard time making a decision. voting 'present' as commander in chief won't do the trick. promising words are great, but it's time to really look at the facts.

under pressure

thankfully this past weekend, hurricane gustav missed panama city beach. now my attention is at the plethora of hurricanes that are lurking out in the atlantic. even though gustav didn't make landfall here, i definitely felt it's affects. i had heard from multiple people that with the drop in barometric pressure, women are more likely to go into labor. i asked my doctor if this was true, and being someone who is quick to discredit old wives tales, i figured she would say it was false. to my surprise she laughed and nodded her head 'yes.' gustav may not have sent me into labor, but i certainly felt like it could be a possibility. i spent all day yesterday on the couch with my swollen feet propped up, wedding rings off, and my stomach feeling an immense amount of pressure. quite uncomfortable to say the least.

if these hurricanes doesn't calm down, these next 6-8 weeks may turn into much less!

an eventful upcoming year

this past weekend, jared and i ventured through tropical storm fay to visit my sister, afton, is ft. lauderdale. after 2 hours of torrential downpour, we made it through the rain and enjoyed a pleasant drive to south florida. prior to this trip, i didn't realize ft. lauderdale was only 40 min. from miami. typically i don't find myself being geographically challenged...i leave that responsibility to my sisters...however 9 hours in a car when you are 32 weeks pregnant is ONE LONG TRIP! I also learned that heat, sodium, constant sitting, and pregnancy leads to ridiculous swelling! i officially have kankles. that's all i will say.

on saturday, we all ventured into miami (praying we wouldn't get off the wrong exit and end up in the back of a drug lord's trunk) to spend the afternoon in south beach. since all of us watch tlc and have dabbled in a little ink, we went in search of the miami ink tatoo shop...which we were not disappointed. i was probably the least excited of the bunch but still thought it was really neat. jared thought it would be cool to get a tattoo at miami ink of brayden's name...until he found out that it would cost $350. at this point, that $350 can be used in much more useful means!

seeing afton was a breath of fresh air! even though we are complete opposites, her sweet spirit and infectious laugh always makes my heart happy! i also finally had the opportunity to meet her new fiance. yes you read correctly....Afton is engaged and is planning a wedding for next october (which gives me just enough time to loose the baby weight)! meeting dan for the first time was a pleasant surprise....his genuine attention and love for afton was encouraging. i'm so proud of afton and her accomplishments over the past year! I'm excited for the future that is in store for her and dan!

"a dull moment" is a term that seems to be void amongst the Moffatt family! in 6-8 weeks there is going to be a new little one to add to the family clan. in a year, there will be another new member. it's going to be an exciting year! being in the inner circle with weddings, i know my year will be filled with afton's wedding and a new baby. thank goodness i'm getting all my ducks in a row now!

the simplicity of hidden treasures

it's saturday and it's raining outside. supposedly tropical storm fay could be headed our way. Still in my sweatpants and hoodie, I'm quite comfortable. sitting on my couch, lulu asleep by my side, i have my laptop as i design new material for work and a bowl of lucky charms while saturday morning cartoons play in the background. i feel like i woke up and and am partially reliving my childhood - perhaps it's in the simplicity of the things i have grown to love. i love rainy summer days. i love being bundled up beneath blankets and curled up on the couch and who doesn't love having their puppy sound asleep beside them (the fact that she is heavily sedated from being fixed, is besides the point)? forgetting what i have been missing all these years, i have rekindled an old friendship with lucky charms. i've always been a sucker for the marshmallows...or maybe it was a suppressed liking of lucky's irish accent when he said "i love me lucky charms"!

remember the days when cereal actually had toys hidden amongst all those sugary cereal bits in the box? what happened to the toys?! pouring my lucky charms this morning, i suddenly remembered how excited i used to be when i found my hidden surprise....even if it was just a power ranger sticker! the worst surprises were when you bought cereal you didn't even really like, but you bought it because it came with a really cool toy (even if it did end up in the garbage after a day)...and then come to find out you had to mail in the proof of purchases to actually get the toy. what a disappointment to a small child!

Anyways, after pouring my cereal, i realized that the box was just about empty and in i looked to see what toy i might find. absolutely nothing. in all honesty, i was rather disheartened. not that i really wanted the toy, but i think what i was really looking for was a part of my childhood past. i felt robbed!

that's it, i think i'm going to the store to buy a box of cereal that i probably can't stand in search for that toy!