Kendall Braelyn Godfrey is Born!

Friday, November 25, 2011 I woke up with extra energy and decided that I was tired of the leaves in the yard. Since Joe was at work, I decided to take it upon myself to rake/blow the leaves...keeping in mind that normally, I HATE doing leaves. Four hours later, I completed the front and back yard and proceeded to go inside and clean the entire house. At 8:15pm, I started to have moderate contractions and at 8:45pm the contractions began to get closer together and more painful so I called Joe at work to let him know "It's time". He was home in 10 minutes. ha ha. We checked into Matthew's Presbyterian at 10:35pm and almost 12 hours later at 8:41am, Joe and I became the very proud parents of Kendall Braelyn Godfrey. She weighed in at 7lbs, 11oz and she was 20 inches long. 

Our new Family.

After Kendall was cleaned up, checked over, and tested; Doctor's said she passed with flying colors and was very healthy.

Kendall in her car seat right before we left the hospital on Monday morning.

The first week home went by smoothly and so far, Kendall has been a great baby. Despite having to get up to feed her, I have still been able to get 5-7 hours of sleep a night...even since day one! 

Friday morning, Joe and I took Kendall to her first pediatric appointment to be weighed and checked out.    On Monday morning, She had dropped down to 7lb-3oz and by Friday weighed 7lb-15oz! So not only is she eating well, but sleeping well too! We are so blessed!

Here's a look at the past week and a half so far!

 Kendall in her bouncy seat. It looks so comfy, I wish they had it in my size! :)

 Our sleeping "monkey."

 Look at that cute face!!

Her first bath in her "whale-of-a-tub." She wasn't entirely excited about her first bath.

A Finished Nursery

We finally got our nursery completed and ready for Kendall so here it is!

 We love our new chair! It rocks and fully reclines!

 This shot looks a little cluttered, but the bouncy chair gets moved around as we need it.

 The afghan on the crib was made by my sister Kiersten, and its absolutely beautiful! It matched the nursery perfectly!

 The changing table/dresser. The gray elephants on the shelf were made by my Dad to match our elephant decor!

Scheduled Induction for Tuesday Nov. 29th

Joe started a new job with a great company called Red Ventures a few weeks ago and is still in the training process, so he works 12 pm to 9 pm for the next 2.5 months. I am trying not to go crazy since I am used to spending most of my time working. So I have been spending my days cleaning, cooking, baking, sleeping, and relaxing. I have even begun to put our Christmas decorations up a couple weeks early since I will most likely have my hands full very soon...it makes the hours and days go by a little bit faster.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my 40 week check up, and despite my wishes and hopes, Kendall doesn't look like she will be on time or all that close to on-time. Her heartbeat is still very strong, and she seems to be healthy, I suppose she just needs more time to "bake." The only change was that she had dropped a little more since the week before. My doctor informed me that she won't let me go more than a week over, so she has scheduled an induction for Tuesday November 29th at 5 am. I am kind of discouraged that I may not be able to have a naturally induced labor, so I am praying that Kendall will show up on her own sometime this week, but we are continuing to trust God because he knows what is best for us and Baby. In the meantime, we will continue to pray for her health, a safe delivery and prepare diligently for her arrival.

40 Week EVICTION NOTICE

Eviction Notice

November 16, 2011

Dear Baby Kendall,

            You are hereby served the papers for eviction from your mother's womb. You have occupied said space for almost 40 weeks with no signs of change. In that time you have been a fairly easy-going and kind tenant: the noise and aggravation have consistently been at a minimum for a tenant of your size and stature. However, there are many perks that you have also enjoyed, including: free heating and water, endless meals and openness to park your feet and limbs wherever you wanted. The reasons for eviction, effective immediately, are as follows:

             1. Original End of Lease: Your lease will end on November 18, 2011. The landlord knows you may need some more time to muster the strength for your journey to the new home and anticipated your move-out date to be one of the following: November 17, 18, or 19. Definitely before Thanksgiving but hopefully between November 20 and 22. 

       

             2. Cramped Quarters: While the landlord, your mother, insists that you seem to have more space now than ever, it is understood that your living quarters are only becoming more cramped with each ounce you gain. It is understood that you continue to collect "necessary" household items, such as: more fat, more brain power and more strength for the move, so you are being given a few extra days, but after that time you will need to vacate.

              3. Breech of Contract: You are being evicted due to a breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions to the front of the house, within reasonable limits. were discussed and agreed upon with the landlords prior to occupation. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made without prior consent. Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. 

              4. Building maintenance: If you do not leave now, the landlord will need to make excessive concessions for building maintenance to keep the dwelling sound. Some of these punch list items are uncomfortable for both landlord and tenant. The mother is doing everything to coax you out before sending her doctor to come get you on Tuesday the 29th of November. Since said building will be occupied by another tenant somewhere in the future, the landlord is eager to begin maintenance, upkeep and significant renovations to the exterior.

              The parents would like to note, once again, that you have been a model tenant up until now. You have followed all of the house rules (within reason), minimally disturbed your landlady and have kept your mark to the interior and exterior of the building to a minimum. The landlords would like you to vacate the property within the day, but most certainly within the week. Due notice has been given and all leases have now ended.

               

               While the move will not be easy for tenant or for landlord, the Parents promise even better accommodations than before, with square footage beyond comprehension, warm meals every day and a warm and cozy environment. The Parents have also lowered your rent to smiles, chubby baby cheeks, and your status as "Child of Joe and Brittany Godfrey." The terms of your new lease: to be upheld by the parents, include but are not limited to: unconditional love, a healthy home, kisses and hugs and a family who will support you forever. 

Love, Your Landlords (Mom & Dad)

        

Kendall's Nursery (Almost complete)

Here are the most recent pictures of Kendall's nursery. She should be here any day now! I am due this Friday, but only God knows when and at what time she will arrive. As each day goes by, Joe and I get more excited and more anxious, although I think those feelings are normal especially for first time parents. I will go to the doctor again tomorrow, so I will be sure to update everyone on any changes!

Kendall's crib and changing table/dresser

 Her Toy/Bookshelf

 Kendalls changing table/dresser

 Owl Canvas #3 (Acrylic on canvas)

 My most recent nursery project. Material collage on canvas. (I have had a lot of spare time on my hands since I haven't been working as much.)

Just a close-up of the collage

Two Weeks To Go, Maybe Less?

Two weeks to go...maybe less! Either way, my bags are packed and I am ready to go!! Although I have enjoyed this last stretch of my pregnancy, I am ready to be done being pregnant. My bag and Kendall's diaper bag are packed for the hospital, and we are installing the car seat this week. My belly button has popped out and I feel like Kendall should be done "cooking" soon. The nursery is ready for the most part, with the exception of the bedding, a new chair and a few other decorative aspects. We have our brand new pack and play set up in our bedroom complete with extra diapers, sheets and changing table pads for any late night changes. All of her clothing, blankets, toys, sheets etc have been washed/cleaned and are awaiting her arrival, so I am definitely ready. Of course, I'm not looking forward to the pain that comes with labor, but We can't wait to meet Kendall and experience the miracle of her birth!!

We go to the Doctor every week now, so Doctor Sal can keep an eye on my blood pressure, Baby's heartbeat, and any changes in my cervix. I am two weeks out and I am dilated a little over a centimeter, 75% effaced and Kendall is in the -2 position (Whatever that means). Needless to say, my body is preparing for labor, and because I have started to efface, our Doctor says we could have Kendall any day and that dialation can happen fast, so we will see what happens.                                

Today, I am feeling good. I have the day off and I have been in the mood to bake, so I am currently making oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips. For those who haven't had them, they are absolutely amazing! I'm sure it's not the healthiest thing I could make, but I don't bake very often, so I figured I would splurge a little bit. In between batches, I am working on my last canvas. I said I would post pictures of my elephant canvases when they were done, so here they are. (Don't laugh)

I decided to hang them above the crib, although I am considering hanging them with ribbon or gluing ribbon in between the brown border and circle background and maybe adding a little bow to make them more feminine. I haven't decided yet, so for now they will just hang on the wall as in.

 As I mentioned earlier, we don't have the bedding yet, but I pulled the elephants seen on the canvases from the bedding, so it will look more complete here in a bit. The picture below is our book/toy shelf. We plan to add some canvas bins to the bottom two shelves for added toy storage as Kendall gets older. More pictures to come, and I will continue to keep everyone updated on the labor status!!

Kendall is almost full-term!

I have finished my 36th week and began my 37th week. By this coming Friday, (October 28th) Kendall will be considered a full-term baby! That means it would be 100% safe for her to make an appearance at any time. I have been having pretty bad Braxton Hicks contractions during the days and nights for about two weeks, so I guess my body is preparing for labor. Joe and I went to the doctor last Wednesday and found out that I am a little over one centimeter dilated and around 50% effaced, so Doctor Sal thinks that there is a good chance Kendall may be here early! (I could only hope!) Then again, it could mean nothing too! She will come when she is ready, and in the mean time, I have been trying not to be overly anxious about her arrival and when that might be.

This week, I have began the "nesting" process. I started by washing all of the blankets, sheets, towels and clothes and spent the rest of the week organizing, cleaning, and boiling all of the plastic parts and pieces to things. I finally finished my baby closet dividers, and although they aren't perfect, they definitely helped to separate all of Baby's clothing.

I also finished the closet, although there's a good chance things will be moved around as I find what works best for Joe and I and Kendall.

This coming week will be a busy one between work, teaching, packing for the hospital, painting, our Maternity tour on Tuesday night and another Doctor's appointment on Wednesday, so I will keep everyone updated as I know more! In the meantime, I am going to try and relax as much as possible as I prepare for the big day! :)

5.5 Weeks To Go!!

I cannot believe that 34 weeks have already flown by. Where did this year go? It seems like it was just yesterday when I found out I was pregnant, and now, I have a measly 5-1/2 weeks to go...give or take a few weeks. I am feeling really good these days...a little tired, but I definitely have more energy then I have had for most of my pregnancy. Thankfully the dizzy spells and queasiness has subsided and now I can focus on preparing and getting ready for Kendall to come. 

We haven't gotten the nursery finished yet, but last week, we were able to get the travel system and the crib mattress...both extremely important things to have, so needless to say, we can relax a little bit. I am still working on the canvases for the nursery and I have also started painting some baby closet dividers that will help me keep all of Kendall's clothing a little more organized. They are a work in progress, so I will post pictures when I finish them...along with everything else. lol. 

This coming Thursday, we will go back to the Doctor for a check-up, however instead of seeing Dr. Sal, we will be meeting some of the other doctor's at the practice. Dr. Sal is also pregnant, and only a week behind me, so she may or may not be able to deliver Kendall. My weekly visits will start the following week, where we’ll find out how things are (or aren’t) progressing. Hopefully, the doctor will have an idea if Kendall will be a 38 – 39 week baby or more like a 39 – 40 week baby. Can I vote for the first option? Of course I know that nothing is certain, so I’ll try not to go in with any expectations. I’m aware that she could very well be late too, so we will wait and see what happens. 

Even though things are getting more uncomfortable by the day, at least the weather has started to drift into fall. The cooler temperatures are helping a lot, especially mentally. I’ve been longing for autumn all year, knowing that’s when Kendall will arrive. Now, it’s here. And soon she will be too.

The Nursery in the Making

We have started on the nursery but it has definitely been a slow process and we aren't close to being finished, so keep that in mind when you see the pictures. This room, before it became a nursery was our office/junk room. The walls were white and it was pretty much a "catch all" room for everything in the house that didn't have a home. Although I didn't get a picture of the room in that state, this is our before picture.

 The brown chair on the right side of this picture will be leaving shortly, and will be replaced with a glider or rocker of some sort. It is hard to tell in these pictures, but the walls are now a very light green. Joe and I love how the color turned out!!

BEFORE pictures

Joe and I had planned on having the crib put together before Mom got her last week, but when we got the crib out of the box, we realized that we had no hardware to put the crib together. It took TWO weeks for us to finally get the pieces we needed, but they arrived and we assembled the crib yesterday. The furniture is big for this small room, but it is absolutely beautiful and we love it!!

The piece of furniture on the left side of this picture will be a dresser/changer combo. We opted for this instead of a dresser and a changing table, because of space and the fact that this will grow with a child of any age, whereas after you are done with a changing table it really has no use.

After getting the crib together and moving it around the room 50 times to get it in the perfect space, this is what we have come up with right now. Keep in mind again, that a lot of the smaller things in the room will be moved and changed around. So, these are our DURING photos.

We will have some wasted space in the corners, but we decided to put the diaper genie in one corner close to the changing table, so it is out of sight, but functional.

I couldn't resist! :) Eli keeps us company while we set up the nursery!

Lastly is the closet. The closet has been the most difficult process for, and I'm sure I will change it 100 more times before committing it to it's final state, but this is the BEFORE picture.

Boring and simple. It was originally used to house Joe and I's work clothes.

This is the DURING photo of the closet. It won't be this jumbled when I am done. :)

At least now, it is a little more functional. The drawers in the middle of the closet house caps, socks, shoes, and misc. accessories. The baskets below it contains wash clothes, burp clothes, towels, and bibs.

More photos to come!

31 weeks pregnant!

I will try not to slack on my blog again. I am horrible at this, I know! I have a lot to update, but I'm not sure where to start! Okay, lets start with this past weekend. (The weekend of September 10th) Mom drove up to spend the weekend with me and come to my shower on Sunday, September 11th. She arrived on Friday afternoon, so we went to dinner, then Joe and I showed her around Waxhaw. Saturday, Mom and I went to Ikea in Charlotte then over to Concord Mills to do some extra shopping. All in all, I think we were out for 9 hours or so, but we had a blast!  Sunday was the day for my first baby shower!

Let me just say, that it was fabulous! We had an awesome turn out and were extremely blessed with everything we received. We got a lot of the items we needed, and I feel so blessed that everyone was sweet enough to be so generous! I owe a huge thank you to one of my good friends Sally and the other Girls in my Sunday School class who put together such a beautiful shower for me. They took care of all of the food and decorations, and Laura's Mom made the most amazing cake! It was delicious! I will post a few pictures today from my shower, but I am waiting on people to send me all of the good pictures! :)

Sally made this with fabric and tissue paper for Baby Kendall!

This is only a part of the food table! It was so beautifully set up!

 The beautiful cake

 Sally and I

This was our nursery floor after unpacking the car, and not everything fit in the picture!

Alright, the next update will be on my pregnancy so far. I am 31 weeks pregnant, which means I only have 9 weeks to go and November is closing in quickly! This week, Baby is about 18 inches long, and somewhere around 3.2lbs! Kendall's little brain continues to develop faster then ever and she can now perceive information from all five senses! Although Kendall is doing amazing, we had an unexpected trip to the Doctor yesterday, because I have been having really bad dizzy spells...almost to the point of passing out, so Doctor Sal wanted to check Baby and I out to make sure everything was okay. Kendall's heartbeat is still as strong as ever and her movements seem to become more frequent with each passing day, which is great! And although my weight gain and everything is right on track, the Doctor is referring me to a Cardiologist to make sure my dizzy spells are just part of pregnancy and not something more serious, so we will keep our fingers crossed. Now, since I have not updated my belly photo in a few weeks...here I am at 31 weeks!

  

I'm almost to that 30 week mark!

     I am just days away from officially being 30 weeks pregnant, and in the almost always uncomfortable stage. I'm starting to find that it's very hard to get comfortable for more than a few minutes at a time, whether it be sitting, standing, or lying down. The added weight is starting to catch up with my back and my hips, making it hard to do much of anything, but regardless, we are getting so much closer to the time we get to hold our precious baby Girl and that makes all of the pain worth it! We have a little more then 10 weeks to go, and this week, we have been cleaning out and setting up the nursery. Our plans were to have the crib put together on Monday, but when we got all of the pieces out of the box, we found that we didn't have any hardware to put it together, so it will be a few more days before we will get them in the mail. As soon as we get the crib put together, I will post some preliminary nursery and closet pictures. :)
     On a fun note, Mom is coming up on Friday for the weekend, and I have my first Baby Shower at the church on Sunday afternoon! I am so excited and I can't wait!! More pictures to come!

Our Weekend in Asheville

   What a relaxing weekend! Joe and I decided to head to Asheville for Labor Day weekend, but before we could leave on Friday, we had a baby doctor appointment and a Couple's 1-hour massage. Our Doctor's appointment went very well as usual. I found out that I'm slightly anemic, so Doctor Sal put me on an iron supplement which I'm not terribly excited about, but I know that that's what is best for Me and Baby Kendall. On a brighter note, I passed my Gestational Diabetes Test, so that is a great thing!
   After the Doctor's visit, we went straight to our massage appointment. We both got a 1-hour massage gift certificate for Christmas, but haven't had a chance to use them until now. It was a great way to start off the weekend!

   Joe and I made it to Asheville around 4pm on Friday afternoon, and sat out by the pool until we went out for dinner. Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready to spend the day at the Biltmore! Saturday early evening, we went tubing on the French Broad River and Sunday we came home. Here are a few pictures from our trip. 

The Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

Joe and I on a "back patio" the size of our house! lol

One of many Biltmore gardens.

A gorgeous sunflower field on the drive up to Antler Hill Village.