Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ketchledge Family Year In Review

I always love the Christmas letters that come in the mail and tell us all about what has been going on with our friends and family all year. I will hopefully find time to do this one day, but for now I figure the blog is pretty much the same thing!

2008 has certainly been life changing. We knew our life had changed completely in 2007 when Izabel was born but we had no idea how wonderful it could be. We kicked off the New Year with a party over here and Izabel had a sleepover at Grandma's (an event we are repeating tonight!) I was back to work full time and working like crazy trying to get my students ready for State and National DECA Competition.


In February we celebrated Noah's 25th birthday with a trip to Atlantic City. Jackie, J.K., J.K.'s sister Sarah and Riley went with us. It was certainly an exciting trip and we all had a great time. Izabel also celebrated her first Valentine's Day!



In March I celebrated my 24th birthday by having a girl's night. Several of my girlfriends and me went out to P.F. Chang's for dinner and drinks and we had a great time. It was definitely the break I needed! I also took about a dozen students to State DECA Competition and had several students make it on stage and one first place winner! Izabel celebrated her 1st St. Patrick's day and started eating solid foods!



In April I took several students and two friends on a fashion trip to New York. It really ended up being more of a shopping trip because of the small size of our group and we had a great time. Also in April Noah and I headed to Atlanta, GA with four of my students for National DECA Competition. We went to Six Flags, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca Cola and more and we all had fun. Izabel celebrated her 1st Easter and got lots of great surprises in her Easter basket!




In May we took Izabel for her first camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. This is something we do every year and always enjoy. Izabel enjoyed it too!


In June school was finally out and I was able to be home and spend lots of time with Izabel.


In July we took Izabel to Vermont to visit with Noah's family and celebrate Papa Bear's 50th Birthday. We arrived the day of his big party and we had a great time despite a few illnesses and falls! Izabel had a great time meeting and visiting with that side of the family and was able to meet pretty much everyone while we were there!
When we got home Izabel started walking!

In August I was back to work 4 days a week. Noah got some not so great news at work and things became a little difficult for him there. Needless to say he is still looking for a new job but in today's economy who knows what he'll be able to find. At least he still has a job! I had struggles at work as well. Because of budget cuts we weren't sure how much job security I had left. I managed to hold on to this year's position but next year is still up in the air! We did get some good news this month --- we found out I was pregnant with our 2nd child! This is something we planned and we were very excited that the timing worked out so perfectly. Noah and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by heading to Atlantic City (where else would we go?) and it was great to get away just the two of us.


In September school started up again and I was back in the swing of things with lots of morning sickness and exhaustion. The "what was I thinking" line was in the back of my head all the time because this pregnancy was much harder than with Izabel. For starters, there is no coming home and taking a nap when you have a 1 year old!

In October we celebrated Izabel's 1st birthday with a big party! She finally got to have some cake and she loved it! Everyone had a great time and she got lots of great gifts. She is such a lucky girl to have so many people who love her so much! Noah's sister Theresa moved in with us in the middle of October. She needed somewhere to stay until she could get into the dorms at ODU and were happy to have her. Izabel loves following her around and watching her get ready. We celebrated Halloween at church and then we went Trick-or-Treating with our little Ladybug. She was so cute and really got into the candy thing. She loved when people put candy in her basket but not so much when one of us tried to take some out!



In November Mimi and Papa came to visit for Thanksgiving. This year Izabel actually got to eat with us and I think she likes turkey! Izabel got her first haircut and I also took a group of students to Nashville for a conference and had a very stressful time! Traveling with students while pregnant is probably not the best idea!



In December we found out that we were having a baby boy. His name is Tanner Wayne and he will be here towards the beginning of April. We celebrated Christmas with Izabel and I got two whole weeks at home with Izzy. We had a fantastic Christmas with lots of friends and family and even Mimi and Papa got to come back down for a visit.


Even with the ups and downs we are very blessed. We have more than we could ask for and we have a wonderful little girl who makes us smile and laugh and sometimes cry. It's the best thing in the world and thankful doesn't even begin to describe it! I hope everyone had a wonderful 2008 and we are looking forward to lots of new adventures and blessings in 2009!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Playdate

Today Izabel had a play date with her friend RJ. RJ is only a couple weeks older than Izabel and it's funny to watch them play together. They spent a lot of time together this summer but since I've been back at work it's been hard to get together. It took RJ a while to warm up but then they started playing. Izabel wasn't too sure about sharing her toys and I think they were both a little tired but it went pretty well. Hopefully they'll like playing together because they'll be doing it more! RJ is going to have a little sister who will be just a couple weeks older than Tanner! This summer will be fun with me and Rebecca trying to have play dates with 4 kids!

Monday, December 29, 2008

What A Mess!

We just got back from seeing Dr. Scott and he says that Izabel's rash is viral and it got so bad because of how high her fever was. It is evidently common for children to get a rash after the fever breaks from a viral infection. I knew this, but I had never seen something so bad and since her eyes and lips were swollen the nurse we talked to Sunday told us we better take her in to be seen. Dr. Scott is confident that she is not allergic to amoxocilan and that the steroids and benedryll are probably making her more fussy than the ear infection did. He told us to stop those two things and put her back on the amoxocilan to clear up the ear infection that is still there. I don't know what to think after getting two different explanations in two days! I'm happy she's probably not allergic to amoxocilan, but I'm afraid to give it to her again. I guess we'll see what happens! Either way it will be nice when this all clears up and she is her normal self again. It will also be nice to stop spending so much money that we don't have on doctors, hospitals and prescriptions!

Update on Tanner

Well with the holidays and everything all of the posts have been about Izabel so I decided to give everyone an update on the pregnancy and little Tanner. This week will make me 24 weeks pregnant. That means there are only about 14 weeks left until our anticipated delivery day (since I have to have a scheduled c-section). I am feeling much better than earlier on but I am still exhausted. I guess being pregnant with a 1 year old running around at the same time would be hard on anyone. It has been really nice being home for a little while though and I still have this week to do a little more relaxing.

Tanner has been moving around a lot lately. Noah felt him for the first time Christmas night. Yay for my kids moving for him on special days! He felt Izabel for the first time on Father's day and now Tanner on Christmas so they will both be special memories. Last night we actually saw Tanner moving. It is still really weird to see something moving around beneath your skin! Hopefully he will be good to me for the next 14 weeks and maybe take it easy on the kicking in the middle of the night (but I won't hold my breath!)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Allergic Reaction

Izabel has been on Amoxocilan for her ear infection since Monday. She's been a little fussy but with all of the holiday excitement we did think much of it. Yesterday her face seemed kind of broken out and when we went to put her to bed she had a little rash on her tummy. Well this morning she had a huge rash all over her body! She slept late but when we got her up this is what we saw!

We called the doctor and they said it could be a reaction to the amoxocilan so we had to take her to the ER to be evaluated. Her eyes and lips were swollen which wasn't a good sign. We took her to Chesapeake General to avoid waiting all day at CHKD and they were great. We were only there a total of about an hour and a half. They were almost positive it was an allergic reaction so they told us to stop the amoxocilan and they put her on a steroid and benedryll. She has to go see Dr. Scott tomorrow to figure out what to do about the ear infection now but the rash should clear up with the medicine. Now Izabel is officially allergic to Amoxocilan and I don't get to say no when they ask if there are any known drug allergies! I still can't believe it but I'm glad we know!!!


The pictures don't do it any justice but they were the best we could get with a very fussy little girl!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Part II

Christmas morning we actually got up before Izabel. I got up about 8 so I could get a shower and get ready before Izabel got up. Noah got up right after me and we went in to wake Izabel up. Noah got the tree on and got the video recorder ready and I brought Izabel in. She didn't know what to think at first. We showed her the things from Santa (they were already open and set up) and she started playing with them. She tried out her chair and then fell out of it trying to get up. She played with her new Mega Blocks and her monkey toy. Then we opened our stockings. After stockings we made waffles and all ate breakfast. Then we got back to opening presents. Izabel opened her new baby (more about that later), her stroller and high chair, and her music table. Noah got me all of the books on my list so I'll be set for at least a few weeks and I had his Grandfather's watch and the watch I got him while we were dating fixed. We played for a little bit and then got ready and headed over to Grandma's house to do Christmas with my family.

Before we got started (Santa doesn't wrap presents for our house!)
Izzy's stockingHer Go Baby Go Toy from SantaChecking out her new chairA new baby that she fell in love with right awayOpening presents continued for a while at Grandma's house. They hadn't even started yet so we watched as they opened their presents and then we opened all of ours. Izabel got the sit and spin pony. She can bounce on it and it hooks up to the tv to play games and music. She got an ODU cheerleader outfit to wear to football games in the fall, a couple other outfits, a laugh and learn piggy bank and plenty of tissue paper and boxes to play with!

Getting ready for ODU Football with a cheerleader outfitHelping Grandma open some of her presents
Loving the Pony but not quite ready to get on it!
We played for a while and tried to get Izabel to play with her pony (she wasn't quite sure about it yet) and then we tried really hard to get her to take a nap. She ended up taking a ride in the car where she finally fell asleep for a little while. Then it was time to eat and my mom made all her best stuff! We had an amazing dinner and lots of great desserts too. Then we all sat around and talked while the boys played video games. My Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Judy came over for a little while to visit. Izabel thought she needed a diaper change so she got a diaper out of her bag, laid down on a piece of tissue paper and stuck her legs up in the air. It was so funny we were all dying laughing! Everyone was still talking about it today. We ended up home around 7 and we were all exhausted and ready for bed. I think all three of us slept better than we have in a while (even Tanner managed to let me sleep through the night!) It was a great day with the family and we couldn't have asked for anything more!

Christmas Eve

On Wednesday we still had lots to do so we got up and got going. We picked up a few last presents for Daddy's stocking and then had lunch with Grandma and Granny Mary. Izzy got all kinds of presents there. Then we headed home for a nap and to finish wrapping presents. Izabel slept pretty late so we didn't have time to bake cookies for Santa but she did draw a picture of what she wanted to leave for him. We got dressed and went to church where Izabel stayed in the service almost the whole time. She loved watching all of the people singing and looking around at the crowded sanctuary. Noah took her out at the end during communion and invitation because it got very quiet for a little while but other than that she she stayed and was perfect. Then we went out to dinner with my parents, brother and Grandma. We came home and put out milk and cookies for Santa before opening her first Christmas present (Christmas PJs) and getting into bed. Then Noah and I went to work getting everything ready for the big morning!


Milk and cookies for Santa
Izzy's first letter to SantaAre these cookies for me?I have to try it before I give it to Santa!
Okay he can have the rest

Christmas Part I

The weekend before Christmas Noah's parents came to visit on their way down to Florida. On Sunday we did Christmas with them. We had a fantastic homemade spaghetti dinner and then we opened presents. Everyone was very generous. Izabel got the cutest GAP sweatshirt from Aunt Theresa, a big box of books that have DVDs to go with each one, cowgirl boots from Gymboree and the cutest little suitcase for her to pull around. They got us the big George Foreman grill with all of the inter-changeable plates and a wireless router (I'm sitting on the couch typing this right now!) We also got a hand-held massager, digital photo frame and several other things. Everyone had a great day together and Izabel had lots of fun helping everyone open their presents and playing with hers! Mimi and Papa had to leave to head down to Florida but they'll be back this weekend for some more quality time with Izzy!


Checking out Papa Bear's present
Checking out a box...boxes and tissue paper seem to be the favorites!Helping Auntie open her new down comforter from us!Pulling her new suitcase around
Her new cowgirl boots!





Tuesday, December 23, 2008

1st Ear Infection

We've been pretty lucky so far with Izabel. She got sick with a UTI when she was 2 months old but other than that she has only really had a couple runny noses until now! Thursday night I noticed she was running a fever but she is cutting her molars so I figured it was just from that. Then Friday my mom called and said Izzy was sick. She still had a fever and she just wasn't herself. Her temp that night was 103.8. I called the dr because I thought that was a little high and they said just to focus on keeping her hydrated and switch to Mortin to try and bring the temp down. Saturday morning her temp was better and she seemed fine so we didn't go to the dr. Saturday night her temp was up to 104.2. We called the dr again and they said to take her to urgent care to see if she needed an antibiotic or iv fluids. We took her to Patient First and they really didn't know what they were doing where infants are concerned. They took her temp under the arm and said it was like 100 when I knew it was higher and then they said she weighed 16 lbs which would mean she lost over 4 lbs since her 12 month check up! They did pretty well taking her blood and it came back with a high white blood cell count so they knew it was something bacterial. They prescribed an antibiotic and we were done. Sunday she seemed much better and Mimi and Papa were here so she had fun playing with them and opening some Christmas presents (those pics will be in the next post!) Then Monday morning I could tell she didn't feel good. She was really fussy and she kept pulling on her ear so we went to see Dr Scott. He said she did have an ear infection in her right ear and he prescribed a much higher dosage of antibiotic. He said the amount they gave her at Patient First was lower than he would give a newborn! So she's been on the right dose for a while now and seems to be doing a little better although neither one of us got any sleep last night! I guess it could be worse since we made it over 14 months before we had to deal with this!!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Bye Bye Bottles

We stopped the bottle feeding and went to sippy cups quite a while ago but we were holding on to that last night time feeding to make sure Izabel made it through the night without waking up hungry. We've been slowly decreasing the amount of milk each night with plans to get rid of it completely as soon as I go on Christmas break but Friday night as I was fighting with Izabel to get her to drink it I realized that if she doesn't take it willingly then why should I try? So since this past friday we have put her to bed with no bottle and up until last night she has been fine. Last night she woke up and had a hard time going back to sleep but she's getting her molars so that could be to blame as well. We're pretty happy to be done with the bottles! She still gets her binky but only in her crib and we're okay with that. We don't want to wean her from them just to turn around and pull them back out for Tanner. She'll have enough adjustments to get used to without being confused about why Tanner can have a binky but she can't! We'll work on those when I'm home over the summer. Until then we're going to be happy getting as much sleep as possible!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Weekend Update

On Thursday night we got Izabel her forward facing car seat. We got one that turns into a booster seat eventually so this will pretty much be her seat until she's ready to sit with a seat belt! Friday afternoon after she got up from her nap we went to run errands so it was her first time trying out the new seat. She was pretty cranky and she didn't know what to think at first but she adjusted pretty quickly!

It must not be that bad!
Friday night we had dinner at Red Robin with Jackie. We haven't seen her in a while and I haven't gotten to talk to her since she got back from Hawaii so it was nice to catch up! We had a great dinner and conversation and then we went over to Babies R Us to pick up a few things.

Saturday Izabel and I got started shopping early! We went to the bank, the gas station, to my Mom's and then to Pembroke mall. While we were at Kohls Izabel took her shoe off and dropped it somewhere. It disappeared seemingly forever since no one turned it in and they didn't find it while they were cleaning (how does that happen?) Then we went to Toys R Us where we picked out all of Izzy's presents. I am completely done shopping for her!

Sunday we did some cleaning around the house and then headed back to Kohls to return a couple things. Then we went to Best Buy and Carters (yay for having one so close now!) We had lunch together at Tropical Smoothie and then headed to Linens and Things to check out their going out of business sale (don't waste your time!) We came home and Izabel took a nap while I wrapped presents and then we made some Christmas cookies together while we waited for Noah to get home from his camping trip! Here are the picks and they came out pretty well!




Friday, December 12, 2008

Tanner's Nursery

After much thought and debate we finally decided on the theme we would go with for Tanner's nursery....Sea Life! This is the theme I had planned on doing way back when I was pregnant with Izabel (if she had been a boy) and I planned on doing it this time anyway, but then I found the Turtle Bay pattern which I loved and started debating. Then I found out that several of my friends have or are using that pattern so I started doubting that choice. Then my friend at work offered a whole nursery set with all of the accessories for $100 (a savings of almost $300 if we had purchased everything ourselves). This set is the Frog Prince theme and I liked it, but I didn't love it. In order to make a decision we went to Babies R Us last night to look at our choices up close and compare prices. It turned out that the Sea Life pattern was being discontinued and what they had left on was on clearance! They were also having a sale on the clearance and everything was buy one get one half off! Needless to say our decision was made! The room is already painted blue but we are thinking about painting the bottom half a brighter blue and putting the border around the middle (thanks Kim for showing me how cute this can look!) The only thing the store didn't have was the border so after about a dozen phone calls I found 2 rolls at the Babies R Us in Richmond. I have them on hold and I am going to try and get someone up there to pick them up for me until I can go get them.

Here is a picture of the set from Kids Linen Co.

While we were there we bought a shower gift (I wonder who it could be for!) and did a little registering! We are not planning on having a shower and we don't expect anyone to get us anything for this baby, but there are people who want to anyway so we wanted to let them know what things we actually need. I know it doesn't seem like we should need anything after just having a baby 14 months ago but there are some things that are still needed! Plus anything that is still on the registry when Tanner arrives we can buy at a discount so for that reason only it was worth the time!
We also ordered the furniture (it was on sale too) and that will be here in about a week. It's very exciting and becoming oh so real all at the same time! I am a little past 21 weeks which means there are only about 17 weeks left until Tanner arrives!!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Boy Oh Boy!

That's right, it's a boy! We're so excited and we can't wait to meet Tanner Wayne Ketchledge. We loved the name Tanner and then Wayne is after my Dad. Tanner is healthy and weighs about 1 lb. right now. He is due April 22nd but will probably be born sometime between the 10-14 since we have to schedule delivery again. Now it is time to go register, start shopping and start decorating the nursery!!!
"Do you want to know the sex?"
I think we already figured it out!
Profile
His little face
It's defintely a boy!