Quick Life Update

Hello Everyone!!!

So, I apologize, I obviously haven't kept up with the blog and I may or may not keep writing more posts??

But here's a quick update on things. First, I finished the internship, Jarred and I had a whirlwind month (he was the busiest he has been all year with work, I was studying like a mad man, we were packing, we had company, we moved, I took my test and officially became and RD(N), started my job) and then we got a "break" as we traveled to MO for some very important weddings! So yes, very busy month of July for us!!!

As I said, Jarred has been super busy with work. He is, unfortunately, going to be traveling back to VA for two months during September and October. I won't lie, it's going to pretty much suck without him here but I'm so thankful God has provided him with a job and has allowed him to work from home for the past year!! Also very thankful that I will have some roomies to help me and Kinsley out while daddy's gone :-)

I've been busy with work as well. Last week was my first official week and it was wonderful!! However, I'm still kind of in the student mentality and I keep expecting my boss to come in one day and say, "Let's review your notes". But my boss and coworkers are all awesome and I'm SOOO thankful for my job! Also incredibly thankful that I work 4-10s!!!

Update on Kinsley... she's 6 months old, has two teeth and currently taking a nap! Check out her pics: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g97j4tn8sjni9t7/s6ilSxzZPb

Please pray with us as Jarred is traveling/gone and as we search for a new church home in a new city.

June 12; June 13; June 14

On June 12, 2012 I peed on a stick that would change our lives forever.

Ironically, the weekend before we found out we were preggers, we saw the movie "What to expect when you're expecting." And I told Jarred, "Tomorrow I'm going to pee on a stick."

When I peed on the stick, it turned positive immediately but the directions say to wait 3-5 minutes so I thought maybe it would un-turn positive...it didn't. I was totally and completely terrified. I thought for sure Jarred would be so mad, I didn't know how he would react. Really truly, I was shaking in fear.

Well, here's the cool part of the story. Because I had told Jarred I was going to take the test, he had actually prayed for God to give him peace about the situation and the ability to react appropriately. So I called Jarred while he was on lunch break and told him the news and he was totally chill and completely amazing. I was in tears, borderline hysterical and Jarred just said, "It's ok, I'll come home right now if you want me to." God is good!

An even cooler part of the story is that June 13, 2008 is the day I entered treatment for anorexia. I wasn't really sure how easily I would ever become pregnant but hot dang, I got preggers pretty easily! ha! Such a miracle!!!

And an even cooler part of the story, on June 14, 2013, Kinsley turned 4 months old :-) She's my miracle baby!!

P.S. I did a blog-writing rampage a few weeks ago so that I could publish them whenever I had the chance so these are slightly old :-) Also, today was my first official day of full-blown studying for the RD exam so please be praying for Jarred and I during this time of busyness and change!

She's cute

Little Miss Rae is so precious! She is always doing more and more things that just melt my heart!!!

Here, Kinsley is practicing her rolling skills. She is trying to roll over on her playmat but got a little finagled...and she looks guilty...she probs just pooped.

Here, Kinsley and I are posing before I go to work. Me oh my she is so precious!! Super big thanks to Megan for the adorable bow!!!

Here, Kinsley kicked me out of my chair - she took ownership of the couch and wanted to hang out with dad.

In the previous three pics, Kinsley is slightly less than three months old. Here is a picture from her actual three month birthday :-)

And as a response to my last blog post - we will be moving to Phoenix for my new job. I start training at the end of July and then officially start mid august after some very important family weddings :-) Please be praying for us as we'll be moving, looking for places to live and trying to decide the best way to care for Kinsley (she'll be so big by then that we're anticipating Jarred won't be able to handle her and work!)

Oh, I also officially graduated from the internship today :-)

On the Hunt

Let's see...several weeks ago (because I'm that behind...it may even be like months ago now...) I started the job hunt. Actually, Jarred started my job hunt. He kept asking me, "When are you going to apply for jobs." I said, "Hm, let's see...sometime between working all day, feeding baby, washing bottles, doing laundry, cooking dinner..." So I semi-jokingly said, "Why don't you apply for me?" The next day I got home from work and Jarred said, "I started applying for some jobs, but I need more information. Dietitian applications are way more difficult than engineer applications!" So, I think he applied for like 35 jobs in a week.

Praise the Lord, the very next week I had three interviews!! One was with an eating disorder treatment facility, another as a pediatric dietitian and the third was with a private practice/consulting firm. The last two interviews were on Friday and Saturday of that week in the Phoenix area so we made a quick trip of it!

We drove to Phoenix Friday morning before my first interview. Oh, let me tell you a quick story. Generally in the mornings I feed kinsley off one bosom and pump the other. Well, this particular Friday morning I decided not to pump the other bosom because I thought my nerves may get the best of my supply and then kinsley would go hungry. Well, that didn't happen... Soooo, I pumped (thank goodness for that back-up battery pack) in the car while Jarred was driving to phoenix... stay classy folks, stay classy...

Anywhos, so Friday's interview went well but I honestly didn't really care for the place; wasn't the right fit for me and I was really bummed because the job sounded so perfect on paper. So I went into Saturday's interview with very low expectations and came out of the interview wanting the job way more than I could have imagined!!! Thank the Lord, I received an offer and by golly I took it!!!

Other than interviewing we just drove around the area to get a feel for it and we also spent some time in Old Scottsdale.

Jarred really got into the spirit of Old Scottsdale

It was rather warm even though the sun was starting to set

Technically, Kinsley rolled over for the first time in our hotel room :-)

 

Me and the baby takin in the view from our hotel room!

When Jarred was Gone: Part II

The next week that Jarred was gone, grandma again watched kinsley monday-wednesday and then Megan came!!!!!!! I hadn't seen Megan in like a year - which is totally ridonc and WAY toooo long!!! It was just such an absolute blessing to see her - I can't even describe it!!!!!! Just seeing her was such a gift...but...she spoiled me and kinsley her entire stay!! She started spoiling us by making TONS of beautiful hair-bows for Kinsley and giving her some new clothes!

She then spoiled me on my birthday!!!!!!! She made the coolest crafty things ever!!! A "c" sign, three small states (MO, VA and AZ) for places jarred and I have lived and another framed saying talking about the joys of kiddos!

Oh, and we went shopping to spend some birthday money

no worries - everything was like 75% off :-)

And my hubby...sweet hubby... he wasn't sure if he would be back from VA in time for my birthday, so he had flowers delivered to our house. Flowers in the shape of a puppy!!!!!! He knows me too well!!

 

But, he did make it back in time and we celebrated my birthday by getting dessert from the cheesecake factory :-) yummo!!

 So even though I had so much help in watching Kinsley while Jarred was gone, those two weeks were really difficult for me! I had SOO much going on in the internship but I felt like I had to (and I really wanted to) spend time with my guests in the evenings. I wanted for them to all be able to relax in the evening after taking care of little miss all day, but I had so much to do for the internship...it was really, really hard to find a balance and I have to give soo many props to all single moms out there - I just don't know how they do it. But I tell you what, I praise God that I have such wonderful, loving, supportive family and friends to help me out!!

When Jarred was Gone

I haven't written a post in like 2 months so there's a lot of catching up to do...but we'll do it slowly :-)

Jarred made a trip back to VA right after Easter for two weeks. Kinsley was not very happy that daddy had to leave and she tried to convince him to stay by boycotting his suitcase...

Here's Miss Rae in her pretty little Easter dress!!

While he was gone, my grandma, mom and beautiful friend Megan helped me watch Kinsley during the day.

The first week he was gone, grandma watched Kins monday-wednesday and then mom got here!! She took a very flattering picture of little miss...

But, the real reason that mom came in was for grandma's 75th birthday!!! As part of her birthday, my grandpa treated grandma, my mom, my aunt and myself to pull mani-pedi's :-) haha...awkward pic of my feeties :-) haha!

Grandpa had scheduled a giant surprise party at the house for grandma so we partied all afternoon long. And the next day, we got some Applebees to celebrate more :-)

Fam adventures

Like I mentioned earlier, allllllllll of Jarred's family came to visit us a couple weeks ago!

First, Calen and Cameron came!! This was the first time we met Cameron so it was especially great to see them and get to hang out with them! We didn't do a whole lot because we knew it would become slightly chaotic when the whole fam got here. So we mostly just took it easy around the house. But, we did make a quick trip to Bisbee, which is an old mining town...see?? There's just a small remnant of the pit where they dug for the copper.

So after just driving by the pit, we headed to town. Mostly it's kind of a hippie town but there are tons of old shops with all kinds of fun stuff. Like this...check it out!!! I've never seen one of these before!!

So yes, if you didn't know it, I play the euphonium and that's why a double bell euphonium with five valves is so cool! After hitting up all the shops, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good but the portions were small - especially for us tall folk!
 

 While Calen and Cameron were here we also went on a small walk through Sabino canyon.

Later, on Saturday, the whole fam went to sabino canyon and took a tour via bus of the place!

On friday, the whole fam was here and we went to Desert Museum. It's a "living museum" or something like that and Jarred almost stepped on a snake - a live snake that just casually slithered across the walking path!! YIKES!
After Desert Museum we went to El Corral steakhouse to celebrate Jarred and bethany's birthday, as well as mom and dad's anniversary.
This is the only pic I got from Friday's adventures...

After Calen, Cameron, Bethany, Drew and Sarah left just Mom, Dad and Hannah remained. So, we took another bus tour of Sabino canyon (Hannah was sick and dad stayed home with her). This time, I also joined in the fun with Miss Kinsley (it was really hot a few days and I didn't want to get her out too often! Plus, Kinsley had this MASSIVE spit up. I looked down and my child was covered in spit up shrapnel that completely soaked her clothes and even came out of her nose - so I wanted to keep her inside. It scared me half to death to see that spit up coming out of her nose!)
So here are picks of the canyon bus tour!

One day, I again stayed home with Kinsley while Jarred took the other three on a quick hike!

We also took Mom, dad and Hannah to Old Tombstone, but I didn't get away with any pics...except this one!! It's a gila monster at the Tombstone Reptile Museum :-)

But, we rounded out their stay by eating at The Lodge - Sasquatch Bar and Grill! ha!

one type

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter!! I don't think I can ever fully understand the true meaning of Easter and sacrifice Jesus made and the power of His resurrection!

This past week I was in the "Angel Wing for Children with Diabetes". Overall, I don't like diabetes - I don't like it as a disease or as a nutrition professional who has to teach diabetes self management. Either way you look at it, it's a hard thing to deal with. Because I don't like diabetes, I often feel uncomfortable giving education on the topic, especially when it comes to the medications and especially when it comes to using a pump to deliver the medication.
When I voiced this concern to my preceptor, she said, "Well, why don't we show you some pumps?" This lead to, "Why don't we hook you up to a pump?" So...that's what we did!

 The pump site was inserted into my belly - and let me tell you...knowingly inserting a small cannula (aka needle) into your body is not an easy thing to do! The whole patch that is on my belly comes in a plastic wrapping that you have to cock, twist and then push a button so that it shoots itself into you... It took me a few minutes to get up the nerve to push the button!

So after 24 hours of having the pump, counting CHOs and dosing my insulin I even more thoroughly disliked diabetes. It really is a lot of work!!!! But it was a great experience for me to have and I feel like it will really help me relate to my future patients!

So here's the aftermath of taking the pump out - which took me about as long to muster up the courage to yank it out as it did to push it in!

And here is the cannula that was inside me :-)

But kinsley didn't seem to mind it when I had the pump

Amazing Man

About five years ago I met this guy. He was tall, kinda awkward and didn't even get out of his car to greet me when we first met. We went to a concert with a couple of friends and he didn't stop dancing the entire time...I thought it rather strange.
After the concert he drove several hours home and added me on facebook at approximately 3:00 in the morning. He sent me some message about how he enjoyed meeting me...
That facebook message didn't stop going between us for like a month, when I finally gave him my phone number and said, "Call me." This was, of course, following ME asking HIM on our first semi-date.
After that semi-date, I fell asleep on his shoulder. (I swear if my daughter ever falls asleep on some guys shoulder after hanging out with him twice...that boy will be castrated!) I fell asleep holding his hand, the first time I ever got butterflies touching another persons hand.
Well, after our first actual outing, just the two of us, I became his girlfriend. Very shortly after becoming his girlfriend, I became very sick and entered treatment for anorexia while he got a big-boy job and moved to Virginia. My oh my...I never anticipated how God would use this man to help me heal and recover. God's presence during this time of my life is so evident, I can't even tell you.

So after I was discharged from the hospital, I went to visit this boy where he finally told me he loved me. Actually, I was kinda terrified by the fact that he loved me...but it very quickly became one of the most comforting phrases to hear.
A short time later, I became his fiance and we were married the following summer. I moved to Virginia where we started our lives together - we had to be totally dependent on each other and God because that's all we knew in VA. Eventually we would come to find some of our nearest and dearest friends, but at first it was just us.
And eventually we would become three. This amazing man is also now "daddy".

I wish I could describe to you how precious he is. I was holding baby girl today and thinking how wonderful a man I am blessed to have as her dad and my husband. He's absolutely amazing and I thank God for him! Here are some pictures of him and baby girl a couple weeks ago on his birthday!

Photo Cred: Calen Caple

So, if you've heard in the news about Texas A&M and the flash mob they did to President Bush Sr. well, there's something you need to know. The only reason Pres Bush was there is because my sis-in-law raised like $40,000 for a Habitat for Humanity House that the school is building in the presidents honor. Some other goobers just took advantage of Calen's hard work, put together a flash mob and then got tons of new coverage. The mob got so much coverage that it was on CNN news (I think it was CNN) and some of Calen's pictures that she took of her work with Habitat were briefly shown when the flash mob goobers briefly mentioned it... Hence the title of this post...I'm just trying to give credit where credit is due :-) No offense to the flash mobbers as flash mobbing is very cool and I would love to participate in one. However, providing a home for a family is likely more important than "getting jiggy with it" in front of a president.
All these pictures Calen took while her and her fiance came to visit us last week over their spring break!!

Just snuggling on the floor

Kinsley showing off her sun dress and biceps before we went to desert museum

Checking out uncle cameron! Soo precious!!

Finally getting to meet Grandma and Grandpa Caple!!

Yep, she's pretty cool!

So yea, we've had tons of company the past two weeks and I'll write another post about that at a later time. For now, here's an update. Kinsley is growing and we are praising the Lord!! It's such a blessing for her to be eating so well and not having any major issues! She's now 23.75 inches long (up 2.5 inches from birth and well over 95th %ile), 10 lb 13 oz (again up 2 lbs since birth and at the 90th %ile) and her head circumference is 15 inches (up 2 inches from birth!).  She's also freakishly strong, still getting the hiccups all the time, starting to coo and smile more often and just beautiful!
Now we're just continuing to pray for her growth and development. Also, I have to go back to work next Monday so please join us in prayer as we make that transition!

Many Firsts

Since Kinsley has arrived, she has had many firsts. Some not-so-fun firsts include our first projectile poop which shot an amazing three feet from anus to wall and guest bed... and our first projectile vomit which shot the entire length of her body (she was laying on my legs with head on knees and I had spit up in my belly button, down my leg, on the couch, on the floor and she was also quite saturated...)

Other firsts have been much more exciting. We've taken our first walk in the Moby wrap and in the stroller...

Thanks to my grandparents Jarred and I have taken our first date night as parents :-) I hadn't been away from Kinsley yet and my grandparents graciously offered to come up for the afternoon/evening and watch Kinsley so we could go to dinner. We went to Paradise Bakery and Cafe (which is the same as Panera Bread Co.) They have one of my fave sandwiches (and I of course couldn't eat it while I was preggers due to listeria in lunch meat...) so I requested we go there!

And, we took our first outing as a family of three... we went to church!! It was wonderful to get out and about and especially to go to church! Kinsley even got all dressed up in her cheetah dress!

This week we will have another first...mommy will have to go to work :-/ You see, the biggest part of the Management rotation in the internship is planning "Special Day" in which the interns are literally in charge of every aspect of the cafeteria for the day and we had to plan a special/new menu and decorate and the whole shabang. I've obviously missed out on a large portion of that but I wanted to help with the last minute things as much as possible so I told the interns I would come in to help out. Welp, I report for duty at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. So far, I haven't done too much physical activity because when I stand for very long it feels like my vag is going to just fall out of me. So I'm a little anxious for my stamina to hold up and I'm of course anxious to leave baby girl and to feel like I'm making Jarred bare too much of the responsibility in watching her. However, God has been so good and gracious to us! We were really starting to feel the exhaustion (me especially since I maybe got 6 hours of sleep total while in the hospital) but Kinsley has done just wonderfully the last two nights. We are so thankful for answered prayers for rest and rejuvenation! So that makes me feel a bit better about leaving them, but I'm still anxious.