Happy Father's Day (Yeah, It's a little late...)

So in honor of Father's Day I just wanted to dedicate a post to my wonderful husband, Jordan.

Jordan, You are the most wonderful father that any child could ask for. I love to watch you with Addison and love how gentle and patient you are with her. I love to see you show her off to everyone when we go out. You have to be the proudest Dad ever. Thank you so much for doing so much for both of us. I want you to know that I don't take how much you do for us for granted and I appreciate you much more than I can ever convey to you. I love you more now than I ever have! Baby, you are the best!!



From Addison:
Hey Daddy!
I just wanted to let you know that I think you are the best daddy in the whole world. You always know how to make me happy when I'm fussy even when Mommy is super frustrated. I love it when you take me into the bonus room, turn the radio up, and sing to me at the top of your lungs. I just stare up at you and am so comforted by your voice that I just go to sleep. You don't lose you patience with me even when I pee on you in the middle of the night when you pick me up without a diaper on (which I have to say, isn't the smartest move on your part. Mommy did think it was very funny, though. We were high-fiving on the inside).


I know that you love me so very much and I want you to know that I love you very much, too. I was telling you this when I smiled for the very first time and it was at you. Yes, you, Daddy, were the very first recipient of the Addison grin. Not Mommy. But she says that its okay because she knows that I am truly going to be a Daddy's girl and she loves us both so much that it melts her heart to see us interact like that.

So Happy Father's Day, from both of you girls!! We love you!

Addison and Salem

Last week we had the pleasure of introducing our beautiful little girl to the beautiful little girl of our good friends, Chuck and LeeAnn. There daughter, Salem Zannah, was born on June 8th making her 3 weeks and 1 day younger than our Addison. She weighed 6 lbs 13 oz at birth (the same as Addison) and already dwarfs in size comparison to our little squeaky piggy (She has lots of nicknames. These are because she is becoming quite the chunky monkey and eats all the time and makes the cutest little squeaky sighing noises when she's eating. Really quite cute!). We're not sure how much Addison weighs now but I'm thinking it's got to be close to if not over 9 lbs. So when we put the two cuties next to each other, Addison looked like a giant.

Just look at how much bigger Addison's head is than Salem's.
She gets that big head from her daddy...

Aren't they just adorable together??

It was so strange that when I held Salem, I couldn't even remember Addison being that tiny. How did I forget so quickly? She was only 3 and 1/2 weeks old and I couldn't remember her being so little. It makes me so sad to think of just how quickly her infancy is speeding away right in front of my eyes. She is the most adorable little baby I have ever seen and I could never have predicted just how much I love her!! It just seems like she has always been here in our lives and I can't imagine her not being here. I just love her to pieces!! Anyway, here are some pictures from the past two weeks. She is so beautiful!!

Here is Addison's Texas birthmark on the back of her head.

(And her GranDee and Grandpa kissing on her.)

Addison's Beach Trip

Jordan and I were able to slip away to the beach during our time off. It was Addison's first beach trip and I have to say that she loved it!! Actually I don't think she knew that she went anywhere because really the only thing she saw was the back windows of the car and her stroller. She did really well the whole time we were there. We had wonderful weather and it was really nice just to get away from home and have a change of scenery and get out of the house. Here are some pictures from the only time we actually went out on the sand.

Welcome Addison Kate!!

Wow, so it's been a while since I've posted last, but I have had a lot going on and a good excuse to be busy. Our beautiful baby is here and healthy and thriving!! Here's the whole story (And as you all know I am a big details person, so I'm sure this won't be short...)

On the Saturday (5/16) 2 weeks before my due date, Jordan and I woke up and as I was laying in bed, I felt a few contractions that were much stronger than the Braxton-Hicks that I had been feeling. I didn't think too much of it until I got up to go the the bathroom and felt a bit of fluid come out. I knew that I did not pee on myself so I told Jordan. It wasn't a gush or anything, but it was unusual.

We decided to go walking and while we were getting barked and bahhed at by the neighborhood dogs and goats (what kind of noise does a goat make, and how do you spell it??) I felt a bit more fluid. Jordan was getting very worked up at this point, while I was calm and wouldn't let myself believe that my water had broken and that I was actually in labor. Jordan decided to call his sister, mother, and a few friends to get opinions of if my water had broken or not, because they are the experts on this, you know.

I got in the shower and finished packing my bag (Ironically I felt a strong urge to finish buying everything I thought I would need for my hospital bag at Target the night before. I had to have them even though my due date was 2 weeks away. Also at Target I had a few painful contractions.) before I called the doctor's office to see if I should go to the hospital or not. After Jordan had talked to everyone he knows who has a child to see if I was in labor or not and after he freaked out while trying to pack his bag (the process went like this; Jordan walks frantically from room to room and from drawer to drawer not getting anything accomplished, trying to figure out what he's doing. It was quite comical to watch him be so worked up and spastic.)

We finally decided to leave to go to the hospital, but stopped on the way to have a friend install the carseat base (which we had to take of the box. We had not even looked at the carseat except the picture on the front of the box. So much for practicing taking it in and out of the car before baby gets here. opps...). We also stopped at Wendy's to eat lunch since I was determined to not be starving while in the delivery room.

So we finally got to the hospital about 12:00, checked in and went up to triage. I got hooked up to all the fancy little machines and the nurse checked me and saw that I was still only 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. so she checked to see if the fluid that had been leaking was amniotic fluid by using this little strip that is supposed to turn bright blue if your water has broken. It didn't turn blue!! So long story short, she sent us home. The End.

Just kidding, there is more to this story, but we did get sent home. This was a very emotional thing for me. I felt dumb and disappointed and really just wanted to cry. Making it worse, was the fact that we pretty much called everyone we know and told them I was going to the hospital, so we had to call and tell them that it was a false alarm. And Jordan thought I had just peed on myself because "Jenny, what else could it be?"

Instead of going home, Jordan decided that we should walk the baby out of me, so we walked around the mall and Babies r us for 3 hours. I was continuing to have fluid leaking and I was having contractions every 10 minutes or so, but they weren't that strong (they hurt but not bad). At that point I was so tired and frustrated and just wanted to go home and take a nap, but Jordan had other plans.

We left the mall and went back to the hospital. This time we skipped the check-in desk and just walked back up to triage. We did the same process and... What do you know... the little strip turned bright blue. the nurse looked at us and said,"Well, Today's the day! Congratulations, you're going to have that baby!" She walked out of the room and Jordan and I just looked at each other with tears in our eyes. It was such a strange thing because it caught me off guard. I just kept thinking that I'd just get sent home again and wouldn't let myself think that it was for real. Jordan left the room to call people and I just laid in the bed a cried. I think that this moment was the first time I was really nervous about the whole "I'm having a baby" realization.

I got in a room at 5:00 and they started me immediately on a pitocin drip to speed along the process. At 6:30 the doctor checked and saw that I was still only about 1 1/2 centimeters, so he inserted a balloon device that helps dilation move along quicker. It acted as a small baby's head (about the size of a golf ball which would get me to 3 to 4 centimeters) by pushing down with every contraction. So as soon as that went in, I was in A LOT of pain. The doctor told me it was not too soon to get an epidural, so at 7:00-7:30 I was getting an epidural and feeling pretty good. Jordan laughed at me because I was just sitting in bed reading magazines while my contractions were coming on strong and fast.

At 9:00 the nurse came in to empty my bladder and to check my progress. She tried to pull on the balloon thing to tighten the pressure and it just came right out. Turns out I was already at 5 centimeters!! I was very excited to hear that I was half way there, since I was preparing myself for a very long labor or the possibility of a c-section if I wasn't progressing quickly enough. For the next 4 hours we slept and watched TV. Around 12:30 I was starting to have back labor and feeling it very intensely, so they upped my epidural. I went from having a "walking epidural" where I could feel my legs and move them pretty well, to being nearly paralyzed from under my chest down. I could move a few toes on my left leg and that was about it.

At 1:00 the nurse checked me again and let us know that I was at 10 centimeters and that we would do a practice push. It went very well and then we started the real pushing process. I was feeling the back labor again and between that and using all of the muscles in my back to lean forward and push, I was exhausted. I have never in my life been so tired and worn out. I don't know how woman can handle pushing for several hours at a time. I was thankful that my contractions slowed down and were only coming every 5 minutes or so (This is one of the many things about the delivery process that is so interesting to me. God definitely designed the body to take over and just handle it). I would push with the contraction for about 30 seconds and then fall back on the bed and fall asleep between them. Since my legs were so numb, Jordan and the nurse had to hold up my legs, one on each side. Jordan would get so distracted (you know, by the baby's head that was coming out of my body...) he would forget about holding up my leg and it would just flop off the bed until I would remind him to pick it up. I pushed for about 30 minutes or so until the baby was crowning. Then the nurse went to get the doctor and about 25 minutes later, he finally came into the room. As he was getting ready, Jordan looked down and let everyone know that "Um... She's coming out. She's coming out , right now!!!" And sure enough, our little girl got impatient and decided that her time to enter the world was right then and she was tired of waiting on the doctor to get ready. I was so numb from the epidural that I had no idea what was happening. Of course I couldn't tell what I was doing the whole time I was pushing, either, but I guess all of the effort and horrible red faces I was making worked.

So after all of my rambling, the end result:

Addison Kate Cline

6 lbs, 13 oz

19.5 inches

born: Sunday, May 17, 2009, 2:38 AM

Addison has been such a good baby. She will be 4 weeks tomorrow ( I can't believe how fast it's gone. She's going to be grown before we know it. So sad...). We are both just so in love with our beautiful baby and thank God for her every day! I'm also thanking God for allowing me to have such a smooth delivery process and that Addison is such a healthy girl. (She is a breast fed baby and lost down to 6 lbs 7.5 oz in the hospital, had gained back up to 6 lbs 12.5 oz at 5 days and was 7 lbs 10 oz at 2 weeks. I would say that she is about 9 lbs now, so needless to say she is eating up a storm and is turning into to quite the chunky monkey. SO cute!!)

36 weeks

Ok, so I don't have a clue what all I'm going to write about but my work girls are giving me evil looks everyday when they check my blog and there is no new post. So here it is, Keli and Ashlea, a new post...

I am now 36 weeks, 3 days pregnant, with only 25 days to go (give or take a few...hopefully the take :))!! AHHHH! That sounds sooo soon and I am very nervous, but feeling ready at the same time. I'm ready to be done with the pregnancy insomnia (I know I still won't be sleeping after Baby Girl Cline gets here, but at least it won't be due to discomfort in all senses of the word) (and please don't tell me that it's just nature's way of preparing my body for not sleeping...I'm so sick of that! Why would lack of sleep help with more not sleeping?!?!), the acid reflux/heartburn, the backaches, nightsweats (rather all-the-time sweats...why am I so HOT!!) the weepiness, the inability to catch my breath or eat a full meal, all of that. I may NOT be ready to be done with feeling little baby Cline move around and stretch and kick or to be able to have her with me all the time. I don't just completely hate being pregnant even though I'm sure it sounds that way at times. I don't want to have this come across as a huge complaining, pity-party post, but I do want to be honest and thorough with what I am experiencing so that I can go back in a couple years and remember everything (you know when I have baby fever in a couple years and need reminders of the bad side of pregnancy that I've blocked out of my memory...)

So I went to the Doctor yesterday and everything went well. I measured between 35 and 36 centimeters (which is right on target) and have gained another FOUR pounds which I'm not even going to comment on. I'll now start going to weekly appointments and they'll start checking to see if I'm dilated yet. I have decided that I just don't want to know if I'm dilated because you can stay like 4 centimeters for weeks before the baby decides to actually make her appearance. I just think it's better for my mental state if I'm unaware until closer to the day. I have decided to think that she is not coming until after my due date, just so I don't get disappointed when I don't go early.

On another note... I'll talk about showers. I have had four beautiful showers thrown by such wonderfully generous people. Jordan and I are soo blessed to have so many people who love us and have helped out us tremendously with all of our baby stuff.

First I had a shower on April 18th at my home hosted by my sister Kyla, co-workers (and good friends) Keli, Ashlea, and Lori, and my sister-in-laws Dena and Lori. It was so pretty with pinks and browns all over my lime green kitchen and lots of yummy food and great gifts!! That one was just for the girls and we had about 15 people show up. It was lots of fun!

Next we had a shower at church on April 25th hosted by my aunts, Vivian and Pat and my cousins, Karen and Glenda and my sis Kyla. Jordan happened to be in LA (long story, but he'll be in the audience of the Price is Right on Friday, May 8th), so I had to be at this one by myself (not really because Kyla or Mom stayed by my side, but it would have been nice to share the spotlight with the other responsible party...) and it was exhausting but also much fun. There were so many people and gifts that I barely had time to chat with anyone. This shower was also very cutesy (decorated with stuffed bunny rabbits and lots of pink) and had yummy food once again. This will be dubbed as the clothes shower because we got so many of the cutest little pink outfits.

On May 3rd we had a shower at Big Shotz in Clemmons hosted by Jordan's co-workers at Woodforest. This was also lots of fun and full of lots of surprise gifts.

And if this isn't enough for my shower list, I came back to work from lunch on Monday and was hit with a surprise shower! There was the prettiest cake with my baby's ultrasound picture on it! My wonderful co-workers were so sweet and got us our cute green polka dotted stroller/car seat combo and extra car seat base. It was a great surprise!!

All in all we were shown such a huge amount of support and love from so many people and I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for being so great to us. We love you all!!! Baby Girl Cline will be such a blessed little girl (and she says "thank you" too!!)!!

Birth and Beginnings week 4

So this week was infant/baby care. We got to learn all about swaddling and bathing, diapering and feeding (breast and formula), baby proofing and safety, de-boogering and burping. Lots of fun and information. The way we introduced each new topic was by passing out cards with a scenario on it (i.e. "feeding baby" or "taking baby's temperature") and having the daddies choose from a variety of baby products laid out on a table that fit with their given topics. Jordan had "bathing your baby" and "childproofing for baby". He did very well with the child-proofing, very thorough. He also did well the bathing; he got the washcloth, towel, new outfit and diaper, baby soap, and a tiny little washbasin (as opposed to the huge baby bathtub thing, sitting right in front of us...). I'm talking LITTLE, like a 12 x 12 plastic bin. I took one look at that and died laughing. I asked if he was planning on washing the baby in that considering that she's probably been too big for that since, what, week 30? So as we sat through class waiting on Jordan's turn to share what supplies he got for his scenario, I have to look at this teeny tiny bin and picture someone trying to wash a baby in it. I was giggling the whole time!!


I have to say, though, that I am very glad that the daddies had to display their baby care knowledge (or in more cases than not, their lack of baby care knowledge) in front of the whole class instead of us mommies. I for one do not know much more about babies than Jordan does, and it would be very embarrassing for me (the mommy) to have to admit that I have no clue what to do when. It seems to be much more acceptable for the daddies to be clueless, than the mommies (although we are BOTH first time parents here! Just because I'm carrying the baby doesn't mean that I am also carrying all of this knowledge about babies!!) I can see myself up there displaying some off-the-wall item that seemed to be pertinent to whatever situation I was supposed to be describing and everyone laughing because I have a breast pump that I'm trying to use as a nasal aspirator. Yes, that is a bit extreme (I do know the difference between the two!) but that's how I feel at times. I know this class is supposed to me making me feel better and more prepared for baby, but, as I whispered to Jordan in class last week, I am only feeling more and more inadequate as a mother. Instead of thinking that I am learning all of these ways to care for baby, I feel like someone is just pointing a huge finger at me, telling me that I don't already know all of it. And this class isn't like some all-inclusive, learn-everything-you-need-to-know-about-infant-care class. We only touched on the basics. So what do I do when I get home?!? Okay, so can you tell I'm a bit nervous?? I know that everything will be alright and that God has already placed very able hands around to help me, but right now I wish that I had done a lot more babysitting when I was a teenager, so that I would feel more comfortable.

Dear God, PLEASE provide me with the knowledge and patience I need to care for and raise my baby! Amen.

Birth and Beginnings weeks 2 and 3

The past few classes have been quite interesting. Much more so than the first class. We ended up having an absolutely WONDERFUL nurse with 20 years experience as a labor/delivery nurse. (OK, so I just accidentally hit the "Publish Post" button, so for anyone who only saw my 3 sentence post, here is the rest...) This teacher was so much better than the spacey teacher from our first class. Her name was Amanda and she was completely honest with us about the reasons for hospital policies (a lot are completely unnecessary, but must be done for legal reasons) and truths about labor and delivery (yes, it might be scary, but I'd rather know all of the circumstances and be prepared than clueless in the delivery room). She had a great personality and was extremely knowledgeable and open to our questions. Unfortunately we only got Amanda for 2 weeks and next week and the tour we're back with loony lady...

Week 2 was about reviewing the phases of labor, going over massage techniques, pain management techniques and different positions to help move labor along. We had to bring pillows with us (Which I planned to not bring pillows from home, but to buy new pillows before class because I needed some new pillows at home. So we showed up to class with brand new pillows in the plastic wrapping and everything.). At the beginning of class, after introductions, Amanda said we would be learning a few different massage techniques and asked for a "mommy" volunteer. Everyone was quiet as I looked around, thinking, why is no one volunteering, she's going to massage you. Then it dawns on me that I can be the massage demonstratee, so I volunteered. I have to say that Amanda is a very good masseuse and that was a wonderful experience. After she demonstrated the four different techniques the daddies massaged the mommies and then vice versa (so the daddies don't feel left out). This was going to be the highlight of the class for me (because I love massages, but with Jordan, they are few and far between) but at the end of class I had a new favorite moment. After watching some videos, Amanda again asked for a volunteer, this time a daddy (to-be). Before anyone can offer to help she points at Jordan and says "I've already pre-picked you, is that okay?" Since Jordan is a great sport and he couldn't have cared less about be made to volunteer, he walked up to the front of the room. First Amanda had him hold up a poster that showed a profile of the female anatomy, pre-pregnancy, then she gave him one of a very pregnant female anatomy. There, of course, were very obvious differences between the two and she started talking about how a pregnant woman's body changes and goes through A LOT while pregnant. Now to the best part.... She looked at Jordan and asked him if he would like to experience what it might feel like to be pregnant. At this moment I realized what was going to happen and started grinning. Jordan had to model the pregnant belly!!! And not only did he have to model it, he had to sit then stand, bend over and try to tie his shoe, lie down and get comfortable (yeah right) then get right back up to "pee". It was very funny to watch and I am so glad that he had to feel exactly how heavy 35 extra pounds is on your body. Of course, he only had the belly on for 5 minutes so he didn't exactly get the full effect of the back and joint pains that accompany the weight gain. Here's a picture of Jordan and the pregnant belly (it was taken with my cell phone, so it's not the best quality): ***no picture for now, but I'll get it up soon!! :)***



Just to demonstrate the, um..., challenges of having to put two ADHD boys together in one car, I'll tell you about after class. It worked out somehow that between the four of us (LeeAnn, Chuck, Jordan and I) we only had one car to have to drive back to Mocksville. It was a pretty unanimous decision to go by McDonald's for some hot fudge sundaes. I really wasn't feeling too well (i.e. extremely sleepy and uncomfortable, headache and belly ache) but couldn't resist the urge to have some ice cream. These days when I don't feel well I tend to get a bit grumpy (this may be an understatement). So I was definitely grumpy and stuck in a car with two hyper boys. Jordan had the wonderful idea to bring up a story about someone we knew going through a drive-thru in reverse. Chuck was driving and decided that he should see how well he could go through a drive-thru backwards. I was helplessly stuck in the backseat (where I would have had to order) objecting to this as he indeed backs into the drive-thru lane. We got far enough into this process that I was asked what we would like to order from the McDonald's employee. At this point I was very upset (to near tears due to my frustration) and told Chuck that I was getting out of the car and going inside if he didn't move and do it the right way (there were other cars trying to go through the drive-thru and I big truck unloading food in the parking lot very near to where we were and it seemed dangerous to me. I just wasn't in the mood for stupid boy entertainment at the time.) So after I pitched my little tantrum he turned around and went through the right way. Looking back, I probably should have just gone with it (It wasn't my car that he was bound to scrape against the side of the McDonald's building) but it was very big deal to me and I was being very demanding, stubborn, pregnant woman at the time. boys.... and to think these two are going to be daddies very shortly... very scary thought! :)


Week 3 we learned all about epidurals vs natural (no pain medication) techniques and C-sections. Amanda was our teacher this week as well and asked us how many had already made up their minds to have an epidural during labor. I couldn't believe that out of the 9(?) couples I was the only one to raise my hand. I think that there were some liars in there because according to research 85 % of woman have epidurals during labor and delivery and 1 out 0f 9 is certainly no 85%. Of course they could still be undecided or just not planning on having one, but shoot, why not. I don't plan on getting one as soon as I get to the hospital and maybe I'll try the whole natural thing for a little while but if I'm in a lot of pain and feel like I can't handle it, then you better believe I'm going to be begging for an epidural. We had to watch a video on how the epidural is administered and what positions are possible with an epidural to help labor progress. Then we discussed different reasons for having a C-section and that if you have to have one it is not the end of the world. Then came the video on C-sections. Jordan didn't get nearly as worked up with these videos as I thought he would (they are slightly graphic, but still not too bad). Poor Chuck was having a very hard time with them. He couldn't stand to watch lot of the scenes.

After class we were standing around talking and I was very shocked to discover that Jordan actually wants to cut the umbilical cord. I didn't care either way and I really thought he would have been completely grossed out but he says he really wants to. Of course, Chuck told LeeAnn that he could not handle that. I will be surprised if one of them doesn't end up passing out at one point or another during the whole birthing process, but they might surprise me. I think that is everything I was going to write about with the classes (I'm sure I'll think of something I've left out...). More to come for class #4 which happens tomorrow night.