Our Daily Routine

Man, those people weren't kidding when they say that all babies do when they are born is eat, sleep, and poop, eat, sleep, and poop!

Chris and I find ourselves making plans and talking about our day as it revolves around the feeding schedule! We rarely look at the clock anymore since Bella is on a 3 hour rotating schedule of eating, pooping (well, that is WAY more than 3 hours!), and sleeping!

Daddy goes off to work around 7:15-7:30 in the morning and that is either right in between a feeding or right before/after one. Mommy and Bella then spend the next 2 feedings catching up on sleep after nursing. Around 11:00-12:00, mommy usually has enough energy to get moving for the day and usually stays up after that feeding until the early night one. Bella is struggling with sleeping a bit right now at night time and daddy usually gets up to console her...he really, REALLY does not like the sound of her crying! He says, "How can you ignore or resist that little whimper?" Being around it all day...I guess I've learned in order to survive!! :0)

I have to be honest, I haven't had a ton of energy to want to do much more than lay around and do an occassional load of laundry here and there, but I have managed to do a little bit of straightening up things around the house at times! Overall, I am feeling well and Bella is doing great. We can not complain!

Each day is a new day! God definitely put Isabella into my life to teach me patience, how i need to slow down and not rush through things, and also that my perfectionistic nature will have to take a back seat to Baby's plans for our day! Some of my friends have said, "Gosh, Kelly, I can't believe you have her on a 3 hour schedule for the most part already." And here am I saying, "Gosh, shouldn't she be sleeping through the night and stick to the same schedule each day already...I mean, she is 16 days old now?!?" :0) THen I remind myself..."Yes, Kelly, she is ONLY 16 days old...put your perfectionism aside and let your baby do her thing!"

I'm learning! It's a process! And tomorrow, I get to start all over!

Can't say its been easy every morning, but then when you walk in and see a face like this laying in her bed....rushing the day or forgetting to cherish the moments before she grows too fast before our very own eyes....I smile and thank God for the precious gift, the most beautiful little life He has blessed us with!

Waking Up Bella

As of today, Bella is 9 days old! She is such an incredible gift from the Lord and we are trying to capture and cherish each and every little memory with her before these days are gone! After yesterday's appointment, she is now just a 1/2 an ounce below her birth weight, so she is eating like a champ...which makes mommy very relieved and happy! It is still very difficult to wake her up sometimes as she is usually more interested in sleeping the day away, but nonetheless, the doc's report confirms that she is indeed eating and on the fast track to regaining her weight she lost due in part to her jaundice issues at birth.

Isabella has many little faces that we've already been able to identify. Chris cracks up at her little "pooping" face where she makes an "o" out of her mouth, tilts her head back, and freezes. It really is a crack up! I love her wake up faces/moves! Below is a video of one of them! She flexes her back forward, kicks back her head, and rolls her little legs up in froggy style up towards her behind! She usually does this like 4-5 times in a row (told ya she was a sleepy baby!)



On Wednesday, the 20th, Bella will be going in for a minor little procedure where she will have a frenectomy, which cuts back the frenulum linguae (medical name for that string like looking thing that connects the bottom of the tongue to the bottom of your mouth!). The Pediatrician hopes that this will help with some of her latching problems, but it will also help with future speech problems that can be a result of the frenulum being so close to the end of her tongue. The doc said it will also help her be able to french kiss in the future...which almost through Daddy off his rocker and made him want to veto the procedure! :0) We were able to convince him otherwise and he is on board! Do pray for Isabella and Mommy on Wednesday even though the procedure is an outpatient procedure and should be done quickly.

Other than that, Mommy and Bella are learning to find a routine in our schedules. Some days we do really well and other days it is more of a hassle. Last night was a struggle, but today has started off very well! We are praying that the progress continues, but giving ourselves grace knowing that she is less than 2 weeks old!

Oh gotta go hear baby crying!

I wanted to try out this little program I've had sitting around for awhile and couldn't think of a better subject than our freshly minted daughter! If you got a few minutes, here she is in all her glory!

New Kid on the Block

Hey gang,
Just a quick update...we now have a beautiful little daughter! Isabella Rose Shondelmyer was born at 12:48am on Sunday, August 10th, and weighed a cool 7lbs 3oz and was 20in long.
We were at the lake with some friends celebrating a 30th birthday on Saturday, when around 11:30 kelly said "I think something just happened." Not being real sure, she wanted to just wait a little longer and see what was going on as she had been having some braxton-hicks contractions throughout the week. Meanwhile, I'm water skiing and learning how to wakeboard. Around 3pm we decide to head back into town as kelly thinks she is starting to have some contractions. To add drama to an already excited couple, about two miles from the lake we get pulled over by a cop for doing 50mph in a 30 mph zone! After giving the policeman my license, registration and insurance, he looks at kelly and asks "so when are you due?" I tell him that it could be today and we are heading to the hospital, after which he basically throws my papers back to me and says "oh geeze! Get out of here!"
We stopped at the house and grabbed our bags and continued to the hospital, not really thinking anything was going to happen yet as the due date wasn't suppose to be until Sept. 4th. After arriving at the hospital around 5:15pm, the nurses did a few tests and confirmed that yes indeed, kelly's water had broken and she was having contractions. After getting an epidural and hanging out for a few hours, she started actually pushing around 11:40 pm and delivered Isabella at 12:48am!
We have been blessed with some great friends who have stopped by and visited with us and have had a great day getting to see our little daughter start growing up already!
Chris, Kelly, and Baby Isabella

36 week Update on Baby S

So, I received a random call yesterday from a friend that is helping me work on a project next week. She was asking how baby was doing and if I knew the weight of the Baby. I told her that I had not had an ultrasound since 21 weeks, so I had no clue! Forgetting she was an Ultrasound Tech, she said, "Well, come on in! I'll do one for you!" :0)

So, yesterday at 2:30pm, I went to see my friend and got to see video of Baby S! No longer was he/she slippin' and slidin' around as in the 21 week ultrasound due to the cramped, limited space! However, it was incredible to once again view the feet (which actually look like feet now!), the arms, the legs, the kidneys, the 4 chamber heart, and all other areas...minus the one "special" area giving away the sex of our little one! (Daddy warned me I better not even "mistakenly" find out !)

Here is what we found out: Baby S is looking extremely healthy! She said the heart and all 4 chambers were very, very good! There is still some amionic fluid for baby to swim in and he/she is definitely head down! Our doc confirmed that the other day too and said the baby was very, very low! My friend was only able to see a glimpse of the face once due to it being so low! Based on the head size and the abdomen size, baby is showing to be 38 weeks along (not 36) and was ~7 lbs 11 oz in one of the estimates! This could be more or less based on the position and time you do the ultrasound, though, but she confirmed that the baby looks quite healthy! She even said that Baby S has chubby little cheeks! YEA! We love chubby cheeked babies! Good thing there are no aunts around to pinch them constantly or the little one would probably have quite the welt marks! I can guarantee that mommy and daddy will do their fair share of kissin' on the little, chubby things, though!

Here is a picture that she gave us! It is showing the foot kicking up at of my stomach!

Baby S is eager to meet all of you! Please be in prayer that he/she will come all in the Lord's timing and not a minute sooner or later. We do not want our own selfish plans and agendas to get in the way of God's divinely appointed day!

Baby Shower at Work

Two of my co-workers threw me a baby shower for all ladies at the church office back in June. I hadn't had an opportunity to post any photos of the event, but it was a wonderful evening. Chris and I were BLOWN AWAY by the generosity of my co-workers! Not only did I have more than enough gifts to open that evening, but about 10 of the ladies went in together to purchase us the Baby Einstein Entertainment Saucer/Play Station AND our Stroller! Clothes, Toys, Bath items, and many other little baby items were received that one evening!

When I got everything home that night, Chris was a little overwhelmed by the amount of space it all took up in our baby room already...and I still had another shower that weekend! :) I'm happy to report, however, that I DID manage to find a space for everything! Baby S is going to love sportin' the new threads and playin with the wonderful toys when he/she arrives!

Thanks to all of you that were apart of this incredible evening. We felt quite honored and humbled to be receipents of your gracious generosity!