Kambry's Baptism

Titus 3:5God saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

January 29th was a big day for our little Kambry!! She was baptized and it was beautiful!! We had our family all there with us as Pastor Don held our little girl and we prayed over her, promising to feed her soul with HIS good word!

After the ceremony he started his sermon which was coincidentally about baptism so that was really neat! I would have loved to have stayed to listen to all of it however Kambry got hungry and I forgot to bring some mommy-milk in a bottle, so that leaves only one food source! Now what's a mom to do when you're wearing a dress that isn't feeding friendly?? I headed to the bathroom, locked us in a stall, hiked my dress up to my chin and nursed my baby while I sat on a toilet. The things we moms have to do sometimes, haha!! Just a typical mommy moment, right!?

After church we all came over to our house and spent the day together visiting, eating, and celebrating Kambry's big day!! We feel so blessed and I pray our little girl grows up knowing her Savior and letting her little (BIG) light shine!!! =)

Katching Up With Kambry

Life with 3 kids has been GREAT! I must say I thought it was way harder going from 1-2 then from 2-3 kids! I think because when you have 1 all your time revolves around that 1 person and 0ne person only then when you have a second you're learning how to juggle 2 kids AND get other household chores done at the same time. I remember nursing Karter and Keaton would just be standing there bored to death waiting for me to finish so I could play with him. I'd finish and put Karter down so I could entertain him. Now if I'm nursing Kambry, the older 2 play together so I feel like I get a lot more baby time with her! Also I think once you learn how to juggle it's easy to add one more into the mix! We're still debating number 4...I think it will happen but we'll see!! =)

Here are some pictures of the 3 kids together...trying to bring you up to date a little bit!

Bringing Kambry home from the hospital.
Watching cartoons in mommy and daddy's bed!

Kisses for Kambry!

Movie Time!!

In our Aggie gear ready to tailgate!!

Picnic time!!

Look at those baby blues!!!

Big Bro, Big Sis, Lil Sis!!

Pumpkin Patch!

Keaton was Woody, Karter was Jessie and Kambry was Bullseye the horse! (Roni does that look familiar? I'll give it to you next time I see you! =) )

Daddy of 3!

My little turkies!!

I made these shirts with my SIL for the kids, so cute!!

Our Little Pumpkin!!

Feeling very blessed!!

Introducing Kambry Leah...

Well I think the very best way to get back into blogging is to tell you about Kambry's birth! We were scheduled to come in the night of August 3rd to start Cytotec and then be induced the next morning! Kyle and I have a tradition of going out to eat (the "last supper") before we go into the hospital! So this year we headed to Alamo Drafthouse for dinner and watched Horrible Bosses. After we got out I had a message from the hospital that they were busy and needed us to come in an hour later than scheduled, so that pushed it back to 11:00PM. No big deal, just an hour! My parents live by the hospital so we headed to their house to visit with them and my PawPaw who was in town.

We got to the hospital all giddy and excited, I couldn't wait to hold our new baby girl!! So exciting! There truly is nothing like knowing you're about to meet one of the greatest loves of your life!!

Hooked up and all ready to go!! (Lord what an awful picture!)

I don't know that I really slept at all that night! Kyle snored in the couch next to me...why is it guys can sleep anywhere and fall asleep in a matter of seconds?? So jealous! Anyway, they did 2 rounds of Cytotec and then started Pitocin at 6:40AM. It was a slow morning and by lunch I was just 3-4 cm. I wasn't discouraged, my labors are always pretty slow, I knew I just needed time and things would start happening! At 1:25 my Dr. came in and broke my water which always speeds things up so then I got an epidural an hour after that! Around 4:40 I had that familiar feeling of pressure down there and called the nurse. Sure enough I was 10cm. and ready to push!!

We're ready!!! About to push and meet Kambry!!!

I pushed literally 2 rounds of pushing (each round of contractions was 3 pushes) and out she came! Easiest delivery ever!!!!

Proud Parents!!! We made another beautiful baby together!!

Kambry Leah Kotzebue

After that I felt so amazing! I was so happy she was here and healthy and the delivery was so easy I guess I had a false sense of thinking I was A-OK because shortly after all the family started coming in to take pictures and I was excitedly visiting with everyone I took a turn for the worst and got SUPER nauseous! I was so hungry and they put a burger infront of me and I immediately felt like I was going to puke. I did puke after I had Keaton so I thought I'd feel better soon but I didn't. The nurse offered to give me "magic stuff" to make me feel better before I left for postpartum. I really should have asked her what she was going to give me but instead I trusted her and said sure! What a mistake...she gave me Staydohl which don't get me wrong is a GREAT drug when you're having contractions because it makes you loopy and relaxed during the pain before your epidural but this drug is AWFUL after you've had your baby. I felt so drunk I couldn't stand to get in the wheelchair to go to my room. Once I got to my room I still felt sick and couldn't even stay awake. So while I laid there like this...

Totally passed out (getting a hug from my sis), my kids got to meet their little sister! So sad I was incoherent for that but I did get to watch it on video. =/ They were so excited to meet her and just couldn't get enough of her!!

Keaton is such a great big brother!

Karter giving sissy a BIG squeeze!

Little Sis

At 9:00PM I was crying to the nurse because all I wanted to do was nurse my baby but I felt so sick I just couldn't and they wouldn't give me any pain medicine until I ate and I couldn't do that either so I just cried and went back to sleep. I told them to feed her a bottle of formula for that feeding and then to bring her to me at the midnight feeding hoping that I would feel better and be able to nurse her!

Sure enough at midnight I could eat some Graham Crackers and drink juice and feed my baby! It was kind of nice to lay with my new baby in the middle of the night, watch my hubby sleeping on the couch and it just be us. It was a nice little moment for us and I was so thankful all the nausea was over!!

The next day I was a new woman and couldn't wait for my 2 favorite visitors to come up again!!

Unlike some women I actually LOVE my time at the hospital! No house to clean, laundry to do, meals to make, I just get to lay in bed while everyone comes to visit and order my food over the phone...I LOVE IT! =)

We are so very thankful for Miss Kambry Leah! Once she came out my doctor said, " Oh wow! I'm so glad we took her early, there was a big knot in the cord!". It was already a tight knot and had we not induced that day (10 days early) it could have cut off her oxygen and I don't even want to think about what could have happened! Might think the picture is gross but check out that knot...so scary!!

My mom works in the nursery and they have stories like this often that don't have the happy ending that ours did! We're so thankful that Kambry is OK and have enjoyed every second of her! Well almost every second...there are some late nights that I wouldn't describe myself as joyful! HAHA!

Back To Blogging

I have been a VERY BAD BLOGGER!! I am busy with these 3 little kids and when I have a moment I don't really want to try to sit down and type a post, rearrange pictures, all while attempting to be widdy and hold your attention...so I was going to quit this blog! But I got online today and started reading all my old posts of Keaton and Karter when they were smaller and I LOVE LOOKING BACK!! So I vow to blog this year and keep up with it! So this blog is mainly for me and a diary of sorts for our family and the things we do! But I also hope you enjoy it too, although I know you're not nearly as into reading about my kids as I am, hehe! I'm excited to get back into it and I have a lot of catching up to do! =)

Aggie Angel

You have to read this post...what an amazing man!

http://martinfamilyandmito.blogspot.com/2011/09/stranger-friends.html

Help him...Help Will!!!

Simple Request

Hi everyone! I know I've been MIA lately but today I have something very important and near and dear to my heart to blog about!

On July 5th my cousin Lori and her husband Neil received the devastating news that their 2 year old son, Will, had Leigh's Disease. It's a very rare neurometabolic disorder in the mitochondrial disease family. The easiest way to explain it is that this particular manifestation of the disease causes lesions in the brain and eventually the brain will stop functioning and there is no cure or suppressant. It's unlikely he will live to see his teenage years.

The news was obviously more than crushing to them as Will is an only child. It's been hard for the entire family however as a mother myself I can't imagine the pain and fear that Lori and Neil feel. I'm devastated for them and I ask that you please read up on their blog: www.martinfamilyandmito.blogspot.com and follow their story. I ask this of you for a few reasons...to become familiar with this retched disease (the more awareness the better) and to keep all 3 of them in your prayers!

Did you know that Mitochondrial Diseases are as common as child cancer? Probably not and I didn't know that either! Last week was Mitochondrial Awareness Week (I would have posted this last week but I just found this out! Better late than never!) so help me spread awareness! You can follow my cousins blog, blog about her blog, or "like" the United Mitochondrial Foundations Facebook page. Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me and my family!

Big Girl Karter

Out of all my pregnancies I have BY FAR experienced the nesting phase the most this time around!! Kyle will agree on this! Instead of nesting it's actually more of super anal psycho cleaning bitch. I have cried over my to do list and that things will never get done a few times! Then the next day I get it done and I'm the happiest person you've ever met! I have cleaned out almost every cabinet and drawer in the house, my closet and all my drawers in our master bath, the kids bathroom cabinets and linen closet, Keaton's whole room-clothes and toys, then we cleaned out one room that was the study and made that Karter's room so I moved all her stuff from her room into her new big girl room and made her old nursery Kambry's room! So I got down all the newborn stuff and washed everything and now the entire house feels organized and ready for baby! It's crazy how motivated you are and you simply can't rest until it's all done!

So back to Karter's big girl room...this was so much fun! We've lived in this house now for 2 years and have never really "made it home" or added our own touch to it because we don't own it and figured we'd be here a few months. That few months has turned into a much longer amount of time and even though it's temporary we need to feel at home! So we got permission to paint and it looks amazing! More pics of the house to come but right now we'll focus on Karter! I wanted her room bright pink and that it is!! We bought new furniture for her and my super talented friend, JoDee, made her bedding! That's right, she MADE it!! I picked out all the fabric and then she went to town making my vision a reality!! THANK YOU SO MUCH JODEE!!! It turned out awesome!! I can't show you everything yet because we're still waiting on a desk and shelves to finish it off but here are some sneak peeks!

I was so excited when I found ribbon that matched her bedding so I made this bow holder for her bows! =)

Sneak peek of what the bedding looks like! It's soooo darn cute!!

I bought this decal on Etsy and love it! This is right above her bed and she'll look up at it and say, "Mommy did" and point to it! =)

So once the room was pretty much finished we decided to TRY to let her sleep in her new bed and see how she does! I just knew this would be a big disaster and she'd be back in her crib in no time. I thought she'd get out of bed a zillion times, naps would be over, etc! Keaton was 2.5 when we switched him so I just knew 22 months would be too young. Apparently my optimistic attitude wasn't shining through on this topic! So last Sunday night we decided to try! She cried and cried for a while and Kyle decided to lay with her. I did NOT want that to become a habit but we thought maybe once she woke up alone she'd realize she did it and it wasn't so bad. So sure enough she woke up happy as a lark and when I put her down for a nap that day I just shut the door and expected to see her walking out shortly after but didn't...she went straight to sleep!! Every night and naptime all week since has been a breeze!! I am truly blown away!!! That was the easiest transition ever and she LOVES her new room!! Now the crib is raised back up and ready for baby Kambry to arrive!!

Loves reading and snuggling with her Daddy!!

Sound Asleep!!! =)