its already been 8 weeks!

Well I have been getting some major complaints about the lack of posting. Im such a slacker, and for that I apologize. I have been pretty busy, and when I get time to myself, blogging is not the first thing that comes to mind, but I promise to be better with updates. With that said, I will fill you in on the past 8 weeks since the birth of my perfect and wonderful baby girl!

The beginning was a little rough, no one really prepared me for the depression i would feel about not getting any sleep. I didnt have postpartum depression or anything, I was just upset that I wasnt getting sleep. I love sleep, and it really made me sad that I never got any. Eventually I realized that this was how my life was, and once I accepted it, I didnt really care anymore. I just wasnt prepared for it to be that hard. I would get up in the middle of the night to feed her and then she would want to stay awake for like another hour. I thought I was going to pass out. I would wake justin up just to talk to me because I couldn't stay awake unless he did. We did trade off sometimes. After I would feed her if she wouldnt go back to sleep, I would just give her to him and he would get her back to sleep. Some nights he would stay up super late and take the first shift, and then i would do the rest of the night. This all lasted about three weeks and then it got much better. Then the next couple weeks she woke up twice, once at around 2 and then again around 5 and she would go right back to sleep. Then the weeks after that she would only wake up once, around 330. And then HALLELUJAH! she started sleeping through the night, at 7 1/2 weeks. this was just last wednesday, and it was the greatest. I woke up to my ALARM! i couldnt believe it. So this whole last week she has been sleeping 7 or 8 hours and a couple nights she went 9! Its incredible when you get that first normal night of sleep again. It pretty much rocks. I have to say that I find cluster feeding to be the key to these good nights of sleep. I work really hard to make sure she is eating at all the right times so at night I can really stuff her up and get her to sleep all night long. Its working so far, so Ill just keep my fingers crossed that it continues.

That really was the hardest thing, I just wasnt prepared for only sleeping like 2 hours in a row and then getting up, and doing that everyday all day, for a few weeks. Then I had to go back to work when she was two weeks old and that was torture! she would go back to sleep and I would, well if I didnt have to go to work I could go back to sleep too, but I had to leave =( To you soon to be moms out there, just know, you will probably not get adequate sleep, accept this, rise to the occasion, and dont obsess about the hours of sleep you can get if you went to sleep now...or now...or if i go to sleep now, maybe she will wake up at such and such. forget all that, just sleep when the baby sleeps, and praise the Lord for whatever you are getting. And if oyu have a stinking awesome baby that sleeps through the night immediately, well congratu-sinkin-lations. also, if you can get your mom or mom-in-law to stay with you for a while, that rocks! it was a saving grace for us while we had our moms here.

So, what else...well she has been pretty good at all her doctor appt's. Last one we went to she weighed in at 10lb 1oz, 22 inches long. we have her two month check up on Monday of next week, where she will get lots of shots from what I understand. They say this makes their legs very tender and they may be grumpy, and then tired. I hope she is ok, I dont like the shots, it makes me sad when her little heart is broken =( i always love going and seeing how much weight she has gained. she has already grown out of some of her clothes and we went up to size 1 diapers about 3 weeks ago, that was exciting seeing as we have a bunch of those that people had bought for us. then ill have to start buying them for myself =(

the latest thing that tops my list of favorite things, is my little girl smiling. she started really smiling a couple weeks ago and it increases daily. it pretty much makes me the happiest girl ever =)

well here are some randoms from the past couple months

KP loves baths, her bouncy seat, her swing, her pacifier and snuggling
fred loves to lick her face, this makes me not so happy
Kennedy likes to look at the christmas tree
she loves when i swaddle her at night and immediately relaxes, its amazing, its like she knows its time for bed=)
her eyes are so very blue, just like her daddy's, i love the beauty
she burps and has bowel movements like a champ...always pack extra outfits in the bag!
she likes car trips and walking around the stores, she just looks around at everything or sleeps, i like that she is so portable=)
i think breastfeeding is so sweet, but pumping is weird, i feel like a cow
i love that im her favorite person =)
im still obsessed with her nose, its so cute. its like a ski slope or something
if i actually take a shower and do my hair and make up, its a miracle
loosing weight is harder than i thought it was going to be =/
i have a content, beautiful, happy, pretty darn easy baby and i feel very blessed, i am so in love!

ok well thats all for now! ill be home in 9 days and cant wait to introduce my sweet girl to everyone! she is going to have a little photo session with the awesome Tara Lohse of tlohsephotography, and im super pumped about that! we also get to have christmas with both our families and see a lot of great friends which I am sooooooo excited about. ill post some pictures later for those of you who dont get to check facebook or anything.

Our Story

the last couple weeks I talked to just about every woman i knew that has had a baby. i wanted to know what happened, how and when they went into labor, how they knew, where they were, if they were late, how did they deal and what did they do to move it along, etc. I was ready for this to happen, already a week late and a little nervous that i wouldnt know what to do. After a while tho i was tired of hearing all of their stories and was ready to see what our birth story would be. would i break my water at a BBQ restaurant, or eating chinese, or taking a long walk? would it happen in the middle of the night or right when i woke up? well, here is how it happened...

Sunday I went to church, a place I had the sunday before swore I would not be at the next Sunday. walking in was pretty ridiculous, everyone looking at me and saying, "You're still here." ha, yea, still here...and pregnant, obviously. Well my parents had been in town since Wednesday night and so after church we went to eat with them and Uno's and I got something with jalapenos in it, again, doing what someone else had told me to do, eat spicy food. after lunch we went home and I took a quick nap since I hadnt slept the night before bc i was so uncomfortable and Justin's coughing kept me up all night. I slept for almost 2 hours before justin came in to see if I wanted to go with him up to BW's to watch the Jags game. I told him to go ahead and I would meet him there. I first went on a walk with my dad and Fred and then headed up. I got there around 6. At 610 I felt a little cramping, It just felt like a menstrual cramp and so I noticed the time and then ignored the feeling. At 618 it happened again, and then at 624, every 8 minutes for the next hour I felt this. I finally told Justin and he asked if I wanted to leave and I said no, its only the 3rd quarter, its not really hurting and im sure its nothing. We decided to just sit it out and went home after it was over. We didnt say anything to my parents bc I really didnt know what it all was and we just went upstairs and watched some more tv, me and mom later watched Desperate Housewives, all while having these "Cramps" and then around 1130 i tried to go to sleep. I dozed a little bit and then at 130 was wide awake with heavier pains. They started to hurt more all the way around my back and stomach and so I watched the clock and these were about 6 minutes apart. Finally at 315 I called my midwife since I had now been feeling this consistently for 9 hours and Justin said if I didnt call he was just going to take me to the hospital. I just really didnt want to get there and be sent home bc it was false labor or something but it just didnt hurt that bad so I thought this could not be it...oh but it was =) finally!

we left about 20 minutes later and were at the hospital around 4. we got all ready in our room and just waited for everything to get started. I began to have pretty bad labor pains around 7 and my midwife got there at 9 and checked me and I was almost 6 cm. I was all for the epidural, which Im not a huge fan of bc i dont like feeling out of control of my body and all weird, but I needed some sleep since I hadnt slept since Friday night and it was monday and i knew I had a big activity coming up. They put that in at 1030 and I finally got some sleep =) I woke up at about 12 and my mom and dad had brought Justin some lunch from Moe's and he was sitting on the chair eating this massive burrito. I sat up and told Justin i felt like I needed to push and he said, "well push." I said, "I cant push, you're eating a burrito." Well the nurse came in and I told her and she got the midwife and we got to pushing at 1223, and at 113, my new best friend came into the world and I have never been so glad to see anyone in my whole life! Justin and I were both crying our eyes out of course, and just staring at her in amazement. She is the most beautiful thing ever and we made her and are basically in love with her.

So here are the stats! she weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. Born at 113pm on 10/13. Her name is Kennedy Paige Manny, and this is our story =) you can click the links below to look at more photos
Pictures
more pictures

Just Hatched!

a salute to Rock!

we have been rocking a lot. im getting good on guitar, i just prop it on the belly. seems like you should all come visit the Manny's to rock out one night...open invitation!

so hard to say goodbye

So I have waited and waited to write this little post because to be honest I have been quite emotional over this monumental change in my life. I recently quit my job with sweet little Alex and it has been quite an adjustment, in more ways than one. Not having anything to do all day is pretty boring, and making less money is certainly no fun, but the thing I hate the most is not seeing him. I have spent the past 2 years and 8 months with him everyday, M-F, anyway. All of a sudden I have gone almost 4 weeks without seeing him and its starting to get to me I have to say. I really miss my little buddy, he was the greatest kid to be with all day long. I told Justin that Kennedy better be sooo cool because this huge chunk out of my heart needs fixin' and Im thinking that how much I love her will fix this not being able to love on him. I keep wanting to go see Alex but keep putting it off because his mom just had her new baby boy as well as giving him time to adjust to me not coming to see him everyday. It just stinks so bad, he really was like my little best friend. We just hung out everyday and played and laughed and snuggled, I just need to get a fix and kiss all over his sweet cheeks or something. hopefully soon. I knew this was inevitable, one day I was going to leave, i just didnt know when I met him way back when I would love him so so much and end up missing him so so badly =(

on another note, I have been working with a new family, very part time. they are a very sweet family with two girls, 10 and 14. The 10 year old and I are mostly together in the mornings and I drive her around in the afternoons pretty much. She is hilarious and always tells me stories. I dont get to see the 14 year old all that much but she is very sweet, a little quieter than the younger. Anyway, its working out well, early early mornings, but I should get used to weird sleeping hours anyway I guess with Kennedy coming soon!!!!!!!!

So its almost FALL! the temp. this morning was 53 degrees! I could not believe it! I loved it. I have been so fat and hot, its nice to have some cool weather and open up the windows and turn off the AC. I do have to say tho that it cant get too cold because the only shoes that fit me right now are my flip flops! eek! Well I hope this finds all of you well. ill leave you with a picture of me and my favorite little guy =)

such a good bday

Justin and I didn't really do very much on my birthday, but it was still such a great bday. I just felt very loved. So many great cards, and calls and messages, and a few really sweet gifts and friends to be with. thanks to those of you that made me smile =)

Justin's first act of birthday gift giving was eating the breakfast I made. I LOVE to make breakfast. I like to get out the griddle and mix up some yummy pancakes and flip to my hearts desire. However, my husband doesnt really like breakfasty foods and he also doesnt usually eat in the day til about 1230 or 1 so waking up and eating breakfast is a stretch. With that said I never get to use my griddle or flip any cakes, but on your bday, you get what you want! I made some pancakes and fried eggs and we ate breakfast and lounged around the majority of the morning. Later Justin took me to lunch, which we got for free. We are regulars at this one bar b que place and I frequently get the hook up. Always good to be a regular. We ate with my other husband Jimmy, and then headed to the mall because I needed to get myself a piece of birthday cake. What better cake is there than Cheesecake Factory key lime cheesecake, i submit that there is none better. Last night some friends came over and we grilled and had so much food and dessert so I actually waited on the cheesecake until today, but it was so very delicious =)

I just went to bed last night feeling so lucky and happy to have had a nice day on the big 25th birthday. I cant believe Im over the 20's hump and headed to 30. ah!

without question love

so the other day i woke up and was laying there thinking about how in love i am with my daughter. I know you are probably all sick of hearing about my obsession with her but bare with me. its just weird because i have yet to even lay eyes on her or touch her and yet i love her so unconditionally and she has done nothing to make me love her but exist. i simply love her because i made her and she IS and therefore I love her.

I feel that throughout life with different relationships, different dynamics of God's love is proven or illuminated to us, and this was one of those times. I have often wondered why God loves me, why He began this work of the world, why, when we screwed up so badly in the beginning, was He not just done with this plan. How could He love us, love me, so unconditionally. It was like he was showing me another piece of His heart. "This is why I love you Jill, because I made you, and because you are, therefore I love you." That's all it takes. It's amazing to know that our father, the creator of all things, loves us like that.

It was just so neat to have that click. Not that I never knew how amazing the love of God was, but to actually feel that sort of love for her, the way he does for us, was very cool. The heart of our perfect God is so incredible, and I love how he often uses us and our earthly relationships to relay the message of His love.

sisterly fun!

my sister came in town for a work trip a few weeks ago. She really inspires me. She always says, "Life isnt a dress rehearsal." She really lives that way too. She does the funnest stuff and goes to the coolest places because you never know if you will get the opportunity to do it again. It was so great to have her here and share cincinnati with her. We went to a Red's game with the girl who was taking care of her for work and had great seats and access to the suite restaurant. i felt fancy! i love sisters!

fun to do list for vacation home!

so Jo had a blog about all the stuff she wanted to do when she goes home and it got me excited and thinking about what I want to do when I get back to the Pcola. here is my little list =)

-see my family, especially my nieces and nephews because they are growing up and I am MISSING IT ALL!
-see my friends and hug all over them and have such great girl time
-go for a ride in the Vette with my dad
-go baby shopping with my mom
-lay out in the pool, on my BELLY! and get some sun on my back, finally!
-go to the beach and watch the Blues fly
-go to OBC and see some people I havent seen in such a long time
-eat at The Oar House
-get a Hot and Fresh NOW Krispy Kreme Donut
-eat at whataburger
-eat at Sonny's (we dont have these places in Ohio!)
-take Fred for a walk with my dad bc dad luuuuuvs Fred
-see my sisters and have good sisterly time, and celebrate Sissy's bday!
-have a baby shower for Kennedy and gets lot of fun stuff for her and see so many people that I just LOVE!
-sit around with my best friends in the world and watch/feel my baby girl move around with them, i love how much they all love her too!
-have a relaxing vacation with my wonderful husband, we deserve it!

i cant wait to get there! we leave next tuesday and its going to be fabulous!

mom and dad manny visit

i never put up any of the pictures from Justin's graduation and the Manny's visit so here are a couple I have. One was at the Cubs/Reds game and baby Rhett was there for that too! the other is at the graduation with a bunch of the church staff that came

Justin's 25th

For my precious little Justin's bday we did it up in Justin fashion. After i got off work I ran to Target, picked up Rockband, called and ordered pizza with all his favorite toppings, and played the video game all night! It was the perfect birthday for the hubby and I actually did have a good time being the lead singer of our band, the Monkey Glory Days, that one picture is of Jimmy, he was our drummer =)

i love fun wkds with my guy =)

My weekend was already off to a great start with a half day! I got off super early friday and met justin and we headed to the mall and circuit city to look at video cameras. This has been a chore because my techy hubby wants a really awesome one and I just want one thats affordable and will do a fine job of taping our children. basically we are going to break the bank if he gets his way. while we were at circuit city we got a text that our friends Jimmy and Julie had their baby just an hour ago! this is my second friend to go just so late after her due date. i really dont want to go late! she did however have a pretty good labor so that was comforting after the treacherous labor my other friend had last month! eek! anyway, we went to Roy Rogers on Friday night, for the first time in soooo long! they were so happy to see us and brian and haley. we decided we have to start that up again because of how pumped they were when we walked in. afterwards we went and saw baby Claire. She is identical to her father and has the fullest head of black hair. so crazy! Julie looked like a champ and so fabulous, im hope im as lucky. we stayed for a couple hours just hanging out so we didnt get home til late but it was a fun night with our friends.

Saturday Justin and I slept in reallllly late and he brought me some breakfast in bed. afterwards we hung around the house getting stuff done and then our friends Jin and Lisa brought their puppy over to have a little doggy date with Fred Taylor. it was quite hilarious watching them run around the back yard. rudy is golden retriever so he is more intelligent, more agile, and a way better listener than little Freddy. later the boys started some mariokart so lisa and I walked up to the village with the pups and got coffee and sandwiches. it was such a nice day! i love beautiful saturdays where you can take a walk and not sweat or freeze! it was absolutely perfect weather! after they left justin had sound check at church and then we sat around figuring out if we were going to go to a movie after that. i got sick so instead i begged him to take me to get chinese and so we did! i love chinese take out by the way =) we brought it home and had chinese in front of the tv and watched shows we had taped that week and hadnt watched yet. thats seriously my idea of such a good night!

sunday was a great day as well. we had church and then out for lunch and then we came home to watch the cavs game. We had some friends over that we havent seen in a while and it was really good to catch up with them. after the game justin really really wanted to go to the movies so we headed to the movies to see Prince Caspian. it was really good, I love those movies. we didnt get home til 11 so it was straight to bed!

I was so relieved to have such a packed weekend because I SOOOOO needed it. last week seemed so long and i knew that if the weekend was really boring i would sit around and wait for monday so that today could get here! i want so badly to go to the dr right now and see this little baby but the appt isnt til 420 so i still have to wait 5 more hours! its torture to me. i just cant wait. i think what i want most is just to know everything is alright, the baby looks and seems healthy. and then i of course want to know what we are having =) im so excited, did I say that already???? anyway, its just been so great to be so busy with such fun stuff and fun friends to take my mind off of the anticipation, its only causing anxiety! well i guess my next post will be tomorrow sometime and ill let you all know what we are having, if we indeed find out. but if anything ill have to post pictures. yay!

school is out!

so my husband FINALLY graduated!!!!! Justin finally graduated last Friday night and I could not be more happy about this. i think he is really ecastatic too. Saturday he was standing in the front yard talking about going to get some yard stuff and then come back and finish it all up, and then go have lunch with our friend Jimmy, and it was weird because usually he would be talking about what work he had to get done. it was so awesome. last night he got home from basketball and said, "well. i gotta go get that paper finished, oh wait!" haha, at first i was like, ok babe. and then i realized too that he has no papers to ever write again! its just so nice. we have had dinner, at home, together, two nights in a row! i cant even believe it. its soooo nice to have him there more now and to have him not stressed and him be able to watch our shows with me, play mariokart =), and wait on me hand and foot of course, i mean come one, im pregnant. pregnant = helpless, right. ;) nah, i dont do that to him, i do however like it when he offers and will gladly let him.

also last week, his parents were in town for his graduation. of course we love having them here. they are so easy to be around and fun and just spoil us and make it hard for us to say good bye because they are just too good to us! i cant wait to see them again! ill have to post pictures whenever myra gets them up on the computer of my little hubby in his graduation get up.

oh, and i dont think that i ever posted anything about the baby website but everything dealing with the baby, or photos, and whatnot, are on another blog page. there is a link on the right side of this blog, its called The Bump Diaries. www.babymanny.blogspot.com ill put everything on baby there.

well I hope everyone is having a great spring so far. if it would just get a little warmer here that would be fabulous!

im not fat, im pregnant =)

so most everyone has heard by now, but i thought i should write a little bit about the pregnancy and what's been going on with all of it. i recently stopped feeling sick every day so that's been a beautiful thing! i actually only got sick sick like 4 or 5 times but just felt gross for about 2 months and now im over it i think. i have been fine the past three nights, oh by the way, i have night sickness, not morning. so now im just getting anxious because in four weeks from today we get to find out the gender of the baby and im so excited to know! most all my friends have recently had girls or are having girls soon so im wondering if a boy is even in the mix, i suppose we will see very soon! i haven't yet "popped" so its kind of weird because i know im pregnant but dont really feel pregnant nor look it. i sorta look, outta shape, basically. its kind of unattractive i have to say. i am glad that i feel better now because i have so missed going to the gym and getting to work out. i just like the sense of accomplishment i feel when im like, hey, i worked out today. i just need that back.

so as of right now i am 15 weeks and 5 days along. we are due October 7th. its sorta funny because all my sisters have october kiddies and now im part of the cool group too! yea! i have taken some "belly pictures" but like i said there isnt much going on down there yet. but i am sooooo excited. i have wanted to be a mom pretty much since i was in like 6th grade. i remember telling my friend deidre in high school that i didnt care if i ever got married i just wanted to have a baby and raise a family of chittlins. then i fell in love and wanted justin all to myself, but NOW i am so ready for us to start our family and i cant wait to see justin as a dad, i know he will be incredible. he has already been so helpful with me at the house just making dinner and doing my laundry. ive been pretty lazy and worthless at home for the past two months, but like i said, i feel like myself again so hopefully it will change, at least for a little while. well thats all the news for now i suppose. ill keep you all posted!

SNOW DAYS!

Fred trying to get out of the cold cold snow!
me and Fred with snowflakes on our faces =)
my sweet sweet husband cleaning of my car so i can leave

i just want to be tan =(

last night i had a pretty restless night which is always good for having lots of dreams. i dreamt a lot about kristi for some reason, just that we were hanging out. my other main dream was basically just me laying out by a pool somewhere, really concerned with getting tan. i thought it was pretty hilarious that im so sick of being pale and so pumped about going to florida soon and laying out, that i actually dreamt about it.

i am excited about getting tan but im mostly excited about going to FL for the upcoming weddings. we leave in just 6 weeks!!!!! yay!

well its a very short post but just wanted to share that with y'all

FL for the Weekend

Last weekend justin and I headed to Florida courtesy of Christ's Church Mandarin! We flew out on Friday afternoon and ended up with a delay in a Tampa. My little Jo Jo came to the airport for my three hour delay and we had coffee and dinner with her and also her Justin, when he got off work. I couldnt have imagined a better airport to get stuck in than one with her just a few minutes away. It was so great to see her and have a good friend to be with for just a little while! We arrived in Jax that night and went to eat with Justin's family. It is always so good to be around them as I frequently tell you. Its so easy and care free and I adore them and being with them. Saturday we were able to sleep in, LAY OUT! which was my favorite thing, and just lounge. Later we went shopping and got coffee and afton, floyd and I sat and listened to some live music at the Starbucks. It was a really nice relaxing day. I have been blessed with a lot of those lately. Well Sunday justin had to preach. That was the real reason for us going home. His home church had called him and asked him if he could do the youth service on Super Bowl Sunday. he did very well and made his mom proud! Afterwards we went with the youth group bowling and then headed home to watch the super bowl. It was a short trip but a really good time with his family. We cant wait to be back so soon!Me and Jo in the Tampa AirportMax the cat, I just love this cat at the Manny's house
me and Afton at Starbucks

so long, farewell, alvederzane adure

i have know idea how to spell that. I just love the sound of music. ok well I was so sad a couple weeks ago to have to say goodbye to my love kristi but before she left and the tears came, there was so much fun that we had! we had a great time mostly just talking about stuff and the adventure that her and ruco were about to go on. They got here on a Friday and left the following monday. While on their trip here we took them to some of the local places to eat that Cincinnati is famous for as well as iceskating, church, and shopping of course. Kristi also went into work with me on monday and alex still tells me when i ask him to marry me that he is marrying krissy. so cute! well here are some pictures that ruco took while here!

we miss you guys already and cannot wait until our next reunion!

Fred Taylor Manny

this is Fred, he is our dog. He is a moderate chewer who pee pees on the carpet a few times a day but is breaking into the house training quite well. He likes to take naps with me, his mom, and has fun chasing his sister around the house. We love him and think he is the cutest coolest dog around. one of my favorite things about Fred is that his ears get very wet when he drinks his water because they are just so long. Also they get stepped on by his own two paws. oh, and fred can climb the stairs. trust me, thats amazing. he wont be a frisbee dog or one that will swim in the pool on a hot summer day but he's our Fred, and we are all in love =)