TwO oF a KiNd

When I found out I was pregnant, my mother, now known as Grammy Marcy, was ecstatic.  She immediately started helping me prepare for my little Gift, and was even in the birthing room with Shannon and me, cheering me on during labor.  She has, is, and always will be there for me no matter what. 


Grandparents always say  that their grandchildren are the reason for having children in the first place.  Not that I think my mother loves Koko Bean more than she loves me, but there is that special bond between them that I can remember myself having with her mother. 

I really began to realize this bond our last trip home for Christmas.  When we pulled up to my mother and father's house, Koko Bean was waking up from a little car ride snooze. Grammy Marcy didn't even have to step one foot of her front door step before Korbin shouted, "GRANDMA!!" My heart melted and as my mom walked to the car to meet up with her little buddy, Grammy Marcy was beaming from ear to ear.

These two ladies danced, sang, and laughed, just as my grandmother used to do with me. I can remember all the songs that were sung to me and how much fun Grandma Helen and I had singing them together. Now, my daughter was being taught by my mother how to sing them.  Even my cousin's little girl, Maddison got to join in on the fun. 

Now that there are four generations of us, I am so thankful we get to pass on these wonderful traditions. 

My mother did pass down the "curse" to me as most mothers do to their children. She said, "One day, I hope you have a child who is just like you Sarah Gayle." Well, I think that curse skipped a generation, because I know I was not that mischievous as a child. I do know that one little girl was and it makes me respect my grandmother even more. 

 (Future Grammy Marcy is 2nd from the left, the one posing like a diva.)

While most kids can ignore a mess or messily spoon food in their mouths, Koko Bean is meticulous just like Grammy Marcy. She hates having food on her face while eating and demands a wipe in her lap while doing so. She also runs around and picks up our shoes at home, hands them to us and says, "Here!" I've seen my mother stick out her bottom teeth when she's concentrating or mad about something. Now, Korbin does it. Not only do the two ladies act alike, but they also look alike and I'm perfectly fine with all of it. My mother is the most beautiful person I know, inside and out, and I'm extremely thankful my daughter gets to see that too!

DaDdY's gIrL

Since the day they got married
He'd been praying for a little baby boy
Someone he could take fishing
Throw the football, be his pride and joy
He could already see him holding that trophy
Taking his team to state
But when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket
All those big dreams changed

And now, he's wrapped around her finger
She's the center of his whole world
And his heart belongs to that sweet, little, beautiful, wonderful, perfect
All American girl

  I remember going to the doctor and getting the ultrasound, the doctor saying, "I'm 90% sure it's a girl." Shannon was still holding out for that 10% chance it was a boy. That was until I got the 3D ultrasound. "It's 100% girl Dad!" 

"Oh great, is this God punishing me? This girl is already grounded. NO BOYS until she's 30!!"

And after I had that little pregrounded thing, it was automatic...

Daddy got up with Koko Bean every night with me, even though I was the one nursing. He was a champ at changing diapers, even if it involved projectile poo. This little girl was his to protect. 

They play ....

and play...

I really couldn't have asked for a better father for my little girl.  He makes it too easy for me.  After a long 10-hour day of work, and getting some gym time in the morning, he is still always there to help. 

I am truly blessed to have Shannon in my life and to share in this experience.  I know no other dad like him.

One of these days, when Koko Bean is all grown up and her daddy has to give her away, I will make sure she knows to kiss her daddy and thank him for being who he is. 

WE LOVE YOU!!

Best Friends Forever

This is going to be a long one and I will have to take many breaks as I'm a ball of emotion on this topic. :) Even though I consider myself a tad of an introvert, I have had many friends in my life. You wouldn't know it by chatting with me or befriending me on Facebook, but I get a bit of social anxiety around people.  I think that's why I love my job. It forces me to get out of my shell and talk to people directly.  In college, I was in a sorority, and was even the president.  I made several friends outside of the sorority as well. However, there's one friend, with whom I have shared many trials and triumphs. Haley and I have been friends since 1986, Mrs. Head's morning Kindergarten class at Riley Elementary School in Independence, KS. I first got to know Haley as we were both "Yellow Fellows" in the colors of the rainbow play. Haley had been sick at rehearsal and was about to toss her milk and cookies, when "da, dada, da!" Little Sarah came to the rescue and shouted for help. We've been best friends ever since. 

In grade school, we got in trouble for eating those onion weed things on the playground. I also remember many nights in high school, cruising around in her 1987 Colt E, painted sparkling teal (she repainted it from the dull red color it was when she bought it.) We saw Romeo and Juliet about 10 times according to our parents. *wink* We really didn't get into any trouble, but since we were 15 years old, with restricted permits, we weren't supposed to be driving for recreation purposes (only to school and work.) Also, since the tint on the the windows was "bubbly," she would not allow me to roll my window halfway. It had to be all the way up or all the way down.

College separated us. After we each spent a year at ICC, Haley went to the University of Kansas and I went to OSU then Pittsburg State University. Haley was the overachiever and graduated in three years. It took me five. Yikes! Even though we had not talked much while in college, we met back up in 2004. Boy had we both changed.  I was always the conservative chick, and she was the more wild dresser. Haley used to wear pleather pants and platform shoes. I stuck to jeans and sweaters.We flip flopped that. I remember meeting up with her at the pool in a bikini and Haley asking me what happened to my turtleneck bathing suit. 
As more time went by, we each had our fair share of frogs, but still hadn't found our princes.  That was until she met Tyler and I met Shannon. I got to know Tyler as he and Haley allowed me to be a temporary roommate when I first moved to KC. Tyler and Haley wed November 1, 2008. Now I had to share my bestie, but I was okay with this. :)

Little did we know life was going to throw us a baby curve ball.  I found out I was pregnant in May 2008. I remember calling Haley, then texting her, telling her I wished she could share this journey with me, and that I didn't want to do it alone. Well... three months later I get a call. "I'm having a baby!" Whoops! I guess I had quite the pull with the Big Man Upstairs. It seems a few more of my close acquaintances also caught the baby bug that year. Haley threw me a baby shower a few weeks after her wedding and soon after, I had Korbin on January 6, 2009. She had Jaxon April 20, 2009. 

Even though we live in different towns, we still make it a point to get the kids together. It's hard to believe both will be two this next year.  Time flies when you're having fun!!

I love how prissy Korbin is and how silly Jaxon is when they play.  Jaxon looks just like his daddy, but Mom's sense of humor shines right through him. 

Jaxon and Korbin will hopefully be lifelong friends just as Haley and I are. It seems they are just like their mommies. They always pick up like they were never apart. I'm just glad we're able to share in the joy. 

Two years ago...

I've seen a lot of my blogging mommy friends telling the birth stories of their little ones, so I decided to follow suit.

BABY SHOWERS!!

Korbin was due January 9, 2009. Everyone I worked with, talked to, etc. just knew she would come early.  Thanksgiving rolled around and my best friend in the whole world since Kindergarten, threw me a baby shower at my parents' house in Independence. I was surprised at the turnout as some drove all the way from Western Kansas!! I don't think they all realized how grateful I was that they were able to come.  I remember that day and how the termperature went from 60 degrees to below 30 in less than 12 hours. No baby then.

That same weekend, Shannon's family threw me another fabulous shower in Oklahoma at my personal photographer/super amazing "sister-in-law," Destiny's. Again, I was just beyond grateful at how everyone came. However, I was not super pumped about having to be blindfolded and touch and smell a "dirty diaper," filled with smashed bananas and chocolate. Thanks Des! No baby then.

BIG 12 BABY!!

Early in December, we got to go to the last Big 12 Championship Game held at Arrowhead Stadium in KC.  Guess who was playing!! Yep, you know it! BOOMER SOONER BABY! This was Korbin's second Sooner game that season as we went to the KSU vs. OU game earlier in October. She was very active, and loved the loud "BOOMER SOONER" fight song. She danced all night in my belly as the Sooners stomped the Missouri Tigers. I don't even remember the score but it might as well have been an exhibition game for OU. It was sooooooo cold that night and I was already coming down with illness. I ended up losing my voice that whole week after that. My boss made me stay home a couple days and I wasn't allowed to talk. No baby then.

SANTA BABY
Christmas rolled around and people came and went from my mom and dad's house. We had a great Christmas morning. Korbin was so active in my belly. (Korbin was always the most active during celebrations, holidays and sporting events.) Shannon got me her travel system for Christmas. That was the final thing we needed. We were set. We were ready. No baby then.

GNC BABY
I worked 50-60 hours a week up until I was about 36 weeks pregnant. Then I scaled back to about 30-40 hours a week, but still was able to do the physical part of my job- putting away shipments, lugging cases of Isopure RTD's across the store, resetting merchandise. I was determined to stay active and earn my keep. My last day of work was December 31, 2008. Shannon got to open our new Downtown Kansas City GNC that day too. No baby then.

NEW YEAR'S BABY
Since New Year's Eve was my last day of work and I knew I wouldn't be back for eight weeks, I was really hoping to hurry this process along.  I could NOT wait to meet this beautiful baby girl of mine. Since I was having Korbin at Claremore Indian Hospital in Oklahoma (4 hours from where I live,) I decided to stay with my parents in Independence, KS (1.5 hours from the hospital.) I "moved in" January 2nd, Dad's birthday.  January 3, I decided to start downing Red Raspberry Tea three times per day to strengthen the baby contractions I was having.....

3 DAYS LATER....BABY??
On January 5 (Shannon's mom Nancy's birthday,) after three days, and nine cups of Red Raspberry tea, I started having some pretty rockin' contractions. My dad had taken a week's vacation for the main event and my mom was at work. I didn't want to say anything to my dad because he was dealing with his own emotional roller coaster. His mom, my beloved Grandma Betty Kersey who past away last October, was in the hospital after having a stroke. I was in a lot of pain and kept tensing up but I didn't want to cry wolf incase it wasn't the real thing. I coudln't wait for my mom to come home, and I was super anxious, so I started packing a suitcase for the hospital.

When Mom got home, I told her we needed to venture out to Wal-Mart to get some T-shirts for the Korbster and a few other odds and ends. I called the hospital to let them know I was coming later. We grabbed everything we needed from Wally World, then headed South  to the hospital. I nervously called Shannon and texted Haley, telling them the news.  I didn't want to tell anyone else because I was afraid it wasn't the real thing.

I was only dilated to 2cm when we got to the hospital. I walked around the hospital a million times it seemed like for an hour then went back to get checked. I was still at a 2!! I had two absolutely wonderful nurses during my experience. My bedside nurse noticed that I kept wincing at each contraction and told me to just relax. I never took a childbirth class so I wasn't really sure what to expect, how to breathe etc. I think if I had, I would have thrown it all out the window because this nurse taught me everything I needed to know in 2 short minutes.  Among all the chaos and excitement, the doctor on call came in to check the heart monitor. She noticed that each time I had a contraction, Korbin's heart rate would decrease significantly. Even though I wasn't quite dilated enough to stay, she decided to admit me to keep an eye on the heart rate. They also gave me what I call Morphine's sister, to ease the pain a bit in hopes that me relaxing would aid in dilation.

Shannon arrived around midnight from Kansas City and I slept for about four hours. When I woke up at 5am, the pain was constant and the contractions were extreme!! I kept using the breathing and relaxation techniques that my nurse taught me, and after about five or six hours, I finally got myself dilated to an 8cm. This was a big deal!! This meant I could get some meds!! Since the Claremore Indian Hospital didn't do epidurals, I got an intrathecal. After that, everything was gravy. By this time, my midwife had shown up and I was comfortable again. She came in and said, "Let's prepare for labor and deliver," to which I responded, "what the hell was all that before?"

As you mommies may know, preparing for delivery means evacuation of fluids. The midwife filled an entire bag!! Shannon informed her that she probably should have filled two since I had been noshing on ice chips the whole day. Let's just say he was right. She soon found out when it was time to push.  I pushed for about 45 minutes, working very hard to finally get to see my baby, three sets of counting to ten, push, push, push. I kept thinking, "Shouldn't this be over by now? Why haven't I met my baby yet?" And then the meds wore off.....

It seemed my mom, Shannon, the midwife, the nurse, and the midwife intern all kept looking at each other strangely, but I just thought it was because I was so quiet and diligent. Instead of pushing for three sets of ten seconds, I decided to go for four, then five.  I was not going to give up, but that little girl still hadn't come out yet!! Mom kept saying, "Oh Sarah, she's got a lot of hair. I see it. Wow! Look at all that black hair she has!!" Finally, I snapped. I informed my mom that I knew she had black hair after the umpteenth time she told me and that she needed to just be quiet about the black hair. Do you know how frustrating it is to work so hard, and put your body through all that, and someone else is seeing your reward before you???

Finally, after 23 hours of hard labor and 2 hours of pushing, my little girl was here....but she was purple...really purple. Both Mom and Shannon looked at each other and both looked as if they were going to throw up. As the midwife swiftly unraveled the cord that was wrapped tightly around my baby's neck, I heard the cries. *RELIEF* She gently placed her on my abdomen and I was just astonished. I had done it!! WE had done it!! I broke down in the happiest tears I've ever cried. The LOVE I immediately felt for this child was overwhelming me. 

Soon after, Shannon cut the cord, and got to kiss his new baby girl.  He almost cried. As the nurse wrapped her up in the blanket, and placed her in my arms, I was shaking from adrenoline.  I was more than nervous. One, I gave birth, two, I was still in pain, and three, even though I had read The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, I was getting ready to nurse this baby for the first time!! We were terrible at it at first, but we soon became quite the team.  Nursing was my favorite part about waking up in the middle of the night. Only I could provide these vital nutrients she so desperately needed and I felt pretty special about that.

I have to say that the most terrific accomplishment I've ever achieved in my life is being able to carry this little life inside my body, then go through the most painful process I've ever felt to get the sweetest reward at the end.  I am also blessed with the greatest father for her.  Shannon is the best dad I've ever seen with a child. She has him wrapped around her little finger and I know she's taught him just as much as she has taught me.  He loves his little girl more than anything and let me tell ya, she's a DADDY'S GIRL through and through.

I can't wait to see what the next year will bring us.  I hate seeing Korbin grow up fast, but I love watching her develop, explore and learn new things daily.  She truly is my little LIGHT from above.  I look forward to getting off work everyday just to see what she has learned at daycare or picked up from her environment.  She is a very fast learner. This is a great thing but also very bad, because now she knows where we hide the treats, and how to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper in a matter of seconds without us knowing.  That's when we just turn off the TV, sit back, and enjoy the show.  

Korbin MaKenna

Born January 6, 2009

4:27pm

7lbs, 2oz

19.5 inches

OnE, TwO, SkIp A fEw...

As we approach Korbin's second birthday in one month and one day, I decided to finally get after this blog.  So much has passed since our last update that the Korbster might as well be 18.  She is the most grown up, independent, comedic almost-two-year-old I've ever met.  

Just this summer, Shan and I were worried that our little girl wasn't talking. We thought maybe it was because she goes to a daycare where English is a second language.  Mina, our wonderful, loving, and nurturing daycare provider, is from Iran.  She speaks very broken English and a couple of the kids are also of Arabic  nationality. However, Mina has taught Korbin more than how to talk.  Korbin knew where her nose, ears, eyes, mouth, toes, etc. were, knew how to clap, and knew how wave hi and bye before she was six months old.  

Now, back to the talking part... 

This girl talks....

A LOT...

My favorite things she says are:

 - Mommy, gimme juice. I want apple.
- I need cereal and mayelk (milk.)
- I luh (love) you Mommy/Daddy.
- I want foon (spoon.)
- Daddy yucky (referring to his chewing tobacco. ) 
- Take a bite.
- (and after taking a bite) Is is good?
- Amir (Come here)
- Look at this!
- I read book? (Korbin loves to read. We have the "Your Baby Can Read" program and Korbin has started reading words like horse, hat, mouth, elephant, and clap. She loves that program!!!!)

Even though I feel like we live in a whirlwind, sometimes it's nice to just stop and watch Korbin play or watch her watch a movie or read a book.  I say this all the time. Everything she does just amazes me. I wish I could make time stand still to soak it in more. I feel like she accomplishes one milestone quickly, then even faster, goes on to the next.  


I guess this is it for now as she is running around chasing the dog with her hood on her head, while multitasking and zipping her hoodie.  What a silly pants!!