Kayak Adventure

So today we decided to go out to Kayak park and have a barbecue and enjoy the last full day off Cory has before returning to work. We headed out about noon and the weather wasn't perfect at the house but out west it was looking blue and sunny. When we got out there and the crew unloaded we really couldn't have asked for a better day unless the temperature was warmer but it was a beautiful day out!
Alyssa had a great time running around, climbing over drift wood, collecting shells and rocks, and getting soaked. More on that one later.
Cory cooked us a great lunch, cheese hot dogs, pasta salad, coffee and potato chips what more do you want when you are at the beach?! We enjoyed the campfire and I'm still enjoying the smell from my clothes as I write this.
After lunch Knox decided to finally wake up and I fed him while Cory, Alyssa and Harley all went for a walk by the water. Well Harley was chasing sticks in the water and Alyssa decided it was cool to go in as well. She went in and got her feet wet and than went in again up to her knees. Well after that she got knocked down by her own doing or the imaginary wave that came by. Either way she was down in the water. She got herself up and waited a few seconds before she let our her cry. She was drenched from the toes up to the middle of her stomach. I finished feeding Knox and took her up to the car and got her undressed and dried off. After the initial shock wore off, Alyssa was fine and enjoyed every minute of it.
At this time we had been out there for about three hours or so and we decided to pack it in and call it a day. Not before we decided that we need to get out and go camping very soon!

Generosity all because of a little man

These last couple of days have been the best in probably 10 months or so. I have been in no pain at all! Although the pain was well worth it, it's great to feel "normal" again. We are trying to enjoy Cory's last days off, he goes back to work on April 2, and I'm gonna miss having him around, hopefully those lotto tickets do us some good.
Knox is doing wonderful. He goes in tomorrow for a check up for his circumcise. Cory is taking him in for that while I take Alyssa to gymnastics. He is already eating us out of house and home and I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he is a teenager! I don't recall Alyssa eating this much at one sitting. As for his sleeping habits at night they can vary but for the most part he wakes up three times wanting to be fed and changed. He gets up at midnight, around three and than again at six. It doesn't seem to bad and for the most part I don't feel like I have been exhausted so that is good to.
So today I tried something and have kept him on a tight schedule in hopes that I can get him to sleep longer through the night. I will keep you posted on this. It's probably all in my mind that this is going to work but we will see!
The last couple of days we have been enjoying time in our backyard with our heater and fire pit. It's been great fun, having friends and family over to hang out and barbecue it makes me want summer to hurry up and get here.
Cory and I are so thankful for our family, neighbors, friends and even some acquaintances for their generosity for us and Knox. My barista gave my niece and mother in law a gift card to give to me at the hospital and my message therapist got me some socks and a night time CD for baby. I was so surprised by them both and than all of our neighbors have been bringing over gifts for both of the kids. These two kiddos are very loved by everyone that is in their lives and I'm beyond thankful!
Alyssa has been doing good. She enjoys her little brother and hasn't been too bad around him. She does want her "mommy" time and gets a little upset when she doesn't get it. Tantrums have been a daily occurrences but she is learning even if it's painful for us all involved. She is still a wonderful little girl.

Knox Michael

What an interesting week it has been. On Tuesday morning, March 16, we welcomed the arrival of our son Knox Michael into the world at 0051hrs. He was 19.5 inches and 7.6lbs and one of the most handsome little men I have seen.
Now to back up a little at my doctors appointment the previous week he had decided to induce me that Monday because I have been getting severe headaches that I couldn't get rid of. The baby was doing fine and I had no other health issues at that point but since I was unable to take anything stronger to get rid of them my doctor answered my prayers and decided it was time. That Monday we spent waiting around for the phone call. I was told if I hadn't heard from them by 4pm to give them a call. We had everything worked out as far as who would be taking care of Alyssa and had the dog boarded. I didn't get a call so I called them and when I spoke to the nurse we talked for a little while and I told her I was still miserable and they were going to move me into the next day because the maternity floor was pretty busy.
After talking with her a little more and her calling my doctor, who happened to be the on call doctor that day, said they were going to do everything possible to get me in that night and if I didn't hear from them by 6:30 to call the doctor directly. That's what ended up happening and Dr. Sundwall informed me that he was doing everything possible to get me in and it was shift change at the time and they were calling in nurses because they were short handed. Come 7:30 we got the call that they were ready for us. I couldn't believe it and was so excited to finally get rid of the pain and to meet our little man.
We got to the hospital around 8 and was checked in and by 9:30ish iv's in, had seen the doctor, who broke my water and said I was around 5-6cm dilated. The nurse started the patocin and we were off and running. Cory's mom was on her way to the hospital and when she arrived we had decided it was on for a scrabble game. Yes, we brought scrabble to the hospital and I was planning on kicking some major butt! Well my contractions were coming very close and very strong so after picking our first letters I asked Cory to tell the nurse I was ready for my epidural.
After about a half hour the anesthesiologist came in and started to prepare me for my pain relief. Well while I was trying to get that my contractions were coming pretty quickly and very painful. By the time she was done with giving me the epidural I told the nurse I really feel like I needed to push. She checked me out and sure enough I was fully dilated and I started pushing. The doctor was called and the real fun began.
I pushed for what seemed like maybe twenty minutes if that and our baby boy was here! It honestly was a very easy delivery and was a little in shock over how quickly and smoothly it all went. Knox was perfect and very healthy!
Everything appeared to have gone well and I was discharged that same day after dinner, thank goodness! The next couple days I continued to get headaches and I started not being able to even stand up and walk without being in complete pain. Well it turns out I had got a spinal headache from the epidural. Which is the most painful thing I have ever had. I would honestly rather give birth over and over than have that. I was told to go to the ER where I got a blood patch to hopefully stop it. What happened was they had a hard time giving it to me because I had progressed so quickly and the ligaments were relaxed in my back and there was a hard time finding where it needed to be put in. When this happens it can be put in too far causing a hole and having the fluid that is around your spine and brain to leak, causing a severe headache. So long story short I'm starting to feel better still have some pain in my neck back of the head area but it's slowly going away and the blood patch did take the majority of the pain away.
Other than that we are all settling in and enjoying our family. I will write more about Alyssa and Knox later, I think this is quite long enough ; )

Baby Deuce soon to arrive!

This last week has somewhat been hell! I have had a migraine for the last 11 days now and nothing has helped. The doctor has prescribed two different medications that neither have helped. He was concerned for the baby and my past history with preeclampsia so I had some test done and everything came back negative and baby is doing really well.
At my appointment today I told the doctor just how crappy I was doing. He said if those meds weren't doing the trick the only thing left to do would be to induce and than get me some better meds. I wasn't going to argue! The way I looked at it was a win win situation. Better meds and a baby!
So come Monday I'm going to be induced. I'm 75% effaced and second in line for induction. Hopefully we get the call early because I don't want to have to sit around all day by the phone! This couldn't have worked out better again, Cory and I being the planners we are, the whole labor unknown for us just didn't work! We have things all squared away and are ready to go! Family will be arriving on Sunday and Monday just can't come quick enough.
We are so excited to meet our little man and share him with the world! I hope Alyssa enjoys him as much. Boy she has no idea what she is in store for! I will obviously update sometime next week. Until then.....

George Edward Hughes 2/1/1914 - 3/1/2010

On March 1, 2010 the Simmons/Kelly family lost a wonderful member George Edward Hughes.
George was 96 years old and had lived a great life. He was born and lived in Seattle pretty much all of his life, except for a short time he lived in Alaska while he did some mining work. He was employed at Boeing as an engineer and retired from there in 1978. George enjoyed sports, playing golf until his late eighties when he could no longer and was a HUGE Husky and Mariners fan. George was also a statistician for many years for the U of W football games. He was married twice and although never had any children of his own doted on his nieces, his nephews and great nephew and niece.
Since I have only been in the family for the last eleven years I don't have quite as many memories as the rest of the family does but I have a few that I would like to share with you as well as some stories.
One of my favorites is how he met his first wife. George and a friend had decided that they were going to go and be on the maiden voyage of the Kalakala Ferry in 1935. There was going to be music, dancing, woman and booze so what young men didn't want to be on it. Well for whatever reason they didn't have tickets or the fair to get the tickets and they snuck on. I could be wrong by this but for some reason I want to say they got kicked off and re-snuck on. Him and his friend ended up meeting two young ladies whom one of them George ended up marrying.
I'm not sure how long that marriage lasted but sadly they did get a divorce but not to discourage George who met the love of his life Francis(Fran) who proceeded him in death.
He was a walking history book and I loved sitting and listening to him tell stories about him and his friends drinking during the prohibition, his pesky little sister Mary Bess(Grammy) who always followed him around, working at Boeing during the wars and how they had constructed "neighborhoods" on the property so enemies wouldn't know what was there. During the holidays George loved to be with family but you could always count on him disappearing and finding a t.v. if there was a sports event on, especially if it were golf, Mariners, or those damn Huskies.
George was also a ladies man. He had many admirers but I think anyone who came in contact with George couldn't help but adore him. Every day he had cocktail hour with one of his lady friends. George loved having him a martini but don't try to give him a foofy one he was strictly a vodka and vermouth kinda man. He also would drink Manhattans. This continued up until a few weeks before he left us.
We were lucky enough to have lived close enough to see him and have him get to see Alyssa grow. Alyssa enjoyed going over there because George was always generous with his cookies he had laying around and would share them with her. On our last visit with him before he left us he told Alyssa to be a good girl and she gave him a hug and even shared her blanket with him.
Although he is gone he will never be far from our hearts and our thoughts. We love you and miss you George!