First Night in the Crib!

Last night Bailee slept all night in her actual crib, in her room! Since she was born she's been sleeping in the bassinet side of her Pack N Play, first in the living room and then in our room. She's been pretty comfy in there but lately we've noticed she's getting too long for the bassinet. In the mornings when she stretches we can see her little feet peeking out from the end of it. Plus, she's been sleeping through the night regularly for weeks now, so there's no need to get up in the middle of the night to change and feed her.

It wasn't too easy of a task to get her in there. I think she's going through a growth spurt, she wanted to eat non stop all day yesterday and until midnight. I pretty much ran out of milk a few times and had to stop her while it replenished. Even when I finally put her down I think she would've eaten more had I given it to her, but she had already eaten enough that she was starting to spit up a little. So, I laid her in her crib, gave her a pacifier, and hoped for the best.

She didn't go to sleep very quickly, but thankfully, she didn't start screaming or crying either. I started with the monitor on, but she is such a loud sleeper it was picking up every little squeak and grunt, so I turned it off. I would hear her if she cried, but she didn't - she slept the whole night through and I even got to go to the gym, get Starbucks, and take a shower before she wanted to eat at 7:30. Yay for small milestones!

Good Morning!

Just another lazy morning in bed with my baby girl!

Sleeping good.

She's really happy in the morning when she wakes up!

Biiiig yawn!

Somewhere some baby regulator is going to see these pictures and send me a nasty email. Babies are supposed to sleep on a flat surface, no pillows, blankets or loose bedding. Normally she does, but some mornings after I feed her, she comes back to bed and we sleep for a couple more hours. I was just a few inches from her so if she rolled anywhere (which she doesn't) I would catch her, and I wake up if she makes any unusual noises. She's a great little snuggle partner!

My Two Month Old!

Bailee is two months old! I can't believe she is getting so big - over 10 pounds at her last appt. and 23 inches long. She has grown out of her newborn clothes, fitting better into 0-3 months and getting such a personality! She giggles and laughs and smiles and charms everyone who meets her! I love her little smiles! :)

Finish the Sentence...

Outside My Window...it's dark

I am Thinking... my teeth/jaw hurt from the stupid dentist!

I am Thankful For... a wonderful God, a beautiful baby, great husband and awesome friends!

I am Wearing... jeans and a tank top :)

I am Reading... what to expect the first year

I am Hoping... to find a job i can do at home or to get some new photography business

On my Mind... updating this blog from Bailee's birth til now!

From the Kitchen... need to make my Amish friendship bread!

Around the House... really wanting to keep it as clean as it is right now...

One of my Favorite Things...my new baby and her new smiles and laughs!

A few plans for the Rest of the Week... hanging out with the baby, finish editing photos, a birthday party, wedding and possibly a hockey game this weekend

Messages to Bailee

"Baby Bailee, please hurry up and come out tonight, your mommy needs some sleep, and would like to stop going tot he bathroom 20 times per night. But Bailee, when you come, be nice so mommy is not in too much pain because, well, that just wouldn't be very nice! :) (fingers are crossed). - Andrea Gebhardt

"Dear Bailee....I think you should be born sometime soon because there are a lot of people waiting to see you...I understand that you are probably comfy where you are but I think it's a little selfish to keep yourself, well, all to yourself...thanks a bunch!" - Aunt Keeley :-)

My Growing Belly

35 Weeks

34 Weeks

32 Weeks

24 weeks

16 weeks

14 weeks

12 weeks

8 weeks or so

1st Mother's Day

Today was my first (sort of) Mother's Day! I didn't really think it counted since my baby isn't even a member of society yet, but other people said it does count so I took their word for it. Though today is the same day I flew home from Omaha, I figured Mother's Day needed a special (short!) post of it's own.

On my way to Omaha, I had to take a bus to the airport from where I parked. The bus driver was a larger black woman probably in her mid-forties. She was super friendly and said she'd been driving busses for 20 years. She discovered I was pregnant and told me all sorts of stories about her (8!) kids on the way to the terminal. When I flew home, she also picked me up to take me back to my car and was the first person to wish me a happy mother's day. I was surprised she remembered me but it was kind of nice that she did.

Anyway, when I got home, Lee had a few gifts waiting for me. I was surprised to receive anything, it was really thoughtful of him. He got me a Boppy body pillow, to help me sleep, and a few things for Bailee. He had had lunch with his mom and we went to my mom's for dinner. Next year will be even more special, when Bailee is actually here.

Couldn't find a pic of just the pillow but here's what it's for:

Two onesies and sandals for Bailee so "we can both be beach bums" :)

Omaha Trip and First Baby Shower

A few months back I planned a trip to Omaha, NE to visit my aunt Mary Ann and my cousin Shonda. Mary Ann I'd seen last year when she was out here for their annual sisters trip but I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen Shonda. The plane tickets were cheap - only $200 round trip from LA - so I booked my trip and was all set to go.

That was back in February and the trip was booked from Wed. 5/6 to Sunday 5/10, which ended up being a couple days after I got laid off. It seemed to be great timing, I really needed to get away for a few days and not think about the fact that I was unemployed.

When flying somewhere, it's always a gamble on whether or not things are going to go smoothly. Luckily for me, I couldn't have had a smoother trip - start to finish. I even got to use my pregnancy as an excuse to pre-board and get the front seat with extra leg room.

I arrived Wednesday night around 10 PM and was met at the airport by a super excited Mary Ann, who told me she had a great weekend planned out. She was right! I learned how to knit, took a tennis lesson, went to Pilates, watched No Doubt on American Idol, enjoyed an Omaha steak, went to see "Wicked the Musical" and even got to attend my first baby shower with a surprise guest - my other cousin Brendon.

On Sunday it was time to fly home - I was pretty wiped from the weekend but so glad I got a chance to spend time with everyone. Of course I took pictures:

Laid Off

Today was a sad day for me....and frustrating and confusing and humiliating all rolled into one. I was laid off from my job at Processes Unlimited due to "budget cuts." I was told I made more money than a lot of people so it made sense to let me go first. I had been there 13 days short of a year and it was a total shock to me. I had been working super hard, in fact, last week I had to take an extra almost full day off because I had so much overtime from working on special projects. Marketing was a busy dept. still, even with the economic slow down, since we bring in the business. I didn't specifically make sales, I did writing, photography and graphic design, but our dept. had been told we were safe from layoffs. Apparently not.

I was told at 3pm that I was being let go, got my severance pay, and was told to clean out my things and go home. My supervisor had to watch as I collected my belongings, sent out a few last emails, and tried to keep my composure. The suckiest part of it all was that they shut off my computer before I even had time to get any of my work to have for my portfolio. I'd been printing out a lot of it, but the most recent projects I worked on, which happened to be the biggest, I had no copies of and wasn't allowed to print them.

Supposedly I can say this is for the best, I was having a hard time choosing work or full-time mom or part-time work after Bailee gets here, I guess my decision was made for me. I just wish it had been closer to my due date so that I could still be getting my benefits and keep earning a paycheck until then, but I guess no one really has a choice about any part of being laid off.

I at least kept my tears to myself until I had gotten in my car and was driving out of the parking lot - I called Lee to tell him and that's when I fell apart. He was nice about the whole thing, I know, it's not my fault but I still feel like a loser for getting laid off. He met me at Lengthwise and tried to make me feel better with some fish and chips. It helped just a little bit but man, what a sucky day.

20 Weeks - Halfway

Halfway there today! I'm still feeling pretty good, never did have any morning sickness and the baby is moving pretty good. It is a strange feeling, fluttery, flippity and sometimes a rolling motion. It doesn't really feel like kicking yet, just moving around. Lee was able to feel her finally a few days ago and he was amazed and a little freaked out. It made my pregnancy finally seem more real to him, even though I don't have much of a "baby bump" (though I dislike that term!) yet, just an out of shape bump that was there before I got pregnant. :) I can't believe we're at halfway already! A little over a week ago was Easter and I know I've gained a little weight, though I'm trying hard to keep eating healthy and exercise. I know I have to get bigger for the baby. Here's a few pictures from Easter:

Ryan's Cradle is now Bailee's Cradle

Name that Baby

Well, for a long time I have been hoping that this first baby would be a girl. I picked out a bunch of girl names I liked and Lee told me some he liked. I tried to think of boy names I liked but so many of our friends had boys over the last year, it seemed all the good ones were taken. So it really is a good thing we are having a girl. Our top picks were:

Keira (my fav), Kylie (Lee's fav), Bailee, Jordyn, Claire, Callie, or Kendall. We also both liked Lauren and I liked Hailey or Hannah, but didn't really put the last three on the list. www.babycenter.com has a fun feature where you can make a baby names poll and send it out to whomever you like. I put all our favorite names on a list and emailed it out - Bailee and Jordyn were the top two names that everyone liked. Lee didn't really like Keira and after I heard what some of our friends were naming their girls, it was a year of K and C names so either Bailee or Jordyn sounded like good choices.

In the end, we decided to call her Bailee Jordyn Payne, and the spellings are they way they are for a few reasons: Lee and I both have Lee's on each side of our families, so by ending her first name in "lee" it still keeps the name in the family and Jordyn with a Y seemed girlier to me than Jordan or Jordin. I still like all the other names so we'll have to have more girls or more dogs to use them up. :)

First Girly Clothes!

Today Janae and I went shopping for baby clothes! I knew I didn't want to buy too much because they grow so fast and I figured I will get clothes at my baby shower. But I did want to buy something fun since I know she's a girl and girls like clothes right? Janae took me to Baby Depot aka Burlington Coat Factory. I never knew they had baby stuff there but they have a huge section and a lot of it is really cheap! I bought a set of onesies and Janae also bought one for here. They are all super cute and not overly girly pink. Check them out:

I loved the red and blue and the cherries!

Janae picked a cute pink and brown set for her!

Baby Sightings!

Today we were excited to find out the sex of the baby! We went to Baby Sightings, a place in Bakersfield that does ultrasounds on a big screen so whole families can come watch. We had 9 people attend! -

• Mom
• Sandy
• Gary
• Todd
• Brandy
• Andy
• Ryan
• Keeley
• Granny
• Lee

and me - of course. I got there a little early and when I pulled up, almost everyone else was already there already. I expected a lot of picture taking but I was kinda surprised when I saw the VIDEO camera going....I'm not a big fan of being on camera in still pictures and I'm really uncomfortable being filmed. But I tried to suck it up and be nice for memories sake.

Anyway, after I signed in and paid the fee, the sonographer led us back to the little room where we would see the ultrasound. there was a huge screen on the wall and all of us crammed in to find a comfy spot. I got the bed of course, which was really comfortable. I was kind of glad the lights were turned off so only the still pictures coul

d be taken after that. hehe.

Brandy and Andy were late arriving so to stall for time the sonographer went through and pointed out all the baby's body parts and heartbeat for all who were there. The baby was moving around a lot and I really only felt about half the movement. Eventually the sonographer told us she couldn't wait any longer to tell us the sex of the baby, my time was almost up. Brandy, Andy and Ryan made it JUST in time! She had just started to type the words up on the screen.....IT's A....GIRL!!!! Yay! We were so excited! Both of us wanted a girl, though Lee said his "business sense" (which is never wrong) was telling him it would be a boy. I'm happy he was incorrect.

So we all went back to our house excited and hungry - Lee and I made everyone dinner and sat around and chatted for a few hours that night. Here are some pictures from the adventure:

Getting comfy for the ultrasound.

After we found out it's a GIRL!

Our print out of pictures to take home!

Over at our house for BBQ!!

Keeley made onesies, this one said "A little Payne in the Beach"

Lee and 2 generations of grandma's on his side. :)

Yosemite

People always tell me to enjoy being married and our life without kids as much as possible before Bailee gets here. Lee and I take a lot of trips together already and I think we enjoy our life pretty well, but if you give me an excuse to take a trip somewhere, I'll take it!

It had been a long time since I had been to Yosemite, I think I was 4 or 5 last time I went, and Lee had never been to Yosemite so we decided to take an overnight trip to see it. It's already getting hot here in Bakersfield so we were excited to see temperatures in the 60s in Yosemite during the day and in the high 20's at night! I get cold easily so I made sure to pack enough warm clothes and UGGs and pj pants.

Since we were just going for one night, we rented a tent that was already set up in a little tent community. It was a super thick canvas tent with a full sized bed, dresser, mirror and one light bulb. We had outside storage for any food or smelly items that might attract a curious bear. They told us we didn't really need sleeping bags since the bed was set up with wool blankets but note to self for next time - take a sleeping bag!!!

I wasn't too cold since I came prepared but Lee thought he'd be fine sleeping in shorts and no shirt. 26 degrees is too cold for even the manliest man to survive in a little tent with one blanket. He pretty much froze his toes off and spent the first few hours of the morning unthawing. Next time I think he'll listen to his wife. :)

Other than the freezing cold night though, we had a great time exploring and seeing the sights. I love taking pictures, as you know, and there were plenty of spots for photography. We even got to see some deer up close and a coyote and a bunch of ducks.

Duck Butts!!!

17 Weeks Movement

Today was the first time I could really feel the baby move! This morning I was swimming before work and when I got in I felt a weird "rolling" motion. I normally dive in but the farther along I get I figure it's probably safer to just slide in.  Later when I was swimming butterfly, I felt something like flips in my stomach which I know was more baby movement. Maybe the baby is going to be a swimmer too and was practicing laps!  It was definitely a cool feeling and it continued throughout the day.  

Still no morning sickness or any issues.  A little dizziness but not too bad and I haven't gained weight yet.  I have been craving fish and chips though! Around Super Bowl time in Jan. I really wanted bean dip. 

Heartbeat and Ultrasound #2

Today I went to my second doctor appointment and got another ultrasound. The first one was fun but all we could see was a little white blob and something moving that my doctor said was a heartbeat. Lee couldn't see anything. 

This time it actually looks like a baby! We could see the head and body and the general area where the feet are. We got to hear the heartbeat and man it was going so fast! It made everything seem so much more real. Amazing to me how people can not believe in God and know the miracle that it takes to create a life and believe in abortion.   Anyway, I'm really excited to watch our baby grow and can't wait to hold him or her. 

Weird cravings so far:

Marshmallow Peeps

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Fish and Chips

New Baby!

So my exciting news for everyone, though most of you know already, is that in Sept. we are expecting our first baby! Yay! I don't have an official due date yet, but the doctor has said the 2nd week of Sept. for now. I am currently about 10 weeks or so, I'll find out more at my next appt. on March 2nd.

We had kinda been planning this and kinda not - everyone told me it would probably be about a year after being off birth control. Try three months. So I guess I'll know better for next time! We are still super excited, we just didn't expect it to happen so fast.

I found out officially on Jan. 8th. A few weeks before I had been having some cramps and just felt really dizzy and tired all the time. About the week of New Year's was when the cramping was the worst and somehow I suspected what was going on. Still, I gave my body a chance to think about it, I thought maybe my period was coming. Who knows, it was never regular so I figured it was possible, but I was pretty sure I was pregnant.  On Jan. 6th and 7th I texted my friend Jaimee in Texas to find out if my symptoms were similar to what she had when she found out. I figured it was safer to ask a Texas friend than take the chance of someone here jumping on the gossip train before I found anything out for sure.  So I finally took a test at home on the night of the 8th, and it was positive. However, I thought I did it wrong so I took a second just to be sure - it was positive! I got a blood test the next day and got the results Sat - all confirmed I was pregnant.  

At this point I thought I last got my period in Nov. which put me about 9-10 weeks at that time. I made my first doctor appointment (more on that drama later!) and started reading up on the baby growing inside of me.  

We told family and close friends first, and Lee made the mistake of telling a few people at church who then told everyone in existence. I was a little annoyed, having all these people come up and ask when it wasn't their business in the first place, I had looked forward to telling everyone myself, not have it come out in a rumor. Mostly I was annoyed because I wanted to tell my work before the masses knew, and the less people that knew until that day, the better. So that didn't really go according to plan, but I was the first to tell my boss and she hadn't heard anything on Facebook or anything yet, so it all worked out okay.   

I'll post some pictures and stuff a little later, but I wanted to update on our news first! More to come!

Finally Back!

It's been such a long time since I've updated this blog. Not that I don't have anything to say, but I've just been too busy to say it. Well after keeping up with Bethany's Blog and seeing her cute layout, I sat down at my desk tonight, determined to write something. I got my Sara Bareilles"Careful Confessions" CD (which I highly recommend!) playing on iTunes, the dogs are occupied doing something else, and Lee is at a dinner for work.  Seems like the perfect time to write, right?

Since I last wrote, we've bought our first CA house and have pretty much unpacked everything with a few exceptions. The garage holds the last few boxes we have to go through to be "finished" - my office was pretty much a mess until about 2 weeks ago when I finally hunkered down and did some organizing. We still have some more painting to do but that will come the next weekend we are finally home.

We bought the house in October and were moved in for Christmas and all the fun decorating that comes with it. We also bought our first real Christmas tree since we've been married. We were living in Texas before that and always went home so it was pointless to get a tree when we were going to be gone for most of December. Christmas itself was fun but somewhat stressful trying to juggle all the family and friend gatherings, esp. since my parents are divorced, it was that much harder. We're seriously considering staying put next year and having people come to us, but we'll deal with that when the time comes. 

For New Year's we headed to Pismo for a few days relaxing at the coast with friends. My dad and stepmom Cheryl had a great time with the progressive dinner they hosted at their mobile home in Pismo while we hung out with Jon, Brianna, Nick and Andrea and the rest of the Gebhardts at their campground down the road from the mobile. Andrea made us wonderful chicken tacos and we chatted by the fire under the stars until after midnight. Good times! We rode quads and shopped the rest of the weekend.

The first two months of the year have flown by - even with the economic slow down, my job in marketing has stayed busy and I've really enjoyed my company and co-workers. I'm doing a lot more graphic design and writing, which I love. My photography has slowed down a little but I hope to get back into it very soon.   We still work with the high school at our church and were counselors at Hume Lake Winter Camp in mid-January. It was a lot of fun to go back to the camp I grew up going to, but I felt pretty old getting tired so early. :)

We haven't gone on any major vacations but have taken small trips around CA. Last weekend I went down to Claremont and spent the weekend with family, Sunday we went down to Hollywood to see Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages Theatre - it was amazing as usual. My favorite musical!

I think that brings you up to now. I have some other exciting news but I think that deserves a post of it's own.  I encourage you to come back and read some more!

New Year's Resolution

...I WILL update my blog soon! :)