Ring Around the Nose-y

Late last night, instead of going to sleep, Brianne decided she felt like playing with Daddy. So they snuggled in bed for a bit while Mommy got ready to go to bed herself. While I was brushing my teeth, I heard Marty start laughing hysterically. When I went into our room, Brianne was latched firmly onto his nose. I guess she got so excited seeing her Daddy's face that she wanted to eat it. Hey, if that's what it takes to get her to fall asleep at 1 in the morning, we're prepared to try anything to get those few precious hours of shut eye. I've said it before, but I'll say it again - what a dad.

Brianne trying to bite Marty's nose off.

A Shower a Day Keeps the Mood Swings Away

I've found that one of the keys to keeping my sanity in the midst of all the baby fun is taking at least one shower a day. There's nothing like scrubbing off the spit up, baby poo and night sweats (another fun after effect of giving birth nobody tells you about) to give you a brighter outlook on life.

Yesterday, July 29, Marty went into the office again, so I had to finagle a shower sometime while Brianne was sleeping. This was especially important since we took a walk around the block earlier in the morning, and managed to work up a sweat in the 15 minutes spent outside (darn that humidity). So I ended up putting Brianne in the big girl crib in her room which was the closest place to our upstairs bathroom to put her down . We have a beautiful bumper that came as part of the bedding set, but apparently those can kill babies, so I took it out. She looked so teeny in there!

After that, we spent some time playing on the couch making funny faces at each other. We had a great day overall.

Brianne in her car seat coming home after her walk. She finds going for a walk very soothing, despite the heat.


Brianne in her big girl crib. Notice a theme here? We like pink (Mi Ma Debbie is so proud).


Funny Face time with Mommy.

Daddy's Little Lawyer

Yesterday, July 28, Marty went to the office, and Mommy and Brianne ran some errands. This was the first time I packed the baby and dog into the car all by myself. I felt very accomplished, though it took me an hour longer to get going than I planned :o)

After dropping Cooper off at the groomer, we went to visit Daddy and Grandpa Monroe at their law office. She was sleeping during the entire ride, but when we got to their office, she woke right up. Must have been the smell of all those law books. Brianne got really excited sitting with Daddy, and I think I even heard her sqeak out "Order in the court!". Daddy and Grandpa were so proud.

After that, we went home and Grandma Mimi came over with Brianne's cousins Taylor and Tyler. Taylor fed Brianne and they all had a great time snuggling together. Later Grand dad Steve and Grandma Janet came to visit, and then Mi Ma Debbie came after that to make Mom and Dad some dinner. Lots of visitors! Brianne slept really well last night after all the attention.

Marty sharing some legal knowledge with Brianne. Can you say "habeus corpus"?

Taylor, Tyler , and Brianne.

Rub A Dub Dub

Today Brianne enjoyed getting a bath. She hasn't lost her umbilical stump yet (hopefully it will come off later this week), so she gets sponge baths on her special towel. Love that clean baby smell! We could just sit and sniff her pretty head for hours.

Brianne kicking back at the end of her bath.


After bathing Brianne, I took the opportunity to empty the Diaper Genie. Wow, that's a lot of dirty diapers.

World's Best Grandmas

This past weekend was a rough one. Brianne is still working on sleeping during the night (she is a master at sleeping through the day), which makes for a very sleepy mommy and daddy. Our late-Saturday night was spent with a super wakeful baby who wasnt exactly fussy, but didn't want to go to sleep. Add on top of that a malfunctioning air conditioning, and you have a recipe for cranky baby and parents.

Enter the super grandmas! Mee-maw (Kelly's mom) came over to our house to meet the air conditioner repair man. While she waited, she cleaned our house (we were out visiting friends with baby). That afternoon, Grandma Mimi (Marty's mom) watched the baby at her house so Kelly and Marty could get some lunch and go home and take a nap. We are so very lucky to have such great support! Thanks world's best grandmas - this would be so much harder without you!

Brianne's grandmas together - (from left to right) Grandma Janet, Grandma Mimi, Mee-
Maw (Debbie)

A Hard Day's Night - Brianne Turns One Week!

It's unbelievable how fast time flies! Brianne is one week old today, Friday, July 24. It's so hard to believe how fast this week went by. She'll be going to college and getting married before we know it. Brianne decided to commemorate her week birthday by doing exactly what she did a week ago at the time she was born - screaming her head off inconsolibly. She had plenty to eat, clean diapers, two doting parents soothing her, but she would have none of it. I guess it's a hard life being a baby! And just yesterday, she slept for 7 hours straight (yes that's right - 7 hours). I guess we used up all our sleepy baby karma that night.

No matter how much she screams, we love her to pieces, and couldn't imagine going another day without her in our lives.

Poor Cooper hasn't been getting his normal 19 hours of sleep. He is wiped out!


Brianne finally nodding off around 8am, July 24. Marty took her downstairs at 6am so Kelly could get some sleep - what a Dad.

To Grandmother's House We Go

Yesterday, July 23, we went on a family outing to Grandpa and Grandma Mimi's house (Marty's parents). We had a great time getting out of our house for a bit, and enjoying dinner with family. Brianne got to meet her cousin Tyler, and her dog-cousin Daisy. Everyone enjoyed visiting with each other, except for Daisy, who was a bit upset to not only have Cooper tearing up her toys and chasing her around the house, but to have Grandma Mimi's arms occupied with a new baby. Poor Daisy, she was was so upset all night.

Our little family :o)


Daisy looking on jealously at Grandma Mimi and Brianne. You can see Cooper mauling her duckie toy at the bottom of this pic.

Brianne with her cousin Tyler and her aunt/Godmother Casey.

Feels Like Home

We were discharged from the hospital on Sunday, July 19. Memorial West is incredibly secure, and we were basically strip searched on our way out to make sure we didnt grab the wrong baby. During our time there, Brianne had a baby Low Jack on her ankle. When we went into the hospital, I thought the whole security thing was a bit extreme. Funny how having a baby changes your perspective and what seemed extreme suddenly didnt seem like nearly enough security to protect your precious baby.

After we got through security, Marty pulled the car around and we loaded Brianne into her car seat. Special thanks goes out to the Davie Fire Department for making sure we installed the car seat base in correctly :o)

Once in the car, Marty drove approximately 15 miles an hour and what should have been a 10 minute car ride home turned into a 45 minute journey. We made it home safe and sound, and enjoyed introducing Brianne to her new best friend, Cooper.

Cooper is so good around her. He doesn't bark, or jump up. He tip toes around her and sniffs her feet. His new favorite place is sitting next to whoever is holding her. Good boy!

Our new little family after the ride home.

Brianne's first car ride.

Leaving the hospital.

What a Little Model

After our stay in the hospital, it was time to head on home. We pretty much got kicked out, right at our 48 hour deadline because there were more new babies and families needing our room. Before we left, the hospital photographer came in and took some professional photos of Brianne. We had a special outfit for her, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the teachers at St. David's Catholic school, where Marty's mom is the principal. This made for some super cute pics!

What a little model. After that, we changed her into something more comfortable and headed home.

On the Road to Recovery

After giving birth, we had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours to recover. There are a lot of things that happen during the recovery process that they leave out of baby books, but I was lucky to have a friend (who happens to be my boss) who recently had a baby and gave me the low down on all the gory details so I was at least mentally prepared. Thanks Tricia :o)

Besides the pain of recovering, we had a wonderful experience at Memorial West. Every nurse helping us was absolutely amazing, and took their time to explain things to us and to make sure we were as comfortable as possible. The facilities themselves were also amazing, and were comparable to a hotel. All they were missing was a mini-fridge.

Marty was a rock star during the whole hospital stay and went above and beyond to help me and to help with the baby. He jumped into the role as Daddy very quickly, and is working on his masters degree in diaper changing.

Pics of Kelly, Marty and Brianne recovering in the hospital:

They Don't Call it "Labor" for Nothing

Yes, Baby Kiar has arrived, but I didn't labor for hours to not tell about it. So here is the abbreviated version. After my due date passed, we were scheduled for an induction on Wednesday, July 15 at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, FL. However, the hospital didnt have any beds available (yes, there are that many babies being born this month), so we got bumped to Thursday, July 16. We called the hospital Thursday morning, and there were still no beds available, so it seemed like Baby Kiar would get her wish and she could stay inside as long as she liked. My wonderful doctor was able to work some magic and get them to admit me Thursday morning anyway, so at 9:30am, we were on our way to the hospital. This turned out to be a good thing, because not only was I 4 days past my due date, I had started to have contractions earlier that morning.

We had some tests run after we arrived, then they told us to go to lunch as they still didnt have a room for us. It seemed like we'd be having this baby out in the hall way, but once we got back from lunch at 2:30pm, a room had just opened up, and they rushed us right in.

I use the term "rushed" loosely, because every step of the process seemed to take at least an hour of wait time. At around 5:00pm, I got the first round of medication to start the labor process. The nurses told me they expected it to take 12 hours to kick in and another 12 to deliver, but Baby Kiar is an over achiever, just like her parents, and cut the wait time in half.
Once I got the first round of medication, the contractions started coming on faster, and by Midnight, I was ready for the epidural. I give a lot of credit to women who have their babies without any drugs because I dont think I would have made it another hour without them. Once I had the drugs, it was smooth sailing until we were ready to push. My labor nurse checked in on me about once an hour, and I was making good progress overnight and was ready to push at around 5:00am on Friday, July 17.

I will say that the epidural took the pain away, but when the baby is ready to come out, you get the most intense urge to push. Marty was there by my side the whole time, though he later told me that his arm got a cramp while he was holding my leg, but he refrained from asking the doctor if we could take a break for him to stretch (good call, Marty).

After about an hour of pushing, Brianne Elizabeth Kiar was born at 6:34am!

The Due Date Comes and Goes

So Baby Kiar was due on Sunday, July 12. Today is Tuesday, July 14, and still no baby. I like to think she is just very comfortable where's she's at, and that I am awesome and doing a great job (at least this is what I tell myself to make me feel better about going past my due date). I just hope this is not a preview of her stubborn toddler stage - there's no such thing as terrible in -uteros, is there?

But I have a fantastic doctor who has scheduled me to be induced tomorrow, July 15 to have Baby Kiar on Thursday, July 16. So one way or the other, we will have a beautiful baby in hand by end of day Thursday!

Stay tuned right here for more baby news at our family blog. We hope you enjoy the pictures and witty commentary on the joys of bringing home baby! Thank you for all your well wishes and support. We can't wait to share the first pictures (and name) of the newest addition to our family!

Here is a picture of me on my now-past due date. Marty and Cooper waited very patiently (all the waiting made Cooper very tired).