New pics

As a lot of you know we have Sunday dinner over at our friends' the Garber's. Well this Sunday our good friend Ashlin (and aspiring photographer) wanted to take some Thanksgiving day pictures of her nephews. Carol bought all of the boys' matching outfits. And I think that they all turned out really great. Here are some of the best ones.

Happy Thanksgiving from Connor.

Ethan looking cute in his Thanksgiving outfit.

Jacob and his little brother Ethan hamming it up for the camera.
Connor, Jacob, and Ethan. Don't they look cute in their matching outfits?

Here he is my cutie

Alright, so I have been receiving several complaints about not posting any new pictures. So I will just let the pictures do the talking in this post. So Megan are you happy now? :) Ryan, Rufus, and I at the Garber's for the first time since Connor was born.

Connor asleep in his cradle.

Doing some tummy time, trying to strengthen those neck muscles.

Getting some one on one cuddle time with mommy and Rufus.

Looking cute and asleep in his bouncer.

Making a funny face. And finally some one-on-one cuddle time with Grandma.

And I know that this isn't of Connor but I thought that it was too cute not to put in here. It's of Rufus taking over Connor's boppy. At least we know what to do with it when Connor is done using it. :)Love always,

Vanessa, Ryan, Connor ,and Rufus

One week check-up

Boy how the time flies. Everyone tells you that it goes really fast, but you never really understand just how fast it's going until you're at your one week check-up. We had our one week check-up on November 4th. The nurse weighed him and he weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces. Which was one ounce over his birth weight. I was always told that baby's usually loose some weight that first week, so I was pretty surprised when they told me his weight. The nurse said that it was a very good thing and that where he was at is where they usually like to see him around week two of his life, so things are looking really good for us. Unfortunately we didn't remember the camera so I don't have any pictures from the doctors appointment, but I do have some fairly recent pictures to post. So enjoy.

Love always,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

He's here!!!!!

Well as a lot of you know Connor Matthew Kendall came into our lives on October 28, 2008 at 7:02 a.m. He weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

I went to my regular doctor's appointment on Monday the 27th, we did my ultrasound and non-stress test. While I was sitting there doing my non-stress test I was having contractions about every six minutes. Mean while apparently my blood pressure was a little high, they checked it three times when I was there and it just wasn't going down. So the doctor decided to check things out for himself. I was contracting but I hadn't even started to dialate yet. The doctor thought that it was too risky for me to go any longer and since I was really close to my due date anyway he decided that the best course of action was to induce me. My doctor's appointment was at 2:30 that day and he told me to come back to the hospital at 5 o'clock that same evening and we would proceed with this delivery. So by 7 o'clock Monday night we started the process. Even though I was in labor for twelve hours it actually seemed to go by fairly fast. Yes, it was painful. I had decided that I was not going to have an epidural, and stuck with my guns the whole way through. But as soon as the doctor put little Connor on my stomach, all the pain seemed to go away. He was the most beautiful baby that I had ever seen, and yes, I cried. All I could do was look into his beautiful face and tell him that I loved him with all of my heart. I plan on adding some pictures of our new pride and joy for you to enjoy.

Love always,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Good news

Well we had some really good news at our doctor's appointment today. First of all we had several things take place, we had another (and I think final) ultrasound, another non-stress test, and then the ever so fun exam. Well anyway, at our ultrasound we found some things out that made us very happy. First of all we found out that Connor is now weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces. This is great because at the last ultrasound he was weighing a little smaller than he should've, and the best news of all is that he has finally dropped. That's right he's finally in position. This was a big load off of my shoulders. I was so afraid that he wasn't going to drop and then we might have to take some other type of action during delivery, but alas my fears are now gone. The non-stress test was also very good, as usual. He doesn't really move a whole lot these days, but he is still fairly active which is what the doctor wants to see. I am also including a picture of today's ultrasound. She couldn't get a frontal face shot, but she did get a nice profile shot. I think he's pretty cute. Thanks for all of your prayers I know they have really helped.

Love,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

It's finally October!!!!

Guess what everyone, as if you didn't already know today is October 1st. And I think that you all know what that means...we only have 30 days until the due date of our little man. I can't believe how quickly all of this has gone. It seems like just yesterday that we found out that we were pregnant. I just hope that these last few days go by quickly. I am definitely ready to hold my little man. And I know that Ryan is just as excited as I am (if not more). He's keeps telling me that I'm currently holding him and he wants a chance. He's so sweet. We'll keep you all posted on the days ahead. And keep us in your prayers that we have a nice and easy delivery with the birth of a healthy baby boy.

Love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Updated pics of the nursery

Well Ryan has been busy yet again. We have recently put up all of our pictures up in the nursery. Plus we now have a changing table. One of these pics that I'm going to post shows the cradle that is being passed along between myself and the Garber kids. Now it's not going to stay in the nursery, it will actually be in our bedroom when Connor comes home, but for right now it's staying in the nursery. Where it is located is where we also plan to put our crib. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Love to you all,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Our 35 week check-up

Well we had our 35 week check-up on Thursday the 25th. We actually have a new doctor now. His name is Dr. Robert Kinsey. I've been seeing him for a couple of weeks now because my old doctor (Caroline Greer) was on a temporary leave of absence. Ryan and I met with Dr. Kinsey and really liked his philosophies so much that we decided to make the switch permanent. At first I had said that I would never go to a male doctor, but I actually feel very comfortable with him. Anyway back to our check-up. Nothing major we got to hear Connor's heartbeat, and he measured me again. And everything is normal. Then the doctor decided that he wanted to perform a non-stress test. Since Dr. Greer had us have an ultrasound about a month ago, and Connor was weighing a little on the small side, Dr. Kinsey thought that the non-stress test would be a good indicator to make sure nothing was wrong with Connor. And we are pleased to say that everything looks good. They hooked me up with two monitors, one to see if I was having any contractions and the other to see Connor's heartbeat. Then I was given a little button that I was supposed to push everytime that I felt the little guy move. Everytime that I moved his heartbeat was supposed to accelerate. They said that he should move at least 3 times in a 20 minute allotment. Needless to say I have an active boy, he moved 6 times in that 20 minutes, and when the doctor came in to look at the results he said, "see that elevation, that means a perfectly healthy baby," needless to say that is exactly what mommy and daddy wanted to hear. He did however, schedule us for another non-stress test this following Monday (the 29th), and we will be having another ultrasound next week. They just want to make sure that he's still growing and to make sure that he's better off inside than out. Well that's all for now. Love to all. And we'll post more soon.

Love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

A gift from Aunt Erica

Ryan and I received a very special present from my friend Erica. Erica is going to Thailand for about five months (she leaves Sept. 29), and she knew that she wouldn't be there to welcome Connor into the world at the hospital. Erica was also unable to attend my baby shower due to prior commitments (i.e. she was in a wedding). So she decided to bring my present to Bunco this last Saturday night. And boy was I excited when I opened up the gift bag, she had made us a blanket complete with his name embroidered at the top. It was so beautiful that I'm enclosing a picture of it. Thanks Aunt Erica, I'm sure Connor will love to cuddle up with his blanket.

Love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Prenatal class

Ryan and I had our prenatal class on Saturday the 6th of September. We decided that with our hectic schedules that we should take the one day class rather than the four week class. Let me tell you that we learned a lot from our class, and I feel that we are both more prepared now then when we first went in. And I will have to admit that I think Ryan now has a better understanding of just what I'm going through. In fact we had a picture showing what the inside of a woman's body looks like before and during pregnancy, and how all of her insides are shifted to accommodate the baby growing inside. Ryan looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry, I really feel for you, look at the size of your bladder now." All I could do was laugh, I thought that that comment was so funny. Anyway we learned the proper way to breath through the contractions, and since I have opted not to have an epidural at this point and time, I really payed attention to this part of the class. And as long as I can remember what I'm supposed to do I think that I will be alright. Ryan also learned some massage techniques that is supposed to help me relax during my contractions. Once we learned about labor and delivery we also learned about how to bath, swaddle, care for the umbilical chord, and how-to care for a circumcision. We also got to tour the hospital. We got to see a labor and delivery room and we found out that we will be there from the start of labor up until 2-5 hours after delivery (depending on the circumstances), from there we will be in a post-labor room. The post labor room is a lot smaller than the labor and delivery rooms, but Ryan will have an couch that makes into an actual twin size bed. So that will be nice for him. All in all I was very pleased with the class and the hospital itself. We even got a certificate of completion with our names on it. I felt very special.

Love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Only about eight more weeks to go...

Well I can't believe how the time is flying by. Last Friday the 5th of September was our 32 week marker. So that means that as of today we only have 7 weeks and 3 days left until we get to see our little man. Now daddy for some reason thinks that he will be about five days early. I guess we will just have to wait and see. We had another ultrasound last Thursday and everything seems to be in tip-top shape. Connor is weighing 3 lbs. 2 oz., and the ultrasound tech. said that my fluid looks alright. My doctor was a little concerned thinking that I might have too much fluid and not enough baby (hence all of the ultrasounds), but with this last one everything seems to be going well. We don't have any more ultrasounds scheduled for the future at this time. It's just getting down to the wire and there are still a lot to do and buy for the little guy. Connor is getting to the point now where he is starting to run out of room inside of my tummy so with every little move it feels as though he just might come right through my skin. I just pat his little feet and he moves, he knows his mommy's voice already. And to tell the truth, I really want to be able to hold my baby in my arms, so these next eight weeks or so better go fast.

Lots of love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Our baby shower-August 30th 2008

Well we had our baby shower yesterday, and I must say that we had a really good turn out. I think that we had close to 25 people show up for the big event. My hostesses were my mom, my cousin Megan, and my two close friends Ashlin Hadden and Joni Sedberry. Each one of my hostesses went above and beyond the call of duty. And I just wanted to thank each and everyone of them for all of the hard work that they put forth in making my special day a little brighter. My mom was in charge of all of the food, paper products, invitations and just making sure everything went in an orderly fashion.Megan was in charge of the lovely cake,she came all the way from Butler, Indiana for the event (oh and did I mention that she's pregnant with twin boys), my great friend Ashlin was in charge of all of the wonderful decorationsand she drove all the way from Dyer, Indiana, and last but not least was my great friend Joni she was in charge of all of the games (which was a blast) and she drove from Fishers, Indiana. Can I just say again what great friends I have that are willing to travel an hour to 2 plus hours just to throw me a shower. Thank you girls you're the greatest.

Ryan and I got a lot of presents.

You should see the mound of clothes that we got for little Connor. This kid is not going to need any clothes for a very long time. I'm just dreading all of the laundry that I'm going to have to do so that he can wear his clothes. But luckily Megan got me a container of Dreft to get the ball rolling. My Aunt Chere, Uncle Joe, Aunt Julie, and my Grandpa Levy sent me a nice care package all the way from California full of all of the nececessities. My Aunt Barbara, who came all the way from Georgia, bought us our bouncer which we are thrilled to have. My mom purchased our stroller for us.

My friend Jennifer Zackchewski made us a beautiful Peter Rabbit quilt and sheets thatwill truly make a wonderful addition to the nursery.Another one of my mom's great ideas was to have a "diaper raffle." This was a game that she thought would be a great way for Ryan and I to recieve as many diapers as possible. And let me tell you the pay off was great.

We had a really great time at our shower and again would like to thank everyone for coming and sharing our special day with us.

Love,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

August 21,2008

Well today was another doctors appointment. And let me tell you things are getting a little ridiculous. Our appointment was at 3:40 p.m. We didn't get back to the exam room until around 4:40 p.m., and then we didn't get to see the doctor until about 6:00 p.m. Needless to say Ryan and I were not very happy when we left. But I just love my doctor so much that I don't really want to find anyone else. And I really do blame one of the other doctors in town who used to be an ob doctor, and then decided that she would quite that part of her profession, so unfortunately my doctor (and another doctor in town) has had to pick up her slack. Which means more hassle for all of us. Anyway, everything is good. Connor's heartbeat is at 150, and right when the nurse went to put the doppler on my stomach he gave her a nice kick. It's always pretty cool when that happens, it's still hard to imagine that there is a human being inside of me. We did get to ask the doctor a little more about our last ultrasound and why she scheduled us for another one in two weeks. The reason is simple, it's hard for her to measure me accurately with the tape measure, so she just wants to make sure that the baby to "liquid" (her words not mine) ratio are alright. This helps her see that more clearly. And the reason that we have another one is because she has to wait about three weeks in between to get an accurate account of his growth. So nothing to worry about. Thank goodness.

Here is the latest picture of Connor from our ultrasound on the 14th of August. It's a little hard to see but he is looking right at you I promise.

Love,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

August 14, 2008

Well we had our ultrasound today. And it was what we kind of expected. They were just wanting to check and see how big Connor is. At our last check-up we were measuring a tad bigger than we should be. So Connor weighs 2 pounds 11 ounces. That's about all that we found out today. I did ask if everything was alright and the ultrasound tech said yes. She is not the chattiest of people and we didn't get to see the doctor today. I'm thinking about calling the doctor tomorrow and trying to find out more details. Other than that I guess everything is fine. I go for my next o.b. appointment next week and then in three weeks from today, the doctor wants me back for another ultrasound. Again not really sure why, but I'm going to try to find out tomorrow. I will keep everyone posted on the events as soon as I know something. Talk to everyone soon.

Love,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

7 month check-up...

We had our 7 month check-up last Thursday. And it was a long one. We had scheduled our appointment a little earlier than normal because we were going to have to do our glucose test that day, which meant that I had to drink about 8 oz. of liquid (fruit flavored, not my favorite) in about 5 minutes and then wait an hour before they could draw my blood. Well needless to say we didn't even get anything started until 3:45, our appointment was at 2:30, which really stunk because Ryan was leaving for Vegas the next morning at 4:30 a.m., and we still needed to get him packed. Anyway once we got back to the room things went very smoothly. Connor's heartbeat was still strong at 152. Everything looked good. We are however, scheduled for another ultrasound this week on Thursday. It didn't sound like anything was wrong. All the doctor said was "wow, you are all baby, let's look at that." So we have an ultrasound. But then after this week we start our two week check-ups. It's hard to believe that I'm already in my third trimester and I'm starting my 29th week of pregnancy. It has really just flown by. I'll follow up on my ultrasound after Thursday.

And we got my glucose and iron results back last Friday, and everything is normal. They told me to keep up the good work.

Love always,
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

6 month check-up and the nursery...

Well today we had our six month check-up. I can't believe that it's been six months already. The nurse practitioner said that we only have one more monthly visit and then we start going every two weeks. I can't believe how quickly things are coming about. Everything checked out just fine. The heartbeat was about 150 this time, and they said that that was still a good strong heartbeat. On our next visit I have to do the glucose test, that's where they will check me for diabetes and all that jazz. All I know is that I get to drink the "nasty" liquid. Or at least that's what I've been told. So I'll fill you in on that later.

Ryan was on plant shut down this week and so he thought that now would be a good time to work on the nursery. And work he did. The reason that he picked now instead of earlier is because we recently had some new windows put in our house and this way he would have plenty of ventilation while he painted. So he painted the walls (which used to be that old '70's dark panel board), re-carpeted the floor and took out the "nasty" poofy old carpet, hung new blind, put up the curtains that match the bedding, put base board in and moved what furniture we have back in (i.e. glider rocker, quilt rack, and night stand). We will be getting our crib and changing table at a later date. Those are to be presents. Anyway, I've added some pictures so that everyone can see just all of the hard work that he put into this nursery. And if I do say so myself he did a fantastic job. Enjoy the pics...

Love,

Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

Registries and such

Well hello again. I just wanted to take the time to let everyone know that Ryan and I have finally put together our registries. We have one set up at Babies 'R Us, and Target. We had a lot of fun setting up these things. We didn't realize how many different varieties there are on the things that we will possibly need. Now we still have a little tweaking because when we did our Target registry we didn't know which diapers to put on our registry. So we came home did a little research on consumer reports and found out that Pampers is the best in leak protection. So needless to say we will be adding that along with wipes to our registry as soon as possible. Well I guess that is it for now. Just thought that I would pass that information on to who all might want to know. Oh, and everyone should mark their calendars as well. Mom (along with some friends of mine) plan on throwing me a shower on August 30th, at 1p.m. Hope to see most of you there.

Love you all,

The Kendall's-Ryan, Vanessa, and Connor

It's a ...

Well as a lot of you might already know. Ryan and I had our second ultrasound yesterday. I still think that those things are really cool. I think that it is pretty amazing what technology can really do these days. I mean, yes, our baby looks like an alien in some of our pictures, but it's still our baby. The ultrasound tech let us see the top of the baby's head, the brain, the arms, legs, hands, feet, and I think you get the idea. Anyway, as some of you know we were able to find out the sex of our baby. And you might have already guessed since we changed the name of our blog from the "peanut" to Connor Matthew. That's right Ryan and I are having a boy. And let me tell you we can't be happier. I never thought that Ryan was going to stop smiling. He thought for sure that we were having a girl. I told him that I had two dreams saying that we were having a boy, but he just couldn't believe it. Now don't get me wrong, he would've been happy either way, but he really wanted a boy first. So now we are both really excited and are now able to move forward not only on the nursery, but hopefully soon we can start on our baby registry and buying things for Connor. That is one of my favorite things. Buying new things for the baby. Well I also plan on posting some pictures of Connor. The first one is of his face. It looks like he is looking right at you, you can see his eyes and where his nose is. The next picture with the arrow shows his little pepe. Now you might have to use your imagination a little with that picture. It's a little hard to see in the copy that we have. But trust me it's a boy because the pictures that she made for the doctor you could see it just as plain as day. We also got the ultrasound on video and we will be able to share that with everyone as well. It's really neat because you can hear the heartbeat and see it pumping. It's all very cool. We will talk to you all soon.

Love you all
Vanessa, Ryan, and Connor

This is Connor's ultrasound pictures as promised

16 week check-up, but we're actually about 17 weeks

Well we just had another doctor's appointment yesterday. And it was fairly boring. Not really much to talk about, so I'll be brief. They did do another heart reading and the baby's heartbeat was 163. The nurse said that that was a very good strong heartbeat. I got to see the nurse practitioner and she did a quick little measurement with her hands and said that we are measuring about 18 weeks, which she said was good since we were at the 17 week marker on paper. The fun thing about this visit, besides the fact that we got to hear the heartbeat, was that we were finally able to schedule our ultrasound appointment. Our appointment is June 12th. And we are so excited because that is only about 3 weeks away. We were both afraid that we were going to have to wait a whole month or even longer. But no, it's only 3 weeks away. Can you tell I'm excited. They gave us a little information sheet telling me that I have to drink 24 fl. oz. of liquid (not milk or milk products) 2 hours before my appointment. This is so that they can get a clear picture of the baby, and I'm not supposed to go to the bathroom those 2 hours before either. So I think this could be interesting and maybe a little uncomfortable, but it will be worth it if we can find out the sex of our baby. We also get to bring a VHS tape so that we can share that video with all of you, plus I'm sure that there will be pictures as well. Well that is all for now. Hope all is well with everyone. We love you all.

Vanessa, Ryan, and baby

Oh my gosh, what was that...

Well I experienced one of the most amazing things in my pregnancy thus far. Just the other day I felt the baby move. Now of course since I'm only about 17 weeks along it wasn't enough movement for Ryan to fell it quite yet. And let me tell you that he was pretty dissapointed when I told him that he probably wouldn't be able to feel the baby move for a little while. But I did. It was absolutely amazing. Now to all of you who have children I'm sure that you can relate. Even though that the movement just felt like a little flutter, it was still pretty cool.

We have our next doctor's appointment on this Friday the 23rd. At this appointment we get to talk about our next appointment which is our ULTRASOUND!!!! Can you tell that I'm excited about that. I just hope that the baby will cooperate with the ultrasound tech, and that we can find out the sex of this baby. I would really like to start calling it by it's name. And Ryan is just as excited, infact he hasn't been looking forward to any of these doctor's appointments simply because it's not the ultrasound appointment. Don't get me wrong, he always goes and is very supportive, but he just really wants to know whether we are having a boy or a girl. He says that he thinks that it's a girl because he wants a boy so bad. I guess we'll just have to wait until next month to find out. The way my doctor's appointments have gone we will probably be going closer to 21 weeks vs. 20 weeks. So hang in there, we will keep you posted as soon as we know. And if I have your number I will probably be calling you and letting you know that way what the sex of our baby is, baby willing that is.

We'll talk to you all later. Love you all.

Vanessa, and Ryan (B.B.)

Doctor's appointment at 12 weeks 6 days

Hey guys,

Just wanted to let everyone know that we just had our 12 week appointment. It was really fun because we got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. This time we got to hear it with the doppler, so it was over the tummy instead of the "other" way. I will have to say that both Ryan and I got a little nervous when the nurse couldn't find it right away, but we were both calmed down quite quickly when she found it and said that the baby had a strong, healthy, heartbeat of 178. The nurse also told us that at this stage in the pregnancy it is a little harder to find simply because the baby is still really small, and that it would get easier to find as the baby gets bigger.

I'm really excited as well because we only have two more months until we get our next ultrasound. And as long as the baby is cooperative we will get to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl. And yes, we plan on finding out. We want to start calling the baby by name, and decorating the nursery to meet either a boy or a girl.

Our next appointment is May 23rd, so I'm sure that I will write again then. If not sooner. Love you all.

Vanessa, Ryan, and their little one

Hello

Hey guys,

By now all of you know our great news. We are going to have a "peanut" of our very own. I got the great idea of doing my own blog from my very good friend Joni. Thanks Joni :) Anyway, so I thought that I would start by saying hello. The whole point of this blog is for those of you who I don't talk to everyday can just pull up my blog and see the status of our "peanut" and how things are going with all of us. It is going to be my goal to try and keep this blog as up-to-date as possible, so stay tuned. As of right now everything is going really well. We had our first ultrasound at 8 weeks 6 days just to put our mind's at ease since we had a mis-carriage the first go round. And everything looks good, we are measuring right on schedule and our due date is October 31st! We're almost to the 12 week marker and then I can be even more relaxed. There will be more to come and I will even be posting pictures and what not. So I hope that everyone will enjoy my blog, and will pray for us that this baby is a healthy one, and that we will get to share in the joy of parenthood this year. Talk to everyone soon.

Much love,
Vanessa, Ryan(B.B.), and the "peanut"