Zachary's Birth Story

*This was written in January of 2016, right after Zack was born. When I discovered it saved to my log, I knew I had to save it to post on his actual birthday. So, here's Zachary's birth story....

I've wanted to sit down, and write this post since we brought Zack home from the hospital. But, life has prevailed, and truth be told I'm neglecting loading my dishwasher (for the third time today) to sit down get get this story written while it still fresh.

Let's start at the beginning. On Friday, December 11, 2015 I was having a very run of the mill day. Jake had left for work, and Nolan and I were just finishing up lunch, when I grabbed the broom to sweep up remains of PB&J. Half way through the task, I felt a huge gush of water. My immediate thought was, "Oh man, I hope that's not blood" (a particular paranoia I had since my bleeding problem during my pregnancy with Nolan). I quickly realized it was my water breaking, and that it would soon be showtime. I put the broom down long enough to call Jake at work, then the cascade of family that I needed to notify. Somehow, I did manage to sweep up the sandwich before everyone rushed in.

We got to the hospital about an hour later. They confirmed that my water had broken, and we were sort of in-limbo waiting to see when my contractions would begin. Our doctor came to see us (the 1 doctor that I prayed wouldn't be on call the day I went into labor (read: Nickname C-section King), was the exact person on call...figures) and told us that we would give it until the next morning for my labor to begin, then if nothing happened, they would start me on pitocin. It's no secret that I loved the L&D experience I had with Nolan. It was a beautiful, natural delivery that went exactly like I had imagined it. I was prepared mentally for another natural birth for Zack, but the old adage, "No two births are the same," is horribly accurate. That night  I walked the halls like I was in some sort of race trying to get contractions started. I was practically running back and forth for hours, dragging my IV pole along for the ride. When I wasn't walking, I was sitting on a labor ball, rocking back and forth.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. I attempted to sleep, knowing that the next day we would meet Zachary, and begin our life as a family of 4, but trying to sleep on a labor and delivery bed is sort of like trying to sleep on a bed of plywood. No matter what it will never be comfortable.

The next morning I was up at 0400. I decided to take a hot bath, thinking that if I could relax maybe it would be a last ditch effort to get labor going. Still nothing. So, around 0600 they started the pitcoin. Let me just preface the next few sentences by saying, that I have an incredibly high pain tolerance. I had no problem breathing through contractions, and visualizing the end goal while in labor with Nolan. But pitcoin is a devil. A very mean devil. It comes on strong, and doesn't let up. I literally went from having zero contractions to having contractions every 2 minutes. After about an hour, I was hardly able to breathe through each one, and told Jake that I would definitely need an epidural. It was either that, or poor Jake would probably lose a hand. I held off as long as I possibly could, then prayed I could make it through the epidural process before the medicine kicked in. (Think sitting indian style on a bed, with a huge pregnant belly, while trying to bend over and keep your entire body relaxed and still.)

The first contraction I had after the medicine kicked it, I was able to talk through. I was giddy that I could no longer feel the pain of the contractions. I kept saying, "It's so weird, I can't feel my legs." And I literally couldn't feel my legs at all. You could of amputated it with me watching, and I wouldn't of felt it. It was about an hour later (around 9 am), that I was fully dilated, and ready to start pushing. The last thing my best friend said to me before I left for the hospital was, "Push like you are pooping." (Blunt and kind of gross, but true.) So, what do you do when you're numb from the waist down, and they tell you to push? You guessed it. I must pause to say, that a few weeks later Jake told me that I actually did poop. More than once, and that basically traumatized me. Real life moment right there...YUCK. (I'm so sorry Nancy! <my L&D nurse) I pushed for about an hour when I started to feel different. The only way I can describe it, was a loopy kind of dizzy feeling. Jake said that my lips turned blue, but my amazing nurse Nancy was quick to respond when she realized my blood pressure had tanked. (75/45) I've always been insanely sensitive to medicine, and I guess the epidural was a little to much for my body to handle. I only mention this because of this lovely picture.....Thanks, hubby. 

After my epidural was turned down, we came to the realization that even after an hour of pushing, Zack still hadn't moved. They contorted my bed into a weird chair like configuration, in an attempt for gravity to help him move down, but after 2 hours of sitting like that Zack still hadn't budged. It was then realized that he was "face up," and no matter what I did, I wasn't able to push him past my pelvic bone.We knew that a C-section was inevitable, seeing as I had already been in labor for several hours, and we were starting to risk putting Zack (and me) under stress.

I can honestly say that before L&D, a C-section was my worst fear. I absolutely didn't want one. But when the time came, I was so at peace knowing that this was how Zack needed to enter the world, and that God would take care of me. Jake and I prayed together before I went back to OR, and we were ready to meet our sweet baby. The OR staff was very friendly, and my doctor explained that it would only take 20 minutes or so, and that I would be in recovery snuggling with Zack.

True to his estimate, Zack was born not long after Jake came into the OR. They told him he could stand up, and watch Zack enter the world, and I have to admit that I was a bit horrified that my husband could see my organs laying outside my body. But it didn't matter when I heard that sweet little cry. Oh man, my heart grew instantly, and my arms ached to hold my little man. It was then that we realized in the rush of prepping for OR that we forgot our camera, our video recorder, and even our cell phones. (We are so with it, let me tell you.) Thankfully, the anesthesiologist was kind enough to take pictures with his phone, and text them to me. (THANK YOU, doctor!) Not long after these pictures were taken, Jake left the OR with Zack, and I was to "be right behind them."

That's when the proverbial crap hit the fan. After a few minutes of listening to my doctor repeatedly "sigh," he told me that he was having to use some different stitching techniques to stitch up my uterus, and that was what was taking so long. I laid there counting ceiling tiles, praying that this would end quickly, so that I could be with my husband and baby. Nancy again was such a comfort, popping around the curtain to tell me that they would be finished soon. (That meant more than you know, Nancy!) That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks...a rush of nausea washed over me so quickly, that I could hardly utter the words, "I think I'm going to throw up," before I put the words into action. To throw up, while laying on your back, numb from the waist down is an experience. To paint a picture, I threw up all over the surgical curtain, all over the anesthesiologist, all over the floor, all over myself. Thankfully, I hadn't eaten but it was still ugly. The rest of the story, I didn't learn until the next day when the doctor came to check on me.

My violent throwing up, caused all the fresh stitches to rip out, and in doing this, it also caused me to start bleeding from other places as well. We were right back to square one, and he had to stitch me up all over again. I was still clueless at this point about what was really going on, but when I heard the doctor tell the nurse to "put 3 units on standby," I knew that I was majorly bleeding, and all I could do was lay there and pray. I don't remember a whole lot after this time, and I later learned that I had been given some versed, and only remember waking up "snoring," and being mortified that I was sleeping through my C-section.

The next thing I remember was being wheeled out of the OR and into recovery. Seeing Jake, and then holding my sweet baby was priceless. I had lots of questions about what had happened, but at that moment the only thing that mattered was holding my baby.


I found out later that because I had been in labor for so long prior to my C-section, it caused my uterus to be "boggy." Which in medical terms means soft, and uncooperative. That caused my doctor to struggle with stitching it up initially. Then like I said before, throwing up caused everything to be ripped out, and the bleeding to start up again. I found out the next day that another doctor was called in to assist, it took 19 suture packs to finish the surgery, and I was "in the top 5 worst C-sections" in my doctor's 20 year career. Not really a list I wanted to end up on.  I walked away with 22 staples across my belly, and had the pleasure of having a JP drain coming out of my stomach for 24 hours to drain off excess blood. (That's really fun to deal with when nursing.) The 20 minute surgery ended up taking a little over 2 hours, and the recovery was one of the most difficult things I've ever experienced. Jake had to lift me into bed, help me get dressed, and even help me shower. We joked that the "for worse" part of our marriage vows had come a little early, but I've never been more thankful for his love and support. 

Despite all of this, I feel like I can't complain. We were blessed with a beautiful, healthy son. Ultimately, that's all that mattered. I moved slowly for several weeks, but my body healed, and now I have a scar to show what we have been through. Kind of like a battle wound of sorts. Zack's birth was unlike anything I had dreamed about during pregnancy, and it will be quite a story to tell Zack when he's older. But our faith brought us through, and God was with me the entire time. I'm exceedingly grateful for my doctor, nurse Nancy, and all the other medical staff that took care of me. It made the process bearable knowing that we had people helping us that truly cared. And our family. How can I even express how grateful I am for them? I've heard the adage, "it takes a village," but when you walk through something difficult, you realize just how amazing that village of family truly is.

Happy 1st Birthday, Zachary. You'll never know how much you are loved. 

Here we go...again...

Hello, internet.

I've been away. Adjusting to life as a family of 4, and like other things (working out, cooking from scratch, reading) this blog has fallen to the back burner. It makes me sad. I enjoy writing about our life, even if it is mundane at times. So, after some thought I have decided to start writing again. It has always been a stress reliever for me, so I thought "Why not?"

So, here we go. Again.

A few things I'd like to keep doing from before are "Thankful Friday's." Because starting your weekend out being thankful is always good. And something new, I'd like to bake/cook (from scratch, of course) something new once or twice a month. We'll start slow, and then adjust as I see how it works into our schedule. 

I'm looking forward to using this outlet more to record our family story. To share, to learn, and to hopefully have some fun.

Please join me!

Kristen 

Baby growth spurts are no joke!

To sum up the last 24 hours, it's 1:00 pm and I was just standing in front of the refrigerator door, still in my jammers, drinking apple juice from the container. Yes. I'm certain you can picture it in your mind.

Nolan is going through a growth spurt, which equates to my normally mind-tempered baby converting to the behavior of a ravenous shark in fish infested water. He wants to feast what seems like 7 billion times a day. Nothing keeps his bottomless pit of a stomach full. So far today he's eaten 30 ounces of breastmilk, a steak, baked potato with butter and sour cream, green beans, a piece of chocolate cake, a little more breastmilk to wash all that down, and a few Sour Patch Kids. Needless to say, my kitchen is trashed from all the cooking he's been doing.

Crap. Now he wants waffles.

Yesterday was my "official" due date. All afternoon I thought about the post I wanted to write about becoming a Mama early. Nolan and I went for a walk, hung  pictures in the living room, did laundry, and took an evening drive through the park. It was such a productive day, and I had actually showered and didn't have baby puke on my shirt. SUCCESS!

But then someone decided he was at an AYCE (All You Can Eat) buffet, and the chaos began. If he wasn't eating, he was filling a diaper, and if he wasn't doing that, he was whining to be held, or sleeping (For only an hour or so at a time). Then he would scream for food like I haven't fed him since his birth. As soon as he started eating, he would calm down to my "normal" baby, then go to sleep for an hour or so only for the process to begin again later.

Eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep...You get the picture.

At 4 am, while I was pumping, and feeding him a bottle (more on that later), I came up with two universal truths about being a new parent....

1. At the newborn stage, that baby is your BOSS. He or she decides when you sleep, when you eat, and how many loads of laundry you do that day. It's not like you can reason with a 7 week old. We are on a very consistent schedule, but growth spurts = insanity.

2. Breastfeeding is HARD WORK. I really thought it would come naturally to me, but because Nolan got used to a bottle while in the NICU, he just doesn't nurse very well. So, I pump...and I pump...and I pump some more. I'm hoping as he get's older, he'll improve his nursing skills. But in the meantime, my Medella pump, and a sink full of unwashed pumping parts is my reality. I'm fully aware that the decision to breastfeed is mine, and mine alone. Jake would be totally supportive if I waved the white flag of surrender. But I'm not ready to give up. Even though it's a challenge, for me it's worth it. But I wanted to document how hard it is. Mama's who breastfeed for any length of time should be given an award. Preferably one covered in chocolate.

Being a Mama is such a fun adventure. Today is just one of those days! :D

My baby is currently asleep, so I'm going to go eat a spoonful of Nutella, and take a power nap!

Daily Letter #1

Dear Mr Mosley, Thank you for changing the cat liter last night. It was gross, and you knocked it out. #sograteful. Dear Sweet Baby Cakes, Your ability to feast astounds me. Your little belly is a bottomless pit. Dear Crookshanks, Your cat antics crack me up. Today you went back and forth between the porch, and the house 6 zillion times. #makeupyourmind. Dear Nolan's binkies, Finding you "hidden" around the house is like a perpetual Easter egg hunt. The downside is you don't taste like chocolate. But my baby still loves you. 

Daily letters is a new thing on the blog. A fun way to remember tid bits of everyday life. 

Nolan's Birth Story - Part 2

Before I get into the details of Nolan's birth, I thought a little prelude would be helpful to set the scene. 

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to have a natural childbirth. It was one of those life experiences that I really wanted to check off my bucket list. I am in awe at the beautiful, and powerful way the human body knows exactly what to do when it comes to labor and delivery. In my opinion, modern medicine doesn't give the body enough credit. We are truly designed by God. I realized early on that things don't always work out the way you planned it, so during my pregnancy I prayed my heart out that I could have the birth experience I wanted. 

I thought it was important to prepare myself for natural delivery. I knew it would be the most physically demanding thing my body has ever done, and I didn't want to leave anything to chance. We had intended to take Bradley classes, but the classes were weekly in Lexington for 12 weeks, and that just wasn't practical with Jake's work schedule. So, I read everything I could get my hands on. My favorite was the book "Ina Mae's Guide to Childbirth." If you are expecting, I highly recommend it. It's chalk full of inspirational stories, and very informative in describing the way labor progresses. I digress, I had plenty of people tell me that I would change my mind, or that I would beg for medicine after I felt the first hard contraction, but I made up my mind that given the opportunity I would have him naturally. (By the way, don't be one of those negative people!)

So, back to our story...

After my water broke, my room went from dark and quiet, to bright and busy. Jake set to calling our parents, while I talked to the nurse, and waited for the resident physician to come in and "officially" check to make sure my water had broken. Jake and I kept repeating how excited we were to meet our son! 

My contractions started off around 6 or 7 minutes apart, and were moderate in pain level. In Ina Mae's book, she talks about how powerful visualization can be. So, as crazy and "granola" as it sounds, during each contraction I would visualize myself carrying the baby to the top of my favorite mountain. (Mt. Leconte in GSMNP). I thought about not sharing this part because it's so cheesy, but the truth is thinking about the journey to the top of the mountain really helped me get through the pain of contractions. As labor progressed, the journey became more difficult, and my focus shifted to the breathtaking peak and the vast, open landscape.  Another important aspect of this visualization, was focusing my breathing. I'm by no means an expert at meditation, but I had used deep breathing techniques for years to help control my stress levels. I'm really showing my "crunchy" side, but there is something to be said for meditation. It's a powerful tool.

The day progressed like it should for a woman in labor. Our families showed up before the sun rose, and settled in for a long day of waiting. Around 11 am, our favorite nurse, Mollee came into work, and Jake and I were thrilled that she would be our nurse on this important day. We had learned earlier in the week that Mollee had actually trained as a midwife while she lived in England. And she was super knowledgeable about natural childbirth. Talk about a huge blessing! It was a comfort to know that someone on the medical side of things understood my desire for a drug free delivery, and wouldn't pressure me into something I didn't want. It was her idea to not mention the "M" word (medicine) unless I brought it up. (It was really helpful to not focus or even think about medicine at all.)

My parents, and Jake's Dad stayed in the room for the majority of the morning. Offering words of encouragement, or a hand to squeeze during a painful contraction. The support of our families was indescribable.  I could literally feel all the prayer, and the love supporting me. In retrospect, for me childbirth was an extremely emotional, and spiritual experience. At one point, I swear I could even feel the love coming from my Gram and Pap Porter, and told my parents that I could feel them near.

One of the funniest things happened right before my labor changed from active to transitional. I was definitely not my normal self, and in between contractions, I would be aware of what was going on around me, but mostly stayed in my own little 'zoned out' world. I kept telling Jake that I was nauseated, but it hadn't progressed to anything but a feeling, until my friend Megan came in. I remember Mom telling me that she was there, and I wanted to see her, so I asked Mom to show her into the room. Megan was only a week and half behind me in our pregnancies, and we had gotten to experience everything at basically the same time. The second she walked over to my bedside, I looked up and said, "I have to throw up!" And without hesitation she grabbed a bucket, and held it while I took care of business. That was the only thing I was able to say to Megan that day, but talk about a good friend! We laughed about it later, but I was thankful she wasn't too grossed out by my greeting.

After I threw up, my contractions became almost unbearable, and with only a minute or two break in between. At this point, I did become a little unglued. I needed oxygen for a short while, but the mask on my face made me feel incredibly claustrophobic. The pain of the contractions, along with the intense claustrophobic feeling made me feel like I wasn't in control. It was at this point that I kicked everyone out of the room, except Jake. I actually don't remember kicking everyone out, but things were getting serious, and I needed to focus.

The doctor came into check my progress, and I was almost dilated to a 9. But before I could regain control of my breathing, I said the dreaded words...."pain medicine." Jake and Mollee talked me through each contraction, allowing me to squeeze hands, and Mollee showed Jake a place on my back to push that helped immensely. During the few contractions I had while waiting for an anesthesiologist, I was able to regain control of myself, and focus more on my breathing. So, when they tried explaining the epidural procedure, I said, "No thank you!" And we proceeded with the original plan. Once the transitional stage began things progressed so quickly. Before I knew it, I was feeling pressure and wanted to push.

The rest of the time went by so quickly for me. At this point, I was basically in my own world. Solely focused on the task ahead of me. My comfort was Jake and Mollee's persistence when I needed them the most. One of each side, talking me through each second of pain.  I asked Jake later, and he said that I pushed 4 or 5 times before he was born. Before the last push, he had already crowned, and the NICU staff, and the attending physician wasn't in the room yet. So, I had to pause for a few minutes until everyone was present. Then one push or so later, David Nolan Mosley made his grand entrance into the world. Completely perfect, screaming his head off, and by far the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. I remember opening my eyes, and seeing him for the first time in the physician's hands. I quickly snapped back into reality, and my first thought was "That's my son!" Jake was able to cut the umbilical cord before they took him to a side room to be examined by the NICU staff. Jake went with the baby, and they kept me posted for the few minutes they examined him. He had APGAR scores of 9 and 9. (APGAR is test to quickly assess the health of newborn children immediately after birth. Scores are taken at 1 and 5 minutes, with 10 being an unattainable perfect.) Talk about a huge relief! Our prayers had been answered, he had arrived early, but he was perfectly healthy! He was 4 pounds 9 ounces, and 17.5 inches long.

They brought him out to me all swaddled and beautiful. I got to hold him for a minute before they wisked him away to the NICU. It was a huge relief that he didn't need any interventions like oxygen, etc. 

David Nolan Mosley

I learned later that both of my parents decided to hang out behind the curtain in the room for the delivery. And my Dad was able to record Nolan's first cries. It brings tears to my eyes to hear his little cry, and to see all the staff in the room prepared for anything. 

First time holding my baby!

The great thing about natural childbirth, is in no time I was on my feet, dressed and ready to go visit my son in the NICU. Jake insisted that I ride up to the NICU in a wheelchair (much to my dismay), and we had a hilarious experience with the tire coming off the rim. Standing in the hall way trying to fix it, totally exhausted, and slap happy!  It was just one of those side stories that I will always remember. That night I got to finally hold my Nolan skin to skin. The pure joy of feeling my sweet baby laying on my chest was so immense, it's hard to put into words. It made everything worth it. It sounds cliche, but the pain didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was the baby laying in my arms.

I was fortunate that the recovery process was incredibly easy. I didn't have all the pain some women talk about. I moved a little more slowly, but it felt great to be up and moving around. I can't say enough amazing things about the staff at UKMC. They took such excellent care of me. In a lot of ways, the birth process wasn't at all what I expected, but then again nobody plans on having a baby 8 weeks early. In other ways, it was better than I could have imagined. 

Having a natural childbirth was an incredible experience. But becoming a parent is one of the greatest blessings. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for this sweet little blessing. It's hard to believe my little baby is almost 7 weeks old! If you need me, I'll be snuggling my little peanut, and soaking up every second of baby bliss! Thanks for reading! 

Up next, the NICU experience...

Long overdue pregnancy update!

Yes, I've been dragging my feet about writing this post. I write in my journal almost daily, but keeping up with this blog is a different story. Blah. As of today I'm 26 weeks, and 3 days pregnant. And man alive, I can feel it! My belly is growing by the day, and my poor belly button looks so strange. (Although, it hasn't "popped" yet...thankfully!)

Let me start where I left off last time...I followed up with the hem/onc doctor at UK, and he was exceptional! We ended up getting stuck in traffic on I-75 for two hours, and the doctor still saw us without a problem. We were so thankful! It was 3 weeks in between the colposcopy, and the follow-up appointment. I spent most of my time at home taking it easy, and working on projects like knitting during those weeks. And when the hem/onc doctor did the exam, he was astonished to report that the vein appeared to be healing, and looked like a discolored area on my cervix! Talk about a answered prayer! I went from having a vein the size of a quarter, to healed cervix. Let me just pause to say that  

WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!

 

I went from having an unexplained medical abnormality that could possibly be cancer...to completely healed in 3 weeks!  The doc repeated the pap test, and all came back negative. No cancer, no pre-cancer...normal! NORMAL!

After we jumped that hurtle, we excitedly awaited our gender ultrasound. Jake went with me to the ultrasound, and I can't explain how incredibly cool it was to see this tiny baby moving around! We decided to not find out the gender until a few days later, so we had to close our eyes a few times, because we didn't want to ruin the surprise, but other than those few minutes Jake and I were both glued to the monitor! Everything with the baby looked perfect! We even got to see all 4 chambers of the heart in action! We were both so thankful that the baby was healthy, and that I wasn't bleeding anymore! 

It was right after the ultrasound that it really started to sink in that we were having a baby. Up until this point I had so many complications, that I think subconsciously I didn't want to get "too excited," in fear that something dreadful could happen. But, driving away from the office that day, I felt a huge weight lift, and a growing excitement take it's place!

A few days after the ultrasound, we had a gender reveal party with our families. It was a low key cookout, and we were thankful to be surrounded by so many people that love us! I even had some family travel all the way from Chester, WV for the big reveal. (Thanks again Uncle Mitch, and Aunt Amy!)

 

I have several more pictures also, but I need to get them from my Mom and Gram's camera. I ran around in an flurry of excitement, and didn't take any pictures! But, without further ado...here's the video of us cutting the cake to find out if the baby was a boy or girl!

  

I was so surprised! I thought for sure the baby was a girl, but God had another thing in mind. We had already decided on a boy's name, so we announced at the party that we would be naming him David Nolan Mosley. We will call him Nolan, but when it came to deciding a name, we came up with it just days after finding out we were pregnant!

Since the party, everything has been smooth sailing. I've had two routine checkups, and Nolan is measuring exactly where he should be. Yesterday, I had to take the dreaded glucose test. It wasn't as bad as I thought, the drink they give you tasted like flat orange soda. I was thankful that I passed, and didn't have to take the longer 3 hour test. The comical thing, is that after only a few sips, Nolan went crazy! He was flipping, and dancing all over the place. While we were listening to his heart beat with the doppler, he was kicking it with force! It definitely made me laugh. He's been so active lately, and I absolutely love it! It's such a neat feeling to feel him moving. At first it felt like butterflies, but now it's full on karate.

Despite not having any more problems with the vein, I'm still not allowed to go back to work. My doctor fears that putting the same pressure on the cervix that caused the initial bleeding, would make the bleeding start again, and could potentially send me into pre-term labor. Something we definitely don't want! But, the summer will pass by so quickly, and I'm thankful for the quiet time to prepare for one of the biggest life changes we'll face! Jake and I are so ready to snuggle him!

In the next few days, I'll post about our progress on the baby's room, and the fun preparations we've been making. I never thought I would get so excited about things like a stroller! haha.

We have a very special announcement!

We are beyond excited!

Breaking the silence....

Hello all.

I decided that I wanted to dust some of the cobwebs off this blog, and start actually using it to document our lives. I fear that in the blink of an eye, years will flash before us, and I'll forget all the fun little details of our lives.

We are currently in the middle of one of the coldest, and snowiest winters I've experienced since I was a kid. The average temps have been in the teens (or lower some weeks), with wind chill making the temperature feel even more frigid. I've heard a lot of people complain about snow, and road conditions, but honestly I'm thankful for it. Winter is supposed to be cold, and snowy. We will have less pests in our garden, and hopefully less ticks to deal with this summer. (I swear, those things could survive an atomic bomb!) I'm enjoying the cold, and I know it will make me even more appreciative of the deliciously warm spring, and the beautiful awaking of nature. Today in Walmart, I got a little more excited than I should looking at all the seed starting stuff.

Well, I'm going to end this post with a little tidbit I found on pinterest that I thought was awesome. God really does hear our prayers...we just have to be patient! :D

Good night!
Kristen

Myrtle Beach 2013

My family made their annual trek to Myrtle Beach the last week in June. Thankfully, I was able to fly down for most of the week to spend some time with my family. Because Jake and I were going to Gettysburg the week after I returned, he was unable to go with me.

I flew out of Huntington, WV, and because Jake is terrified of the thought of flying I took tons of pictures to show him when I returned...

After I landed in Myrtle Beach, Mom and Gram Keller were there to greet me. Gram is the tiny dot wearing the green shirt. :D

As soon as I landed, my brother Josh and his wife Keshia, Mom and Brent, and I walked to one of our favorite restuarants at the beach - The Pier! It was a great way to kick off a relaxing week.  We also went putt-putt golfing, where everyone scored a hole in one, except for Brent who won the entire game. And Gram Keller actually had 2 hole in ones!

We also went on the Sky Wheel. Which is a huge farris wheel right on the boardwalk. You sit on benches in glass "bubbles", complete with air conditioning, and doors. I was impressed with how comfortable it was. And we were able to fit 6 people into our bubble.

 View from the top

Because Jake is scared of heights, I took this one for him. :P

During a little shopping spree, I finally decided to purchase a pair of Rainbow sandals. I read about Rainbows last summer and how comfortable, durable, and long lasting they are. So, I thought that it would be a good investment...

In retro-spec, I should have purchased them last year. They are really the best sandal I've ever owned. More than worth the initial investment.

All in all, it was a fabulous week with my family. I'm so thankful I was able to go, and make countless memories in one of our favorite places. In closing, I'll leave you with some pictures of the beach. Up next is Gettysburg!