Introducing Ryan!

I needed to make this blog official, though most of you already know...

Ryan Marshall was born on Thursday, December 15 at 10:47 am.  He was 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long!

My labor and delivery was expected to be a smooth one and started out that way.  I went in on Sunday having contractions 3-4 minutes apart, but I never progressed so they sent me home.  The rest of the week was uneventful and I was scheduled to be induced starting Wednesday night.  By 2 am, I had my epidural and was resting.  The girls were with Pops & Lolly.  I texted my mom at 7:30 to head on up because I was at an 8.  Unfortunately, that's where things got interesting.  I started pushing at 9ish.  Ryan's heart rate was dropping every time I pushed.  It would recover quickly, so they let me keep going.  They thought his cord was wrapped around his neck, so they kept watching him very closely.  They finally decided to use a suction cup on his head (aka vacuum) to get him out.  Normally this is only done for 5 minutes.  Silly boy wasn't budging and his heart rate continued to drop.  After 8 minutes, the doctor said I had one push to get him out or we would be going for an emergency c-section.   Thankfully, he finally came out!  He was a pound bigger than the girls!  I was shocked he was so big.  Because of the scares he gave us, there were about 10 extra people in the room when he was born - the anesthesiologist, NICU nurses and I don't even know who else.  He quickly was cleaned up and checked out and was 100% OK.  Thank you God!

The first thing I noticed about him was his dimple on his right cheek...so cute!  His poor head was pretty beat up from the suction, but he was beautiful to me! 

That's a bruise on his poor head.  Luckily, it's almost gone now. 

Meeting his sisters for the first time.  Landrie didn't want to hold him until late Friday.  Karsyn couldn't keep her hands off from the very beginning.

Meeting Pops & Lolly

Meeting Grandpa & Gigi

Going home on Saturday 12-17-11.

Halloween

My girls love to dress up!  It's always a chore to figure out what they'll be though. At school they usually have to be a storybook character, and then sometimes they change their mind for the real thing.  We had it all figured out.  Landrie would be Bindi Irwin (think zookeeper/vet) and Karsyn decided on Repunzel.   Easy enough until we get a note home from Landrie's teacher that the 2nd grade is supposed to dress up as people from Ancient Greece...really?  They sent home a pattern and everything! 

Our Greek Godess Landrie

Beautiful Rapunzel ~ Karsyn was the Super Kid for the week, so she was the line leader for her class.

For Halloween night, the girls changed costumes.  Landrie went with her original idea of being Bindi/a vet, and Karsyn decided to be one of Landrie's patients - a cat!  We went to Pop's and Lolly's house to eat dinner and be part of the parade in the neighborhood.  After the parade, we headed to church to meet up with our friends for lots of fun, games & candy.

The Vet and her Pet Kitty

The Vet, Super Girl, Pretty Kitty and Adorable Bumble Bees!

...Anyone there...???

This blog has been so neglected lately!  I was doing well writing pregnancy updates every 4 weeks, but then I was bored with it, so I'm sure my few readers were bored too.

I could update about Landrie's b-day---Holy cow, she's 8!  Makes me feel so old!

And then there's both girls taking dance for the first time!  Karsyn is a prissy ballerina and tap dancer, and Landrie is a cool hip-hopper! They both love it, and that makes me so happy! 

We can't forget Ryan either!  He's going to be here in about 6 weeks!  This truly has flown by!  I finally painted his room and began the decorating process.  And he has a crib now, so at least he's got a place to sleep. 

I had my first baby shower this morning.  It was so nice and Ryan was definitely spoiled!  He's going to be one well-dressed little boy!

So there's a quick update!  I'll try to write actual posts with pictures this week or maybe later tonight.  Lamar is at his 4th football game this week!  And along with playoffs, 8th grade basketball will be starting soon.  That means he'll be gone morning and night.  Ugh!  But that's the way things go...

Way behind...

It's been 6 weeks since I last blogged...oops!  We've stayed busy and have had a lot of fun along the way.  The girls love school and are doing so well!  Landrie got straight A's on her first report card and Karsyn got all 3's (the best!). 

Of course, football consumes most of our time, but we LOVE it!  The season started out super hot, and we've had some strange weather for a few of the games.  We now have only 2 games left in the regular season, and then it's time for our 2nd season - the playoffs!

I'm 31 weeks as of last Friday. I can't believe that in 8ish weeks our little man will be here!  We can't wait to meet him! 

Here are a few pics from our first few weeks of football. 

Karsyn loves to cheer her Trojans on at all of the games!  She dances with the band and shouts and cheers through most of the game.

The girls went to the THS Cheer Clinic with some of their favorite football friends.  By going to the clinic, they were able to cheer during the pre-game a few weeks later.

Go  Landrie Go!

Go Karsyn Go!

On the field at pre-game

Coming soon - Landrie's 8th Birthday!

First Day of School

We just finished our 2nd week of school.  This year was especiallly great because Landrie and Karsyn are back at the same school and Karsyn started Kindergarten!!! 

Landrie ~  My Beautiful 2nd Grader! 

Karsyn ~ My Precious Kindergartener

Sweet, sweet sisters!  They choose to dress alike for the first day, but haven't ever since.  A little sad for Mommy.

Coach and his girls ~ starting his 11th year of teaching/coaching

Mommy and her pretty girls ~ Starting my 8th year of teaching

Beautiful girl ready to go in her class!  She had a great first day and first 2 weeks.  2nd grade is much more challenging than K and 1st, but she's doing so well!  She had 3 tests yesterday and I'm sure she aced them all!

Sweet K ready for her class!  She loves going to school and has adjusted so well.  She's made several new friends and already has a little boy with a crush on her!  He said she was beautiful and that he was in love with her! Haha!!! 

Life is good!  We've had 2 good weeks at school, 2 awesome football games and we are all adjusting to our routines well.  Things should be smooth sailing from here...until brother comes along in 15 weeks!  It will be an adjustment that we all can't wait to make! :)

24 Week Update

I'm a little late with this post since I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow, but that's the way things go...

24 Week Update


Baby Size: Almost a foot long and 1 lb.

My size/weight gain: I've now officially gained 3 pounds since my first appointment in May.

Clothes:

I bought 2 pairs of maternity pants from Target, but I'm still wearing a lot of regular clothes.  All of my shirts are non-maternity and I love wearing dresses and leggings. 
Cravings:

No cravings, but no aversions either.  I like ice cream, but it doesn't agree with me most of the time.

Symptoms:

I'm beginning to be uncomfortable at night and still have a long way to go. I have RAGING heartburn almost all day long.  It's extremely annoying!  Thankfully, the doctor says I can take the maximum dose of meds each day.  Morning/All Day Sickness has been much better! I still get sick once or twice a week, but not every day like with the girls.  Thank goodness!

Sleep:

I'm sleeping pretty good as long as I take Benadryl which helps my allergies too!
Stories to not forget:

Going back to school has been really good!  My students are all really funny and ask questions from time to time.  One class has 25 boys and 4 girls, so that will definitely be interesting! 

20 Week Update

20 Week Update

Baby Size: About the length of a banana - 10 ounces, 10 inches long.
My size/weight gain: I've now officially gained 2 pounds since my first appointment in May.

Clothes:

I have 2 pairs of maternity jeans that I wear most days. I'm still wearing regular shirts and will probably keep wearing them. It's time to buy some work clothes since I'm officially back at school as of today.

Cravings:

I'm still craving salty foods, but I don't really enjoy anything particular right now.

Symptoms:

I'm beginning to be uncomfortable at night and still have a long way to go.  That might be because we have assembled bunk beds and have been cleaning out all of the girls' closets to make room for baby.

Morning/All Day Sickness has been much better!  We'll see if it stays away now that I'm back at school.

Sleep:

I'm sleeping OK. I usually end up on the couch at some point during the night, but I am getting 7-8 hours consistently.  Had to wake up to an alarm for the first time this morning which was not fun, but it is good to get back into a routine.

Stories to not forget:

Our reveal was so much fun!!  We are having a BOY if you missed it---Ryan Marshall Kirk!  We can't wait to meet him in December.

The Reveal

Our family has a LOT of babies!  The oldest is almost 11 and there are 3 babies on the way.  By Christmas, there will be 17 great-grands!  Right now the count is 6 boys (3 on the way) to 10 girls plus our little peanut.  We had a 6 girl streak and currently a 3 boy streak.  There was a lot of pressure to keep the streak alive! Ha!  As the last few babies have been born, we've started the tradition of the BIG reveal.  My Shanty cousins both did cupcake reveals, and they turned out so cute! 

We had our gender sono on Friday, July 1.  I started researching ideas and came up with several:

• a pinata with pink or blue candy insde - lots of fun for the kids
• Hand out a Hershey's kiss to everyone - with nuts BOY, without GIRL
• blue or red/pink sparklers
• balloons in wrapped in a box

Since we were so close to the 4th of July, my mom bought blue and red sparklers.  We were going to hold off our reveal until after the fireworks on the 4th and light the right sparklers for everyone.  It would have been 11 o'clock if we waited until then, so we opted for a new plan.

We went with the balloon plan, and it turned out perfect!

Team Blue

Team Pink

The girls were finding out for the first time too!  They got to open the box to reveal the surprise for everyone.

It's A...

 BOY!!!!

Ryan Marshall will join the Krazy Kirk Krew on or around December 16, 2011!!

Kerrville-Leakey-Sea World

**Warning - long post with lots of pictures.

Last weekend, Lamar and I went to our 3rd Coaches Outreach retreat.  CO is such a neat ministry to Coaches and their spouses.  The coaches do a Bible Study throughout the school year and then during the summer, CO puts on marriage retreats throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Alabama. 

This year we went to Kerrville, TX and stayed at the Inn of the Hills.  It was so much fun to see some familiar faces from previous retreats and meet other coaches too.  It is so neat to be in small groups with people who are going through the same things!  The life of a coaches' family is a crazy one and only few can truly understand what it's like.

During the retreat we had some free time and decided to drive over to Leakey where Lamar's grandparents used to live.  We visited the house and the Frio river where Lamar used to swim all summer long.

After the retreat ended on Sunday, Lamar and I headed to San Antonio for the night.  We got a great deal on a hotel on Priceline.  We were across the street from the Riverwalk and just a block away from the Riverwalk.  We took a nap and then headed down to the Riverwalk for dinner.  It was so fun and nice!!

Monday morning, we headed to Sea World and Gigi, Grandpa, Landrie & Karsyn met us there.  The girls were so surprised and so excited!!!  They have been talking about SW for months!!

Their first ride - Shamu Express.  Karsyn was a little afraid, but they loved it!

Azul was our favorite show.  It had beluga whales, dolphins, birds and high divers.  It was so good!!

My pink flamingos with real pink flamingos!

The Shamu show was really good too!  By this time the girls were exhausted and it was SO hot!!!

Thank you Gigi & Grandpa for this special day!! They loved Sea World and I know will be talking about it for a long time to come!!!

16 Week Update

Baby Size: About the size of an avacado - 4 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 ounces.

My size/weight gain: I gained one pound since my last appointment.  I'm still down between 3-10 lbs depending on when I started counting.
Clothes:
I have 2 pairs of maternity jeans that I wear most days.  I'm still wearing regular shirts and will probably keep wearing them.  I hate the look of maternity clothes on me!

Cravings:
I'm still craving salty foods, but I don't really enjoy anything particular right now. 

Symptoms:
I'm still tired a lot, and now that it's summer - I can nap guilt free!

Morning All Day Sickness hasn't let up yet. I still get sick at least once a day and the heartburn is out of control!

Sleep:
I'm sleeping OK.  I usually end up on the couch at some point during the night, but I am getting 7-8 hours consistently.

Stories to not forget:
We were able to have a gender sono on Friday.  The tech said she was 5000% sure and that she would repaint the room if she was wrong.  More on the big reveal in my next post.