Easter

Forgive the late posts, but I'm trying to get caught up on blogging.  It just got away from me over the summer.  So, I'll be posting a bunch of catch up stuff over the next couple weeks.

We had a great Easter filled with lots of fun family activities.  It was fun to watch Naomi be more of an active participant in the whole "egg thing".  :)  Just a warning - picture overload on this post.

Saturday morning, we went to an egg hunt at a nearby church (not ours).  She was a little overwhelmed, but enjoyed picking up and shaking the eggs and then throwing them back down.  :)

Saturday afternoon, my MIL, Emily, came over to play with Naomi (and make sure Brian had back-up as he was on-call for work and I was at a baby shower - thanks!).

Sunday morning before church, she got her Easter basket from us.

Sunday morning at church, we met up with my Mom and Stepdad and she got her Easter basket from them - she left a wake of Easter grass behind her - cracked us up.

Sunday evening, my Dad and Stepmom came over and we did a little egg hunt.  She gathered all her eggs and stuck them in "Busy Town" on her activity cube.  Too funny.

That's it!  Only took us 6 months to post.  :)  Ooops.

Announcing - Baby #2

I meant to announce our good baby news on my blog and facebook after the standard 12 week waiting period, but got sick and busy, etc.  So, finally in the 18-19 weeks, we are finally managing that.  So, here is a quick glimpse of my pregnancy so far.  I'm currently at 19 weeks (can't believe it's almost the halfway point) and I'm due on August 31st. 

We found out we were pregnant in December, but weren't ready to share our news yet.  When Naomi's birthday came around, we decided it was the ideal time to tell our family.  We had several family members in from out of town and most of our family would be at Naomi's birthday party and we would be able to tell everyone at once.  At this point, I was about 6 weeks along (my calcs at the time had me at 8 weeks, but I was adjusted at our initial sono).  So, Naomi's first gift to open was from us and was a book, "I'm Going to be a Big Sister".  I wish I had a picture but we were so all in the moment that no one took one.  Reactions included, "Why would someone get her that?", "Did you buy her that?" and finally "Are you trying to tell us something?", to which we replied that yes we are having another baby.  This resulted in a chorus of "Are you serious?" and "Really?" followed by joy and hugs.  (And later, of course, the whole yes we were actually trying - it is me after all - the girl who wasn't sure she wanted one, now having two is a bit surprising even to me.) 

We told our ABF at church next (around the 10 week mark) and continued gradually telling friends we saw, co-workers, Jazzercise peeps, etc. 

First trimester summary:  I was way more sick with this one than I was with Naomi, but no where near as sick as some women get.  I got a prescription for Zofran - helped a lot.  I didn't gain any weight - yay! - really worked hard on that one since I'm still carrying extra weight from having Naomi.  My only noticeable craving was for Arby's roast beef sandwiches which was completely bizarre since we eat there once maybe every couple of years or so.  I'm over it now, but I went more in one month than I have in the past decade. 

Second trimester so far:  The sick tapered off around week 14-16 with a few "going out with a bang" moments.  At my last doctor's appointment, I had officially gained 1 lb. - not bad.  I just started "popping out" quite a bit in the last couple weeks, so whatever extra weight I already had has begun migrating to my belly.  :)  I haven't had any real "cravings" lately, but do notice things tasting good to me that normally aren't really my thing - I remember this from last time too - Brian's babies love salsa and bbq sauce. 

18 week sono:  It's a GIRL.  Her name will be Olivia.  Everything looked good and normal (pic above).  That's pretty much it.  I don't have another appointment with the perinatologist, so we'll see if I go back to her this time around or if it'll just be the OB. 

Will I have preeclampsia again?  I get asked this question a lot, so I figure I'll answer it here in case anyone is wondering.  The answer, in short, is "flip a coin".  There is no way to know and no known way to prevent it since they don't really know what causes it (the blood pressure is merely one of the symptoms and the most easily measured, so simply controlling blood pressure isn't the answer).  So far, so good.  I monitor my blood pressure on a regular basis just to get an idea of my baseline - it eases my mind and it helps the doctor.  Otherwise, they don't do anything special for this pregnancy until something goes haywire.  So we just wait and hope and prepare.  We've thought through the possibility of hospital bed rest and are planning to have the room completed by the end of June (quite the undertaking given the current state of things). 

How long will I be able to teach Jazzercise?  Again, we'll see.  Still going strong and full out.  No need to restrict to low impact yet as I "have a proven cervix" (sorry for the tmi).  So, I'll go until I feel too un-comfortable, make adjustments to my schedule when the time comes, and stop if they tell me that I must.  I taught 4 classes this week, even while dealing with a massive sinus/allergy attack.  I just ordered a maternity support belt to help me as my belly expands over the next couple months.  Keep on dancin' ya'll!  :) 

Baby Bump Pics:  I'm sure I'll take some at some point and if I do, I'll post them. 

More later!

A Look Back at Naomi's First Year

I typed this up back after Naomi's first birthday in January and am just now posting it (just days before she hits 15 months and I need to do another post). 

I can't believe a whole year has flown by in the blink of an eye. 

If you've never read Naomi's birth story, you can read it here: 
http://culpgal.blogspot.com/2011/01/naomis-birthday.html
http://culpgal.blogspot.com/2011/01/aftermath-mag-and-nicu.html
http://culpgal.blogspot.com/2011/01/rest-of-our-stay-and-release-days.html
I still tear up reading it over a year later and I wonder if that will ever change. 

We've watched our baby girl grow from a helpless lump of cuteness to a curious baby girl with an emerging independent streak.  We've gone from sleepless nights to mostly good nights.  We've childproofed and continue to do so as Naomi reveals her increasing knack for getting into things.  We've read, played with toys, learned to eat, gone to Tiny Tots, gone to story time at the library, gone to the park, and enjoyed countless other firsts both small and big. 

And, we've watched ourselves grow - as individuals, as a couple, and as parents.  We've both become more patient.  Brian has become an even harder worker as the sole provider for our family (such a blessing).  He's an amazing Dad who does everything he can for her and gladly takes over as soon as he's home from work, so that I can have some me time (a HUGE deal for me - thank you, thank you, thank you).  I've become less selfish (at least where Naomi's concerned; no one else has probably noticed a difference).  I've become far more tolerant of mess (as evidenced by Naomi's birthday cupcake pics) which is huge for me.  As a couple, we've had to work much harder this year.  The first year of parenthood is very stressful and definitely a challenge to your marriage.  We've had to be patient with each other in various areas, we've had to work hard not to take out frustration/lack of sleep on each other, and we've had to be very intentional about making time for us as a couple.  Overall though, in Grinch terms, our hearts have grown ten sizes. 

Here is a flash back to the past year in pictures:

Christmas Clips...

Here are some random pics from Christmas that I never posted...

Reading my Baby Elf book

Christmas Eve Morning

Fun with tissue paper

Me and Grandma T

Me and Uncle Alex

My new red chair

Pulling the hat off my head

Me and Grandpa Ken

Merry Christmas!

I ran out of cards before I ran out of people to send them to this year.  I saw this coming so I prioritized family first, then friends who sent us one, and then I was out of cards (actually a couple people in group two even got left out and I'm quite positive that I missed a couple in group one as well).  The end result is that I didn't get to send a card to a LOT of our dear friends.  Now I know with even more certainty that I am blessed and that I need to plan ahead better next year. 

All of this to explain why this is my Merry Christmas to you (if you are among all the wonderful people to whom I didn't end up sending a card).  On the upside, it's one less card you have to feel slightly guilty about throwing away at the end of the season.  So here is the digital version...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

the picture from our card

Our annual Christmas letter with highlights of the year:

We welcomed Naomi Katherine Culp into our loving arms on January 10^th of this year.  She is such a blessing.  It’s been amazing to watch her grow and develop over the past year.  She is a sweet, social, happy, smart, clever, and beautiful baby girl who babbles and cruises around the house.  I can’t believe we’ll be celebrating her first birthday so soon!     

Although we had two trips planned, we decided to forgo them to stay with our baby and to save some money.  So, our travels this year have included trips to Houston for a wedding and to Austin to visit Brian’s mom, Emily.  We learned a lot about traveling with an infant.  There were a lot of moments that weren’t funny at the time, but are now.  J 

Brian actually changed jobs in October of this year.  He is now a Service Delivery Manager with Vertex.  It was a really good career opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.  He’s been getting to know his new role and is really enjoying it. 

Brian continues to pursue his bachelor’s degree part-time at the University of Texas at Dallas (still making excellent grades).  We can see a light at the end of the tunnel – on course for graduation in spring of 2013. 

I was laid off from Microtune back in February while on maternity leave (yes, it’s legal as they laid off most of my department in a company acquisition).  I went on one interview and came home crying and hoping that I didn’t get the job because I just didn’t want to leave Naomi.  We talked… we crunched numbers… and, my new job of being a stay at home mom is what I will happily be doing until we decide otherwise.  I never thought I’d be a stay at home mom or love it this much.  I even got a sewing machine for my birthday (still figuring out what to do with it); just call me Suzy Homemaker.  Life can be pleasantly surprising. 

I returned to teaching Jazzercise when my medical leave ended.  It’s been challenging to get back in the groove, but good for me. 

In October, we completed the Dallas 13.1 (a half-marathon) with Team World Vision to raise money for a clean water project in Africa.  It was the hardest half we’ve done (it’s our 3^rd one, but the 1^st one post-baby) and we had our slowest time, but we are so proud to prevail and to have run for such a worthy cause. 

We truly can’t believe all the changes that have happened this year and how much we have been blessed through it all.  Looking forward to seeing what God has in store next year.  Wishing you and your family a very joyous Christmas and a great start to the New Year! 

Love,
Brian, Christine, and Naomi Culp 

Fall Festival / Halloween

Here are some photos from Halloween and our church's Fall Festival.  The Wednesday before Halloween our church did a big Fall Festival with food, game booths, lots of bounce houses in all shapes and sizes, a petting zoo and a little train.  It was great.  By the time we finished working at our ABF's booth (we had the first shift and it ran a little longer than expected), Naomi was too tired to really be interested in anything.  So, hopefully next year will go better.  We will certainly plan better - take a later shift so that she can have fun first and pass out in the stroller second.  Either way, it was fun to see all the kids in costume having a good time.  

Here are some pics from Halloween night:

And here are some shots of Fall Festival:

Dallas Arboretum - Pumpkin Patch

Brian took a day off between his old job and his new job, so we took advantage of it to use the Groupon we bought to go the Dallas Arboretum.  It was her first trip to a Pumpkin Patch and a great photo op for us.  We also met up with a college friend of mine, Jenny, and her cute daughter, Lily.  It was a fun time.  


So, this post is pretty much just going to be photos.  I'm saving one of our whole family to use on our Christmas card, so I'm not posting the winning shot here yet.  :)