Kailyn Violet Knowlton

Did you hear that I had a baby? Well I did, and she is beautiful and amazing.

It was an interesting pregnancy. During the first couple of months I felt sick all the time. I would come home from work and lay on the couch until bedtime. I think Robbie and I watched the movie CARS a billion times. Sometimes when I hear the opening music to that movie I still feel nauseous. Turns out that I was eating tainted Fruit Loops every morning for breakfast. Maybe I wouldn't have been so sick. I should have stopped eating the Fruit Loops that tasted like gasoline, but I thought it was just morning sickness that was making me feel that way. As the pregnancy went on I started having really bad acne. Not so unusual for me but very annoying. I am pretty sure I went to the dermatologist more than my OB. Magically as soon as I gave birth my face cleared up.

I really wanted to have the baby early. She was due on December 17, but I knew if I had her early it would give Rob and I more time with the baby before school started back up in January. I had many false alarms. Time after time I was started timing contractions and after an hour or so they would just stop. I finally scheduled an induction for December 14.

On the morning of the 14th I was called in at 5:45am. I went into the hospital and got things started. It went very quickly. Right after they hooked me up to the drip my water broke. When the Dr. came in a few hours later I told him I was feeling lots of pressure. He checked me out and told me to push. He looked at me and said, "She has red hair." For some reason I had never thought that I would have a red headed child. About 30 minutes later she was born. When they placed her on my chest I was amazed at how much she looked like her brother Robbie. The second I sat up and started nursing her she latched on and ate for almost an hour. She has been an amazing baby. She eats good, poops good, and burps good.

It was difficult having a baby with out my mom around to help. When I had Robbie we would drive over to my moms and hang out all afternoon. I felt so alone this time around. But there have been numerous times when I'm having bad days, or even really good days, that I feel my mom with me. I know she is helping me become a better mother and watching over me daily.

Patricia Mangum 1955-2010

On this Thanksgiving day, I truly have so much to be thankful for. Mostly I am thankful for my family and friends. This past week I had to say goodbye to my mother and my best friend in the whole world. Although she was fighting cancer for almost 6 years there is still now way to prepare for such a devastating loss. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for the peace and comfort which I have received. I am also very grateful to have so many good friends who have poured out their prayers, love, and support.
As many of you know, my mom was awesome! She was funny, smart, and beautiful (that is where I get it from). She was always positive and loved life. She believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. She never missed a basketball or volleyball game I played in. During high school you would find me home hanging out with her most Friday nights. She set up my Junior Prom date because no one had asked me. She came to my seminary class to get me because she didn't have anyone to eat lunch with. She cried when I married the love of my life because she knew he was perfect for me, and she rocked our first child while he cried all night long. I could go on and on with stories, but mostly I just wanted to say Thank You. I love you Mom.

Halloween

Robbie loves all thing Halloween. Spiders, Skeletons, Scary Monsters, Pumpkins, Candy, you name it - he loves it. So I was very excited for Halloween. He really liked being dressed up in his skeleton costume (k, so they were just pajamas) and handing out candy to other kids, but he wanted nothing to do with trick or treating himself. We decided that it would be fun to dress my mom and dad up as elephants for Halloween. They were good sports. Robbie loved our pumpkins and still likes seeing them on the door step every day even though they look very sad.

5, 6, and 7 Months Pregnant

Time flies when you are having fun :) I was going to edit out all the acne, but those of you who spend any time with me would have wondered where it went. I've had such bad cystic acne with this pregnancy. I am at the dermatologist every other week and it still wont go away. There is just nothing you can do when you are pregnant. It is worth being pregnant with a beautiful girl but I really hope she doesn't get my skin!

Robbie turns 2

Ok, so he turned 2 about a month ago. As you can tell I'm a little behind blogging. He is such a fun kid. He loves Buzz Lightyear, chasing Chino around, pretending to be a scary monster, eating corn, and playing Monster Trucks and Dinosaurs. We have a name for every toy he has and he loves calling every one of them by that name.

Bountiful Backyard

Rob and I plant some sort of a garden every year. In our five years of marriage we have never been able to harvest anything from that garden. This year we have finally succeeded. It helps that we have a nice back yard with a big garden patch and that we've set up the watering on an automatic drip system. It has been so great to head outside every night after work and see what has been growing.

The start of our Raspberries.

The one pear growing on our pear tree.

Strawberries. It is amazing that any strawberries actually turn red because Robbie's favorite thing to do is pick them - when they are nice and green.

Two tomato plants. Planted the same day. One is growing to be the biggest tomato plant I have ever seen. The other is not.

Apple tree.

There are so many peaches on our peach tree. I hope they all keep growing.

The single blueberry growing on the smallest of 4 blueberry bushes.

And...that is not all I will be growing this summer. Along with the fruits and vegetables will be a baby. Ready to pick December 2010.

Congratulations Rob

Although he completed his Bachelors Degree in Accounting in December '09 Rob walked in graduation this May. Congratulations! We were so blessed that Rob found a full time accounting job in February that he absolutely loves. It has been such good experience for him and he can continue to work full time while he attends SUU this fall to work on his Masters of Accountancy.