update.

I can not express enough how blessed we are! Liam is doing amazing. We only have a few goals to meet before we can bring him home.

-Get his feeding up to 50 ml.
-He needs to be able to regulate his temperature (gaining a little more weight will solve this)
-Eat 5 days in a row with out his stats dropping. (preemies often have to learn how to breathe, suck, and swallow at the same time.)

He is already taking these goals on like a champ!  Today we tried feeding him the 50 ml and he did it! We just need him to continue to eat this much. (which I'm sure he will, once again, he loves his food)
He has now gone 2 days with out his stats dropping while eating. Which means he is catching on to the whole breathing, sucking, and swallowing thing. As for the regulating temperature goal, we aren't worried. If he continues to eat 50 ml each feeding he will definitely gain the weight he needs to.
Liam did have to be put under billi lights for a day. Though his jaundice numbers were really low, they didn't want them to start climbing. Putting him under the lights for the day was easier and a lot less painful than pricking his poor heel every morning. Because he is doing so well and continues to amaze us and his doctor, they had us watch the videos you need to see to take him home and bring in his car seat so they can start doing car seat checks soon! Which can only mean our little guy will soon be home with us, right?!

I can't believe how strong and healthy our baby boy is. The nurses always tease that he thinks he is older than he really is. He's always giving us smiles and making his funny noises. We're so lucky to have such a patient, happy baby. I can't wait to have him home with us.

Liam Beck.

As you may all know by now, Kristofer and I are now parents to a perfect baby boy! We are so blessed to have him here and so happy he is such a strong little baby!
Having him as early as I did was definitely not what we expected and definitely a big surprise! My water broke when I was only 32 weeks. It didn't break like you would expect. Every time I would bend down to pick something up or move something I would leak just a little bit, I was sure I was just peeing my pants over and over again! When Kristofer took me to the hospital I was sure they were going to tell me I was over reacting and that I just needed to go home and rest.  Looks like it was a bit more serious than I thought! They had me go to labor and delivery where I found out I would be on bed rest. . . .I was now confined to a bed until my baby was ready to come out. That was the longest week and a half ever, to say the least. I was so happy to have so many friends come and see me. They saved me from going crazy. Saturday, Feb. 16, I finally made it to 34 weeks and was ready to be induced. 20 hours of ice chips, contractions, and lovely drugs later, we met our sweet little boy!

Liam Beck Kabalan

Born February 17, 2013

4:40 AM

5 lbs 7 oz

19 inches

fitted crib/toddler sheet.

With us packing up during the next few weeks I've had to hold off any nesting and crafting I've been wanting to do. With all the projects I have in mind we would need at least 30 more packing boxes to get them to our new place. But to be honest, I'm going crazy! So I figured I could at least sew a few things just to hold me over and keep me busy until the move.
 I never realized how picky I am when it come to patterns on my fabric, but when I have a vision in my head I just can't settle. I searched and searched but when ever I found a pattern I liked, the bigger the price tag, yikes. So that's when I decided I can easily make fitted sheets for baby boys crib! And trust me, if I can do it, so can you.

What you will need is 2 yards of fabric, measuring tape, fabric pins, 80 inches of skinny 1/4  in. elastic, fabric scissors, sewing machine, iron, and a safety pin.
note: try to stick to cotton, flannel, or knit for your fabric, and pre-wash before sewing. This way you won't have shrinking after all your time and effort!

Cut your fabric into a rectangle measuring 45in. x 67in.
Then cut 8in. x 8in. out of each corner of your fabric.

Pull the two sides of each cut out corner together,with the good side (patterned side) on the inside, and pin together. It should make a "pocket" of sorts. After your corners are pinned, sew each corner together.

Fold the edge of your sheet over 1/4in all around and iron, pinning as you go. Pin or mark a spot for your "start and stop" point to leave an opening, this is where you will insert your elastic.
Sew your ironed down edges all the way around. ( make sure there is enough room to slide your elastic in)

 Attach a safety pin to the beginning of your elastic and insert in the opening you left while sewing. Start stringing your elastic all the way around until you reach your open again.

 Sew the two ends of your elastic together using a zig-zag stitch. I went over it quite a few times to make sure it stays sewn. Then sew the open whole and you're done! Easy, right?

sometimes I rant.

When I uploaded that photo all that came to mind was "feeling large and in charge!" Holy hannah! Where did that belly come from?! I've truly been slacking in the blogging department lately. A lot has been going on around here and if I'm honest, it is stressful with a capital S. With Kristofer putting in his two weeks at his CNA job, preparing for his trip to New York, and leaving for his new job in Salt Lake City right after that, you can say most of my time has been going into making sure everything will go smoothly when the time comes to pack this place up and head down to our new place. Not to mention putting in my three weeks at work, researching my new hospital I will be delivering at ONE month after we move, finding a new doctor. . .for my last month of pregnancy, getting our new place put together enough for things to feel at home when we bring our little guy home. Which for me includes setting up his nursery, setting up our living room, last minute shopping for EVERYTHING baby K needs (since I honestly have nothing haha) all while 8 months pregnant. I'll probably be packing this place up on my own since Kris will be working in SLC and unpacking everything since I'll be at home with no car all day. I'm not too excited about the packing (who would be, right?), but I love unpacking. Im excited to figure our where to put things and make this new place our new home for a while. Cheers to change!

today's horror story.

Today was full of intentions. I intended to clean the house. I intended to post about the fun projects I've been working on for the baby. I intended to make a delicious dinner. But after the morning I had and how stressed I let myself get, I'm guessing you can see I did none of that. The only thing I could get myself to do was lay down and sleep away the bad mood and self pity I let myself fall into. I had been dreading this DR. appointment since the day I put it my schedule. Glucose test, getting my blood drawn, shot in my hip, plus 2 more shots seems like a lot to a girl with a fear of needles. I woke up feeling a little "off."  I decided to make a little something before I had to down that little orange bottle of terror. At first it wasn't too bad. It tasted like a strong melted orange popcicle, but after getting a few gulps down it seemed to get stronger and stronger. SO much sugar at once. I'm just not used to that! I forced the rest of the bottle down and went on with my morning. After showering and getting ready, all I had to do was put my shoes on and leave. One more step and I was out the door. BAM. No warning, not even a second to realize what was happening. It all came up. It seemed to go everywhere except where it belonged. . . the freaking toilet! I'll leave it at that seeing as though most of you are probably gagging at the thought. I was now 5 minutes late and still cleaning as much as I could. When I finally made it to the office front desk I realized nothing counted. All that forcing myself to swallow that nasty drink, the horrid bathroom incident. . . was for nothing. I still had to get my blood drawn, I still got my hip shot. I now have to go in later this week to get my blood drawn once more and one more shot. My husband keeps saying maybe this morning was a blessing in disguise,  I'm just glad I had him with me today to calm me down and help me realize it's not the end of the world. I'm glad I have someone to snap me out of my drama queen moments.