NEW BLOG :-)

Hi everyone I know I haven't posted in a very long time. I've been pretty busy. I've had a baby, quit my marketing job, and started a photography business. Yep lots of change for me, but I'm feeling good about the direction I'm going in. Since I've started the photography business I created a new blog that I will be using from now on. I will no longer be posting updates to this blog. To keep up to date on what's happing in my life and to see my latest photos please follow my new blog/website. Here it is: www.daniellekanka.com. Enjoy and thanks for following me on my blog!

MI & VA Family Visit 2010

This summer James, Elijah, and I traveled home to Michigan & Virginia to see family and friends and introduce everyone Elijah. It was so much fun! Below are a couple of videos James made from the trip. I'll post pics soon too :-)

Busy Growing

Elijah has been busy growing and melting our hearts in the process :-)

Yesterday he took his first flight and did awesome. Over the next two weeks he'll get meet many of our friends and family from home. I can't wait! I'm just praying he keeps up his good health with all the travel and people he'll be meeting. What can I say? I love my little man and all of the new viruses floating around scare me. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left with him before I go back to work. :-( I'm going to savor these weeks and enjoy these last stress free days. Hopefully we'll post some more pictures soon, I know we'll have a ton after our visit home. Happy summer everyone and enjoy your 4th of July!

I'm a mommy!

Since it's been so long since I last posted, I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that I am still alive. On April 28th I was admitted into the hospital where I was induced for labor. It was a slow process. Halfway through the doctor told me that I shouldn't still be smiling. That was when they cranked up the labor drugs. Soon after, I decided to ask for drugs myself :-)

At first they gave me some really strange drug through the IV. I was so upset I let them talk me into that one. It made me feel drunk and tired and didn't help me at all with the back labor I was experiencing. Finally the epidural doctor came and did an amazing epidural. He was really nice. He was convinced I was part Russian, since he was Russian too. Getting the epidural was a little scary. James had to leave the room, and I had to hold really still for them to get it into my spine. That sounds easy but it was quite challenging. I was having pretty big contractions, my blood pressure arm band kept going off, and the nurse kept telling me to do things counter to what the doctor was saying. In the end all went well and I ended up having a fantastic epidural, it was so effective that they had to take me off of it when it came time to push to help me feel the contractions a little more. The nurses also had a shift change and I ended up getting a wonderful and kind nurse to help me through the final stages.

James kept everyone updated with by the minute texts via twitter & facebook. It's crazy to think how social networking allowed us to share our special day with so many friends and family simultaneously while we were miles away in the hospital. The delivery itself wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I guess in my mind I had run through all the worse case scenarios. Eli was a little larger than we had thought he would be for having him 2 weeks early. I pushed for about 1 and 1/2 hours and finally we had our little boy! He was 7.4 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long. Elijah James was born at 10:10 pm.

We stayed in the hospital till Friday morning. I hated being there, the whole time I wanted to go home. I didn't enjoy everyone coming in and out of the room. I felt weird trying to feed the baby with so many staff popping in and out. I think I counted 20 different people that Thursday. Some of the staff and nurses were great, and a couple of them definitely lacked social skills but they still took good care of me so I can't complain...too much. The day we were released the doctor came to check on me while I was in the restroom. But that didn't stop him. I ended up having a full conversation with him about leaving the hospital while I was on the can!!! That was definitely a first!

Finally we were able to take our little precious one home. It was such a great feeling. The next day our friends Joel and Amy brought over food so we wouldn't have to cook or shop for awhile. It was so sweet, we so appreciated it! Especially since moving around was a little tough for me.

About a week after Eli was born my family came to visit and then James' came the week after that. It was so great to have our families here to meet little Eli. He is the first grandchild on both sides. It was also so nice to have the extra help while I was still recovering. One day my folks even cleaned while we were at a doctor appointment. I was definitely feeling the love!

Eli has had a few doctor appointments since his birth. He didn't take to breast feeding right away and I had some learning to do myself so he had lost a little of his birth weight. He also had moderate jaundice so we ended up going into the doctor twice the week after he was born and then 2 more times in May to check up on him. It was hard to get him in, I have a new appreciation for all the families out there who go anywhere and get there on time. The good news is that Eli is now gaining lots of weight and the jaundice is completely gone.

It's hard to believe that Eli is now 6 weeks old. He is changing so much already. He's starting to share a few smiles and I can't wait to see his full personality bud. He's sleeping longer stretches at night too. I can't wait until he goes 6-8 hours I'm hoping this may happen by the end of the month? One thing that has been challenging besides getting sleep has been doing all other things. Since Eli is on a 2 hour feeding schedule during the day, and feeding him takes 40-60 minutes I don't have very much time to get anything done. I feel like I've had an accomplished day when I can get the laundry and dishes done. It's an even better day when I can actually get a shower in :-) We're getting the hang of things though and I'm getting really good at doing things with one hand :-)

Overall it's been a joy being a mother, I'm so happy to have him in our lives. James and I love him so much! My life has completely changed...but in a wonderful way. Here are some pictures of the cutest little guy ever! I'll try and post again soon :-)

Labor Day

Today I had another doctor appointment and my blood pressure was still high. So the doctor has advised that I be induced. Wednesday morning James and I will go to the hospital and start the labor process. I was a little shocked at first I had always thought I would go into labor naturally but I'm trusting that my doctor knows what's best for me and baby. On Wednesday I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. I'm just praying that my body takes well to being induced and that baby Eli is healthy and strong throughout the process. I have no guess as to how big he will be, we'll have to wait and see :-) I'm super excited knowing that we'll be able to hold our little boy in just a few days! I'm also nervous about the delivery process and would love any prayers people would like to send our way. I know we're all in the Lord's hands and that gives me great comfort. Anyway guess I'll be catching up on cleaning, laundry and sleep tomorrow since James and I may not be getting a lot of it after Wednesday. Here's to another exciting week!

Pregnant Pictures & Anniversary

Since I'm at home with nothing to do I thought I would post a few pics for you all. The first two are of my huge belly and the others are from our anniversary celebration last night.

Interesting Week

Last week I was feeling quite stressed about work pojects, getting things ready for the baby, and other random things. I found myself constantly busy the entire week & weekend. I ended up doing some deep cleaning projects as well as regular cleaning on Saturday and it really tuckered me out! This weekend James was able to finish painting the crib and the rocking chair. I think he did a great job. Too bad we had to re-do the finishing twice. James had to spend so many hours on this project. He is such a sweetheart though and it's finally done! Together we set them up in our room and made little Eli's bed. It's surreal to look at the crib all set up and know that little Eli will be sleeping in there soon. Below are some pics of the finished product. I think I want to put a pic above the crib of little Eli eventually. Yes...we are living in tight quarters so you may see pieces of my closet and our bed sticking out in the background. Sorry I didn't feel like photoshop-ing the the pictures so you can just enjoy them in their raw form :-)




The last couple of days have been rather strange though....On Sunday after more working around the house, cooking, and cleaning I spent some hours getting a head start on work. I went to bed feeling overwhelmed and a little stressed. That night I spent dreaming about completing all my projects. I didn't sleep well at all. I woke up around 6am and shortly after got busy on the work projects I was dreaming about. I wanted to make sure I got some things done before my doctor appointment at 10. Then I went into the dr. and everything started out the same as it usually does. I peed in a cup, got weighed, and then they took my blood pressure. This time though my blood pressure was high. When the doctor came in he told me they would check my blood pressure again at the end of the exam. So the doctor poceeded to check me out. The baby's heart sounded good and the doctor measured my belly which seemed to be fine too. Then he did an internal exam and let me know that he could feel the baby's head about 1 inch away. (That excited and freaked me out a little) I wasn't really sure what that meant but it was interesting none the less. I have been feeling the baby sitting lower in my pelvis so I wasn't too surprised.

After the exam I had my blood pressure taken again. And again it was high so the doctor told me that he wanted to run some tests because high blood pressure later in pregnancy can be a sign of preeclampsia, and he explained the complications that can result. For the tests I had my blood drawn and now I get to pee in a jug for 24 hours :-) He also looked at me sternly and told me that today was to be my last day of work and that he needed me to rest. Whoa! I was planning to go at least a week and 1/2 more so this was a shocker. I had to quickly get all my forms filled out and re-signed. I had to call my HR department at work as well as our insurance company. Then I had to chat with my director, organize all my projects for hand off and send out many emails to various internal stakeholders and vendors about my leave. It was a crazy day! I was working until 9:30pm just trying to get things organized. Today I have a few last meetings to help with the hand off on my projects and other than staying home and peeing in my jug, I'm hoping it will be uneventful. Tomorrow I'll take my jug back in for testing. I'm praying they don't find any cause for concern and that if they do find anything concerning, that they will be able to step in and help both baby and myself.

On the good side, I enjoyed waking up and not having to go into work. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. I'm also looking forward to spending a relaxing anniversary with James. On Thursday we'll be celebrating 4 yrs. of wonderful love :-) I really did marry an amazing man and I'm so happy to share life with him! Not sure yet what we're going to do to celebrate but something tells me we'll be taking it easy. ;-)

Getting Closer

It's hard to believe the baby is due in less than 6 weeks! Being pregnant and functioning like a normal person is definitely a challenge. My belly gets in the way of everything I try to reach, I have frequent trips to the bathroom making all my work meetings interesting, and I'm just tired. It's fun though too. People are so incredibly nice to you when you're pregnant. They let you cut in line, they buy you presents, and everyone wants to talk to you. I know this won't last long so I'm going to soak it up while I can! :-) Recently the girls at work surprised me with a baby shower. It was really sweet I felt very loved!

Though my work is still keeping me busy at record speed, I'm really looking forward to taking maternity leave soon. I finally took the forms to have my Dr. fill out the necessary items. Once my work reviews, and hopefully approves, I'll be able to leave work on the 28th for maternity leave. I'm asking for 2 weeks off before the due date. I'm praying all goes through all right so I don't have to work right up until the due date.

Lately I've been shopping for baby gear and items to have on hand while James is finishing up the baby crib and other things. So far I've been lucky to be able to purchase so much online but soon I think I will actually have to trek out to Babies R Us for a few needed items. I know I've been avoiding it...sigh. I've also been cleaning and organizing everything I can think of. James and I don't want to get too baby crazy so we've been trying to do some non-baby things with our weekends as well. Last weekend we hiked up Griffith Park, and though it took me double the time to get the top it was a wonderful time to relax and chat with my best friend. I'm hoping we can go on another hike this weekend :-) Below is a pic of my baby bump from a hike we did 3 weeks ago.



Last weekend along with the hike, I had a fun opportunity to take some photos of a friend and her lovely baby. See below for some of my favorites. I'll probably post the rest on facebook sometime soon. Have a great week everyone!

Updates

Well it's been a few weeks since I last posted. Things have been moving along pretty quickly. I find it hard to believe I only have 9 weeks left until my due date. My belly has grown quite large and baby Eli is getting very strong with his kicks. I love coming home and being able to watch him move around my belly. So far I've gained about 25 lbs. and I can no longer see my toes. Along with the other changes that my body is going through, I am definitely not getting much sleep. I think my body is training me for when baby Eli comes.

Over the last few weekends James and I have been hard at work refinishing baby furniture. I think we'll probably finish it up within the next couple of weekends :-) I'm excited to get the crib done and ready for baby Eli. I've also started stocking up on baby items. I guess I'm starting my "nesting" phase.

I'm thrilled to know that baby Eli's birth is right around the corner! To be honest though, I find myself going back and forth between emotions of being super happy & eager for him to arrive, and then being scared about the birth process & and how we'll adjust after he's born. I just keep praying and lifting all of these wonderful feelings up to the Lord.

Of course we've been terrible about taking pics of my pregnancy. But it is definitely on our list to do either this weekend or next. I'll also be having another ultrasound soon so we can post those as well :-)

Kanka Photo Shoot with Joel & Amy

A few weeks ago James and I did a photo shoot for Joel & Amy. The sun was beautiful as it set in the mountains, and our models were pretty awesome too! Amy and Joel are wonderful friends of ours. Joel is a youth pastor at his church and Amy is a teacher and also volunteers with youth ministry with Joel at their church. They are constantly giving themselves to others, so we were thrilled when they asked if we might want to take some photos for them! It was a really fun day, the kind of day that makes me want to take more pictures :-) Enjoy!

Really? Has it been over 2 months?

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I've posted. Wow, time flew away from me. Things have been quite busy here on the home front. I'm now about 6 months pregnant. We found out in December that we were having a little baby boy and we're so extremely excited! We've already named him Elijah but we're calling him Eli for short. We've always loved that name, not to mention I always thought Elijah was a pretty cool prophet in the Bible. December we spent a lot of time cleaning out our apartment and getting rid of everything we didn't need. We're planning to stay in our one bedroom for awhile and with the baby's things it will be a tight squeeze. We managed to donate most everything to goodwill and I think we even sold a few things. It was a great purge for the new year. In early Dec. I enjoyed doing a few family photo shoots and even was given baby furniture as payment for a shoot I did. It was such a blessing! Also in Dec. I got a new position within the company I work for. So things have been really busy getting up to speed on the new role and transitioning over the old stuff. I've also been doing a fair amount of traveling for work over the past month, which has been more difficult than I thought it would be with being pregnant. I think I took my last trip this past week though so I'm excited to stay home for more than a week at a time for the duration of this pregnancy.Last week my work sent me to DC for meetings so we took the opportunity to hang out with friends and family while we were there. It was so much fun!

We've also had some friends visit us this Jan. between my travels and I think we may have more visiting in March/April. It's fun living in such a neat city where friends actually want to come visit. Below are some pictures from our friend's Kevin & Drew when they visited this January. Unfortunately while they were visiting I got incredibly sick and ended up in the ER for being dehydrated and not able to keep anything down. The baby and I were fine though and made it out okay. Kevin & Drew were so forgiving and easy guests, I'm glad we were able to do most of the fun stuff before I got sick :-) All is well now and we're so grateful!

Recently I've been enjoying my big belly and little Eli growing inside. I believe I've gained 18 lbs so far. I'm constantly feeling him move around, kicking, and flipping around. The movements have become much stronger and sometimes I can even see my belly move! James has enjoyed feeling the baby move and kick too! Today it hit me that the baby will be here in just a few short months. I have so much yet to do!!! I pray I have the strength and time to get everything done and still have time to relax. We'll see how it goes. My goals for this month are re-arranging our bedroom to make room for the baby crib, staining or painting the baby furniture to match ours, re-upholstering the baby bedding (maybe), registering for baby items, and maybe even sewing some baby items of my own. We'll see how many of these I actually get finished. I'm also hoping to get photography website started in the very near future. Well, whatever I don't finish I guess I'll just carry it over to the next month.

Okay enough rambling...I'm not even sure if this post makes sense. But at least I've updated my blog. Enjoy the pics below of Kevin & Drew's visit. I'll probably be posting more photos soon. I have a bunch of shoots I did that I'd love to share. Stay tuned :-)