Painting an Owl

Some of you may know already that I have been trying to paint some as a hobby. It's fun. I really enjoy it and it is a good way to relax. I don't get around to it much, but sometimes I'll get the nerve for it and spend my free time painting a picture. Kari suggested that I paint an owl for my next picture so a little bit before Thanksgiving this year I started drawing on a canvas a picture on an owl.
Well, today I finished it. It felt great! I am my own worst critic, but I figured I would show off my owl painting for everyone. Give me your best/worst critiques! I can take it.
I took pictures throughout the process just for the records:

A Quick House Arrest Update

Just to give an update from the previous "Bedrest" post. After seeing the midwives on Friday, they think they figured out my mishap with my blood pressure. When they tested my urine, glucose showed up! They think I am having some issues regulating my blood sugar levels. Pamela says "no more work" and "lay low, resting and taking walks".

We had to go by the store on the way home and purchase a glucose monitoring system. Now I have the enjoyment of pricking my fingers all throughout the day and spending the majority of my time monitoring my food and blood glucose levels. It has been interesting seeing the effects of what I eat on my blood sugar levels and on the way I feel.

So for the next month or month and a half me, Chaco, and Baby Jenkins will be enjoying a modified house arrest... with NO Red Velvet cake to pass the time!!!
I guess Pamela and my own body knew I wouldn't slow down unless I was forced. I'm trying to be grateful for the opportunity to rest before the baby gets here.

"I'll make you in February when I am released from house arrest, Red Velvet cake!"

Bitter but Sweet! My First Steelers Game!

For Kari and My anniversary, Kari bought her and I tickets to the Steelers/Titans game here in Nashville. (If you don't already know, I am a die hard Steelers fan, and Kari has become even more die hard!)
Well, guess what,....we're pregnant!! and that leads to some unexpected happenings every now and then. And if you've kept up with this blog, you'll know that Kari's midwives have placed her on "house arrest." So the Steelers would have to deal with just me screaming for them in person which made the game bitter sweet for me. I wanted Kari to be a part of this experience.
Little did I know that I wouldn't be the only person wearing black and gold in the Titans stadium. When I got to my seat, there was not another Titans fan anywhere around me. There were actually tons of Steelers fans everywhere. It seemed like everywhere you walked downtown, Steelers fans were walking around. At least 40% of the Titans stadium was filled with Steelers' Terrible Towels.
I deffinitley didn't feel alone during the game. The Steelers congregation was high fiving me, screaming with me, grabing me and shaking me during the tense moments. It was such an amazing experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it...despite the 29 degree high temp!!
The second bitter sweet part of the day was that the Steelers lost the game due to some less than great play. But even still, I stayed until the last second ticked off the clock and then I stayed even a little longer. It was my first Steelers game, so I wanted to drain every second and memory from it. It's funny, because when I watch the Steelers lose at home, I get so upset, but because it was my first ever Pittsburgh game, I was quite giddy and high on life.
Now Kari and I have our sites set on an even higher goal,...go to a Steelers game in Pittsburgh! We'll see if we can get our baby some Black and Gold garb and teach them how to cheer for the Steelers before next season!!

Calling on the Mamas!!

I'm absolutely sure this will NOT be the last time I make a call out to the mamas! So, maybe this should be titled My First of Many. Oh well. Hopefully, I'll get some good information this way about preparing for the Baby J.

I'm going through some of our stuff and wondering how many I need of all this baby stuff. So, for all the mamas out there, I'd love to hear your opinion. Here's my list.

How many burp cloths do I need?
How many bibs?
Receiving blankets?
And 8 oz. bowls with lids?
Spoons?

Any advice? I'm trying to figure out roughly how many because I'm trying to determine if I need to take some stuff back. Having never ventured there before I'm not sure what the kiddo really needs.

Thanks for any help you wise wise women give!!

Buried in burp cloths, bibs, and blankets,
Kari J.

Nashville Baby Shower Love!!!

This past Sunday we got some more Baby Shower love. It was quite eventful. Some of my friends from Nashville, Maranda and Jamina, worked real hard with some of my bestfriends from Georgia, Jody and Amanda, on making it so special. Becky, Melanie, and Misty helped out too by bringing some delectable eats. My bestfriends from Georgia came up with their moms and their babes, and we did some community living for a couple of days. I loved it! At one point, there were 15 people here I think...4 of which were under the age of 2. We cooked, played with the kiddos, talked, and ate some "gourmet" cupcakes.

Then, on Sunday part of my Georgia world and my Nashville world met!! It was so wonderful to have all these ladies in one place. It felt so great to have my mom there, my closest friends, my massage clients, my doula clients and their babes, and so much love and support for the Baby Jenkins.

The home was set up so warm and cozy with different places for people to sit and hang out. Everything was decorated up. Now, if you know me then you know I love food. And I'll tell you it was the best baby shower food EVER!!! I'll try and remember it all. There were quiches galore, salmon and shrimp cakes, yummy salad, banana bread, fruit, spinach dip and veggies, apple/raspberry yum yum, and homemade cookies. All of which were lovingly created by my beautiful friends. We played a couple of games and just chatted it up. I'm not so big on being the center of attention. I'd rather hang out and talk. So, Ryan and I took the presents home and opened them there. It gave me more time to talk with all my friends that took time to come and hang out with me and the baby on their Sunday afternoon.

It flew by like most events do, and it seem to be a bit of a time warp. But I had such a wonderful time and am so grateful for everyone who contributed and came to hang out.

Here are some pictures from the shower.

The Bed of Rest

I'm now somewhere in the vicinity of 32 -33 weeks. What I really want to blog about is my Amazing Baby Shower I had on Sunday, but that will come in due time.
Right now, I'm laying on my Bed of Rest. Day 3 of Bed rest...Hopefully, only one more to go.
Let's see. How to explain???
Sunday night, my body went into some sort of shock mode. And a cold set in at the same time. The immune-comprised pregnant body is pretty intriguing. My blood pressure was up Sunday night and Monday morning. The midwives had me take my blood pressure, drink some water, and lie down and retake it about 30 minutes later. It had gone down. But why had it gone up? That's the question. They have me taking my blood pressure every few hours, loading up on water and protein, and the lovely bed rest...preferably on my left side. As long as my blood pressure stays stable, I can wait until Friday when I have my appointment for them to do some blood work and try and play detective with my pregnant body.
So until then, me, Baby Jenkins, and Chaco are lying in bed. The view of Chaco's rear-end is getting a bit old, but it's cute watching her dream and run in her sleep. Baby Jenkins is swimming around and seems to be having a blast too. Maybe I should just give in and absolutely enjoy myself.

Santa Love Is Back In Business!!!

If you've been following the blog for awhile, then you know about Santa Love.
If you don't know about him, I suggest you read his personalized blog back in 2007.
December 15th to be exact.


The short story is that a friend of mine, Bethann, purchased him when she lived in New Orleans for a friend who lived in California. She never got it to him. Then, Hurricane Katrina hit. She lost everything. When she went back to check on her life, one of the ONLY things to survive was Santa Love. She hangs on to him for years. Then, we meet, and she discovers my desire to Griswold-up my house at Christmas time. She brings me Santa Love to work one day and knows that he will find a good home with the Jenkins. And so it is - The Miracle of Santa Love.
OH! But this year, Bethann, stopped by my new business holding a black piece of plastic. She found it. Santa Love's pipe. She thought it was gone, but all we have to do now is remember where we put it and glue it on to put him all back together again.

Last year's story is much better. So, check it out.

When people stop by during this time of year, we always insist on everyone getting their picture made with Santa Love. So, stop by this season for the sighting of a real survival miracle.

This year we won't be home during the week of Christmas, so we've decided with everything we have going on....we're not going to pull out all the decorations. Scrooge, Grinch....maybe. Or an attempt to keep what's left of my sanity. However, Santa Love is out. He's going to be the bearer of the gifts this year instead of a tree.

It's all you, Santa Love!
Keep checking back for people who stop by to get their picture made with the one and only - Santa Love.

Jonathan, Callie, and Josiah - the first ones this year!!

The Lioness Roars...

I've always been a quiet sleeper. Well, at least that's what I've been told through the years. My mother and my brother were the ones who could carry on conversations in their dream state (*take note - that's the best time to ask your mom for something). And the patriarch, Larry, could wake Fayetteville with his snoring. Now, Ryan can be found making some heads turn with his snoring if he is on his back with his jaw ajar. But not me, I've always nestled into my sleep position and except for a phase of teeth grinding when I was younger, I never disturbed anyone.

However, pregnancy has changed me. This new habit of snoring has been going on for a month now, but something happened the other night that merited a blog. I had made my cozy den with my man-lion, our furry child, and the cub that's growing inside of me. Our bed was crowded like the lioness likes it, and I was finally off into my jungle of dreams when I felt something on my face. I pried my eyes open to find Ryan face to face with me, and he was "petting" me.

"I guess I was snoring."
"Yeah."
"Are you trying to get me to stop?"
"I thought if I stroked your face, your body would relax and maybe you could stop snoring."

Yes. Yes. I have a very loving husband who copes with my new found snoring habit, and I am so grateful for his gentle gesture. But I thought to myself, does he realize that just because he strokes my face, it doesn't mean that my stomach and other organs are going to retreat back to their "pre-pregancy" place and give my lungs the room they need? It was too late to even attempt that explanation.

So, I apologized. And rolled over to the other side....only to roar through the night.

Every night I just assume that it's going to be a loud roaring night in the Jungle Land of The Jenkins' Den. This Lioness is quite proud that I have something to offer besides a silent night.

I just sing to myself as I'm turning my queen size bed into a lion's den..."In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lioness roars every night...." Thank you, Lion King!

Thanksgiving Week Extravaganza

Our friends, Jonathan, Callie, and Josiah, spent the beginning and end of Thanksgiving week with us. They came up for a day or two and flew out of Nashville to visit some of Callie's family. Then, flew back at the end to pick up their things and head back to Atlanta.

Bath Time is always adventurous with a kid. Callie was telling me about Josiah's new bath time adventure...pooping in the tub. As she finished telling me, Josiah hiked a leg and christened our bathtub with poop. Yes. I did take photos, but they didn't make the blog. Thank me, please. Because the floater almost made it.

For the third year in a row, we celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends, Jim and Choyer, and Choyer's lovely mom, Janice. In the past, other people have joined us, but this year...just the five of us plus Baby Jenkins.

We started cooking on our own a few days before hand. But Thanksgiving morning, Ryan and I rolled into their house with a car load. We hung out all day and cooked, watched football, played cards, Ryan painted, and threw a football in the backyard. It was a pretty relaxed day...even though I spent it off and on in the kitchen. It didn't really bother me. It was fun cooking for everyone.

We had a lovely spread of food that evening and relaxed some more.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

A Girl's Getaway!

Mina brought 3 flowers, symbolizing the 3 ladies taking a retreat.



I haven't blogged in awhile. Since my last blog, I went on vacation, celebrated my 30th birthday, Barack Obama was elected president (yay!!!!), had a baby shower in Georgia, and have come upon my 30th week of pregnancy. Oops! A lot has happened. And that's just the big stuff.

I saw an old high school friend at my baby shower in Georgia. We keep in touch through the blogging world. And she reminded me about how people get kicked off her list if they don't update their blogs. Sounds, scary. So, here I am.

My aunt and uncle have a mountain house in North Carolina. A few weeks ago, they so graciously let me and a couple of friends use it for a long weekend. We left on a Thursday and came back on a Monday. It was so nice to see the Fall colors at their peak, and to rest and enjoy nature for a few days. To confess, Friday (Halloween) I didn't even get out of my pajamas until 3 in the afternoon. We went for a couple of hikes, spent one day in Asheville, made some delectable dinners together, sat around cozy fires in the fireplace, and just enjoyed talking, laughing, and retreating with each other.

Here are a some photos that Jamina took with her camera. I'll try and put in some comments.

Whitewater Falls - our Halloween Hike

Jamina, Kari, and Maranda. Oops! I was the only one without some sort of costume. I guess I went as a pregnant woman.

Two big mouth bass...A mailbox we came across on a hike.
The three ladies at Gorges State Park.


Miss Carder giving Baby Jenkins some kisses. The babe finally gave her some action after the trip during another hang out time.


When you gotta go, you gotta go. It's just funnier when a camera captures it.
Friday was Fro Day!!


A Fro, some glasses, and a moo moo.

Evolution or "divine" creation - you tell me?


Homemade Miso Soup and Homemade Spring Rolls Night.

All Fros Hail To The Baby Jenkins!

You can tell Baby Jenkins was not lacking in the love and attention department. It's amazing what happens when women come around and embrace the process of birth.
Mina wanted a pose. OH! I gave her a pose alright.

Jamina's Signature Belly Photo.

For some reason, the girls thought it was so funny that I changed the clocks back right on time. Well, it was 2 am. Everything was funny!
Relaxing on the back porch after our homemade soy chai.

Mmmmm....Baked Salmon in Coconut Milk, Beets, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Kale. We dined like queens.

Beautiful Fall Leaves Against The Perfect October Sky.

Finally! We've Registered

So we finally bit the bullet and registered for baby stuff. If you are interested in seeing what we need or are one of those out there that need Christmas ideas, take a look.
Target
Babies-R-Us
Myregistry.com

We did research, asked a lot of friends, and Kari even read Consumer Reports for Baby Products. Even with all of that, it was still time consuming and a bit overwhelming. It's hard to think we'll have a baby in a few months and all of this stuff hanging around the house. Thank anyone in advance for anything we receive. It sort of feels weird to just make a list and then ask everyone to go buy stuff for us. But on that note, keep your eye out for that digital camera at Target. I had to choose between that or a 90 inch plasma tv...... ;-) (just kidding).

You can go to Target or Babies-R-Us or click the links above to view it online. Some products are not available online at Target or Babies-R-Us though.
Myregistry.com is a website that you can set up a registry and register for anything you can purchase online. For Baby Jenkins it's anything from a baby food maker to a Pittsburgh Steelers snuggle ball. When you go to the website, type in Kari Jenkins to search for our registry. Then when you click on a product to purchase, it will take you to the website the product is from. From there you can order the product just as you would anything else online.

The First Glimpse of Baby Jenkins...Boy or Girl??

We had an ultrasound this morning and saw Baby Jenkins for the first time. Everything looks great, and the baby is healthy. We decided not to find out whether or not we are having a boy or a girl. So, the ultrasound tech is the only one who knows. She wanted to tell us so bad, but we wouldn't let her. The important thing is that the baby is healthy!!

There are two feet pictures. She said the baby had big feet...probably Ryan's she suggested. There are two face pics. One is a side profile, and it looks like the baby is doing the thinking position with the hand up by the head. The other one we think the baby may have my chin and nose. We'll find out in a few months.

We would love for you to post a guess of whether or not you think the baby is a boy or a girl...not that you can tell from the face or feet. But it would still be interesting to hear what people have to say.

Here's the first glimpse of the small one pound wonder..........

Watchout. I've Sprung A Leak!

A Faucet. A Tire. A Water Balloon. A House that is not properly sealed. A Boat. The CIA. And of course, Kari's Breasts...All things that can leak.

About a month ago, I was watching the Steelers game while I was visiting Georgia. As Hines Ward is catching one of Rothlisburger's passes with the biggest smile on his face, I noticed my shirt was a little wet. "Hmmm. I guess I spilled some water," I thought. Back to the game. Throughout the first three quarters, I noticed more "water" spots showing up and realized there was no condensation on my glass. "Am I leaking?" It only took me nearly an entire football game to realize it. Once I realized what was going on I called Ryan to fill him in on the news. No quite sure what I thought he was going to do, but I guess in a way I felt like I had bragging rights since this certainly showed my commitment to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I "googled" leaky breasts and other women have experienced the same thing during pregnancy. I'm not alone. My mom went the next morning to purchase some nursing pads for me, so I could have breakfast in public without the stares. Since then each morning, I proudly pack "the girls" with the pads and mess up Ryan's T-shirts at night.

I asked my midwife about purchasing a comfortable bra to go along with the flowing twins at night (not identical, I must admit), and she suggested not constricted them in anyway since it seems like I'm going to be flowing with lots of good milk soon.

"Well, what do I do at night then" I asked.
Coming from a direct place, she looks at me with a common sense answer..."Change your shirt."
A light bulb went off in my head. "Brilliant, I say."

5 Year Anniversary Weekend Extravaganza!!

If you keep up with our blog, then you might have read Ryan's anniversary blog. I'm usually the one who writes, but he was sneaky and slipped one in on us all. I ditto what he says...not about myself, but about how amazing it is to be married to someone so wonderful. I enjoy living my life with him and am reminded regularly how blessed I am to have someone like him for my husband and the father of my children.

For our 5 year anniversary, we decided to stay in Nashville and isolate ourselves. Most of you know that Ryan has been working 2 jobs since February, so time with each other is to be cherished. This year, we were able to spend 4 days together, and it was so much fun.

Ryan knew I wanted some of my old movie favorites on DVD, so he gave me The Karate Kid series as a gift. He also gave me Juno and Baby Mama. We spent 4 days hanging out watching Daniel Laruso and Mr. Miyagi. On our anniversary, I made him a "Choose Your Own Adventure" Book, and he chose the majority of the day.I won't take the credit for the originality. Maranda gave me the idea, and our friend, Galit, gave it to her. So, if you're ever curious about how to set it up, let me know and I'll pass the fun along.

One of the adventures was the activity, he ended up choosing to explore space which led us to The Adventure Science Center. I posted some pics from the Science Center. You'll get a good laugh at the photo of me as the computer aged me to 72 years of age with and without the use of sunscreen. I'm not so sure if it was a good thing for Ryan to see my photo proposal at the age of 72. I'll definitely continue to wear sunscreen. I opted that over smoking because I thought it wouldn't be as dramatic. Not quite sure if that worked out well.

We also went to The Melting Pot...one of my favorite special occasion restaurants and gave Ryan Steelers/Titans tickets for December.

We had a great anniversary and few days to enjoy each other. Chaco loved it too because we were all home together. As we went back to work, we tried to figure out what we could do and spend more time together. I guess we'll become farmers one day. Who knows? I probably should try growing herbs or tomatoes first.