Jaelyn's Nursery

The nursery is almost complete!  We have a few things left that we would like to do.  Dustin and I have been working on some wooden letters of her name to hang on the wall above the crib and we are having a new ceiling fan installed this weekend.  After that we are just waiting on the arrival of our baby girl!  Today I have my 36 week check up, I can't believe there are only a few weeks until my due date!

Can a girl have too many clothes or too many shoes?? I think not!  Organizing jaelyn's closet has been quite the project.  We have recieve so many wonderful hand-me-down clothes from dear friends and are very thankful for that.  In addition to the hand-me-downs Jaelyn recieved a number of adorable outfits at the baby shower.  With all the help from my wonderful mother we wahsed folded and sorted the clothes by age.  This picture only shows newborn thru 3-6 months...the rest, 6 months to 24 months are stored in the guestroom closet until time to rotate in bigger sizes as she grows!  I'm going to have a blast dressing up Jaelyn =)

"The puppies are here!"

Hollywood and I the night before her puppies were born.

I sure do wish I only had to carry the baby for 62 days like Hollywood carried her pups! I'm 35 weeks here.

Friday morning 7-16-10 Hollywood was taken to the vet in Hollywood, FL by a friend of ours to have her pups. I was so anxious all day! Once she arrived to the vet they had to do some blood work and she just hung out until early afternoon. Around 1pm I got a phone call from Dustin...12 pups, all healthy! 5 Girls and 7 Boys. I couldn't wait for the work day to be over to see Holly's little babies. On my way home from work I went to the pet store to get formula and bottles for the little ones. When I got home I prepared a few bottles and waited patiently for their arrival, the 30 minutes seemed like eternity!

In walks Dustin with a basket full of pups, they were all so cute and very tiny. We set up the kiddie pool in the living room, lined it with towels and placed the pups and Hollywood in. She was out of it due to the anesthesia but was being a good mommy considering the circumstances. Dustin and I took turns throughout the night keeping an eye on the puppies. He had to work Saturday so I was on puppy duty! I was so thankful that my friend Alyssa and her little girl Leilani come over and keep me company for the afternoon.

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Doug came over from the west coast for a short visit and were able to see the pups and they brought Jaelyn some adorable outfits!

Saturday was a long night for us, it all began when Dustin woke me up around 10pm in a panic because one of the runt pups was limp and not breathing very well. He handed the pup to me and he was cool to the touch, we were both in panic mode but I remember what the vet told me to do if this happened. So I had Dustin dilute some clear Karo syrup with water and I fed it the little guy. I had zip lock bag with warm water on my chest and the pup on top of the bag and wrapped in a wash cloth to keep him warm. The Karo got his blood sugar up and I bottle fed him through the night. We discovered that he wasn't strong enough to latch on to Hollywood and when he was latched on he wasn't strong enough to get any milk and that is why he grew weak. We said a little prayer for him and and kept close watch every hour of the night!

Around 6:30am Sunday morning Dustin and I laid down for a little nap. We woke up a little after 9am to feed the pups...WE HAD NO WATER!!! This was not good, nor fun to wake up to after only get a couple hour nap and no sleep the night before. I called my parents not knowing what on earth to do and they were over within the hour and my step dad replaced the pressure switch on the water pump and had us up and running! I don't know what we would have done if he couldn't fix it. My mom made us an awesome dinner so Dustin and I were able to relax!

These puppies have kept us on the go this past week and are growing stronger each day. I know for sure Dustin and I will have no problem with night feedings once baby Jaelyn is here...I'd have to say 12 pups is more work than one baby!

~ Latest News in Hollywood ~

Yesterday Hollywood was able to come to work with mommy! She had an appointment at the vet for an x-ray to see how many pups she is carrying around in that belly of hers. It's funny that we are both prego at the same time =) Hollywood only carries the pups for 61 days vs. me carrying baby Jaelyn for 40 weeks!

Upon arriving to the vet I was just praying there were some puppies in there. We took one of our other dogs a few months back for an x-ray and she wasn't carrying any pups, it was a false pregnancy, it was sad. Hollywood's first litter was 6 pups, so I was thinking maybe 6-8 this time cause her belly is so big....When the vet came back into the room she asked me again how many I thought were in there. I got nervous thinking there was only going to be 3 0r 4 pups...she put the x-ray up and counted 12 puppy skulls!!!! I had never seen anything like that before. She also told me that 12 was all she could see to count there could be more...oh boy!

Needless to say Dustin and I will sure have our hands full until Baby Jaelyn arrives, we will be pros at waking up for night feedings as we will have to bottle feed the pups in addition to Hollywood nursing them. Tomorrow morning Hollywood is schedule for a c-section to deliver all those puppies, more pictures to come.

Baby Jaelyn's Shower 7-10-10

This morning I woke up to Dustin's voice "Happy Baby Shower Day!" We were both so excited to see friends and family. I was so overwhelmed with happiness and joy seeing friends and family who had traveled far to celebrate Baby Jaelyn. Seeing 2 of my college friends Victoria and marci who I haven't seen in years made my day!

My mom and best friend Alyssa hosted a beautiful shower...from the decorations, the food, cupcakes and activities everything was amazing! I have never seen so many presents in my entire life, Jaelyn is loved by so many and she hasn't even arrived yet! Boy was I glad to have Dustin there to help open the gifts =)

After the shower we had about 4 car loads of gifts and food to bring back to the house, I personally was ready for a nap! We were so very thankful to have my parents, Aunt Susan, Uncle Al, Aunt Jina, Uncle Glen and friend Cori over, they helped organize and put together all the wonderful things we got at the shower.

Finally after everything was put away and we said goodbye to family Dustin and I went straight to bed even though it was only 9pm. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!