Kayla Fuller

My First Studio Shoot

Still Here

Things have been pretty quiet. Kayla sleeps a lot but is slowly perking up each day for longer periods of time. She is eating well and seems to be gaining weight. She lost her belly button a while back — we never found it. A cat surely did.

She is a strong baby and enjoys the challenge of laying on her belly and seeing what she can do — for brief periods of time. Check out this head action.

I Like Medium Speed

Us

Kim is cooking!

Out In The World

For the first time as our new sized family, we went out for dinner last night. Everything was pretty much the same given a quiet sleepy baby in the corner.

Afterward, we had to run the the store to get a few things. The big fight was over who got to be the “pusher”. Reagan did a great job — when she wasn’t running into things.

With Mom

Sydney and Reagan always had to nap on top of Kim. However, Kayla does not require this. She prefers her bed. Good new for Kim — freedom during naps! But I caught Kim trying to cuddle up with her anyway.

How Exhausting

Life can be so exhausting.

Especially when challenged with tasks such as opening your eyes when you really just want to sleep.

No More Cord

Kayla lost her belly button! And we can’t find it. This probably means a cat found it and started eating it.

With the loss of the belly button, it is now safe for real baths. So Mom got right to it. Contrary to the photo, she mostly enjoyed it.

Watch along as Reagan narrates the action.

Watch Me Sleep

Kayla had her first babysitter today! While Kim and I had to take the kids to Back to School night, Nana stepped in and watched Kayla for a few hours. Kayla even downed a whole bottle as a substitute for momma. For the rest of the visit, Kayla mostly slept. That’s what you do when you are just days old I guess! These grandparents leave today. We will miss the help.

Rolling Over In No Time

This kid likes to move and she is strong. She flails around on the floor. Give her a small hump like on the bed and she can almost roll over.

First Bath

Kayla had her first sponge bath at home today. These continue every few days until the cord drops off. She didn’t like it so much.

Back covered up. Ahhh.

Sister, they did this to me too. It gets better.

Meet The Fullers

My parents had the distinct honor of dropping everything they were doing and buying overpriced last minute plane tickets to come see their 3rd grandchild, Kayla. They are staying for about a week and have been great at helping us finish various projects around the house and entertain Kayla’s siblings. Things are *almost* normal with their help.

My First Days Home

This is where I sleep.

Its my turn to hold the baby!!

Homecoming

Being this is our 3rd child, we opted to stay in the hospital for just one night. Kim wasn’t sleeping well in the hospital bed and the baby was doing great so it seemed like the right move. Kayla spent the morning sleeping and eating.

I was excited to hang out with her in my fold-out couch. Babies are the best excuse for being lazy! You just have to hang out with them.

Please call up my car. I am ready to go home!

We arrived home to an empty house because the rest of the family was scattered around town. So I went off to round them all up and get everyone back under one roof!

Night One Complete

After getting the girls back to our neighbors, I ran errands and got a few things together and came back to the hospital. I rented a DVD for us to watch but Kim and I were drifting the entire time through it. Plus, there are the constant interruptions from the staff seeing how things are going. Probably will miss the help in a day.

Kayla is a night owl so it wasn’t easy to get sleep — for Kim. I was in a state of zombie walking asking if anyone needed anything. No? OK. Crash. Huh? OK. Crash. Apparently in the wee hours there was a big diaper change and other fun with nurses and I was sound asleep. I used to be a light sleeper but not anymore. After a 100 mile week of running then an all night baby delivery, my body was done.

Kim got some sleep early in the AM as Kayla finally crashed out for an extended period. We went to our discharge class to learn about all the baby stuff they have changed in the last 4 years since we did this last time. Apparently, our current children should be deemed defective. Probably keep them anyway.

Doing final doctor checks now and then we should be heading home in an hour or so. Our girls are trading houses and going to some other friend’s tonight so we can have a little more quiet time. My parents fly in tomorrow so we will have 4 extra hands for about a week.

Full coverage of the trip home later today.

Sisters Unite

We were excited to go and get the girls today to come meet their new sister. Sydney is staying with her best friend, who was gone at camp most of the day, so when I arrived to take her to see the new baby, she wasn’t so excited. They had BFF stuff to do I guess. We talked her into it and ran to the store to pick out flowers and balloons for Mom and Baby Kayla. We arrived at the hospital and let the girls take turns holding and getting to know their new sister.

Sisters Meet

Time for the girls to meet their new baby. I’d say Kayla won them over quickly. “She’s so cute!”

Watch My Big Day

Cameras were rolling during the lead up to the big event and during. 3rd kid was about as fast as 2nd kid. Here is the event!

Happy Birthday, Kayla

It is our pleasure to announce the arrival of Kayla Jane Fuller! Weighing in at 7 lbs. 6 oz., Kayla was born at 11:08 AM MDT on August 10, 2009. Everybody is doing fine.

So surprise — 2 weeks early and I started it! I took the family for a small hike on Flagstaff Mountain on Sunday afternoon. Kim probably got a mile or two in with all the walking. Felt fine but was tired on her return back home. She took a nap and later a bath. We got to bed late as we were watching a movie. Kim was ready to sleep but decided to get up to go to the bathroom one more time. As she sat up, a gush of water all over the bed. What was that? Kim said she thought her water just broke. In my infinite wisdom, I decided that it might have been water from the bath in her hootie. Moment of stupidity.

I woke up the kids and called our neighbors, the Bradleys. They took the kids and Kim and I were quickly off to the hospital. I was in the moment and rushing everything. Kim was like…we have plenty of time. I felt like the kid was going to pop out any second. But nothing happened. I was in such a rush I dropped the SLR camera in the parking lot and shattered part of the lens. Oops.

We checked in and they verified that the water had broken. We got a room and they started monitoring Kim. She walked laps in the hospital till the wee hours. Her doctor was there but he went home for some sleep because it wasn’t going to happen for a while.

Kim got her epidural at about 7 AM or so and that made the contractions much better. I thought she was doing great handling them. I found some comfort in this and fell asleep on the couch for a few hours.

I awoke sometime after 10:30 to her nurse saying “fully dilated” and the room was starting to fill up with helpers. So she got in position and pushed and I saw the head come of out my wife. This will be the last time I have to endure that view. Then another push and the head came out. Lots of hair! Kim could see a reflection in the doctor’s safety glasses. Another push and the shoulders came out and the doctor pulled out the baby. I cut the cord. The team went to work fixing up this new little person.

Kim quickly had to get back to work and fed Kayla for over an hour. She was a hungry little girl!

Just got back home. Picking up the 2 big sisters so they can go meet the new addition. Should be a fun moment.

Lots of video coming soon.

Thanks to all for your follows, wishes, and congrats. We appreciate it!

View all photos from this event.