Our House: Kitchen

Next up on the home tour is our kitchen. The countertops had just been done when we moved in, so we didn't do much more than paint and update fixtures.

Before:

After:

Our House: Nursery

I have been majorly blocked when it comes to writing a new blog post. I pretty much figured writing about my daily routine (feed, change diaper, play, lather, rinse, repeat) is a little dull so I figured I would give you a tour of the Hasler house as we are getting very very close to completing our renovations. It has only taken us two years to get here! ha!

First up is the Nursery:

Here's the before

Hideous fan

Icky paint colors

Non-functional closet!

NASTY carpet! 

Here's the after:

New organized closet!

Hand-painted canvas

Yes... I took these while Gat was sleeping! And yes he has a mild addiction to mobiles!

We spend lots of time in this comfy chair! 

Picture of Busch Stadium and Gatlin's personal favorite... The Jerry Rice clock!

New doors! 

And gorgeous new floors! 

Gatlin Reid Hasler!

Well we just barely made it to 38 weeks before Mr. Gatlin Reid Hasler came into our lives! It has been a complete whirlwind of two weeks! Here's the recap!

Wednesday July 27th:
We had a regular doctors appointment scheduled for this day. Last week my blood pressure was borderline high so our doctor had us monitor it at home and warned us that if it was not getting any better at our next appointment that we would talk about inducing within the week. We were a little nervous about being induced so we brought our bags and I cleaned the house like a mad woman! Honestly though we figured it would be the end of the week or early the next before we would be induced but we were being prepared, "just in case." They came in and check my blood pressure and decided that my blood pressure was still to high and that we needed to talk about induction. My doctor made a few calls and told us to come back at 4:30 (3 hours later) and check into the hospital. After freaking out a bit we ran across the street to PF Changs and grabbed a quick bite. Then we had a few more minutes to kill so we went and visited Kelli for a last minute pep talk! We checked in at 4:15 and they put us in the room and gave me a gown and told me to get comfortable. They started an iv line and started monitoring the baby. We were just giddy about meeting our little no name baby! They started cervidil around 10 pm and by 1 am I was in full on labor on my own. I was doing pretty good with pain management. Since I had high blood pressure they had me on constant monitoring so moving around was really hard. I spent most contractions just breathing it out and moving as much as I could in bed. John rested on and off when I wasn't begging him to rub my back.

Thursday July 28th:
At 2 am they decided that since I was in active labor on my own that they would not go on with the next round of cervidil. I was really getting excited even though I wasn't progressing that fast. At 7 am my doctor came in and said that my contractions weren't really consistent enough and that she was going to break my water and start pictocin. I made it about an hour after this before I was begging for the epidural! The anesthesiologist bragged that he had pretty much given me the perfect epidural. I had to agree! I could still move my body as I wanted I just couldn't feel anything! I could have gone days with the epidural! Things were progressing nicely! At around 3:30 I was dilated to a 7 but my temperature had spiked to 100.3. Also the baby's heart rate was averaging around 185. They gave me tylenol and told me that they would give me about an hour before they started talking about other options. At 4:30 my doctor came in and my temperature was 101.8 and the baby's heart rate was still high. She said she wasn't comfortable to let me keep going for possibly another 3-4 hours so we were going to do a c-section. Within seconds people were in the room prepping John and I for the OR. Poor John, his biggest question was, "Do I have time to go to the bathroom?" They told him if he hurried! I didn't even really have time to panic. Next thing I knew I was strapped to the table and my doctor was going through the checklist with the 15 staff members in the room. Then John got to come and and I started to cry. I couldn't believe we were about to meet our soon! He leaned down and kissed me and I asked him what are we going to name him??? He smiled and said, "After all you have been through today, we can name him what ever you want!" Gatlin Reid it was!

At 4:47 Gatlin Reid Hasler made his grand entrance into the world kicking and screaming! John's and my eyes immediately meet and filled with tears!  My doctor said, "Wow what a big boy as she was pulling him out." John got to watch them clean him up and I asked what he weighed. They said 8 lbs 10 oz. I was shocked! No wonder I wasn't progressing any faster! He was perfect! I spent the longest 20 minutes of my life being sewn up while John went with Gatlin to the nursery to get cleaned up and ready to officially meet mommy. They wheeled me back into my room and I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. My sweet husband holding my precious son and just smiling and talking to him. It was over! He was here! The next few hours were really rough for us. The meds used during the surgery made me really sick. So I spent the next 3 hours throwing up while John and my dad alternated applying pressure to my incision to keep my stitches from ripping while I vomited. I would not have made it if it wasn't for my mom and mother-in-law holding Gatlin while I barfed! Finally I was able to sit up without throwing up and everyone went home.

Friday July 29- Monday August 1:
The next 4 days were a blur from day to night and in between our guests and the doctors being in and out. We couldn't wait to get home!!! I swear I cried more in these few days than I ever had in my whole life! My hormones were all over the place! Breastfeeding was really rough on us and we were really getting frustrated with each other. Once we made it home we all took a collective sigh of relief and relaxation.

Life at home with Gatlin is amazing. I can't help but sit and stare at him and praise God for his amazing blessing! I know now that I have stood strong through the toughest trial thus far in my life. I know that life is truly fragile. If two years ago God would have blessed us with our first baby making it to term I don't think I would have been as thankful as I am today. I had to learn to trust in God and His perfect timing in order to receive the greatest blessing.  Never will a day go by that I don't thank God for allowing us to have Gatlin. He truly is a blessing and miracle straight from God's hands.

Thank you all for being such great friends and supporting me during the past 2 years. You will never know how much your love and prayers were coveted. Days that I felt I couldn't go on I know it was your prayers lifting me up! Now I feel like one chapter is closing while another is just beginning!

37 Weeks!

We are 37 Weeks!

Let the countdown begin! We went to the doctor on Friday and she said that I was dilated to 1 cm and 70% effaced. While this doesn't get me super excited, I am glad to know SOMETHING is happening! I fully expected her to tell me that my cervix was solid and that I had not started dilating... we will take what we can get! 

The nursery is so close to finished that I can smell it! We just lack finishing the glider and curtains!!! Then I promise to devote a full post just to the nursery. So far I am feeling pretty good. I look ridiculous getting off furniture and my back is hurting like crazy today, but all in all I am just getting excited!

I am super excited that my son (whatever his name may be!!!) will have two new friends in a few months! It's awesome that both Kelli and Megan are both having boys! It does burn me a bit that they both already have names, but I guess that is a good thing!!! I look forward to many romping play dates with these little dudes!

I am one of those now...

When I turned 14, my mom ruined my life. She took me to buy my first Victoria's Secret bra and panties set. Since that day, I have literally NEVER bought a bra or panties anywhere else. There is just no substitute in my book. The bras last for 5+ years and the undies are just fabulous. I thrive on their 5 for $25 sale. The funny thing is, this is one habit that my husband gladly supports. He looks forward to my shopping days almost as much as I do!

Since my belly isn't getting any smaller (or my buns and thighs for that matter) I had to give in last night and buy some new undies. I was in no way going to buy some that wouldn't fit in a few months from VS. So I did the unthinkable... I bought underwear at....Wal-Mart! I had already given in to buying a few bras at Wal-Mart last month to get be through until my old ones fit better, but here I am today sporting my Hanes cotton undies with my Wal-Mart bra today. And I don't care what you say. There is a MAJOR difference!!!

I can't wait to loose this baby weight and get back into my VS unmentionables (which I have so openly mentioned today!). But for now, I will put my "big girl panties" on and move on!

He is Faithful

I was sitting and talking to John last night and we came up on the subject of our son being a miracle baby. Tears welled up in my eyes as suddenly the entire past two years flooded over me. Had I been so preoccupied over the last month or two that I had forgotten about our son's brothers and sisters? We started talking about how God had blessed us with such an easy pregnancy, and that we felt like we had not really taken the time to enjoy this time.

For the first 12 weeks we were holding our breath. We knew that if we could just make it into the 2nd trimester that we would have made it further than we ever had before! God was faithful. We had made it further than we had ever been before. Still in the backs of our minds we were left wondering if the ceiling was still going to fall in at any moment.

After twelve weeks, it was pretty much a day by day thing for me. Every time I laid my head down I thanked God for allowing me to carry this child another day. God had been faithful. We just wanted to make it to the "viability" day at 24 weeks.

The day we were 24 weeks, my heart smiled. I knew that even if he was born at this point the doctors would at least fight for my baby rather than the "what will happen, will happen" motto. God had been faithful. Each day since had been a blessing. I know that the longer I am able to carry this sweet boy the healthier he will be.

Yet, as a human I begin worrying about the "what-if." What if something tragic were to happen after we bring him home? God is faithful. Our lives are not our own. Our children are not our own. God is faithful. No matter how bad life hurts, He is there. His promises are true. HE IS FAITHFUL!

I pray for each of you today that you would see God's faithfulness in your lives as well. Remember that God loves you and wants to mold us. Sometimes it hurts when the potter is molding us into His perfect masterpiece.

Garage Sales and Baby gear!

This weekend John and I hit up some major garage sales. We decided that we wouldn't spend more than $100 and only on baby gear that we needed. Here are my major finds!

We have a glider for the nursery, but I really wanted to have one for the living room as well. I snagged this glider for $25!

 

Then ironically my great-grandmother purchased me one for my baby shower, so my lucky sister-in-law will be receiving this!  (savings of at least $100!)

We also knew we would need a few extra car seat bases for grandparents and another car (should we get one in the near future). I snagged this for $5! (savings of $35!)

 

The biggest find of the day was something that I knew I needed, but was really not looking forward to shelling out the cash for! I got this Medela Pump in style for.... get this..... $20!

 

I pretty much bought it out from under some poor guy that was trying to call his wife! (Savings of $260!!!!) I know it may be gross for some people, but me? Nah! Nothing a good bleaching, sterilizing, and alcohol can't take care of! The lady still had the box. She was a stay at home mom and really didn't use it much. But she gave me bags of bottles and extra parts too! I was pretty "pumped" about this purchase!

The greatest lesson I learned this week is unless it is something that "must" be purchased new, don't do it! Your baby won't know the difference if you spent $400 on a crib or $50! Save your money for other things and don't let your baby break the bank!

31 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 31 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 4 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 22 lbs

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: His movements are becoming increasingly more painful! It feels like he is trying to escape!

Cravings: Notta.... Sadly my appetite seems to have left me for the past few weeks.

Best Moment this week: Making progress on the nursery!!! Maybe within the next few weeks I can post finished pictures!

Goal for this week: Get the Nursery closet finished so we can put away all of our goodies!

28 Weeks

28 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 3 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 22 lbs... hadn't gained any in 6 weeks then BAM!

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: He is moving like crazy! I think he may be running out of room quickly, because he just feels squished!

Cravings: Cake!

Best Moment this week: Finding out that I was not have pre-term labor contractions!

Goal for this week: Get the Nursery closet finished so we can put away all of our goodies!

27 Weeks and a Mini-Vacation

Today I am 27 Weeks Pregnant!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 2.25 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 14 lbs

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: He is moving like crazy! I think he may be running out of room quickly, because he just feels squished!

Cravings: St. Louis Cardinals Corn Dogs

Best Moment this week: Hearing the doctor call our son Kung-Fu Baby

Goal for this week: Get John and I to agree on a name! (Nope we are still no closer!)

This past weekend we took a Mini-Vacation to St. Louis to go a couple of Cardinals games and to visit with some of John's family. We went with his Mom and Step-Dad and really enjoyed ourselves! There was lots of junk food and baseball going on! Also, baby Third got to go to his first baseball game!!!

Pregnancy Woes

I promised myself that after all I had been through to get to where I am, I would never complain about my pregnancy. I just couldn't imagine anything being bad enough that a pregnant woman would want to complain about such a blessing!

Well...let's just say it's a bit different when you are really here... and things really bother you. So, I am going to allow myself today to complain.

First of all, Braxton Hicks suck. Plain and simple. I have stayed up at all hours of the night "timing" these contractions praying that I am not going into preterm labor. Being a first-timer I have no idea of what "real contractions" will feel like. Everyone has said, "Oh, you'll know when its the real deal." Well at the time Braxton Hicks feel like the real deal... to me at least... so far... :)

Second of all, I have never in my life had a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep. Anyone who has ever lived with me knows if there is one thing this girl can do, it's sleep. Well not anymore! I sleep on average around 3 hours a night. I have tried all kinds of relaxation techniques and still I sleep for about an hour then am wide awake until 3 or 4 in the morning.

Thirdly, 30 trips to the bathroom in one day is just plain ridiculous! My daily exercise comes from me having to walk down the hall and back at my office to go pee. I think this little booger has positioned himself directly on my bladder. And to add to it, you are supposed to be drinking more water. So more water + pregnancy = many many trips to the bathroom!

Last, but certainly not least. I am enjoying every moment of this! I feel my son kick me and it reminds me of how faithful God is to answer our prayers, and truly what a miracle baby I am carrying each day.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support through our journey. I pray that each of you will find peace on the journey that God has laid out for you. No matter where he leads, follow.

25.5 Weeks!

25ish Weeks!

I'm 25 weeks 2 days!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 1.75 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 14 lbs

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: He is moving like crazy! I think he may be running out of room quickly, because he just feels squished!

Cravings: Chet's Hotdogs

Best Moment this week: Putting the Crib and bedding together.

Goal for this week: Get John and I to agree on a name! (Nope we are still no closer!)

24 weeks!

24 Weeks!

I'm 24 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 1 1/2 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 13 lbs

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: He is very active. He finally let daddy and Gran have a good feel!
What I miss: Not having a hard time tying my shoes!

Cravings: Braums! Chips and Queso!

Best Moment this week: Starting demolition on the nursery closet! One step closer to having his room done!
Goal for this week: Get John and I to agree on a name!

Praise God!

Amazing how faithful God is to us! After 14 months of battles with insurance, Cherokee Nation, and OU Medical, John's $1200 genetic testing bill was written off! I didn't even have to ask for it to be done! I called to check the status and the lady told me he had a $0 balance!!!! Praise God!

ALL OF OUR MEDICAL BILLS ARE PAID FOR!!!!

A few months ago I posted this...

"Just about an hour ago, John dropped another bomb on me. He told me was was thinking we should sell his car and go to a single car. It would allow us to pay off a tremendous amount of our debt, and free up monthly funds to spend our money as God would have us spend our money. Again, I nearly fell on the floor when I read his email. I said there is probably no way we can make that work logistically. He said why.......? Umm... Uh.... well, I really didn't have an answer for him. So, tonight we are going to really sit down and talk about having a single car would look like for us and see if we can't make it work!"

Since then a lot has changed! We have sold John's car and now have our one car! It has been awesome! I just wanted to share a little about our financial journey since I am so open about another type of journey we have been going through.

Growing up my mom was a spender. To the max! Us girls were of the school of thought that after we went shopping we would only bring in half of the bags until dad left and then we would bring the the others! To balance out my mom, my dad was a super saver! He would hoard money like no one's business! However, when the car broke down or we had an emergency dad always had the cash stored away to cover us. (literally stored away... like in the ceiling, etc... :) )

When we were going through marriage counseling we talked about how we would spend money together. The bad part if that John and I are very much alike in our spending habits. We are emotional spenders. Happy = new clothes and dinner out. Sad = new clothes and dinner out! ha! It's funny how the two extremes are so much alike!

Any way. Long story, short after our first two years of marriage (Summer of 2009) we had accumulated a large amount of debt. How much?

• $11,000 car loan
• $12,000 John Student loan
• $4,000 Amy Student loan (even though I had a full ride... that's another story!)
  
• $8,000 credit card debt (Mainly from taxes owed to IRS, ski trip, and a few little here and there items. This number actually went up due to medical bills.)
• Plus we had just bought a new house
• I had also calculated that we had only given 2% of our income to the church that year
  

I sat down one day and was figuring up our debt and was floored when the total was over $35,000 not counting our house! Eek! Then we started this whole baby life and the bills just added up between my tests, surgeries, and doctor visits. John and I decided we certainly needed to change our lives!

Since then (about 20 months) I am happy to report that we have a paid for car and no credit card debt! Also in the past 18 months we have given 10-15% of our income faithfully to the church! Now we are hacking away at the student loans.

To accomplish these things we have only made a few lifestyle changes. We canceled our satellite ($100 per month), sold John's car to pay off the remaining balance of my car ($300 per month loan, and $50 per month saved on insurance), and starting tracking our spending using the Home Budget App. This app allows both John and I to enter our spending and it syncs between our two phones. All of these have allowed us more financial freedom to pay for more important things. For example all of our doctor's fees have been paid for in advance for this pregnancy and we are now saving towards the hospital bill so we can pay cash when we have the baby. Also we are saving towards paying cash for a new "family" car after the first of the year.

Being faithful with our money has eliminated a tremendous amount of stress in my life. I know that I am spending how God wants me to spend! I am no Dave Ramsey, but I think we are off to a pretty good start!

21 Weeks

(This is a horrible picture I know! It was taken late at night in the dark with John's I-Phone!)

I'm 21 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks

Size of baby: He is around 1.3 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 11 lbs

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: He is very active. However, he refuses to let daddy feel. Every time John tries to feel him move he is perfectly still. Then the moment he go away he kicks up a storm!

What I miss: After a crazy few days at my office, strawberry daiquiris! :)

Cravings: Braums! In fact I could go for a chocolate shake and fries about right now!

Best Moment this week: Getting a good report at our ultrasound and doctor's visit!

BOY OH BOY!

Here we go! It's a boy! Everything looks great! Thanks for the prayers!

Big Belly Post - #1 Here we go!

After losing our three babies, we started with our fertility doctor. We just wanted to cover all of our bases and make sure we weren't missing something. She looked at all our previous tests and suggested a few more. When everything checked out clear, she gave us the go-ahead on trying again. This proved to do more harm than good. For a few months I had everything down to perfect timing. Schedules and all! No more "spontaneity"! When we didn't get pregnant the first 2 months I was so mad. I had gotten pregnant twice without really even trying, and the third on the very first try! I was getting so antsy! So then we threw the schedules out the window!

I started feeling really crappy around Thanksgiving. So bad, that I almost made John take me to the ER on Thanksgiving in OKC because I thought I was having a heart attack! I was a mess. Before I went to my regular physician, I wanted to just check to see if I was pregnant even though it was 5 days before my missed period. There were two lines instantly! I went to my family physician who thought that I was having a gallbladder attack. I was so upset. I was pregnant and they might have to take out my gallbladder! He told me to relax and gave me some medicine and told me we would take everything in strides. Looking back now, it was just hormones going hay-wire and early sickness/heartburn.

A few days later I went into my fertility doctor and she was shocked at how high my HCG hormone levels were! Whoo-Hoo! But then she said that my progesterone levels were a little low and prescribed me a supplement. We were also blessed to see this little heartbeat at 5 weeks!

Then we went back two weeks later and got to see this!

Then or fertility doctor gave us the boot. She said we were ready to move on to an regular OB. I was so excited, but so nervous at the same time!

Then two weeks later we went to our first regular OB appointment and much to our surprise we had another ultrasound and got to see our little bean jump and flopping around! It was incredible!

Here we are at 9 weeks.

We are 19 weeks today, so more belly pictures to come!

In case you missed it...

We are pregnant! Yay! 17 weeks today! I have a ton of stuff to post. So I will be updating shortly!

Great Deal for Moms!

I was reading some of the blogs I like to read and you may want to check out

www.christianpf.com

Today they were talking about saving money on diapers, wipes, etc.

Just FYI for my bloggy mom friends!

Emotions

Throughout our journey to become parents one thing that has been apparent to me through the whole ordeal is that infertility and/or pregnancies are emotional. It's like if for some reason you cannot have children or lose your child, then you are less of a woman. Being a mom is something that I have always wanted. I know that God intends for me to be a mother. It emotional when things are going good and when things are going bad.

I am sorry I am being very vague with you all today. I do have a few things to share in the next few days, but in the meantime just be patient! So just hang in there!

Crazy Month!

The past month for the Haslers has been crrraaazzy! At the end of last semester our youth minister resigned at just about the same time John and I had decided that we were going to step back from youth ministry for a while. John was asked to take on a new ministry at our church in the fall. He is serving as the Healthy Living Ministery Team Leader. This added a bit of craziness to our life. We started off the year with flag football, which overlapped into volleyball, which overlapped into basketball. On top of the athletics we have been planning our first heath fair that will take place next month and our annual 5k. So, we thought that this was were God wanted our focus to be for a while. Then Mike resigned and it was like, well, we aren't going anywhere for a while! :) So I have been teaching on Wednesday nights at our Axis night (Jr. High and Sr. High) on top of leading our home group on Sunday nights.

Our senior pastor called me last month and asked if I would serve on the committee to search for a new youth pastor. Since I am nosey anyway, I agreed! I hadn't realized the magnatude that would come from this job. So needless to say that is why I haven't been updating! I do good at facebook because I can access it on my phone at work (shhh! don't tell!), but blogging is hard to find time to do! So please forgive me! I will try to do better!

I hope all is well with you guys!

New Arrival!

Introducing Kyle Kennedy. Our new precious niece!

We are truly blessed!