2008 ~ A Pictorial Review

January (GOD I miss that tummy I had)

February - out to sushi with some friends

March - North Carolina visiting my dad with my sister and her family

April - at Skip Barber racing school (was actually "with child" here but didn't find out until the next day)

May - North Carolina to surprise my dad for his surprise 60th birthday party

June - Bob Vila putting the crib together

July - Long Island, NY for Vinny & Jael's wedding

August - Viaggio for my birthday dinner with friends

September - North Carolina to visit my dad

October - our 1 year anniversary dinner

November - cigar festival in Ybor City

December 2nd - the best day of my entire life


Here's to wishing each and every one of you a happy, safe & prosperous 2009. May it be as happy for you as 2008 was for us. Cheers!!!!

My 9 day old supermodel

These super fabulous pictures were taken by Kellie at Kellie Day Photography. I am extremely exhausted at the moment so this entry will be short. Enjoy the pictures and I promise to blog more soon - as soon as Ava figures out her days and nights, LOL.







Ava is two weeks old today.

More Pictures

Because I must show her off. I mean, look at her! Every day is like a holiday waking up knowing you have a little one to tend to. Life has new meaning, and all the cliche's you hear other people saying, well, we can speak testament that they all ring very true!

Introducing Ava Hayley Wein

Ava arrived at 5:01pm on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 weighing in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 20.75 inches long with a head full of jet black hair. She made her presence known throughout the entire OB floor with her powerful lung capacity. She is perfectly healthy, beautiful and her daddy and I are head over heels in love with her, of course.

We came home just under 48 hours of the surgery. I am feeling fantastic and bouncing back quite nicely. Life at home is an adjustment but she's getting us used to her schedule so it's all good. Breastfeeding is going perfectly, no issues at all and we've even stopped supplementing the formula as my milk has finally arrived. (Dolly Parton ain't got nuthin' on me! LOL)

I have a whole album of pictures, if you'd like to see them email me at sunlightshower@hotmail.com to get permission.

Oh what a special Christmas it's going to be for us this year, how exciting!

Love to all,
Kris, Bobby and Ava Wein

December 2nd it is!

Our daughter has an official "planned" birthday. As of 6pm EST next Tuesday, December 2nd, Ava Hayley will enter the world. I have a couple of pre-op appointments on Monday which Bobby is taking me to, and then we're getting massages during the day on Tuesday to ease our nerves (well moreso mine than his).

Not sure how much blogging I will do between now and then. Perhaps I will have time to fit in one last belly picture before we head to the hospital. We shall see!

T-minus 8 days until we attempt parenthood.

New Belly Pic ~ 37 weeks, 4 days

Do you think she has dropped at all? Either way it doesn't really matter since she's not taking the preferred route outta there :-) She's still very active and has hiccups more frequently too. My next appointment is Monday morning, and hopefully {fingers crossed} I can talk Dr. Williams into doing the "extraction" on the following Monday - December 1st.

The nursery is finally done pending the window valance which my mom made and is dropping off tomorrow. I took the crib bumper out and basically my mom worked some sort of Martha Stewart/MacGyver magic and turned it into a window dressing. It wasn't "breathable" so I am on the hunt for one that is, and that coordinates with the rest of the motif. I did take it upon myself to hang the below-pictured vinyl decal tree that I ordered from Etsy.com seller ceejay77. It was a pain in the butt to hang, but totally worth it once I figured out how to apply it correctly. By the way, I do not recommend standing on the top rung of a ladder when you're 37 weeks pregnant.
The end is finally near!!! Is there a full moon or anything coming up? Maybe if I eat waaaaay too much of my mom's cooking on Thanksgiving I will literally "pop". Please, any suggestions to get the show on the road are truly welcomed at this point. My waddling, achy hips & fat butt will thank you :-)

So apparently we were wrong

Little Miss Ava is NOT head down. This was discovered today at my (now) weekly OB checkup. Doc did a quick ultrasound and sure enough the hard thing that's been dancing around under my belly button is really her head, not her butt as we thought. More not-so-great news......

I have to have a c-section at 39 weeks. At first I was totally devastated and cried the whole way home. After talking with my sister (who has had two c-sections) I felt much better and in a way relieved. I've had some time to absorb it and have made a list of good vs. bad. The good far outweighs the bad for me so I am focusing on the positive and getting more excited to meet our little girl a week earlier than we anticipated.

So there you have it, we're having a baby probably the first week of December sometime. (Kelly, I will shoot for the 1st for you, I promise.)

Dance Party Tuesday

This is what I have been contending with for the past 2 hours:


And it's still going on! She did this one night last week too that lasted into the wee hours of the morning making it very hard to get any sleep whatsoever. This was after I ate my mom's vegetable soup - so I would venture to say she liked it. Not sure what's provoked tonight's performance though. Popcorn at the movies perhaps? (By the way, we saw the Zach & Miri movie and it was pretty funny!)

Today marks 35 weeks, which also means only 35 days left.

1 Year Anniversary!

What a wonderful weekend we had! My sweet, thoughtful husband surprised me on Saturday morning and kidnapped me to the Don Cesar beach resort for a spa getaway and babymoon/anniversary vacation. It was such a nice surprise, he is always up to something. Little did he know that I had a few tricks up my sleeve too. I secretly arranged for a private chef to show up at our house Monday evening to cook us a romantic dinner. Bobby answered the door and was so surprised. I caught it on tape, check it out:

Here is a slideshow of the weekend activities and the yummy dinner we enjoyed on Monday night.

On the baby update side of things, I did have my 33.5 week OB appointment on Monday morning. Everything is measuring perfectly, and she even kicked the doctor's hand when he was trying to find her heart beat with the doppler. Good girl! Oh, and also all evidence is proving that she is now "head down", contrary to my suspicion. I will have another ultrasound at 36 weeks to verify this discovery. Doc has me coming back in two weeks, then probably on to once a week until I deliver. Wait, whaaaaaa???? She has to come out? How on earth is this supposed to happen? Can't she just stay in there where I know she's warm, safe and protected? Pleeeeeeeease??? The fear of actual childbirth is setting in. I can't stand blood and guts so this is going to be interesting to say the least!

T-minus 43 days until I never sleep again.

New Belly Pic! 33 weeks, 3 days

It's been quite a while since I have posted one so I finally got off my keister (as hard as THAT was) and had Bobby snap one. Here it is for all you followers:

We Changed Her Name!

Well, her middle name that is. Instead of Ava Harlow, her name will be Ava Hayley. We just think it's cuter and fits her personality more. I know, I know, you ask "what personality?", well let me tell you this kid DEFINITELY has personality already! Her movements indicate that she likes to party and do the riverdance at all hours of the day. Plus, she has almost run out of room in there and it feels as if she is trying to yoga her way out.

Oh, little miss Ava Hayley, we can't wait to meet you and kiss that little head of yours that you keep pushing up under mommy's belly button. Stay safe and warm in there, but take it easy on dear ole' mom in the meantime.

Baby Shower!!

My baby shower was October 11th at my mom's house and was such a beautiful, quaint affair. The food was catered from Felice's Pork Store and was soooooo good! My sister and niece (her daughter) Brittini conducted a few games that brought many laughs. We played the ice cube water breaking game which was a tiny plastic baby frozen in an ice cube, each person was given one in a cup and the first person to "break their water" (free their baby from the ice cube) won. You could help it along or let it melt. So what did I do? I put it in my mouth and melted that kid as fast as I could :-) Another game we played was list the baby animal name for a list of animals on a sheet of paper. Talk about a HARD thing to do, but very fun and interesting. Then on to the "guess what is in the dirty diaper game", yea I'd rather not re-hash that one, but it was quite a hoot. Lastly, we played celebrity babies. There was a poster on the wall with pictures of different women celebrities with their faces covered by a baby sticker. The person to guess all celebrities correctly won. Yea, I lost that one :-(

On to the loot.....talk about overwhelming! Good thing I had my three helpers again, just like last year at my bridal shower. It was too cute, they had their own little assembly line going to help me open, re-package, organize and trash the wrapping.

All in all it was perfect, I recieved many, many wonderful goodies for the baby that I was needing desperately. Now, on to a few pictures...enjoy!










Here's some of the loot, along with roses my husband left there for me. God love him!


Steph, me, Andrea & Cathy


The Favors!






Thank you to everyone for coming, and also a huge thanks to all who couldn't make it and sent gifts. Your thoughtfulness means the world!!!

**Hugs to all**

Kristina, Bobby & Ava

Car Accident :-(

I was rear-ended today on my way home from getting a wonderful massage. No worries, I am fine and the baby is fine too. My poor truck on the other hand - well she's going to need some back bumper repair work. The at-fault's insurance company is completely covering everything. I also had emergency response vehicles come to the scene just to check me out and both me and Ava are just fine. I think Bobby was more frazzled than I was, bless his heart I love him to pieces!

I should have the shower photos from my sister tomorrow and will get them edited and posted here, stat! Stay tuned :-)

Exciting Updates!

Everything is moving right along, I had another OB appt. this past Monday and the baby is measuring right on track. The doc ordered a quick peek ultrasound while I was there and the little stinker is STILL breech and had her hands and feet in front of her face. I guess she's found a comfy position and does not want to move...hmmm sounds just like her mommy!

I felt my 2nd round of hiccups today, it was mildly amusing and tickled just a bit. I am starting to lose my balance and have suddenly found myself to be very clumsy. I spilled an entire glass of orange juice on my nightstand on Saturday morning, right over my reading material and all. Talk about a bummer, and a waste of precious OJ. I LOVE me some OJ in the morning.

Exciting things coming up this month! My baby shower is this Saturday at my mom's house, hosted by my wonderful sister, Andrea and my mother, Linda. It should be a very nice time and I am uber-stoked about it. My mother in law and two nieces from New York have flown down for it too, so it should be a really nice gathering of family and friends.

I finally decided on a diaper bag and went ahead and bought it. It is the Ramalama "Ava" (how appropo) in Chocolate. It should be here on Friday, here's a looksie:
More exciting news, we received our first registry gift!! Yes, My Aunt Judy in Indiana sent us the Fisher Price Papasan Seat. I promptly assembled it (after opening the shipping box & crying because I'm a hormonal mess these days). It's adorable and now all I need is a baby to put in it! Here it is:

I will be sure to post pictures from the shower, stay tuned for more big happenings this month! (They are secret surprises at the moment so I'm afraid I can't share just yet.)

31 weeks

Ava in 3d

Introducing little Bobby! General consensus states she looks like her daddy and I have to agree. It's amazing what technology can do these days.

I've been doing fantastic, having alot of Braxton Hicks contractions and those are not fun at all. She kicks and rolls around a ton making my stomach morph into weird shapes. Tying my shoes and picking small objects up off the floor are now things I avoid as long as humanly possible. I need one of those 4 foot arm claw thingies I guess. Grunting is now also a part of my everyday vocabulary, lovely!

29 weeks today, so that means in a little over 2 months (or hopefully less) we will get to hold baby girl in our arms!

Maternity Pics!!

I was fortunate enough to book the lovely and talented Katie Beyer to shoot some maternity portraits for me. If you ever have the opportunity to work with her, do not miss out. Here are a few of my favorites, hand-picked.