It's a Boy!

Keenan Isaac Rourke was born on March 25th via C-section at 1:20 PM. He weighed 10 lbs, 1 oz and is 21.25 inches long, just slightly bigger than big brother Elijah! Who knew I could carry someone bigger! The delivery was uneventful, in fact Aaron was amazed on how I could joke around with the docs and everyone in the OR as I laid there getting pulled and tugged at. I could feel my body lifted from the table as they pulled and tugged Keenan out of me! Everyone was amazed at his size, including us. I cannot believe I am the mother to 2 BOYS! Can you? You totally forget how sweet the little babies are.

Eli has been a very good big brother, he can already pronounce his name and has been giving him kisses and gentle pats. Yesterday was a rough day since I did not get much sleep and they weened me from my epidural and I got up and showered. Overall though, I have felt pretty good and trying to keep my pain under control. The little booger is eating a ton of formula already since my milk has not yet come in. Nursing has not been as bad as it was last time, and I hope I can do it.

We should be going home tomorrow. I'm going to be getting up and trying to feel normal today. Eli has been going to daycare and is being spoiled my Nana Rourke while Aaron has been staying with me here at the hospital. Well, I'll keep updating you! Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!

Last Day

Today was our last day as a family of 3! I cannot believe how time has flown and a new Rourke will arrive tomorrow. I think it's been so weird just knowing that the baby will be here tomorrow! I was pretty sore when I woke up this morning, my hips have been killing me from the weight of the baby just sitting there. I took Eli to daycare this morning, and we stopped by Hi Hat, our favorite coffee shop and we split a colada jet tea, he loved it. He sipped on it on the way to school. He was pretty excited to get to his classroom.

I ran some errands before my appt at the hospital. I had my labs drawn then met my friend Becky for lunch at Blue Koi. We had a nice visit and the food was great as always. Went home and Aaron's mom was home, so I got some stuff done around the house and we went to pick Eli up so I could show her where to bring Eli if she decides to bring him there during the week. He had a great day. He was in the older kids classroom and the teacher said he did really really well. She said he followed directions, was talking better than the older kids, and adjusted really well. I was so happy to hear that.

Dry cleaner's update: After not receiving the check I was promised within a week, I called the dry cleaner to let him know. He apologized and told me it was not sent and he was going to drop it off in my mail. It was there that day when I got home, I deposited it on Saturday, so I'm hoping it does not bounce! The news reporter called me today and I told her I was finally paid and she asked if I would be willing to talk to them about how they helped me out. I am willing to, but I told her I was having the baby tomorrow.

We just got back from having dinner at Ponak's it is now a tradition. We ate there the night before I went into labor with Eli. Jessica ate there the night before she went into labor, and now with Baby Ziggy. I had a refreshing Corona. Brian was nice enough to treat the whole family for dinner. Eli had a great time, he saw a "choo-choo" when we were leaving.

Tonight I hope to have a nice, restful sleep. We don't have to be at the hospital until 1030A, and I should have a baby in my arms by 1pm. People are still guessing boy or girl. It's a ...BABY!

Wish us luck and we'll take some prayers too!

Happy Easter!

Aaron showed Eli how to color Easter eggs, he had a lot of fun!Aaron's Mom and nephew arrived in town yesterday. Eli was ecstatic with our visitors! He and John had so much fun playing. We watched basketball last night and went to bed early.


Eli woke us up around 6:30 this morning, we gave him his Easter basket and then fed him a little breakfast while we waited for Nana and John to wake up. When they did, Nana had an Easter basket for all of us. Eli made all of us read his new "Thomas & Friends" book to him at least 3 times each. We went to mass, Eli was pretty well behaved, he makes church go by faster because of the entertainment factor.

John and Aaron had a little Easter egg hunt for Aaron as we prepared brunch. We had brunch made by Aaron's mom then Eli was practically falling asleep at the table, so he took a nap. We had a pretty relaxing day watching basketball and playing. Brian and Grandpa arrived in the evening in time for the lamb dinner Aaron's mom had prepared. It was so nice not to have to cook this weekend! We had a nice dinner.





Well, that's about all for now, only two more days until our life is turned upside down! I've been trying to relax as much as possible and enjoy my time with Eli and Aaron.

39 Weeks

This was my last week of work, I had everything done so I was just working on some backlogged projects. It was a pretty relaxing week. Every night I would go home, I was prepared not to come back. I made it until Thursday, my planned last day. I was pretty much looking at basketball scores most of the afternoon, and had a team lunch which was a nice chunk of the day. At least KU won!

Friday Eli's daycare had an in-service, so it was Eli and my special day together. It was a beautiful day, so we went and got coffee and we blew bubbles and he played for a while. We ran to Target then I had my last doctor's appt. Aaron met us there. I was checked, and had not progressed since last week. I also lost a pound, which I did not expect. We had lunch together then we went home so Eli could take a nap. Eli fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I had a feeling he would not go back to sleep. He didn't, so we just watch a few episodes of "Thomas" and I tried to take a nap. Then we went to visit Rhonda, Elise, Claire, and Bill. Elise and Eli played very well together, but I think Eli was getting a little cranky towards the end of our visit due to the napless afternoon. We did not do much that evening, went to bed early.

I'm Going to Turn Into an Orange!

My craving for mandarin oranges has extended to Orange Soda, Sunkist to be exact. It all started last week when I stopped at the grocery store to buy some flowers for Rhonda on the way to visit her in the hospital. I was searching for a drink, and orange soda sounded refreshing and tasty! The next day I was at Target and orange soda again sounded tasty with a Twix bar too! Yesterday I bought a 12 pack of Sunkist, I never before in my life would have done that, but I need my fix of orange soda! Gotta love being pregnant!

We had a pretty nice weekend, the calm before the storm of our family invading our house and a new Rourke subsides. Friday, Aaron brought home some leftover Jack Stack BBQ from the office being catered for lunch. Our neighbors came over the enjoy the BBQ with us. Saturday turned into a cave day and we did not get out of our pj's until late afternoon. I was having a lot of contractions, but I think I was just dehydrated.

Sunday we had some unexpected visitors in town, and it was great! Kelly, Alex and Solomon came into town to get Alex's computer fixed, and Rhanda's flight was cancelled, so she was able to come over. I had not seen either one of them in months, and Eli had a great time visiting with them. We watched the KU game at a pizza place on the plaza, and visited. Oh my gosh, Solomon is such a cutie. I swear, Eli was acting like he just downed a couple of cups of coffee! He was so hyper all day. I think Rhanda really enjoyed playing with Eli, she hung out with us after the game too.

I made my first batch of corned beef and cabbage. It turned out pretty well, but I had to serve it with rice, so it was slightly Filipino. We had the neighbors over again, but Grace has been sick, so it was just Jarrett. We had plenty of food, so I was happy to share! This is my last week of work, very exciting! Have a Happy St. Paddy's Day and GO KU!

38 Weeks

This week I've been pretty uncomfortable feeling a lot of pressure and I continue to experience the sharp pain of the baby pushing down. I've also lost part of my mucus plug (I'm sure you all want to know the details ;o)! We went to a different doctor this week since mine is on vacation this week and next week. Also, it's good to meet the other doctors since I can go at any time and you don't know who is will be on call! She checked me and said the baby is really low and she's not surprised I've been feeling a lot of pressure, also I am now 1 cm dilated, and 70% effaced. Well, at least I know I'm progressing! With that news, I finished packing my bag for the hospital, as a precaution.

This weekend will be pretty low-key for us. The Big 12 Tournament is on and I squeezed into my KU t-shirt today, I'm sure I look ridiculous, but I had to show my KU pride!

Eli has a cough...again, it doesn't seem to bother him except at night. We've been trying to get him to sleep on his own, so we've been gating his room at night. When he wakes up in the middle of the night he comes to the gate and is crying a little bit saying "Daddy, Mommy, Stoli", Aaron and I tell him "Night-night, go back to bed", and we can hear him walk back to bed, and crankily says, "Night-night", it's cute and funny.

Rhonda and Bill had another girl, I was able to see them and she looks very similar to Elise when she was a baby. I'm so happy for them, and proud of Rhonda for pushing out a 9 lb, 2oz baby, Claire Catherine.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Go KU!

Drycleaner

Ok, so I know I've told a few people about my drycleaner dilemma. The background is, in October of last year, Aaron had dropped off some clothes to be laundered and dry-cleaned at the drycleaner I had been using since 1999, Scotch Deluxe Cleaners. They ended up losing our clothes because their "computer was down", so they say. I had spoken to the manager, Richard, about the clothes we had lost, and he asked that I give him ample time to search for the clothes at all of the stores. I gave them more than enough time, and in November Richard had said he would pay for the clothes lost. Since then I had bought new clothes to replace the old ones and the total came out to $489.12. I had submitted my receipts to the drycleaner the beginning of December hoping to get paid back by the holidays. I had pretty much called them on a weekly or more basis, never during this time had they ever called me back, it was always me pursuing them, but I was not going to give up. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but since they were not members of the BBB, it just showed that they were an unsatisfactory business. Then I contacted NBC Action News. They have a "Call for Action" segment for businesses who take advantage of patrons. They had to wait to pursue my case until the BBB had closed their case. NBC had contacted the manager and he had told them a couple of excuses why they had not paid me yet, but there was no dispute in what they owe me. Finally, today I received a call from the manager (this was a first) and he had said he had lost my contact information when his windows were open in his car and it "blew out of the window", yeah right. He's given me all sorts of excuses in the past, this one was a good one. Today, he said he has a check for me, he is going to send it tomorrow and he wants me to call him in the morning to remind him to send it. These are the most unprofessional people I have ever had to deal with ! I spoke to my contact at NBC and we were just laughing at the stuff he has been telling the both of us. She said that if I don't receive the money this week, they will interview me and I will be on the news so I can finally get my money back. I'll let you know if I do.

Exciting News!

This morning around 5:30 AM, my good friend Rhonda texted saying that her water broke at 4AM and they were on the way to the hospital! Whoo Hoo! We've been texting throughout the day, and as of around 11AM, she was dilated to 8 cm. Then she text me asking how our duct cleaning went (Yes, we had our ducts cleaned yesterday). So Rhonda! I'm excited to find out if she has a boy or girl. I've predicted boy, and she has predicted I'm having a girl. We'll see very soon!

This past weekend was fun. Rhonda, Becky, Emily, and I were able to celebrate Becky's upcoming birthday. We had pedicures done and had lunch at Eden Alley. We were able to do some shopping as well. It was a fun treat for all of us and great timing too! Rhonda was hoping to go into labor over the weekend, but she was just a few days off.

Sunday we were able to enjoy some nice weather, Aaron raked the leaves outside and Eli and played in them. It was pretty fun. I baked cookies, Snickerdoodles, for my team who had a baby shower for me on Friday. They took me to lunch and we had games and cake when we returned to the office. They gave me a very generous gift card, diapers, and some stuffed toys.

Well, I'll let you know what Rhonda has-- her having her baby means that I'm next!

Little Person, Big Voice

This week all the teachers at Eli's daycare have been commenting on Eli's verbal skills. He has been putting together sentences and says "Hi...(Name)" to everyone that works there. He knows everyone, and they all know him. What a social little guy. One of the teachers said he was saying "Bye, have a nice day!" to parents who were picking up their kids. Cracks me up!

Whenever the phone rings at home and we see on the caller ID that it's a tele-marketer we let him answer. He says, "Hello?", listens for a little while, then says "Bye!" and hangs up. Pretty funny stuff. I'd highly recommend it, nice entertainment factor.

37 Weeks

Whoo Hooo! I'm full-term! According to BabyCenter.com "Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard)." Has anyone seen a stalk of Swiss chard around? What the hell? We had our weekly appointment and Dr. Mitchell guesstimated the baby NOT being as big as Eli, but being around 9 lbs. Aaron also admitted I seem to be more comfortable than last time. I'm really hoping we make it to March 25th. I'm perfectly happy with the baby cooking some more. Everything is looking good. Baby is head down, not that it matters. I forgot to ask what the FHR was, sounded strong though. I only gained a pound since last week.

My friend Rhonda is miserable. I feel so bad. She is predicting that I'm having a girl and she is having a boy. We'll see, bets anyone? We're getting pedicures on Saturday with Emily and Becky as well. Looking forward to it! We're celebrating Becky's b-day.

Nothing too exciting has happened this week. Last night Brian, my brother-in-law came over for OK Joe's BBQ, it was tasty. He'll be around this weekend and next week for work. He's going to be moving to KC this year, probably this summer, since John will be starting HS in the fall. I watched the season finale of "Project Runway", it was pretty good. Really looking forward to "Top Chef" to start next week!

My sister and cousin will be visiting the second week in April, Max will be with them too. It should be fun.

Well, that's about all for now!Here's a picture of Eli getting ready for bed. He's such a ham..."Cheese"!

Nice Weekend

The weather was great this weekend. I was able to get my haircut and brows waxed, much needed maintenance before the big day. I saw "The Other Boleyn Girl" with Grace and Rhonda, it was good, but there were a lot of discrepencies from the book which was disappointing. I walked around the Plaza after the movie, but was wanting to enjoy the beautifuk weather with the boys, so I went home and we all took a walk around the neighborhood and then made dinner. Aaron and I watched the KU game after getting Eli to bed. It was a nice revenge!

Sunday Aaron had to go into work to catch up from being sick the past week. I had a meeting with the Maternity Coordinator at the hospital, so Eli came with me and he was pretty good. After our meeting she let us look inside the nursery so Eli could see the babies. Mom and Dad came around 130 while Eli was napping. He woke up while we were eating lunch. They had a great time playing with him and talking to him. I went to visit Jenny and Baby Grace. Grace slept the whole time I was there, but I did get to see her beautiful blue eyes. Sam was a cutie too.

The rest of the evening was pretty low key. Aaron put Eli to bed while Mom, Dad, and I were eating dinner. He kept yelling "Night Night Lolo! Night Night Lola", some stall tactics. Pretty funny. I was in bed by 9pm.

That's about all for now! I'll post some pics a little later. Have a great week!