Introducing Samuel Robert Allen

Samuel Robert Allen was born at 1:19 pm on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at a whopping 8 lbs 14oz and 21 inches long.

I spoke with Kate and Steven numerous times on Tuesday and everything seemed to go very smoothly during the labor process. However, after baby Samuel was born, things took a turn for the worse for Kate. She began hemorrhaging as a piece of placenta or membrane broke off inside of her. After much clotting, they got Kate stabilized and stopped the clotting/bleeding process. Thank heavens for those wonderful doctors and nurses at St. Vincent's!

Kate became stable around 5:00 pm on Tuesday. Although exhausted, she had very high spirits. Since she had such a tramatic day, she decided to send Baby Samuel to the nursery to get some rest.

Wednesday, February 11th
In the early morning on Wednesday, the nurses brought Baby Samuel into the room and explained to Kate that his breathing was significantly fast. They wanted to draw some blood. After the blood was drawn, they decided to keep Baby Samuel in NICU until he resumed a normal breathing pattern. At one point, he was breathing as much as 110 times per minute. They also refrained him from eating so that there was no chance that he would aspirate. He was hooked up on glucose to help with his sugar levels. They determined that his white blood count is elevated. At one point, they were concerned about his heart but luckily, a cardiologist came and his heart checked out to be normal for an infant. He remained in the NICU overnight where his breathing slowed down but still remained faster than normal. Kate visited the ICU every time the doors were open.

Thursday, Feburary 12th
Samuel remains in the NICU. Today, they placed a feeding tube down his throat to provide him with some nutrients. His bilirubin count has risen so they decided to also place him on a "bili" bed. However, his breathing has become a little more stable. At this point, they are thinking that pneumonia has set in and started some antibiotics today. According to my conversation with Kate a few minutes ago, they are going to keep Samuel anywhere from 3 to 7 days to continue giving him the antibiotics. We are praying that Baby Samuel will come home on Saturday. More than likely, Kate will be released tomorrow, February 13th.

Although Kate and Samuel have had several bumps in the road, we are all VERY thankful for the support and care that they have received from the staff at St. V's and from all of Kate's friends and loved ones. Please continue to pray for this precious family and Samuel's quick recovery.

With much love,
Aunt Katie

Loss of my Best Friend....

For those of you who know me well, you know what a heart I have for animals. Well, Sunday, I lost my first child, my best friend, my Scout. She was twelve years old and I have had her all that time. I picked her out when she was a week old and have loved her dearly ever since. She has been through so much with me and has always greeted me with love, a smile and a "full body wag". She quit eating on Wednesday and then Friday morning, we think she had a small stroke. I took her immediatley to the vet and he said she either had a really bad pneumonia or wide-spread cancer. With the stroke and normal bloodwork, I feared it was the latter. We took her home on antibiotics for pneumonia to see if that would work. She laid around some, but for the most part, she wanted to play and be normal... all except for not eating, not even her favorite, scrambled eggs. When I got home from work on Sunday afternoon, she was outside playing and seemed fine. Then, as I got ready to put the kids in the shower, she looked at me like she couldn't see me. Then, when I came to the kitchen after bathing the kids, she was gone.
My heart breaks so many times a day when I think of her. I miss every little thing. I am thankful the Lord took her before I went to the hospital to deliver Samuel, I believe He showed her mercy and that she didn't suffer much. I hope someday I will see her again. I hope she is playing in sprinklers, chasing squeaky toys and eating her fill of scrambled eggs. She was the best dog a girl could have. I love you my Scoutie.


Scout 12/06/97 - 02/01/09

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

January 2009

So, I guess I will have to post a month at a time, or at least that.... Here is our January.
We started off with putting Jason in his "Big Boy" Bed, which went much better than I ever thought it would. Only 2-4 nights of getting scared or unsure and he was fine... the kicker, for him, I think, was that Sara Kate ended up in his crib in the room with him because her room is so hard to keep warm. So, he really didn't have a choice. Plus, he wasn't alone in the room, which helped. So, now they are roomies. That is going great unless one wakes up early or mid-nap... but you can't have EVERYTHING, right?
We have spent a lot of time indoors due to fluctuating weather and a very pregnant and tired Mommie so the other pictures are some of those times. We play dress up alot and the newest rave is the batman, 'pulk' (hulk) and storm trooper masks. As you can see, we all join in. We also went to Chuck-E-Cheese and rode the horse pretty much the whole time. Wonder where they get that from :) Sara Kate discovered oatmeal for breakfast and Jason discovered "oink-milks" cookies (that's Jason-ese for oatmeal). Buddy came and took me shopping for baby Samuel and then came back to the house to see the kids. She and Jason had a ball building a tent between the crib and his big boy bed. We went to our friend Richie's birthday party and Jason bowled for the first time. He really enjoyed that and would cheer and clap as soon as he rolled the ball, he didn't seem to care if he hit any pens or not. We finally opened the present that Steven's great Uncle Marvin and Aunt Joan sent the kids... It was a box full of prizes, the hit being the choo-choo train!!! Jason LOVES it. They also got clothes and books and a puzzle. What a sweet wonderful gift!!! At bedtime, our new routine is to get in Daddy's chair and watch Horton Hears a Who. Aunt Katie and Uncle Matt gave them the movie for Christmas and they LOVE it. So, that is January at the Allen house.
We are still watchfully waiting for baby Samuel to debut and will try to keep you updated.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

click the middle arrow and it will zoom in, then just scroll through while in zoom to see the pictures best!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

These are just a few of my favorite pictures from the past.... the kids have changed so much. Looking back, this has been a wonderful year and we are so blessed and thankful for all that we have. We can't wait to see what God has in store for 2009... We can't wait to meet Samuel Robert and watch as our babies continue to grow. I am not one for New Year's Resolutions, so I guess my goals for this year will be: NOT to get pregnant (of course, these last two were suprises, so if God wants another baby, He'll make one, I have come to accept that :) ); spend more time loving and laughing with my family; relaxing; growing closer to God and going to church regularly; Be a better friend to my friends.... well, that's a start anyways. Happy New Year to you all and may this be the best year yet!!!

Pump It Up Fun!!!

Today we met my friend Anna and her two kids for some lunch and some fun at Pump it up. We met at Chick-fil-A or as Jason calls it "Chick-Play" because you get to play there too! We ate and then loaded up and headed for Pump it up in Pelham. That place is great and only $5 for Jason, Sara Kate was free! We had a ball climbing and jumping with Katie and Ritchie (Anna's kids) and boy was I exhausted!!! Thanks for a great play date, Anna, Ritchie and Katie!!! We had so much fun!

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was a whirlwind!!! It started out with my desire to cook some favorites, minus the time and energy to do it. My sweet husband has been off since December 12 because his plant shut down extra long due to the economy. He made my wishes come true by helping me in so many ways to cook and clean and shop and wrap... What a good 'wife' he has been...LOL. We cooked for two days and the kids had a ball in the plastic ware cabinet. I have worked a lot extra because he has been off so he did most of the finishing up of everything. Then, on Christmas Eve, he picked me up from work and we were off the Clay, AL. We stopped by to visit Steven's Dad and family first. The kids love to play with their cousins and enjoyed seeing PawPaw and Grandmommie. Then, we were off to spend the evening with Pappa, Mimi, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Josh. We had such a nice night and enjoyed them so much as always. Then, we were headed home to spend the night at our house with My Sam and Grandaddy. We woke up to a wonderful morning of special time with them and Santa had come and made the living room a menagerie of gifts. We relaxed and enjoyed them all morning. For lunch, we were off to Uncle Matt and Aunt Katie's for time with my family. We loved spending time with them and Buddy and Pops. The kids had a ball playing together and opening presents, so much so, that Sara Kate disappeared and we found her passed out in LeLe's room laying across her stuffed puppy.... it was so cute. We were totally blessed this Christmas by all of the friends and family we enjoyed and we hope you all had as wonderful a time as we did.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Some of the things the kids learned that will mark this season in our hearts:
Sara Kate calls Santa "Ho Ho Ho" every time she sees him, picture or person.
Jason learned that Christmas is Jesus's Birthday.
Jason sang every Christmas Carol all the way through... Our favorite that he sings: "We're a Couple of Misfits" from the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer movie. He sings, with great confidence, " We're a cup-a-da Biscuits!!!" as we roll with laughter.
Both kids learned to rip open gifts and to say thank you for presents given to them.

We also wanted to wish cousing LeLe a happy first birthday! We had a ball at here birthday party, but forgot our camera. I can't figure out how to download pictures from costco or I would have added them too!!! Happy Birthday LeLe! We are so glad you are our cousin!!!

December.... the first half...

Well, December got here way too fast with Thanksgiving being at the end of the month... I just can't keep up with all the Holiday festivities when they are so close together! We went to Jason's school on 12/8 for breakfast with Santa. My Sam and PawPaw came too and we had so much fun! Both kids loved Santa or "Panta" as Jason calls him. Jason is totally in to the Christmas spirit... just like his Daddy!!! A week or so later, we went out to Buddy's house to make Christmas cookies. We had a great time and really appreciate Buddy helping us make that memory. Poor Sara Kate had a fever and was just so puny the whole trip. I decided to take her to After Hours where I work and see if it was more than a cold.... and it was. Poor baby had early pneumonia and woke up the next morning with a nasty ear infection.
Then it was time to trim the tree!!! Jason is so in to being a super hero that he insisted on wearing his Mr. Incredible 'soup'. So, he did. He is just so funny when he dresses up! The kids loved helping Daddy with the decorations and Ellie May was so happy to have her perch under the tree! After we decorated, we got in our matching pj's and took some Christmas pictures by the tree... It is a wonder we got any good ones with these two moving targets!!! So now we can say we are ready for the Holiday, at least we are decorated!!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook