Welcome to the 3rd trimester! It seemed like this portion of my pregnancy would never get here...but it's here, it's finally here! There hasn't been a ton of change since last week, but I figured I'd go ahead and update the blog (even if the only people reading are my sister-in-law and mother-in-law) haha!
Looking back on pregnancy thus far, I have been incredibly lucky. I have felt great almost the entire time, have had very little stress over baby stuff and pregnancy in general, have had an amazing husband who has complied with all of my (obsessive compulsive) requests to get "baby things" done around the house, very supportive and excited friends & family, and I have never had to take a day off from work because of any pregnancy symptoms...
And have I mentioned that two of my best friends are also pregnant?!?! Seriously, I couldn't have asked for two better friends to navigate through pregnancy with. (It also doesn't hurt to have 2 other party poopers around who can't drink wine either!) Lucky I am!
Anyways, at 27 weeks, Remy is about the size of a head of cauliflower. She is around 13.6 to 14.8 inches and 1.5 to 2.5 pounds. She is still practicing inhaling and exhaling and is officially showing brain activity! I am starting to figure out her schedule a little bit too. She likes to bounce around after I eat and moves the most at night when I lay down to go to bed...particularly if I lay on my right side (even though the books say to lay on your left to get her to move) I usually wake up a few hours later (to pee) and because she starting moving around again...alot! Her kicks are getting harder, although they don't seem much higher than they were last week. I'm still crossing my fingers that she is moving her way up a little by my next appointment (which is next week already). Taking stairs is getting more and more painful by the day, because of my hips; otherwise, I am still getting around pretty comfortably. I also learned my lesson about standing in heels for extended periods of time. Ouch.
I am getting really excited about our baby shower coming up in February, which Julie, Kinsey & Lindsey are throwing for us! It gives me something to look forward to and also a reason to ease up on the baby shopping! :) I am out of control. We are heading to Kansas City this weekend to see our sisters, their families, and our friends...so I'm sure there will be just a little more shopping in my near future - and then I'll stop until the baby shower, I promise!
We went to another child birth class this week and this one was intense. I actually started to feel nauseous and if the look on Bryant's face means anything, he wasn't feeling very good either. It was terrifying...seriously, terrifying. I know that I said before that maybe knowledge would take the edge off of the fear, but HOLY COW! Now I just know more things to be scared of. Although I don't think it helped that the videos they showed us were of un-medicated women. Why would you do that to yourself? Really, why? We have one more labor class, which is when we get to tour the labor & maternity ward. After that we are going to go to the caring for newborns class. I am really looking forward to that one - it can't be as scary as the labor classes! :)
Until next week,
The Muirs
Ticker
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
26 Weeks
We are in the 26th week and time seems to have suddenly stopped! I don't know why but I feel farther from the finish line than I did at 20 weeks. Obviously I am getting closer, but it just seems like everything slowed down recently. I am still feeling pretty good, with the exception of my hips. Because of my achy hips, I think I have already picked up the pregnancy waddle...not pretty. While my belly is getting bigger all the time it still doesn't seem huge and my clothes all fit comfortably. I am trying to enjoy what may be my last few weeks of comfort!
In baby news, Remy is still the size of an eggplant this week and has pretty much the same stats as last week. This week her eyes are forming and she may start to open them soon. She also has eyelashes at this point! (Which I'm sure she will use in the future to get whatever she wants from her dad!) My books and websites also tell me that she is practicing taking breaths...of amniotic fluid. Sounds awful. She is as active as ever and Bryant was finally able to really feel her kick hard yesterday (1/15/12). I think she is starting to move up, as I'm feeling kicks a little higher than previously...WOOOHOOO! :)
Here is a bump picture at Week 26. I am terrible at taking/posting these pictures...but for good reason. 1) I hate comparing the size of my bump to other people's bumps...depressing 2) It is nearly impossible to get a decent picture in any mirror in my house (they are all either too high, room is too dark, etc.) 3) Bryant does not have the patience required to take an acceptable picture (by my standards), so I have to take self-portraits...not easy, and finally 4) I'm lazy and forgetful! :) Anyways, I am averaging one picture ever 3 weeks.
I ordered Remy's baby book and it is A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. Now that I have her actual book, I am considering forgoing the blogging and just starting to journal in her actual baby book. Bryant & I were talking about this the other day...is there anybody out there that reads this? Would my blog entries be missed? If you are in fact out there, post a comment & let me know! :)
In baby news, Remy is still the size of an eggplant this week and has pretty much the same stats as last week. This week her eyes are forming and she may start to open them soon. She also has eyelashes at this point! (Which I'm sure she will use in the future to get whatever she wants from her dad!) My books and websites also tell me that she is practicing taking breaths...of amniotic fluid. Sounds awful. She is as active as ever and Bryant was finally able to really feel her kick hard yesterday (1/15/12). I think she is starting to move up, as I'm feeling kicks a little higher than previously...WOOOHOOO! :)
Here is a bump picture at Week 26. I am terrible at taking/posting these pictures...but for good reason. 1) I hate comparing the size of my bump to other people's bumps...depressing 2) It is nearly impossible to get a decent picture in any mirror in my house (they are all either too high, room is too dark, etc.) 3) Bryant does not have the patience required to take an acceptable picture (by my standards), so I have to take self-portraits...not easy, and finally 4) I'm lazy and forgetful! :) Anyways, I am averaging one picture ever 3 weeks.
I ordered Remy's baby book and it is A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. Now that I have her actual book, I am considering forgoing the blogging and just starting to journal in her actual baby book. Bryant & I were talking about this the other day...is there anybody out there that reads this? Would my blog entries be missed? If you are in fact out there, post a comment & let me know! :)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
25 Weeks
At 25 weeks Remy Elise is the size of an eggplant. This probably tells you how much I hang out in the kitchen, but I have no idea what an eggplant looks like. I know what color "eggplant" is because I bought a shirt in that color, but I don't know that I've seen an eggplant in real life. :)
Anyways, our little eggplant is somewhere between 13.6 and 14.8 inches long and is between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds. Getting bigger and bigger everyday. Baby info tells me that she now knows up from down and has a sense of equilibrium. She is also getting more fat and hair everyday.
I have actually started sleeping better the past week or so. I am trying to avoid taking any evening naps after work so that by bedtime I am exhausted and sleep better...seems to be working. I also figured out that the expensive pregnancy pillows don't really work for me. I actually just prefer to use a regular old pillow between my knees - REALLY helps my hips!
On Monday night we started our child birth class. Scary stuff. Hopefully knowing what to expect in the delivery room will take the edge off of being scared. (Although I think that after the first class Bryant is more terrified than ever!) At the end of the class we went over massage technique - awesome and practiced breathing. We have 3 more birthing classes, one breastfeeding class and a newborn class.
Until next week,
The Muirs (all 4 of us)
Anyways, our little eggplant is somewhere between 13.6 and 14.8 inches long and is between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds. Getting bigger and bigger everyday. Baby info tells me that she now knows up from down and has a sense of equilibrium. She is also getting more fat and hair everyday.
I have actually started sleeping better the past week or so. I am trying to avoid taking any evening naps after work so that by bedtime I am exhausted and sleep better...seems to be working. I also figured out that the expensive pregnancy pillows don't really work for me. I actually just prefer to use a regular old pillow between my knees - REALLY helps my hips!
On Monday night we started our child birth class. Scary stuff. Hopefully knowing what to expect in the delivery room will take the edge off of being scared. (Although I think that after the first class Bryant is more terrified than ever!) At the end of the class we went over massage technique - awesome and practiced breathing. We have 3 more birthing classes, one breastfeeding class and a newborn class.
Until next week,
The Muirs (all 4 of us)
Friday, January 6, 2012
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Can you believe it's 2012?!?!
2011 was a great year, I graduated from law school, we moved back to our hometown, I passed the BAR, we both started new (and better) jobs, we began the expansion of our family, and spent many hours with our family and friends! Our little family is in a great place right now and we couldn't be happier. We have loved every minute of living in Stockton and know that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Neither of us really made any "resolutions" but we both have goals that we want to accomplish this year...obviously one of the main goals is getting Remy here safely and then keeping her that way! :) We both have goals for our careers and for our personal lives as well. Becoming healthier is a goal that we are aware of now more than ever. We both want to be active parents and know that it's important to get back to a healthy and active lifestyle so we can keep up with our baby girl. We also want her to learn healthy habits and know that we can't expect her to form those without having those habits ourselves.
I had my 24 week appointment with Dr. Hodny on Tuesday. He said that everything looks great and I am measuring PERFECT! Great news! :) I got to listen to her heartbeat again, which was 157. She is definitely consistent. While we were listening to her heartbeat we kept hearing another weird noise and I could feel alot of movement - turns out she was hiccuping! After finding out that it was hiccups that I was feeling, I realized that she hiccups all.the.time. Poor girl! Here I thought she just never slept, but turns out it's not "movement" but hiccups that I feel all day and night. Although, her movements are getting stronger and stronger everyday - she is quite the kicker.
During the appointment I talked to him about how low she is and how much pressure I'm feeling. He did some measuring and said that she is in fact VERY low and that there's not much room for her in my short torso to move up. He isn't worried about it at this time, but said that if she's still that low at 30 weeks (when she is heavier) we may need to increase the frequency of my appointments. He also wants me to keep an eye out for any amniotic fluid that may leak. Gross. Hopefully she will just move her way up and we won't have to worry about it. Keep your fingers crossed!
My next appointment is scheduled for January 31st, when I will be 28 weeks. They sent me home with the special drink for the Glucose test, so I will be doing that next time as well.
On Thursday night I had some spotting. I called Dr. Hodny's office right away and the on-call doctor told me to go ahead and go to Labor & Delivery to get checked out. Scary! It was our first time in that section of the hospital and we were both pretty nervous about what was going on. They did a Fetal Fibronectin test, which checks to see if I'm at risk of having the baby preterm - the test was negative - GOOD THING! They also checked to make sure my cervix was closed - which it was - GOOD THING! (This is something Dr. Hodny was concerned about happening at the 30 week mark because of how low she is.) They also monitored her heart rate the entire time we were there, which was also steady and consistent - GOOD THING! She moved the entire time, reassuring us that she was just fine, which was much appreciated by both of us. Finally after a few hours of anxiously awaiting some news, the nurse said everything looked good and we could go home. No explanation for the spotting, but they didn't seem concerned. WHEW!
Remy, you are already making us a nervous mess and you're not even here yet! Please hang out for a few more months and cook. Even though we can't wait to meet you, we're not ready for you just yet... :)
In 24 weeks news, Remy is about the same size she was last week and is still being compared to a papaya. Not a whole lot of internal stuff going on right now, but it sounds like her skin is getting more opaque and is putting off a pink glow. :)
Happy New Year,
The Muirs
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
23 Weeks
The "bump" is getting bigger by the day and so is Little Miss Remy! At 23 weeks she is still around the size of a papaya. The weight and length are the same approximates as Week 22, so she is around 12 inches long and anywhere between 14 and 20 ounces. I can definitely tell everything is stretching and getting bigger... For the past few days it feels like she is sitting on my bladder and every time she kicks I can DEFINITELY feel it! haha
During this week Remy's face is fully formed, but still needs fat to fill it out. If she's anything like her mama, I'm sure she will have plenty of fat in her chunky cheeks by the time she makes her debut! :) She also continues to listen to my voice and my heartbeat. I should probably start playing some fun music for her to listen to! :)
My next check-up is on Tuesday, January 3rd. It seems like it's been a long time since I've been to see the doctor (almost 5 weeks - apparently the doctor's office gets crazy around the holiday) so I'm excited about finally getting in to see him. I still haven't gained much weight, but I can tell my belly is definitely getting bigger, so I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. I feel like I am starving all the time lately and seem to be eating more, so I'm sure I will have gained at least some weight at this check-up.
I called the hospital about child care classes but they told me to call back after January 1st. Hopefully we will be able to still get into the January classes, otherwise they are not offered again until March. I'm sure that still gives us plenty of time, but I would rather just get the classes over with and feel a little more prepared.
Here is the bump at 23 weeks! I am terrible at remembering to take photos each week, but I plan on getting better at it. Right now I really have no desire to see how big my stomach is each week, but I am sure someday I will wish I had these photos to look at and remember...
During this week Remy's face is fully formed, but still needs fat to fill it out. If she's anything like her mama, I'm sure she will have plenty of fat in her chunky cheeks by the time she makes her debut! :) She also continues to listen to my voice and my heartbeat. I should probably start playing some fun music for her to listen to! :)
My next check-up is on Tuesday, January 3rd. It seems like it's been a long time since I've been to see the doctor (almost 5 weeks - apparently the doctor's office gets crazy around the holiday) so I'm excited about finally getting in to see him. I still haven't gained much weight, but I can tell my belly is definitely getting bigger, so I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. I feel like I am starving all the time lately and seem to be eating more, so I'm sure I will have gained at least some weight at this check-up.
I called the hospital about child care classes but they told me to call back after January 1st. Hopefully we will be able to still get into the January classes, otherwise they are not offered again until March. I'm sure that still gives us plenty of time, but I would rather just get the classes over with and feel a little more prepared.
Here is the bump at 23 weeks! I am terrible at remembering to take photos each week, but I plan on getting better at it. Right now I really have no desire to see how big my stomach is each week, but I am sure someday I will wish I had these photos to look at and remember...
Merry Christmas
We hope you all had a very merry Christmas! We had such a great weekend spending time with both of our families. The festivities started on Friday, Mandy and her family came home that day and I had the day off, so I spent the afternoon with everybody. Unfortunately, Bryant had to work on Friday, but he was able to come to my parent's house after work, so we all had dinner together.
On Saturday - Christmas Eve, Bryant woke up early to go hunting with Verl. Whitney & her family pulled into town around lunch time, so we had lunch with the Muirs and then headed back out to my mom & dad's house for the afternoon. We had an early dinner and went to Christmas Eve Mass at my church in Damar with my family. After mass we ate (again) and then opened presents at my parents' house. Holy cow are we all spoiled! Santa brought Bryant a clay pigeon thrower and some tools and I got a diaper bag and some other goodies. Even Remy was spoiled that night, getting shoes, headbands, and a homemade hoodie towel that my mom sewed. I think the kids got everything they wanted and more...Hannah with her iPad 2, Alex with an iPod touch, Ethan with a PSP, and Jenna with a Barbie four-wheeler! After getting home at around 1:30am, Bryant & I changed into different pajamas, packed up our presents for Bryant's family, picked up Belly and headed to Ruthie & Verl's to stay the night, so that we could wake up there on Christmas morning.
On Sunday, Christmas morning we awoke to Lyla patiently waiting for us to get up so she could see what Santa brought her. She asked Santa for a pink bicycle and she must have been pretty good this year, because that is exactly what she got! She was so excited and had so much fun - we loved seeing how excited she was that Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk. Again, we were very spoiled - Bryant got a new gun safe that he has had his eye on ever since we moved home and I got LOTS of super cute maternity clothes. After opening presents we ate an awesome breakfast and then got ready to head to Grandma Shirlee's for lunch. At Shirlee's we were able to visit with the Muirs and open MORE presents! Here, Bryant got a new Norelco shaver and I got a fabric steamer! YEAAAAAA! :) I know I'm getting old when I get excited about fabric steamers... After lounging around all afternoon while Bryant & Shaun went hunting, we headed back out to my parents' house for supper. *This might have been the point where I decided that I wouldn't eat again for at least a week...
On Monday, we both had the day off. Bryant & Shaun went out hunting again and then we met up with everybody at the Bowling Alley for lunch - okay, okay, so I did eat again... :) After lunch Whitney, Shaun & Lyla packed up their presents and headed back to Kansas City. Mandy & her family came to see our house (they hadn't been there yet) and to see Remy's new room. After visiting for awhile we decided to head back out to mom & dad's for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we all went to Hill City to see Jamie & Jill's new house and to eat (yes, I said eat) AGAIN! :)
On Tuesday, Bryant & I both had to go back to work, and Mandy & Justin headed back to Kansas City. They decided to let Alex & Ethan stay at Grandma's for another week, so hopefully we will be able to see them at least a few more times before they head back home.
We are already looking forward to having another day off next week for New Year's! I'm not sure what our plans for New Year's Eve are yet, but I think we are both thinking something low-key...maybe dinner & a movie at home. :)
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year,
Bryant, Danielle, Remy & Belly
On Saturday - Christmas Eve, Bryant woke up early to go hunting with Verl. Whitney & her family pulled into town around lunch time, so we had lunch with the Muirs and then headed back out to my mom & dad's house for the afternoon. We had an early dinner and went to Christmas Eve Mass at my church in Damar with my family. After mass we ate (again) and then opened presents at my parents' house. Holy cow are we all spoiled! Santa brought Bryant a clay pigeon thrower and some tools and I got a diaper bag and some other goodies. Even Remy was spoiled that night, getting shoes, headbands, and a homemade hoodie towel that my mom sewed. I think the kids got everything they wanted and more...Hannah with her iPad 2, Alex with an iPod touch, Ethan with a PSP, and Jenna with a Barbie four-wheeler! After getting home at around 1:30am, Bryant & I changed into different pajamas, packed up our presents for Bryant's family, picked up Belly and headed to Ruthie & Verl's to stay the night, so that we could wake up there on Christmas morning.
On Sunday, Christmas morning we awoke to Lyla patiently waiting for us to get up so she could see what Santa brought her. She asked Santa for a pink bicycle and she must have been pretty good this year, because that is exactly what she got! She was so excited and had so much fun - we loved seeing how excited she was that Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk. Again, we were very spoiled - Bryant got a new gun safe that he has had his eye on ever since we moved home and I got LOTS of super cute maternity clothes. After opening presents we ate an awesome breakfast and then got ready to head to Grandma Shirlee's for lunch. At Shirlee's we were able to visit with the Muirs and open MORE presents! Here, Bryant got a new Norelco shaver and I got a fabric steamer! YEAAAAAA! :) I know I'm getting old when I get excited about fabric steamers... After lounging around all afternoon while Bryant & Shaun went hunting, we headed back out to my parents' house for supper. *This might have been the point where I decided that I wouldn't eat again for at least a week...
On Monday, we both had the day off. Bryant & Shaun went out hunting again and then we met up with everybody at the Bowling Alley for lunch - okay, okay, so I did eat again... :) After lunch Whitney, Shaun & Lyla packed up their presents and headed back to Kansas City. Mandy & her family came to see our house (they hadn't been there yet) and to see Remy's new room. After visiting for awhile we decided to head back out to mom & dad's for the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we all went to Hill City to see Jamie & Jill's new house and to eat (yes, I said eat) AGAIN! :)
On Tuesday, Bryant & I both had to go back to work, and Mandy & Justin headed back to Kansas City. They decided to let Alex & Ethan stay at Grandma's for another week, so hopefully we will be able to see them at least a few more times before they head back home.
We are already looking forward to having another day off next week for New Year's! I'm not sure what our plans for New Year's Eve are yet, but I think we are both thinking something low-key...maybe dinner & a movie at home. :)
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year,
Bryant, Danielle, Remy & Belly
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Difference a Year Makes – 1st Annual Post by Bryant
Oh my, what a year it’s been.
365 days ago, Danielle, Belly, and I were enjoying our blissful life in Eudora, KS. Danielle would be wrapping up her 2nd to last finals week and taking a much needed breather before beginning her last semester of law school in January. Belly was probably cozied up next to the fire or napping on the couch (as was I). Christmas was approaching quickly, and I had taken paid time off from my work as an insurance representative for Farmers Insurance for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We were looking forward to spending time in our hometowns of Stockton and Damar with our families and friends.
Fast forward to the present. Danielle, Belly, and I are now enjoying a blissful new life in Stockton, KS. We are awaiting the much anticipated arrival of the newest member of our family, our baby daughter Remy Elise. In the meantime, Danielle is working as the Assistant County Attorney in Rooks County, as well as doing private work at Hageman Law Office in Stockton. I took over the Branch Manager position at the Farmers National Bank in Stockton. Belly is now napping on a new couch in a new home in Stockton.
I suppose none of that is really news to anyone, so I’ll get to what this post is actually about: the journey from there to here.
After Christmas 2010 and the New Year celebration, it was back to work for me, however Danielle didn’t have to start her last semester until later in January. While she was out of school, we had a lot of fun. There were many nights spent at our favorite bar & grill, Set ‘em Up Jacks, in Lawrence, and many more nights spent enjoying a bottle of wine at our home. Even though I was back to work, January and most of February were not very busy times for me. Although I had an occasional frozen pipe claim or fire to adjust, for the most part I spent most of my time in the office or working from home, so I was able to get by on not a lot of sleep.
It was during these late nights that Danielle and I resumed discussing our future plans. With Danielle being a semester from graduating and starting her career, and me reaching a point where I thought it was time to move on from my current job, we began exploring our options. We had talked in the past of moving back home for several reasons. We both had graduated high school from Stockton, we had several friends still living there, it’s a nice small town to raise a family, and most importantly, both sets of our parents live in or near Stockton. In addition, we were tired of the hustle and bustle of the city and traveling on the highway every day commuting to work and school.
On the other hand, we each have sisters and their families living in Olathe that we got to see on a regular basis, and we would miss being able to see them whenever we wanted. We also had great friends living in the Kansas City area and hated the idea of moving away from them. We also wondered if the transition to a small town would be easy after getting use to the city and all of its conveniences and attractions.
I’m not sure when or if the decision was ever actually made to move back to Stockton, but everything began happening very quickly in the first quarter of 2011. We had talked to Ed Hageman about Danielle working with him at his law firm and eventually buying it out. We met a couple of times with Ed to discuss the details of the contract; however we still weren’t quite sure that we would move home. Our biggest concern was if I could find a suitable job and make enough of an income that we could support a family together. If we moved home, Danielle would get a guaranteed, but small, salary for the assistant county attorney position, but would be on her own to get clients for the private side of the business and we really just didn’t know what kind of income we would have.
In February, we had scheduled a short vacation to Las Vegas with Nathan & Julie Glendening. It was designed to be one last hurrah before we started families (and that’s exactly what it turned out to be). Vegas was great. It was a nice break from work, school, and the mounting pressure to figure out what we were going to do with our lives. Danielle and Nathan even had some success gambling. We played a lot of Blackjack and some Roulette. We ate an amazing dinner at the Top of the World Café at the Stratosphere. We went to Mystere, a Cirque de Soleil show and it was awesome. We drank ourselves silly and had a good time.
While in Vegas one day, I received a phone call from a head hunter. She had heard from a family friend in Stockton that I was interested in moving to NW Kansas and that they were looking to fill a position. I did not get any information other than that; however I was excited for a job prospect since they were few and far between in and around Stockton. I scheduled a call back to the head hunter after I returned to Kansas.
In December of 2010 I began experiencing lower back pain and shooting pains down my legs. I went to a Chiropractor and was popped right back into place and felt great. The fix was short lived however and I began to have nagging back pains off and on. I saw 2 more Doctors in the next couple of months and they told me I needed to stretch. Each time I tried to stretch, it was worse the next day. My back and leg problems continued through January and February all the while everything else was going on. Work was difficult and I was starting to think that I wouldn’t be able to play golf while in this shape.
It was just after my second Dr. appointment in February that I returned the call to the head hunter. She still did not give me a lot of information about the job but just wanted to know about my qualifications. After we spoke she set up phone interview with the prospective employer. She finally told me that it was Farmers National Bank and gave me some information about them. I did some research and found that the FNB main office was in Phillipsburg, and there were branch offices in Stockton, Logan, Agra, and Kensington.
In late February, I completed a phone interview with Farmers National and they invited me for a formal interview on March 11. Luckily, I had already taken that day off from work to celebrate 311 day with my friends, and it also happened to be during the Big XII basketball tournament, which was in Kansas City.
At this time, I was pretty good friends with my supervisor at Farmers Insurance. He had known for some time that I was planning on leaving by summer of 2011 because Danielle was graduating and we had talked about moving home. I didn’t keep any secrets from him and didn’t think I needed to. In addition, I began asking about workman’s comp because of my back issues. I don’t know for sure that my back injury was work related but since I was having a hard time working I thought it was worth looking into. Anyway I went into the office on the morning of Tuesday, March 8, 2011 and my “employment was terminated.” I was not given a reason for my dismissal and was told in the state of Kansas employment is at will and termination does not need a cause. This was less than 2 weeks from me receiving my 2010 bonus and just 3 days away from my interview. I don’t know if me planning on leaving, being injured, and about to receive a big bonus had anything to do with my termination, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anything else.
It was pouring rain that day. Having a company vehicle, they had scheduled a ride home in a Towncar. After cleaning out my personal items I was wished luck and on my way. I didn’t know what to think or do. Danielle would be home, not yet gone to class. I had been looking forward to quitting that job for 2 years and now I would never get the chance. I was embarrassed and humiliated.
Danielle was great. We drank champagne and celebrated the end of an unfulfilling job that I hated. I fielded calls from several co-workers, equally stunned as I was. We decided that we would keep this a secret and I would go to my interview as if I still had a job.
On Thursday, I went to KU’s Big XII tourney game at the Sprint Center with Shaun and then headed back to Stockton to prep for my interview the following day. Danielle was invited to the interview with me so we went together. I guess it’s a bank thing. Anyway, even with the added pressure of now needing a job, the interview went well. I did a good job of being humble while Danielle talked me up. I was told they would make their decision in a couple of weeks and I could expect to hear from them at that point.
After the weekend we headed back to Eudora so Danielle could continue school and I would just have to wait out the decision on my future. That week, another kid at Lyla’s daycare got sick, and since I all of a sudden had some free time, I decided to babysit her for a couple of days. After two days of carrying Lyla up and down the stairs at her house, my back was a wreck. By Sunday the following weekend, I couldn’t get out of bed. On Monday I went to a third doctor and finally convinced her to take x-rays. The x-rays came out negative/normal so she would not recommend an MRI. Again, she suggested that I try stretching.
The next day was even worse. After an hour and a half I was finally able to get out of bed and Danielle took me to the ER. By this time I was in excruciating pain and could not move at all. I received enough pain killers to get into the MRI machine and they found that I had a severely herniated disc. Finally, after 3 months of pain, we knew what was wrong and it was going to get fixed. I was scheduled for surgery the next day in Kansas City.
The surgery was outpatient and the surgeon thought it went as well as possible, even though it started about two hours late. Mom and Dad had driven up to be there which was nice, however by the time I got out and got home they could only stick around for a short while before the headed back. The recovery was to be 6 weeks. I spent a lot of time at home the first week playing XBox. The second week I began getting out and walking around. The back of my right leg all the way down to my heel had gone numb while in the MRI machine and the doctor told me it could take several months to a year for the feeling to come back. It still hasn’t.
The day after my surgery, I got a call from Farmers National and they offered me a job! Finally some good news. They told me that they would call me the following week to work out a contract and I thanked them. All of a sudden, our decision was made: we would be moving back to Stockton.
The next week FNB called and we worked on the terms of the contract and when I would start. Danielle wouldn’t be done with school until mid-May and I didn’t want to leave her too long before that, so I agreed to start at the beginning of May. This would give me about 5 weeks to recover and also to relax before jumping into another job.
It turned out that it also gave me plenty of time to prep our home to put on the market. Considering the housing market, we did not have high hopes for selling our home. We spoke to a realtor, however we found that with the diminished value of our home and me being unemployed, we couldn’t afford to use a realtor. We did pay a small fee for some online help from forsalebyowner.com, and Danielle went to work making a blog for our home, taking pictures, and getting the word out that our home was on the market. Meanwhile, up and down our block there were several other homes for sale and a couple of foreclosures as well.
Whenever we would get some interest in the home or someone wanted to look at it, I would take Belly for a ride while Danielle did some last minute cleaning and showed our house. We did this several times and had some mild interest. We watched as one couple that came and looked at our home on 4 separate occasions ended up buying a similar home 2 blocks over.
Meanwhile, we had heard of a nice home in Stockton going on the market. Although we had no hope of selling our home, we did get some interest in doing a rent to own contract. With the housing situation in Stockton being exactly opposite of everywhere else in the country (there’s really not many nice houses in Stockton, let alone any for sale), we went all in and put down an earnest payment on the home and decided to purchase it without ever seeing it. More on that later.
As April came to an end I was packing my bags and getting ready to move into my old bedroom at my parent’s house. The weather was getting nicer and we spent a lot of time in Lawrence on patios at some of our favorite places. We were making it a point to say goodbye to all of our friends and hang out with them all one last time. We threw a going away party at our house. Since we didn’t have anywhere to move our furniture anyway, we staged our home for showings, left a key in a lockbox on the front door, and went home on Sunday, May 1st. I would begin my new career the following day.
While my job was entirely new to me and I knew nothing about banking, it was pretty uneventful for the most part. Two weeks later, though, we returned to Kansas City to attend Danielle’s graduation on a Saturday and Lyla’s second birthday on Sunday. We stepped foot in our spotless, staged home for the first time in two weeks. After the graduation, we went into Kansas City where our friends John & Laura were throwing a party and we planned on crashing at their home and then going to Whit & Shaun’s the next morning.
We partied hard that night, not knowing when the next time might be that we would get to see and visit our friends in KC. The next morning we woke up in a hungover haze to Danielle’s phone ringing. I didn’t recognize the number and handed the phone to Danielle and said “It’s someone that wants to buy our house.” She answered as I went to the bathroom to clean up. When I came out she informed me that someone did indeed want to come look at our house – in two hours. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but we didn’t exactly leave it ready to show the day before. We said our goodbyes to everyone and raced 45 minutes home to clean up and leave the house before the potential buyer showed up. We didn’t feel good and we ended up being late to Lyla’s birthday party, but it was all worth it. In just over two months, we had sold our house, and the best part was that we weren’t closing until the end of June, so we had plenty of time to move all of our furniture into our new home.
We took ownership of our new home on June 11th. Two days later, Mandy had her third child, a baby boy named Eli. We had moved out of the old home the weekend before, and now frantically spent the week trying to get settled so we could go back to KC the next weekend to meet our new nephew. After that the rest of summer flew by.
Danielle spent most of the summer studying for the bar exam and I soaked up the sun when I wasn’t learning my new trade. Danielle took the bar at the end of July and then we spent our first anniversary attending an Ostmeyer family reunion in Estes Park, CO.
In August, we went to St. Louis to attend Grant & Emily Burchfield’s wedding. Right before we left Stockton to head to St. Louis, Danielle informed me that she was pregnant. We were incredibly excited about it but couldn’t really talk about it because Danielle’s little sister Hannah was riding with us to spend the weekend in Kansas City. The week after we returned was the Rooks County Free Fair in Stockton. We decided we couldn’t keep a secret and decided to go ahead and share the news.
In September our friends John & Laura Schmidt along with their son Jude came to visit during Labor Day Weekend and we tried to show them a good country time. We spent a week in Florida with my parents and Whitney, Shaun, and Lyla and had a lot of fun relaxing on the beach and eating a lot of seafood.
October flew by in a blur. We met my parents in Hays for dinner on their 36th anniversary. We attended Goblins Glory and a Halloween Party at the Hilbrinks. November went even faster. I got some pheasant and quail hunting in with my dad and then we spent Thanksgiving with Danielle’s family.
Now here we are less than a week from Christmas. I am at my happiest point in my life. I’ve been blessed in so many ways. Back in April I was rehabbing my back and waiting to start my new job in Stockton. I was doing a lot of waiting at that time. Danielle and I knew exactly what we wanted. We had worked hard for several years to get to where we were and to have the opportunity that lay ahead of us. But we had to wait. We had to wait for Danielle to finish school, graduate, and pass the bar exam. We had to wait on my back to heal, wait to start my job, wait to sell our house, and wait to move into the new house. We had to wait until the time was right to start working on a family.
Well now the waiting is done and I feel like we are living the life we were meant to live. The life we have been working toward. And the best part is that I’m doing it with my best friend and my love.
Merry Christmas to all and may everyone be as blessed and lucky as me.
-Bryant
365 days ago, Danielle, Belly, and I were enjoying our blissful life in Eudora, KS. Danielle would be wrapping up her 2nd to last finals week and taking a much needed breather before beginning her last semester of law school in January. Belly was probably cozied up next to the fire or napping on the couch (as was I). Christmas was approaching quickly, and I had taken paid time off from my work as an insurance representative for Farmers Insurance for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We were looking forward to spending time in our hometowns of Stockton and Damar with our families and friends.
Fast forward to the present. Danielle, Belly, and I are now enjoying a blissful new life in Stockton, KS. We are awaiting the much anticipated arrival of the newest member of our family, our baby daughter Remy Elise. In the meantime, Danielle is working as the Assistant County Attorney in Rooks County, as well as doing private work at Hageman Law Office in Stockton. I took over the Branch Manager position at the Farmers National Bank in Stockton. Belly is now napping on a new couch in a new home in Stockton.
I suppose none of that is really news to anyone, so I’ll get to what this post is actually about: the journey from there to here.
After Christmas 2010 and the New Year celebration, it was back to work for me, however Danielle didn’t have to start her last semester until later in January. While she was out of school, we had a lot of fun. There were many nights spent at our favorite bar & grill, Set ‘em Up Jacks, in Lawrence, and many more nights spent enjoying a bottle of wine at our home. Even though I was back to work, January and most of February were not very busy times for me. Although I had an occasional frozen pipe claim or fire to adjust, for the most part I spent most of my time in the office or working from home, so I was able to get by on not a lot of sleep.
It was during these late nights that Danielle and I resumed discussing our future plans. With Danielle being a semester from graduating and starting her career, and me reaching a point where I thought it was time to move on from my current job, we began exploring our options. We had talked in the past of moving back home for several reasons. We both had graduated high school from Stockton, we had several friends still living there, it’s a nice small town to raise a family, and most importantly, both sets of our parents live in or near Stockton. In addition, we were tired of the hustle and bustle of the city and traveling on the highway every day commuting to work and school.
On the other hand, we each have sisters and their families living in Olathe that we got to see on a regular basis, and we would miss being able to see them whenever we wanted. We also had great friends living in the Kansas City area and hated the idea of moving away from them. We also wondered if the transition to a small town would be easy after getting use to the city and all of its conveniences and attractions.
I’m not sure when or if the decision was ever actually made to move back to Stockton, but everything began happening very quickly in the first quarter of 2011. We had talked to Ed Hageman about Danielle working with him at his law firm and eventually buying it out. We met a couple of times with Ed to discuss the details of the contract; however we still weren’t quite sure that we would move home. Our biggest concern was if I could find a suitable job and make enough of an income that we could support a family together. If we moved home, Danielle would get a guaranteed, but small, salary for the assistant county attorney position, but would be on her own to get clients for the private side of the business and we really just didn’t know what kind of income we would have.
In February, we had scheduled a short vacation to Las Vegas with Nathan & Julie Glendening. It was designed to be one last hurrah before we started families (and that’s exactly what it turned out to be). Vegas was great. It was a nice break from work, school, and the mounting pressure to figure out what we were going to do with our lives. Danielle and Nathan even had some success gambling. We played a lot of Blackjack and some Roulette. We ate an amazing dinner at the Top of the World Café at the Stratosphere. We went to Mystere, a Cirque de Soleil show and it was awesome. We drank ourselves silly and had a good time.
While in Vegas one day, I received a phone call from a head hunter. She had heard from a family friend in Stockton that I was interested in moving to NW Kansas and that they were looking to fill a position. I did not get any information other than that; however I was excited for a job prospect since they were few and far between in and around Stockton. I scheduled a call back to the head hunter after I returned to Kansas.
In December of 2010 I began experiencing lower back pain and shooting pains down my legs. I went to a Chiropractor and was popped right back into place and felt great. The fix was short lived however and I began to have nagging back pains off and on. I saw 2 more Doctors in the next couple of months and they told me I needed to stretch. Each time I tried to stretch, it was worse the next day. My back and leg problems continued through January and February all the while everything else was going on. Work was difficult and I was starting to think that I wouldn’t be able to play golf while in this shape.
It was just after my second Dr. appointment in February that I returned the call to the head hunter. She still did not give me a lot of information about the job but just wanted to know about my qualifications. After we spoke she set up phone interview with the prospective employer. She finally told me that it was Farmers National Bank and gave me some information about them. I did some research and found that the FNB main office was in Phillipsburg, and there were branch offices in Stockton, Logan, Agra, and Kensington.
In late February, I completed a phone interview with Farmers National and they invited me for a formal interview on March 11. Luckily, I had already taken that day off from work to celebrate 311 day with my friends, and it also happened to be during the Big XII basketball tournament, which was in Kansas City.
At this time, I was pretty good friends with my supervisor at Farmers Insurance. He had known for some time that I was planning on leaving by summer of 2011 because Danielle was graduating and we had talked about moving home. I didn’t keep any secrets from him and didn’t think I needed to. In addition, I began asking about workman’s comp because of my back issues. I don’t know for sure that my back injury was work related but since I was having a hard time working I thought it was worth looking into. Anyway I went into the office on the morning of Tuesday, March 8, 2011 and my “employment was terminated.” I was not given a reason for my dismissal and was told in the state of Kansas employment is at will and termination does not need a cause. This was less than 2 weeks from me receiving my 2010 bonus and just 3 days away from my interview. I don’t know if me planning on leaving, being injured, and about to receive a big bonus had anything to do with my termination, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anything else.
It was pouring rain that day. Having a company vehicle, they had scheduled a ride home in a Towncar. After cleaning out my personal items I was wished luck and on my way. I didn’t know what to think or do. Danielle would be home, not yet gone to class. I had been looking forward to quitting that job for 2 years and now I would never get the chance. I was embarrassed and humiliated.
Danielle was great. We drank champagne and celebrated the end of an unfulfilling job that I hated. I fielded calls from several co-workers, equally stunned as I was. We decided that we would keep this a secret and I would go to my interview as if I still had a job.
On Thursday, I went to KU’s Big XII tourney game at the Sprint Center with Shaun and then headed back to Stockton to prep for my interview the following day. Danielle was invited to the interview with me so we went together. I guess it’s a bank thing. Anyway, even with the added pressure of now needing a job, the interview went well. I did a good job of being humble while Danielle talked me up. I was told they would make their decision in a couple of weeks and I could expect to hear from them at that point.
After the weekend we headed back to Eudora so Danielle could continue school and I would just have to wait out the decision on my future. That week, another kid at Lyla’s daycare got sick, and since I all of a sudden had some free time, I decided to babysit her for a couple of days. After two days of carrying Lyla up and down the stairs at her house, my back was a wreck. By Sunday the following weekend, I couldn’t get out of bed. On Monday I went to a third doctor and finally convinced her to take x-rays. The x-rays came out negative/normal so she would not recommend an MRI. Again, she suggested that I try stretching.
The next day was even worse. After an hour and a half I was finally able to get out of bed and Danielle took me to the ER. By this time I was in excruciating pain and could not move at all. I received enough pain killers to get into the MRI machine and they found that I had a severely herniated disc. Finally, after 3 months of pain, we knew what was wrong and it was going to get fixed. I was scheduled for surgery the next day in Kansas City.
The surgery was outpatient and the surgeon thought it went as well as possible, even though it started about two hours late. Mom and Dad had driven up to be there which was nice, however by the time I got out and got home they could only stick around for a short while before the headed back. The recovery was to be 6 weeks. I spent a lot of time at home the first week playing XBox. The second week I began getting out and walking around. The back of my right leg all the way down to my heel had gone numb while in the MRI machine and the doctor told me it could take several months to a year for the feeling to come back. It still hasn’t.
The day after my surgery, I got a call from Farmers National and they offered me a job! Finally some good news. They told me that they would call me the following week to work out a contract and I thanked them. All of a sudden, our decision was made: we would be moving back to Stockton.
The next week FNB called and we worked on the terms of the contract and when I would start. Danielle wouldn’t be done with school until mid-May and I didn’t want to leave her too long before that, so I agreed to start at the beginning of May. This would give me about 5 weeks to recover and also to relax before jumping into another job.
It turned out that it also gave me plenty of time to prep our home to put on the market. Considering the housing market, we did not have high hopes for selling our home. We spoke to a realtor, however we found that with the diminished value of our home and me being unemployed, we couldn’t afford to use a realtor. We did pay a small fee for some online help from forsalebyowner.com, and Danielle went to work making a blog for our home, taking pictures, and getting the word out that our home was on the market. Meanwhile, up and down our block there were several other homes for sale and a couple of foreclosures as well.
Whenever we would get some interest in the home or someone wanted to look at it, I would take Belly for a ride while Danielle did some last minute cleaning and showed our house. We did this several times and had some mild interest. We watched as one couple that came and looked at our home on 4 separate occasions ended up buying a similar home 2 blocks over.
Meanwhile, we had heard of a nice home in Stockton going on the market. Although we had no hope of selling our home, we did get some interest in doing a rent to own contract. With the housing situation in Stockton being exactly opposite of everywhere else in the country (there’s really not many nice houses in Stockton, let alone any for sale), we went all in and put down an earnest payment on the home and decided to purchase it without ever seeing it. More on that later.
As April came to an end I was packing my bags and getting ready to move into my old bedroom at my parent’s house. The weather was getting nicer and we spent a lot of time in Lawrence on patios at some of our favorite places. We were making it a point to say goodbye to all of our friends and hang out with them all one last time. We threw a going away party at our house. Since we didn’t have anywhere to move our furniture anyway, we staged our home for showings, left a key in a lockbox on the front door, and went home on Sunday, May 1st. I would begin my new career the following day.
While my job was entirely new to me and I knew nothing about banking, it was pretty uneventful for the most part. Two weeks later, though, we returned to Kansas City to attend Danielle’s graduation on a Saturday and Lyla’s second birthday on Sunday. We stepped foot in our spotless, staged home for the first time in two weeks. After the graduation, we went into Kansas City where our friends John & Laura were throwing a party and we planned on crashing at their home and then going to Whit & Shaun’s the next morning.
We partied hard that night, not knowing when the next time might be that we would get to see and visit our friends in KC. The next morning we woke up in a hungover haze to Danielle’s phone ringing. I didn’t recognize the number and handed the phone to Danielle and said “It’s someone that wants to buy our house.” She answered as I went to the bathroom to clean up. When I came out she informed me that someone did indeed want to come look at our house – in two hours. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but we didn’t exactly leave it ready to show the day before. We said our goodbyes to everyone and raced 45 minutes home to clean up and leave the house before the potential buyer showed up. We didn’t feel good and we ended up being late to Lyla’s birthday party, but it was all worth it. In just over two months, we had sold our house, and the best part was that we weren’t closing until the end of June, so we had plenty of time to move all of our furniture into our new home.
We took ownership of our new home on June 11th. Two days later, Mandy had her third child, a baby boy named Eli. We had moved out of the old home the weekend before, and now frantically spent the week trying to get settled so we could go back to KC the next weekend to meet our new nephew. After that the rest of summer flew by.
Danielle spent most of the summer studying for the bar exam and I soaked up the sun when I wasn’t learning my new trade. Danielle took the bar at the end of July and then we spent our first anniversary attending an Ostmeyer family reunion in Estes Park, CO.
In August, we went to St. Louis to attend Grant & Emily Burchfield’s wedding. Right before we left Stockton to head to St. Louis, Danielle informed me that she was pregnant. We were incredibly excited about it but couldn’t really talk about it because Danielle’s little sister Hannah was riding with us to spend the weekend in Kansas City. The week after we returned was the Rooks County Free Fair in Stockton. We decided we couldn’t keep a secret and decided to go ahead and share the news.
In September our friends John & Laura Schmidt along with their son Jude came to visit during Labor Day Weekend and we tried to show them a good country time. We spent a week in Florida with my parents and Whitney, Shaun, and Lyla and had a lot of fun relaxing on the beach and eating a lot of seafood.
October flew by in a blur. We met my parents in Hays for dinner on their 36th anniversary. We attended Goblins Glory and a Halloween Party at the Hilbrinks. November went even faster. I got some pheasant and quail hunting in with my dad and then we spent Thanksgiving with Danielle’s family.
Now here we are less than a week from Christmas. I am at my happiest point in my life. I’ve been blessed in so many ways. Back in April I was rehabbing my back and waiting to start my new job in Stockton. I was doing a lot of waiting at that time. Danielle and I knew exactly what we wanted. We had worked hard for several years to get to where we were and to have the opportunity that lay ahead of us. But we had to wait. We had to wait for Danielle to finish school, graduate, and pass the bar exam. We had to wait on my back to heal, wait to start my job, wait to sell our house, and wait to move into the new house. We had to wait until the time was right to start working on a family.
Well now the waiting is done and I feel like we are living the life we were meant to live. The life we have been working toward. And the best part is that I’m doing it with my best friend and my love.
Merry Christmas to all and may everyone be as blessed and lucky as me.
-Bryant
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