Snoozing

We try to catch as much shut eye as possible when Mitchell is sleeping. He's pretty good about sleeping contently in his cradle in our hospital room most of the time, but sometimes he gets fussy and just wants to cuddle. Jacob and I don't mind that too much :)

Growing Stronger!

Although he is still technically a NICU patient, he's doing so well that they're allowing him to board in our hospital room with us rather than in the NICU. We are loving it! We're getting to spend LOTS more time with him. Click on the play button under the box below to see a little video. If it doesn't work the first time, try hitting play again.

Welcoming the newest Folks

Jacob's dad (David) and stepmom (Diane) had planned to come visit Mitchell about a week after my due date...however because he was a week late, they actually arrived on his birthday! Jacob's siblings - Skyler, Connor and Katy - also visited, but none of them were able to spend as much time with Mitchell as they had hoped since we spent their whole visit in the hospital. :( We'll be visiting them in Maine for the 4th of July - hard to believe Mitchell will be 6 months old by then! Think that's too early to start training him to water ski on their lake? :)

Daddy's Little Buddy

Here is a video of Jacob and Mitchell. He is definitely his dad's buddy. I have come to expect little smirks from Jacob in the instances where I have trouble calming Mitchell down and he quiets right away when I finally give in and pass him over to Jacob. The opposite is definitely true sometimes too though, but I try not to return the smirk :) We are getting to know him more and more everyday.

(Taken 12/29/07 at 11AM - 37 hours old)

My first cuddle with Mitchell

The above picture of Mitchell and I was taken the first time I really got to hold him (except the extremely short stint right after delivery.) I know we are biased, but Jacob and I think he is so damn cute!!!


Below is a video of Mitchell - taken 9:30am the morning of 12/28. He was about 12 hours old. This was really the first time we got to hang out with him because he struggled a bit on the way out and ended up with some fluid in his lungs, so they wisked him away to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit right after delivery. We did get to go up and see him around 2am on 12/28, but I was so exhausted that I didn't get much out of the visit. Although NICU sounds serious, the main reason he's in there is because they have him on a 7 day course of antibiotics, so that means that we don't get to bring him home until they are done (which should be Thursday). If it weren't for the antibiotics we'd be headed home b/c he is doing REALLY well. Jacob and I are staying in the hospital with him, so it'll a week long hospital stay, which is much longer than we anticipated, but you can't always plan these things!

After much anticipation, he's finally here!

Mitchell Ryan Folks was born on Thursday, December 27 at 9:57pm. He is 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. His first name is obviously my maiden name, but spelled what most people would consider to be the "correct" way. We tossed around the idea of spelling it Michel....but I just couldn't subject the little guy to being called Michael?, Mikehl?, Michelle?, Mickel?, etc...

We're are all doing well!

A picture of the little guy is attached-- we think he's a keeper :)

Last Pregnancy Picture

This picture was taken right before heading to the hospital - the snowy evening of December 26th, 2007. We dropped Tex off at my Dad's and our car got stuck in his driveway! We were worried that we might not make it to the hospital at all! Jacob made fun of me because my first reaction was to get out of the car and push it from behind. He said "Mandi, we're on our way to the hospital to have a baby. You're not going to push a car out of snow drift!" After a little manuevering on Jacob's part, we finally made it out of the driveway and to the hospital. Come to find out...maybe I could've used some practice pushing afterall :)

40 Weeks

Another picture of me at 40 weeks. Measuring normal...right along where I should be. He's moving all over the place now too. Not just cute little kicks now and then....it's like waves of arms and legs. Such a weird, but cool feeling. I really think I'm going to miss not being pregnant, as weird as that sounds. I never really thought I'd say that. I think it's just so neat to grow a human inside you...gives my life more of a "purpose". Corny, I know! I guess my purpose will be defined as taking care of the little guy once he's here though.

Almost there!

Well here we are at about 40 weeks - we made it!!! Hopefully I won't look like this much longer, we're expecting his arrival any day now. It's kind of ironic that we wrapped my tummy up in a bow in the picture because that might be one of my biggest complaints about being pregnany...cutesy maternity clothes!!! It seems like every single maternity shirt has a bow somewhere on it...do designers think pregnant women need to be wrapped up like dang presents for 9 months? : )

Thanksgiving 2007

Here is a picture of the Apollo "kids" and significant others at Thanksgiving. It's about time we have a new generation of "kids" since obvioulsy we're all a little old to be in that category anymore :) Kelli & Mark, and Mom & David made the trip down from Wisconsin. Uncle Logan & Aunt Teresa and Jessica & Matt made the trip up from Fredonia. Monica & Corey drove across town from Prairie Village. Erica came up from Wichita. We had a great time eating and laughing and catching up with one another. Exactly what Thanksgiving family gatherings are intended for! :)

(Pregnancy tracker - 37 weeks or a little over 8 months)

36 Weeks...and counting!

Yet another picture of my growing belly at 36 weeks - or 8 months along. Only one month left! We're hoping this belly has a little Christmas present inside...but we'll just have to see if he chooses to come in time. Still feeling great - just biding the time 'til the little guy arrives.

Our Couple's Shower

We had a couple's shower at Jill's on November 3rd. It was a great gathering of current and old work friends, and Jacob's parents made the trip from Tulsa up for the event too (and to help us celebrate Jacob's birthday too, which was the day before!) They all pooled $ together bought us some of our bigger items, including our stroller! I couldn't believe it. We SERIOUSLY are barely going to have to buy anything. I can't believe how much people have spoiled us. It makes me feel bad b/c I know that we could've afforded to buy a lot more than we ended up having to. I still have a big gift card to use, and I don't even know what to use it on!!!! I'm sure the list of things we'll need after he's here will keep growing, so we'll probably just save it. The generousity of our friends and family has totally amazed me! We are so lucky!

Dad's Re-Birthday

My dad had an emergency triple bypass! He has been experiencing heart pains for MONTHS, maybe even years now, but the doctor's have always attributed it to heartburn related to his digestive tract. He finally went to see a cardiologist and was scheduled for a procedure the very next day (Thursday, October 25) where they pump a colored dye into his heart to test the severity the blockage. Good news is that they found the source of his heart pains...bad news is that he had an emergency triple bypass. Two of his arteries were 80% blocked and a third was 99% blocked! The doctor said it was a wonder that he hadn't had a heart attack yet! The entire ordeal was a little unexpected and scary, but couldn't have had a better outcome. After five days in the hospital, he was released to come home and is well on his way to a full recovery. He feels like he has a new lease on life. The best news is that he hasn't smoked since the day he went into the surgery....which is a bad habit he's had for over 40 years! I guess he's taking this new lease on life seriously :)





His health is so much better following the surgery than it was before.  The below picture was taken 2 months before the surgery and now that I look back at the picture, I think he looks sickly :(.  We now refer to this scary surgery day as his "Re-Birthday" he feels born again!  His better health allows him to do so many things that he could never do before!  We are so thankful for the successful surgery!

Jacob's 1st Half Marathon

Jacob completed the Kansas City Half Marathon in October! Here is a picture of him (in the orange) chugging towards the finish line....actually it looks more like he's floating! :) If you were to ask him, he'd claim that he trained to be able to run 13 miles in a little over 2 hours...however I would disagree! He somehow managed this magnificent feat with barely any training at all! He amazed me! He was literally barely even sweating at the finish line. Unbelievable! I think I solidly gained all of the weight that he lost :)

2nd Wedding Anniversary

This is a picture of me on our 2nd wedding anniversary - September 24, 2007. I'm about 27 weeks pregnant or 6 months. I'm finally starting to get a belly, but am still kind of in that "is she just gaining weight or is she really pregnant" stage. Yeah, it's wonderful (that has a hint of sarcasm). I started to feel him move around right around 20 weeks, which is the weirdest, coolest feeling! I can almost set a clock by the times of day when he's the most active 6:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:30pm. Doctors says all is well...just counting down the remaining months now!

Vancouver

Over labor day weekend, Jacob and I took a trip to Vancouver. What a beautiful city!!!! We really enjoyed the long weekend spent wondering the town and enjoying the scenery. We even rented a tandem bike for one of the days and rode around the city & large local park. We ate lots of seafood! It was one of the more relaxing, fun vacations we've had for a while.

(Pregnancy tracker 24 weeks or 5 1/2 months)

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We just found out today that we're having a BOY and couldn't be more excited! You know what they say....now we only have to be worried about one boy in town rather than if we had a girl, we'd have to be worried about ALL of the boys in town! Ha - just kidding!

Philadelphia for the Fourth

We took a trip to Philadelphia for 4th of July to visit Jacob's brother's family for the holiday weekend. This is a picture of us taken in front of the Liberty Bell. The rest of Jacob's family made the trip too....so it was quite a house full! We had a great time catching up with everyone and seeing some of the sites of the town!

(Pregnancy tracker - 16 weeks or 3 1/2 months)

Jacob had to pretend to be Rocky and climb the historic staircase!

Grand Canyon Hiking

In May 2007, we took a trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with Brent & Emily Beller and Matt & Michelle Hoppe. We stayed at The Palms in Las Vegas for 2 nights, 1 night in a hotel at the top of the Grand Canyon and camped inside the canyon for one night. We returned to Vegas for one night and stayed at MGM Grand.

We also got to share the exciting news that we were expecting our first baby. Yes, Mandi hiked the Grand Canyon 10 weeks pregnant...and was probably one of the only sober people in Vegas! :)

We hiked the Bright Angel trail 10 miles down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon. Our campsite was 5 miles down into the Canyon.

The long hike called for a trip to In-N-Out Burger :)

Kelli graduated!!!!

Jacob, I and my dad and even a few of our other family members travelled to Minneapolis to attend her graduation from the University of Minnesota in May. My mom and David threw her a big graduation bonfire party at their house in Prescott. There were tons of people there to help her celebrate. We're so proud of her! She may not have taken the most direct or traditional route, but she's got a degree none the less. Let the job hunt begin! (Here is a picture of Kel and her boyfriend, Mark.)

BIG Announcement!

The Folks family is expanding...and so is my waistline :) This picture was taken the day we found out that we're expecting a baby this winter. We're both excited and a little nervous... We're still going back and forth on whether we will find out the sex in July or not. We'll probably cave :) I hope this doesn't jinx me, but so far I've been feeling great. No big side-effects yet...but I'm sure they're soon to appear.

Royal's Opening Day

We hosted our annual Royal's Opening Day party again this year.  We invited 65 of our closest friends from work :)  It is an annual tradition and one that everyone very much so looks forward to!  My dad offered to drive a group of us to the stadium in his RV.  The keg came along for the ride too and made for some interesting times....fun memories for sure!

Sunny Cali

Jacob and I planned a "post-busy season" trip to California in late spring. We spent a few days in San Diego and then drove up the coast to L.A. Although we enjoyed our visit to Hollywood, I think we liked San Diego better than L.A. Jacob convinced me that no trip to San Diego is complete without a trip to Tiajuana. I'm thinking we could've done without that experience....but none the less it was an experience!!! While standing in line to get back into the States, we saw them let a group of mexicans out of jail that had previously been arrested for trying to sneak across the border. They were returning all of their belongings, including their shoelaces and belts. Overall the trip was a great way to unwind, relax and reconnect after a few months spent apart. We had a great time!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe it's already 2007! We rung in the new year with about 30 friends at the Martini corner party. It was a blast. The only downfall with it being January is that busy season officially kicks off. It'll be a busy couple of months, but we've got a vacation scheduled for mid-March.