She's finally here!!!

Well, we started this entry 4 days ago and are just now getting around to posting it! A sweet little girl keeps calling on us!!!! She's already changed so much since the following pictures were taken so we'll have to post another entry soon with more pics!

Katelyn was born at 11:04am on June 24th after giving her momma an easy labor! We were supposed to be induced that morning but when we got in the car at 5:00am to head to the hospital I was already experiencing contractions five minutes apart on my own! I was already dilated 7-8cm when we arrived so Katelyn was ready to make her grand entrance :)

Check out her debut picture here!

It's been more than a week since Katelyn was born but we already can't imagine our lives without her! She is the sweetest, most precious little thing and we can't get enough of her!!! When we're not feeding, changing or holding her you might find us just staring at her. We could watch her all day long and not get bored!

We are thrilled to be parents and can't even describe the love we have for our little baby girl! Here are some pics from the past week...

My tummy at 5:00am on June 24th!

Me and Uncle Ryan, just before the big event!

Me and Timmy, anxiously awaiting!!

She's here!!

Proud Papa!

Our little bundle!!

Nana and Katelyn!


Grammie and Katelyn

Tim helps give her first bath :)

Granddaddy Marc and K-Pie

Uncle Ryan, Timmy and Katelyn

A proud Uncle :)

Lindsey, Katelyn and an excited Grandpa!

Yes, the stork made an appearance at the hospital!

Check out her hair...Lindsey spiked it!




squishy face :)

Katelyn hanging out on her handmade blanket from Tina

It's The Final Countdown

Ok, who just started singing Europe's The Final Countdown...Sorry :)

As of Tuesday, I am 5cm dilated and 70% effaced. I'm having a lot of the "practice" Braxton Hicks contractions, but none of the real ones. I'm told I will know the difference!! :) If Katelyn doesn't come before Tuesday then we have an appointment to show up at the hospital that morning at 5:30am to have our "coming out" party. So, we'll all get to meet this little girl by next Tuesday!! YAY! Oh, and sorry to disappoint all you folks who predicted Katelyn's arrival with the full moon last night! She's being a stubborn little thing :)

Cutest little...

Bathing suit EVER...'Nuff said!

Sorry Aubie :)

Are You Nesting???!!!

I can't even tell you how many times in the past couple of weeks Tim has asked me with pure excitement, "are you nesting?!!"

One of the last things to happen right before you go into labor is for you to nest, aka, have an uncontrollable urge to clean the house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.

Every time I pick up the sponge or sweep the floor or vacuum the carpet Tim gives me the "are you nesting" look. He stops dead in his footsteps as if he's deliberating between rushing me to the hospital because "this is it!" or to continue with what he was doing. He wants me to nest so badly he can hardly stand it! And I want to nest so badly I can hardly stand it...so maybe the next time he asks me I can say "YES, for the love of God, I'm nesting!!"

It's gotten to be a joke between us these days because I really have been in a "cleaning mode". It just cracks me up to see the excitement in Tim's face when he walks through a room and sees me cleaning because I know exactly what he's thinking...He can't wait to meet our little girl!

Any Day Now

Just a quick little update. We went to the doctor on Tuesday for our 37 week checkup and I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced...so the doc thinks Katelyn will show up sometime in the next week!!! BUT, if she hides out for much longer than that we are going to induce on June 24th! We asked the doctor if KP has dropped yet and she said, "Yes, but she's still very high because she's so big!" That's our girl!!


It's a little nerve wracking knowing she could come at any moment now and my water could break at any given time. Will I be alone? With Timmer (yes please!)? With friends? With co-workers? With strangers (ack!)??!! Where will I be? At work? At home? At Costso? At the drive-through at Wendy's? Will it be a gush or a trickle? I am always looking for signs of my water breaking...every little twitch, kick or tingle is a "sign" and "I just know is my water breaking!" I obviously don't have mother's intuition yet because I was convinced that my water was going to break last night, but it didn't. Katelyn kept kicking my bladder so I thought she was signaling to me that she was on her way! Guess not.


We finally decided on a middle name...Katelyn Elise McMicken. We really love the name and are relieved that we have that taken care of :)


I guess we don't really have anything else to report as of now...but we'll keep you updated on any exciting happenings.

Signs of Baby

After three AWESOME baby showers (have we ever mentioned that we are spoiled rotten by our friends and family?!!) we feel like we are finally ready for our little bundle of joy to arrive! There are signs of baby all over our house!

Here's a bouncer in our great room.


And a Boppy play mat in our great room (next to the Guitar Hero guitar)


Here's our stroller in our dining room.


And our cradle swing next to the kitchen.

We have finished putting Katelyn's nursery together and have washed every single piece of baby clothing and linen we have...it took us 7 loads of laundry but we're clean and ready! Phew!

All washed and organized! What a feeling of accomplishment!

Bookshelf with lots of books and burp cloths!

Our changer is stocked and ready for diaper duty!


Here's her crib with lots of toys and mirrors hung!


All that's missing is a baby!


Please ignore the mismatched curtains! We ordered the valances from two different vendors and apparently different manufacturers can use the same pattern but different fabrics and sewing styles...urrrrrggggg!

There are also major signs of baby in my tummy!!! I got my first, "Man, you look ready to pop" comment the other day! :)

36 weeks!

After asking several friends and co-workers to recommend a pediatrician, we finally picked one out! Every single person we asked suggested the same pediatric group, so the decision was easy! Tim already filled out all our paperwork so we are officially ready to go...YAY!

In other exciting news...We went in for our 36 week checkup today and my blood pressure was perfect...AND I am dilated 3 centimeters already and Katelyn is head down! Our doctor was THRILLED. After examining Katelyn, the doc still thinks she is going to be 8.5-9 pounds (I'll believe that when I see her!)!!! She said I have a very good chance of having spontaneous labor in the coming weeks but if I don't, she would like to induce on June 25th!!! Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy!!


At first I thought I just wanted nature to take its course and deliver Katelyn when she is ready to make her grand entrance. But the more I think about it the more I think I might follow the doctors suggestions and induce a week early...to reduce damage from delivering such a large baby! We're going to play it by ear at each weeks check-up. Tim says he'll support any decision I make!


I think that about highlights all the goings on of the last couple of weeks. We've been busy preparing the house and taking parenting classes so we haven't had much down time. But we're getting excited for the BIG day!