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!

The Overnight Bag(s) (s) (s)

As I was packing my overnight bag last night I felt like I was packing for a weeklong vacation for me, Tim and Katelyn. According to the literature I have read and the “must haves for overnight bag” lists I have found on the Internet, apparently one cannot survive the two-day hospital stay without the following:

• Robe
• 2 front-buttoning nightgowns
• Warm socks
• 4-5 pairs of underwear
• Bra
• Nursing Bra
• Nursing Pads
• Toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant
• Hairbrush and hair ties
• Change for vending machine
• 2 Pillows – one for me and one for Tim
• Slippers
• Going home outfit for me
• Camera with extra batteries
• Important phone numbers
• Insurance card
• Water bottles
• Cell phone charger
• Spare blanket for Tim (apparently hospitals won’t provide them for spouses)
• Change of clothes for Tim
• Snacks for Tim – I thought that’s what the change was for?!!
• Portable DVD player
• Three diapers for KP
• Baby wipes
• Undershirt for KP
• Nightgown and socks for KP
• Receiving blanket
• Going home outfit for KP

All of my "necessities"

Items me and Tim can't live without!

Tim's overnight loot!

Katelyn's overnight stuff...how cute...and PINK!

And, since it was such a short list of “must haves” I thought I’d pack a few extra “necessities” for myself:

• Hair Dryer – Anyone who knows me knows I can’t go a day without it!!
• Flat iron – Ditto on the flat iron!
• Magazines – “O” Magazine, Us Weekly, Glamour, etc.
• A couple going home outfits to choose from…ya never know what I’ll feel like wearing the day we go home!
• Make-up – I don’t want to scare KP when she looks into my eyes for the very first time
• Sound Machine – Since there isn’t going to be much “background” noise…HA!

All three of our overnight necessities

After I gathered all the necessities, it was apparent that not one, not two, but THREE overnight bags would be required for my 2 night stay! Look out Huntsville Hospital, we’re movin' in!!!

Yep, Tim might have to make two trips :)

Of course, Tallie & Tucker want to come too!

Amazing little nostrils!!

So we went in for another ultrasound today – 33 weeks – and it was amazing! Our ultrasound technician was awesome! She explained everything she was doing and generally took her time with us and made sure we saw and understood what were looking at. Oh, and there’s the part where she played around with the 4D machine for a few minutes so she could get us a good shot of Katelyn’s face!!! Thank you ultrasound technician!!! We’re sorry we didn’t catch your name but you really made our day!

“Katelyn Pie”, or KP, as Tim and I call her, was fluttering all around and had her feet and hands in front of her face, but we saw her!! We really, truly saw her face!!!…Little eyes, a little nose with little nostrils and a little mouth! I don’t know about Tim because I was so enamored with actually seeing her face that I didn’t take my eyes off the screen to see how he reacted, but my eyes teared up when I saw those little nostrils!! It wasn’t the eyes or the nose that did me in…it was those darn nostrils! I mean I’ve known all along that a little human has been hitching a ride with me for the past 7.5 months, but for some reason seeing those adorable little nostrils really made it REAL! And we’re more excited than ever about meeting our little girl!!

KP is measuring “perfectly” according to the ultrasound tech and our doctor. She is measuring in at 33 weeks & 4 days, a few days ahead of schedule and weighs in at 5 pounds!! If everything goes as planned and we last the entire 40 weeks, they estimate her weight to be between 8 – 8.5 pounds. Babies usually gain ½ pound a week the last couple months of pregnancy. Her heartbeat is good and strong and she is actively moving around in her ever-shrinking home. The ultrasound technician also showed us where KP has some hair growing on her head, how cute!!!!

In other news, Tim has officially graduated with his Master’s from Auburn!! Wooooo-Hooooooo!! Way to go Timmy!! No more homework!!! His spare time these days is taken up by bouts of Guitar Hero, beer making, movie watching, and honey-do lists.

The All Nighter

Sleepless nights seem to be the norm with me these days. Katelyn is taking up so much room in my tummy that it's hard to get comfortable, no matter how many positions I try. I've tried the pillow between the legs trick, and it helps some, but it’s not what you would say “ideal”. Pre-pregnancy, I was always a stomach sleeper - Oh what a glorious way to sleep!! It's so comfy to lie on my tummy with my arms wrapped around my pillow or pulled into my chest - Oh, how I miss those days!!

But now, the doctors tell you not to sleep on your stomach (no worries there) your back or your right side. So the only option left is to sleep on your left side. If you are a sleep thrasher, like me, (thrashing throughout the night, stealing the covers and trying to find all the “cold spots” in the bed) it's really hard to stay in one position ALL night long, let alone an uncomfortable one. So I try my best to stay on my left side but I find myself switching back-and-forth, back-and-forth between the left and right side - sorry Katelyn if it's not comfy for you when I'm on my right side but Mommy will go crazy is she has to sleep on her left side the entire night...and no one wants a crazy Mommy, especially Daddy!

So for Mother’s Day this year, Tim gave me the most thoughtful gift ever…it’s called a Leachco All Nighter – Total Body Pillow…and it rocks…and I slept better the last two nights than I have in the past several months! It looks like a gigantic candy cane pillow and it cuddles around your body and hugs you in all the right places!! It was specifically designed by an RN for expectant mothers, but it can help anyone sleep! It’s HUGE, so I'm really glad we have a king size bed, especially since we share the bed with two adorable puppies. Oh, and they really enjoy the All Nighter also! Tucker props himself up on the “head pillow” portion of the body pillow and Tallie spoons between me, Katelyn and the pillow. As for Timmy, he sleeps better too since I don't sleep thrash all night long.

Here she is in all her glory...The All Nighter!

"Mommy & Daddy, Come to bed!!"

T & T waiting to cuddle up to the All Nighter :)

The Most Beautiful Baby Shower Ever!

This weekends shower needs to go down in history as the most well-thought out, detailed driven baby shower ever! The ladies who threw this beautiful masterpiece absolutely went above and beyond to get every detail perfect!! THANK YOU so much Janet, Janice, Angie, Burma, Jackie, Sharon and Taylor for putting such love and thought into our shower!!! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen and it makes me smile to just think about how "me" everything was! From the Hot pink tulips and lime green calla lilies that were beautifully arranged, to the hot pink and green baby pacifiers hanging from the chandelier, to the hot pink and green marshmallow stork, to the hot pink and green life-saver/jelly belly pacifiers, to the hot pink and green M&Ms with Katelyn's name on them, to the perfectly carved watermelon baby stroller, to the Butterfinger diaper hors d'oeuvre s, etc., etc., etc.!! I could go on and on, but instead lets check out their creative masterpieces!

The cutest table!

Yummmm, punch!

Here's the stork and the chandelier!

Just how did they get all those marshmallows to cooperate?!!

Another view of the chandelier...and you can see my Christening gown in the background!

Homemade cheese straws!

Watermelon baby stroller!

Butterfinger diapers :)

M&Ms and pacifiers: The M&Ms say "Katelyn McMicken"& "Dimpled Daughter"

Delicious!

This was the ribbon my little Granny hung in my mom's hospital room when I was born, 27 years ago!

Me and all the lovely hostesses!

Favors!

Life saver and jelly belly pacifiers

"Dimpled Daughter"& "Katelyn McMicken" M&Ms

"Thank you from Lindsey's little bun in the oven!" favor

Butterfinger diapers

I also have to thank all of our friends and family for making this shower such a special one! It was so good to see you all and share in the joy of our soon-to-be bundle of joy! Thank you so much for coming and for spoiling us rotten with all the gifts you gave us! It's very clear that the three of us are surrounded by people who love and support us very much!

Check out all the gifts!

Tim and the pups checking out all the new stuff!

Me and the pups surrounded by gifts :)