December 27, 2010

According to the doctor's records, today is the official due date for Madison's arrival. Needless to say, she's not here quite yet! I had a doctor's appointment at 7:15 this morning. I was up and showered and there early just hoping for some news that we were getting close. I was told that we were healthy and to go back home and continue on as usual. Not what I was hoping for, so I went home and went back to sleep! A few weeks ago we were given the option to induce on December 23rd, purely for convenience purposes because my doctor would be out of town and not around for the official due date. After deciding that we weren't interested and then changing our minds and then calling people for opinions and ending in a stressed out crying session, we still know that we made the right decision by waiting. However, now we are getting a little anxious and are just ready for her to be here and to start this crazy journey into parenthood. We still can hardly believe that at any moment now(literally) we will actually bring home a baby -our child. Even saying it here doesn't really seem real.
The most asked question we get is "Are you ready?" And of course you say, "Yes!" but then we ask, well what are we ready for? The hospital bag is packed, the car seat in installed, clothes are washed, bedding is ready, diapers are stocked, swings are put together, we have stocked up on batteries, and socks, and hats, so we are "ready" as far as feeling we are some what prepared for the transition. But are we ready? I guess we will find out soon enough. We will learn together as we go. ready or not, here she comes...
(Hopefully before the New Year!)

Maternity Photos

Jason's sister was our photographer, so that made this whole "big belly" picture thing pretty easy. We were in a park in Denton that was pretty busy on this evening that we shot these photos. That had Jason a bit embarassed as on lookers passed by, but the photos turned our pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.
We brought things from home. The red shoes were mine when I was a baby and will be passed on to Madison. The letter "M" is from the wall of her nursery.
We have almost 100 usable pictures from this day, but I will spare you all and only show you a few! :-)
Photos by: Stefani Peterson www.truidentitydesigns.com












I can only imagine the photos we'll actually have after Madison arrives. I am pretty sure my hard drive is not large enough!

Progression through Pictures

I find many things fascinating, incredible, and really just amazing these days. Pregnancy is one of them. Every day is new and different. Feeling Madison move and kick is just wild and the hiccups are hilarious! Along those same lines, I have really been amazed by modern technology and what it allows us to see and do. These sonogram pictures really are amazing. After we had our last 3D sonogram and we saw that Madison was a "real baby" we were stunned to say the least. The woman doing the sonogram laughed at us. We watched her in real form, move, smile, grimace, etc. It was nothing short of amazing. When we got home we started looking through all of our sono pictures just for fun. It is amazing how a life can fully form in nine short months. Really, nine months has went incredibly fast. I am now 34 weeks (8 1/2 months pregnant) and I can hardly believe we are only weeks away from bringing Madison home and being solely responsible for her and her life.
This is a progression of those nine months in photos...

8 weeks...


8weeks in 3D...


20 weeks (5 months)...


20 weeks in 3D...


32 weeks (8 months)...
She is not very happy here...


32 weeks...
Find those little fingers and then the nose. After that it all will fall into place of what you are seeing; her eyes, mouth, face. She already has those chubby little cheeks and wrists. She is precious. After doing some measurements the doctor said that she already weighs 5 lbs 4oz.


Psalm 139:13-18
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!





And then there is me and this BIG OLE BELLY (as my sister would say!) This picture was at 32 weeks (8 months) and it's much larger than this even now. It's all crazy, but life is good!

And Her Name Is...

And Her Name Is...
Madison!



We are very much DIY people and I am loving this Sunday afternoon project. I think the letters in her name are precious. It was so fun and much easier than I thought!



We are super busy getting Madison's room ready. I am so thankful that we did much of the big work before the new school year started. The decorating with accessories is much more fun than ripping up flooring and painting for hours. One of my favorite things in the room is this canvas. I love it.



It's amazing what you can do with a canvas, camera, and over head projector! Thanks to Jason's steady hand and much patience, I have an original art piece!
:-)





This wall is still under construction. The wall lettering will say "Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful " I'd say that's a lovely piece of advice for a sweet baby girl. I have the vision for this wall, I just haven't quite found the shelf I need. I am trying to be patient...

My Friend Erica bought me a sweet lullaby CD that I often go into the room and listen to. The first time I listened to it after we decided on the name Madison, I was rocking, listening and looking at her name when I got all choked up. It's an amazing feeling to know that we will be parents. It's an amazing responsibility. It's so intense and fun and scary at the same time.

Yes, a child is a gift from God, but it is a promise also.

6 1/2 Months

Wow has time gone fast. I can hardly believe that I am already 6 1/2 months pregnant! The weeks really have flown by. I suppose that due to the fact that I have had it so easy the past 6 1/2 months has something to do with it. I am starting to get nervous that it will all be here before you know it. School is in full swing and I am overly exhausted every day. Let me tell you - My brain is no good after 3:30on most days! I still have very little complaints, but my biggest problem these days is that my lower back is really starting to hurt.
But then I see this picture and I see why. I am 6 1/2 months pregnant here.
It's funny on how on a day to day basis I don't see this:





Jason's mom took a picture of just my belly so she could show pictures of her "grand baby!" That cracks me up.

We had our 20 month check up a while back and the use of modern technology is beyond amazing. We saw the complete make up of our baby girl. We saw all her bones and organs. They checked and measured everything from her spine, to her kidneys, to her brain. We even saw all four chambers of her heart beat. It was so surreal and amazing. We have had good reports at all of our check-ups. We are feeling great and know that we are greatly blessed.




Here she is in 3D - wild, huh? Jason's mom Patty says that she can already tell that she will look like me. Jason says that she has my nose. I don't know about any of that from these photos, but we will find out soon enough... :-)

Too Cute!

This summer has been one of the busiest ones that I can remember. Needless to say, it has not been very relaxing. Of course, now it is time to gear up and get ready to go back for another school year. For those of you that know me - and that know kindergarten, there are very few moments of relaxation to come in the upcoming months. With that being said, we have worked pretty hard to get some of the big stuff finished before I have to go back to work full time.
We now have the nursery to a pretty good stopping point for the month of August. I keep saying that I am taking August off from the baby room, but no one seems to believe me. :-)

We have new floors, paint, blinds, chair rail, etc. put up and ready to go. We even have a good portion of the bedding essentials and some not so essentials - but they are so cute I had to have them! I love this pattern. I was very picky with not wanting pink and purple and when I found this I just knew it was the one!

Jason has been shopping! I swear that every time he goes out he comes back with something else that "we" just had to have! I keep telling him that people tell me not to buy clothes, but he is not listening! I do have to say this: He is really that cute, he has great taste, and I am thankful that I have taught him to shop clearance racks!

I am actually more impressed with Jason every day. I have known since the day that I met him that he'd be a great dad, but he's really racking up the brownie points these days. Considering that when we first found out it was a girl he asked, "Do girls play little league?" and "What do we do when she wants to have a boyfriend?" I'd say he's pretty darn excited.


These shoes were bought for us as a gift from a friend that I work with, Melissa and her daughter Sydney (who I taught in kindergarten). They were our first gift to open after we found out it was going to be a girl. I opened them with Melissa and then let Jason reopen then when I got home. He laughed at how darn cute they were! I do have to say that they just may be the cutest things that I have ever seen! I am all for putting our daughter in big pink bows!


These are the backs of the little shoes. I guess we need to go find a dress to wear these with!

Let's all just hope that when we go for our 20 week sonogram this week on the 13th that "she" is still a "she" and that we are not in for a oops! Surprise!

It's a ....

It's official -- It's a GIRL! We had our baby gender sonogram at 16 weeks. We were so shocked and surprised to find out that she is a girl! We were pretty convinced that it was a boy! As soon as the shock wore off we started priming, ripping out flooring, and buying bedding! We are getting ready for a sweet precious little girl!

I was given this idea of a surprise for a "baby reveal" to tell our friends and family if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl. I loved this idea, although our parents were biting at the bit for us to just TELL them, but I have to tell you that the cupcakes were way more fun. The outside was white and you actually had to bite in and eat the cupcake to reveal the surprise. We had mouthfuls of cupcakes yelling, "It's a girl!" It was great fun. I am glad we didn't just tell, but held out for the surprise!






White on the outside, pink on the inside. You actually had to bite into the cupcake to see the surprise. It never failed, "It's a girl" was screamed with mouth full of cupcake each time! It was so much fun!



My sister (Aunt Rachel) was at our house for a few days and was one of the first to know!










This was at Jason's parents house. We surprised and then spent the day by the pool. This was so much fun - and so funny. We all laughed until we cried. Jason's dad, Steve is quite the character! He ate his cupcake all at once and then had to look at Patty's to see the surprise. They are so excited for grandbaby #1!



My mom and dad gave a "CHEERS!" They had to wait the longest to find out and were very anxious!



The Long awaited answer -- It's a girl!!
She'll be here at the end of December. It's so hard to beleive that I am already 17 weeks. Baby will be here before you know it!

Second Tri-mester Here We Come...

We had another doctors appointment today. We weren't sure if Jason was going to be able to make it from work or not, and when I pulled in he was there waiting for me. That was a sweet surprise! We heard the baby's heartbeat again. Nice and strong at 163 beats per minute. I had a long list of questions with me and Dr. Walsh of course took the time to answer them all. I love her already. I have been having some frequent dizzy/ fainting spells lately that have had me a little worried. Basically I was told to add more salt to my diet. Relieved at that simple solution, we grilled corn-on-the-cob and squash tonight that I thoroughly salted before eating ~ Doctors orders, you know! Although I look and feel like I have rapidly gained too much weight, I found out that I had only gained 2 pounds since my very first doctors appointment months ago. This was really surprising to me -- so I figured it safe if I ate blue bell in front of the TV tonight. We scheduled our "baby gender sonogram" for Thursday, July 15th. We are trying to decide if we should just be told or put it in a sealed envelope for later, hmmm.... I guess you'll hear back from me when we decide! Thanks to everyone for all your loving thoughts and prayers. It seems we are off to a great start!

Love, Katie and Jason

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything, tell God your needs, and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this then you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than any human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your heart quiet and at rest while you trust in Christ Jesus.-Philippians 4: 6-7

These are just some of my thoughts after I had this, "Wow this now feels real moment" on the reality of bringing a life into the world.
---
Life is precious when you look at how short a life really is. It's so simple, yet so profound. Each day that a life is lost, a new life is created. The world goes in a cycle, but new life can never really replace the old. We rejoice with births and mourn with deaths. I can hardly imagine creating a life, giving birth, having a teenager, letting them go to college, sending them off at their wedding to start their own life - yet alone ageing as all this happens. This means I too will grow old, be a parent and a grandparent. This means I too will have a full life to share. This too means I'll have heartache and joys and losses. This too will mean that I will grow old. This too means that the world will continue to go in a continuous cycle of day and night, summer, fall, winter and spring. Then an old life will be lost, but rest assured a new life will be created.


Monday, July 21, 2010
8:32 am

Something Funny Happened...

Something funny happened... To my pants. I am officially 3 months pregnant and out of my first trimester. I was only sick once and almost sick once, so I'd say that is pretty good. I have been wearing my regular clothes and not feeling or looking pregnant at all. I went from normal on Friday, to having this sudden burst of the belly on Sunday night / Monday morning. It literally happened over night. Needless to say I had my first "my pants won't button" melt down. Poor Jason stood there in shock and proceeded to ask me, "What is wrong with you?" Of course, that was the wrong question to ask and everything he tried after that to make up for it was all wrong too. We later laughed as he told me that as my veins were bulging from my neck, I literally breathed fire from my face. That made me laugh (days later!). So now I am accepting this role of a belly bump and trying to get a grip that this is what is suppose to happen!

What's the Date?

For anyone that teaches elementary school, you all know how crazy and busy the last few weeks are. There was no exception for this current school year. On top of trying to end another year, Jason is out of town for three weeks traveling for work. I have done pretty well, if I do say so myself, but I am losing track of little things here and there. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the last week of school, just to check in. I showed up on Wednesday at 3:15 on the dot for my doctor's appointment, only to be told that it was yesterday (Tuesday) at 3:15. Well I am trying to do "everything" that I am supposed to and this just killed me that I missed that appointment. Long story short, I had to come back on Thursday morning at 8:45. Thursday was the last day of school. Can you imagine my "freak out?" With a lot of help from my friend Jonie, my class was covered and I made my appointment.

All the tests that were run on me at a previous appointment came back with great results and the doctor thought I was very healthy. I was 10 weeks along and we listened to the baby's heartbeat again. It was at 174 which is very good at this point. I felt so much better after leaving that office on Thursday.

I go back in four more weeks. Needless to say, I have my next appointment in every calendar that I have and will be there on the right day this next time ~ Fingers Crossed!

First Doctor's Appointment

Jason and I had our first doctor's appointment on May 8th. At my request, we were very hush, hush about being pregnant until after we met with the doctor for the first time. We are going to Dr. Heather Walsh out at Presbyterian. I liked her right away. She's very laid back, easy going and was easy to talk to. They ran tons of test and asked lots of questions. The most exciting part of the day was our sonogram. Jason and I were completely taken a back by this technology. The lady doing the sonogram could obviously tell that we had never been in this situation before and she "wanted to do something fun for us," so she did a 3D sonogram on the "dot." If you use your imagination you can see the formation of an arm and of a leg!
The sonogram showed me being at 7 weeks at that point and time. The due date was offically set at January 2, 2011. We heard the heartbeat at 150 beats and were told that was strong and good. We of course, do not know any differently so we took her word for it!

My mom sent me this scripture and it made me smile right away. I can still hear my mom from when I was little tell me that I am "Fearfully and wonderfully made." For those of you that know my mom, doesn't that just sound like sweet, sweet Nancy?

Psalm 139: 13-18
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full and well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days you ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Here we GO!