Baby, It's Cold Outside

We did a VERY quick photo shoot yesterday at the park. The weatherman said it was 55 but it was SO very cold that we couldn't stay very long. Lorie caught these pictures in the 5 minutes that we were there.

Home Sweet Home

Gushy Cheeks

Here is a very blurry picture of my latest sonogram (3D). Note the little gushy cheeks! You can't see it but she also has hair, we saw it sticking off of her neck, so cute. She weighs in at a whopping 4.5 pounds now. My amniotic fluid did drop a little from 40 down to 38 (I need to look up what unit of measurement they use) but as long as it stays above 36 we're okay. Send up lots of prayers for us, I don't know what they will do if it drops but I'm hoping it isn't bedrest!!! We get another sonogram on March 2. Just three and a half weeks to go, can you believe it?!?!?!

The picture is a close up of the face in profile, she is looking to the right

Updated to add another picture. The monstrosity that we call a double stroller arrived today. We have put off buying it I think that Brian was secretly hoping that I would decide that I didn't need it. As intimidating as it looks I still think it will be easier to push around then letting Kendall walk! I took apart our "old" stroller today and got it super clean...mark another thing off my "to-do before baby arrives" list!

"Hussy Go?"

We had our Jessy here visiting this weekend, what a cool chick she is. Today when we dropped her off at the airport Kendall was really sad and kept saying, "Hussy, Hussy!" and all afternoon she would randomly ask where her "Hussy" was. I, of course, didn't take ANY pictures of her and Kendall together (WHAT WAS I THINKING?). But, Lorie, of course, did and I will get some from her as soon as they are posted.

Lorie took some maternity shots yesterday and here are the few that we (and by 'we' I mean Lorie) have edited.

Love Bug

Kendall got a little

package from her Great Gram today. When I handed it to her she said, "Oh Wow"

Happy Heart Day

I love Valentine's Day. I like pink and red colors and hearts. All the magazine covers during the month of February make my heart beat a little faster. I get excited to make little Valentines cards and I want to string paper hearts around my house. Our gift to each other is our Brown County weekend. We go to a 'cabin' with three other super cool couples and have so much fun. We went last weekend and had a great time laughing and EATING like crazy. I didn't take ANY photos but Brian grabbed the camera and caught some Jenn, Justin, and Kendall cuddle time on the couch. These two are so good with Kendall, she just loves them!

Fun Day

Jennie and I took the girls to the circus today. I didn't get many shots of them watching the circus because they were sitting on our laps. Kendall loved the lel-phants and the tigers but seriously hated the clowns. During the clown part she kept her arms around my neck and her cheek pressed against mine. Occasionally she would wave her arm in the air and say, 'no, no, no, no' or 'bye bye'. Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at the mall and the girls did a little window shopping. Tonight we go to Brown County, yippee!!

Girlfriends

I had a doctor's appointment today so after playtime at Noah's Ark Kendall went over to her friend Anna's house. I am once again hijacking photos from someone else but these are too cute to pass up.

Looks like they had a lot of fun!!

Baby Kate will be here before we know it! I now go to the doctor every two weeks instead of every month (only two more appoinments!) and I get an ultrasound everytime that I go to ensure that my fluid is at a good level. She'll be here before we know it!

For Daddy

I haven't been very good about sending pictures to Brian so here are a few pics of what we have been doing:

Cleaning

Playing 'email' at the library

Going outside

Storytime

Church indoor playground

Having tea parties with Anna (Jennie and I found them like this at the church play area, we DID NOT set this up!)

Dancing Queen

Long time no blogy. Brian is still out of town so I'm a little behind on emails and other computer stuff. Kendall has had both really good days and some really bad days. She was terrific on my birthday though! Her "bad" days aren't that she is being bad really but just that she is clingy. After consulting with other moms and Brian we decided that I will just snuggle as much as I can with her now because very soon I wont have that luxury. Actually, since I have been an unconditional snuggler her clinginess has been turned down a bit!

Last night we went to a sock hop thrown by the preschool where Lorie works. Kendall tried out some new break dancing moves on the floor and she also decided to like to dance on a platform (stadium steps) so that everyone could get a good look at her hip moves. All day today she has been saying, "Lorie, dance dance dance" she obviously had a fun time and is associating dancing with Lorie now.

Today we went to the Gap Outlet with Jennie and Anna. We found some maternity clothes and a couple of things for baby Kate. Their 18-24 month selection was pitiful for the little ladies and Kendall only got a knitted winter hat (she loves hats and will carry them around the house taking them on and off).

I had a fantastic birthday. I have such great gals here. Karin and Bailey took Kendall and me to Cheesecake Factory the night before my b-day and Lorie took me out last night. Jennie brought me the cutest stationery set today and I received so many nice emails, calls, cards and packages. I feel so blessed and loved!!

The last couple of days I've been feeling the uncomfortableness of pregnancy really set in, a lot of back pain and even contractions in the middle of the night (that shouldn't happen!!). Ironic that Kendall's clinginess coincides with my big belly and general fatigue! Well, off to do a little picking up and then I'm going to crash!!

Really Big Girl

Yippee, I had an ultrasound today and Kate is great! She is actually measuring farther along then her age (by 4 days). She weighs about 3 1/4 pounds and is in the 57th percentile. Okay, the 57th percentile thing really cracks me up since Kendall just now reached the 3rd percentile. It really is amazing to see that little baby on the screen, to simultaneously see and feel the movements. She has turned and is already in the head down position. I knew that she had turned recently because up until last week I was feeling kicks on the side of my stomach and now it is more at the top and bottom. Her little knees were up by her chin and her hands were in front of her face. The technician tried to get a 3D picture for me but she wouldn't move her hands. I know this sounds silly but really I think that she looked like Kendall! So on the way home I called family to tell them the happy news. I laughed and was happy telling my family but I started to cry on Ron and Susan's answering machine, I don't know why it made me emotional. I'm just so relieved and happy.

This picture isn't very clear, our scanner isn't hooked up so th

is is just a picture of a picture. You can see her little profile: forehead, nose, & lips. Too cute

Cheers Me Up

So Kendall and I are officially on our own now. It was so sad to drop Brian off at the airport this morning, we were all a little quiet and Kendall started crying when we pulled away from the airport without Brian. She keeps asking about him here at home too. So us girls needed a little cheering up and decided to stop at one of my all time favorite places, Whole Foods. When you are in that store you just feel like everything is well in the world. It is just so darn pretty and healthy looking and everyone is incredibly nice in there! Makes you want to eat healthy and drive a Volvo station wagon. If I picture my ideal me I'm a Whole Foods shopper driving a Volvo. We got a few special things like fully cooked sushi (to have for lunch) and Italian soda (I love these thanks to my friend Sarah and always want them when I'm pregnant). I got a French baguette to dip into my yummy sun-dried tomato vinegar and garlic oil from my super cute sister Sara. Also in the cute little cart were delicious strawberries and orzo pasta. Really the soda was the only thing that I had to buy there but I really just wanted to experience the store. Such a happy, organized, and beautiful place.

We miss you!

Big Girls

Come Over Here...

Not much to blog about here, just everyday stuff keeping us busy. Here are a couple of pics of Kendall from today to hold you over until something blog worthy happens around here. I don't know if you can tell but the first one is of her crooking her finger at the camera. This started because I would do it to her when I wanted her to come and have her diaper change so now she thinks it is funny to do it right back to me. Hers is a little different she looks at me with her head down and does pincher fingers. Too cute.

All Girl

What a morning we have had. All before 9a.m. Kendall tried on multiple looks. She is trying to find her own identity at the ripe ol' age of 20 months! I'm really just trying to let her work it out on her own, I did draw the line when she wanted to wear socks with her high heeled flip flops though.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String....

....These are a few of my favorite things.

This is a horribly overexposed photo of Kendall but that is what happens when she tries to look through the camera lens to see you. She also has a cute new phrase, whenever she hears a sound she looks at you all wide eyed and says, "Wha zat?" Brian wants to teach her how to answer the phone saying, "Whazzzzup?"

We had allergy tests done, she was tested for 16 different things all negative (have I already posted on this?).

Excited about: Saturday night I'm going to Scrapmania with my girlfriend Karin. Psyched about that creative time with a great friend AND in February Karin, Jennie(?) and I are taking a quilting class. I have to cram everything I can in before March....ten and a half weeks for those of you that are counting!

Just another note declaring the handy man-liness of my husband. Remember all of those "baby will be here soon and there is way too much to get done" worries? Well, they are no more. Check out what happened over this last weekend!! I'm so proud of him and all of the power tool productivity that occurred! I'm really feeling prepared now and the pre-baby stress is at an all time low. We just have a few more things to do really like organizing the changing table with baskets, getting a dust ruffle and a double stroller. The day after we got the nursery all situated I was so worried that I was going to have the baby (I was afraid that the tradition would continue). Now worries of bed rest are starting to creep into my brain. There was a girl in one of my Bible studies that had low fluid and was put on bed rest....WHAT WOULD I DO?!?!?! Does stress and worry just come with babies and pregnancies??

My Husband Rocks

Brian has been going non stop today. Dani has been offering to keep Kendall for the day anytime that we want and today we took her up on it. I took Kendall over at about 9:30ish and Brian was working by the time I came home. He cleaned the basement and then moved all of the books from the office down (two flights of stairs and about 6 million trips). I moved all of my office stuff into the guest bedroom (currently covering the bed) and then John came over to help Brian move the bookcases down. SO....we have a nursery! I even put the sheets on the crib tonight. I plan to wash them again before the baby uses them but they are there now. Before you all laugh at me for doing this so early remember that I did not get to do this with Kendall. We moved into our house and the following morning I was sent to the hospital to have a very early baby. Anyway back to the nursery, I brought out the so cute papasan that Jenn and Justin gave us for Kendall, I even pulled out all the little bitty clothes to look at. Ah, what fun. I still will need to get a couple of things: crib skirt, play mat & double stroller but we're doing well really on gear.

Kendall put on her new sunglasses from her Gram. She thinks she is such hot stuff in them. As soon as they are on she has to make sure everyone sees her! I love em! Notice that I have to keep pushing her away from me to take the picture, as soon as the camera comes out she wants to put it up to her head. Oh and we had successful night number two on the big girl bed switch-a-roo. Tomorrow will be the first time she has to have a nap in it so say some prayers for us!