The Generosity of Friends

We are very fortunate to have good friends who have been very generous to us before and after the birth of both Michael and Katie. They have given us their time, as well as showered us with gifts and meals when we returned home. The friends are located as close as a few miles away and others are across the country. We have received packages on a weekly basis since having Katie.

I have made some great "mommy" friends through the internet. To me, this is a great way to meet other moms who share your common interests and have children the same age as you. It's also a great outlet to get opinions on parenting and other issues that moms experience on a daily basis. In fact, several other moms have also written about this and their "internet" or "blog" friends.


Since the birth of Katie, I have received gifts from 2 of my "mommy" friends. These are special to me since I have never met either of them in person but feel as if I know them just as well as my friends that I see or talk to on a regular basis. It really touched me that they thought of us to take the time to choose a gift that we would really love.


I received a gift from Joanna the day that I arrived home from the hospital. For the majority of my pregnancy, I was extremely limited on the foods that appealed to me. There were two things that I really wanted to eat once I had Katie: eggs and steak. I had been talking about this with Joanna and her gift was a package from Omaha Steaks. It had 4 steaks, potato wedges, and corn for a delicious dinner. Todd and I are going to eat it this weekend and I can't wait. Thank you so much Joanna!!


The second gift was received on Monday this week. It was from Anna. It was the most adorable onesie with the initial "K" personalized by Anna for Katie. She also knitted a little cap for Katie to wear. The colors will go great with her dark hair and complexion. It was such a nice surprise and exciting to see what would be inside. Here is a picture of the items that Anna sent:




I hope that one day soon, I can meet the moms that I chat with on a daily basis in person! I know that we would have a great time and we already know so much about each other. Thanks again Joanna and Anna!!

Wordless Wednesday

One Week Old Already!

It seems like time didn't go nearly as fast when Michael was a baby. But with Katie, it just seems to be flying by. I am trying to take it all in and enjoy every moment of it. I now know the great feeling of being a parent and seeing all of my children's milestones/setbacks.

Katie is quite a different baby than Michael was, but I pretty much expected that. In the first week of Michael's life, we spent most of the time in the hospital and then we spent a good bit of time at the doctor's office. Both kids had jaundice but Michael's was worse than Katie's and took longer to go away.

She likes to be held when she sleeps and it sometimes seems like the only way to get her down. I don't mind it at all right now because she is so soft, tiny and warm. She is nursing much better than Michael did in the beginning, even though he eventually got the hang of it. She was already almost back to her birth weight by one week old. She cries a bit more than Michael did but he was such an easygoing baby. He makes up for it now as a toddler!


I am enjoying being a mom to 2 kids so far and am really looking forward to watching them grow up together! Here is a picture of Katie at 1 week old:

Katherine Marie is here!

Katherine Marie was born on Monday, March 16th at 9:12am. She weighed 7lbs 8.8oz and was 19 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair.

Here is a link to her hospital picture. Mommy, Daddy and Michael welcome her to the family! More details to follow.....

Last Doctor Appt

I had my final dr appt today before Katie's arrival on Monday. It was fairly routine and everything looks good. I am measuring right on target. My blood pressure was up a little bit from last week's appt and I have a bit of swelling in my legs. It's nothing that a good night's sleep doesn't cure. Oh, wait, what is a good night's sleep? Guess I won't know that answer for a while.

Only 4 days left until Katie's arrival. I think there is a 99.9% chance that I will make it to Monday. The only reason I don't say 100% is because anything can happen. I am barely dilated and Katie is still sitting really high. I guess she likes living in my rib cage and giving me heartburn on a daily basis.

It seems like we are ready but there are a few last minute things I want to get done. I still haven't packed the hospital bag so I guess that should be a top priority. And to pick out an outfit for her to wear for her hospital pictures, as well as coming home. We should get released from the hospital on Thursday, provided everything goes smoothly. I can't wait for Katie to get here!

This Time Next Week....

Katherine Marie will be here! I can't believe it's so close and yet it seems like this week is going to drag by. It seems like there is still so much to do but I know that there is not much we NEED for a newborn baby.

We also want to take this last week and spend as much time with Michael as possible. I know that this is going to be a huge adjustment for him and I want it to go as smoothly as it can. In time, he will love and protect his baby sister but I expect for there to be a good bit of jealousy. He is such a sweet and loving boy and as happy as I am to be giving him a baby sister, I don't want him to feel cheated.

We are very blessed to have a son and a daughter on the way and I know that everything will work itself out. It's just hard sometimes to imagine going from a family of 3 to a family of 4 and making sure everyone is happy. I feel like I have been so much more emotional during this pregnancy, but maybe that's because I am already a mother and know what a wonderful, life-changing experience having a child is! I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Random Thoughts

I have actually been wanting to blog for the past couple days and haven't really felt like I had anything exciting to talk about. Katie's room is almost done but I still need to tidy up the boxes of clothes all over the room, thanks to generous friends who lent us cute little baby girl clothes. And we redecorated our hall bathroom, which will be the kids' bathroom so we wanted something fun and gender neutral. But I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of that either.

I have been doing several pregnancy related blogs lately and this idea came to me. I am not sure that it has to do so much with pregnancy, as it does with eating. I really enjoy certain foods and one of the things that I was looking forward to with pregnancy was being able to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it. Unfortunately, this benefit of pregnancy seems to have passed me by due to the horrendous heartburn I have experienced during both pregnancies. I was telling Todd yesterday that I am so tired of eating the same 5 things, give or take a few.

I can't wait for Katie to arrive to be able to enjoy eating a egg for breakfast again. The only eggs I have been able to eat are hard boiled eggs. I am going to have someone bring me an Egg McMuffin in the hospital. That's how bad I want one....I can taste it. I also joked about eating a steak for dinner one night in the hospital. Everyone knows how delicious hospital food is so this would not be likely. Maybe Todd will grill one for me when we get home from the hospital.

I believe that I will continue to eat ice cream and drink milk, which have been two of my staples during this pregnancy. I have also consumed mass quantities of cheese. I have been a cheese lover all my life and doubt that will change any time soon. There is a benefit to having a limited pregnancy diet though: it definitely kept me from gaining too much weight. I think I like the nursing diet much better than the pregnancy diet!

37 weeks....only 2 to go

Looking back, I realize that this pregnancy has gone by much quicker than my first one. That's probably due to several things. First of all, we didn't find out we were expecting until I was already 9 weeks along. Second, I now have a 2 year old. Add to that, a husband (who has been extremely helpful while I have been unable to cook or clean for most of the pregnancy) and a full time job and it's no wonder that I can't imagine where the time went.

I have been trying to cherish these last few weeks of being pregnant as I am 99% sure this will be our last child. For every thing that makes me feel bad with this pregnancy, I try to look at something that I experience that is a joy of pregnancy. When I am woken up at night to use the bathroom, I feel happiness when I get back in bed and Katie starts kicking me. When I feel sick with heartburn, I try to think about how big Katie is getting and that's why I feel so bad. This approach only works about 50% of the time, but I figure it's better than nothing.

In two short weeks, it's hard to imagine that I will be holding Katie in my arms. I can't wait and at the same time, I am going to savor every last moment of this pregnancy!

Playhouse Disney

We took Michael on Friday night to see Playhouse Disney Live! We weren't sure how he would do, especially since he would have to sit in his seat for at least an hour and couldn't really move around. He did pretty good, considering he is 2 years old!!

We started the night off by picking him up and taking him to dinner at McDonald's. We told him that we had a surprise for him and he thought that we were going to a birthday party and to open presents. It was so cute. We got to the arena and started to walk up the steps. He was taking everything in. He really liked the big building and all of the windows.

When we got inside, we quickly went to our seats as the show was about to start. The lights were already off, so we had a bit of trouble finding our seats. Once we sat down, Michael started watching. Mickey Mouse came out for a few minutes and then left the stage. Michael really enjoyed seeing Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at the end of the show. He started to lose interest when the Little Einsteins and Tigger & Pooh were on but he doesn't really watch those shows at all. He kept asking when Mickey Mouse was going to come back. The show finale was a music party at the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Michael loves to listen to music and all of the players sang a song. It was so neat to see Michael's reaction to the show and see him take it all in.

Since this went well, we plan to take him to other shows in the future. Here are some pictures from the night:




Daddy & Michael



Mommy & Michael