12 Weeks To Go

Just 12 weeks to go until our due date! Mary Katherine is kicking regularly and I can see her kicks on her Mommy's belly. It is just TOO COOL! I could literally sit all day and watch this happen.

I hope she has red hair just like her beautiful Mom! :)

Big Sister's Artwork

This is an awesome piece of artwork done by Mary Katherine's big sister. She made this for the bathroom they will share. Tomorrow (Monday), Mom and her sister in-law will begin the sewing for the dust ruffle, bumper pads, and trimming out the curtains. We're getting CLOSER AND CLOSER!!

By the way, we've registered at Babies R Us, Target, & Wal-Mart. That was fun! :)

Update on Baby's Room

The nursery is really coming along nicely. Randy helped me finished up the 'cutting in' of the pink walls. The area around the ceiling still had the original color bleeding through ever so slightly and Shawn wanted it covered.

We are supposed to pick up the last piece of furniture for Mary Katherine's room soon. The only thing we lack other than the tall dresser is some kind of rocker/recliner. We're still in search of that!

Mary Katherine's big sister painted a flower on a canvas along with several scriptures. We've hung that in their bathroom. I will get a picture of it and post it here!

Mom is growing and is doing very well. Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Words cannot begin to express how grateful we are for this time in our lives and for all of you.

Nursery Update

From this fan

To this new one. Notice the new curtains, too!
Her nursery is coming along nicely!
We appreciate Randy's help.

Award Winning Blog

As you can see on the right side of this post, we were honored with a "BEST BLOG OF THE DAY AWARD"....on July 17th, Bill and his gang over at Famous Blogs gave us that high praise and we appreciate it. We never realized when we started this thing that anyone other than friends and family would read it, much less award us for it. We are humbled by the attention.

Mary Katherine, Mom, Big Sister, and Dad are all doing well. We've settled back in to our normal day to day routine since our return from vacation. Mom's fire ant bites are looking a whole lot better...hard to believe that was 7 days ago!

We registered Mary Katherine's big sister for school last night. Can you believe it is that time once again? She's really looking forward to attending her new school. It is alot larger than her previous school, but she is thrilled about meeting new people and making some new friends. I believe she'll have a great influence on those at her new school.

We (my brother in-law) and I are putting up a new ceiling fan in the baby's room. May take a picture or two and post it! :)

Vacation Pictures

Hello Friends and Family. As some of you know, we've just returned from vacation in Venice Beach, Florida. Here is another link to Venice. It was a wonderful time. I'm posting some pictures here from our trip. All of them are 'people' pictures (that is, one's with us in them). Later, I'll post some sunset pictures along with photos of we stayed.

Didn't know this at the time, but Shawn and Kelsey were wiping off fire ants from Shawn's arm. To answer your obvious question, yes...they hurt.
This was before the fire ant attack...Mom and Daughter enjoying time together.

Taken at Gus and (cousin) Patty's home in Venice Gardens. They have an incredible number of Orchids. We have some photos of them and will post later.

Mommy didn't know I snapped this picture! :)

Picture of my beautiful bride and me!

The family on the Venice Pier!


More photos and fun stuff coming soon!

Back From Vacation!

Baby Mary Katherine's family is back from vacation. We have some fun baby news and will be sharing that by Sunday! Talk to you then!

Photography

We had a wonderful lady from our church come over and take pictures today of all 4 of us! Then in a couple of weeks, she'll be back to take more. It is called Progression Pictures (hope I'm not fouling the name up). We were pleased with how these will turn out. Lots of fun and quite simple. I believe my wife and daughter could make great models! :)

We're going to take some R & R, so if you don't hear from us for a few days, it's ok!

Back From Chicago

Mary Katherine's big sister is BACK from Chicago. We really missed her. She went there with her grandmother and cousin. They had an excellent time. She brought back some gifts for her Mom. Two more maternity shirts. One is perfect for the 4th of July and one is perfect fall colors! Big Sister loves the nursery.

My wife and I came home today for lunch and ate a bite with Big Sister. Mary Katherine began to move around and her big sister felt her move!! EXCITING!!!

We are glad she is home.

Baby Room UPDATE!

Crib has been assembled by Daddy and Uncle Randy!

Left to Right: Aunt Karen, Cousin Abbi, Mommy w/Mary Katherine.
Changing Table

Mommy is VERY happy....woo-hoo! :)

Baby's Room!

Well, I'm almost done with painting the baby's room. It is looking very nice. Here is a current picture of 'the situation'. As you can tell, we're getting close.

Here is one of the pieces of furniture for Mary Katherine's room. It's by a company called Baby's Dream. The Generation Next Collection. You can click the links to see the company website. More later!

Way to go Daddy!

Michael has been a busy daddy!! Last night after work we picked up some of her baby furniture and then Michael started painting her room. The color is "sweet pink". We still have another coat to put on there....I think it's going to be beautiful. I was no help in painting. Michael forbid me from the nursery because of the fumes. So, I folded clothes and fell asleep on the couch!

I tried to put on one of my favorite (non-maternity) white shirts today....it was not a pretty sight! So, I am thankful for the maternity clothes that I have-I'm needing them (thanks Mom). I've gained more than the 9oz. Mary Katherine gained in the last three weeks...we'll keep that # a secret though!!

Doctor's Appointment Today

(click on picture for better view)

We had a 10:30 a.m. for another growth scan by the ultrasound technician. Here are the results. Baby Mary Katherine has grown from 11 oz just 25 days ago to a whopping 20 oz today (1 lb. 4 oz.). Her heartrate was 154 beats per minute and her numbers show that she is progressing very favorably as a 23 week-old baby.

We visited with one of the nurse practioners who was pleased with all the numbers. Shawn is definitely feeling her move more and more.

Thank you Lord for the continue progress of our little girl. :-)

Family Reunion Weekend!

We had a great time down in Holly Springs, Mississippi visiting with a bunch of my wife's family members. The weather was WARM, the food was great, and the conversation was wonderful.

We have some great pictures of my pregnant wife and I'll post those soon. Mary Katherine is kicking my wife from time to time. I put my hands on her stomach to feel it and then she stops! Oh well, maybe next time.

We realized this evening that our family vacation coming will be the last time it's just the three of us. The next time, we'll have FOUR!!

Little Bits Is Moving Around

Little Mary Katherine continues to move around at pretty much the same times each day. We know she sleeps and wakes on a schedule. Kelsey and I are quick to put our hands on Mommy's stomach to see if we can feel her moving.

We have a short weekend trip to see some relatives on Shawn's side. It'll be lots of fun.

Shawn is harvesting squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes from our garden this morning! YAY!! :)