Celebration and anticipation

This weekend was very exciting because Kevin's sister, Genevieve, came to visit us in Springfield. It was an extra exciting visit because it was her first time meeting Emma! Gen is a surgical PA and lives in Miami Beach. I know, we're jealous too. She stays pretty busy but we're so thankful she was able to come to town for Labor Day weekend and spend some quality time. Emma loves her aunt Gen; I think she knew right away that she was family and loved her instantly. We're hoping to take a trip to visit her next summer.

We also have much anticipation tonight because we are getting our first ultrasound tomorrow! I can't wait to see our baby's little face and find out if Emma is going to have a baby sister or baby brother. My appointment is at 2pm tomorrow and I will be counting down the hours. I pray that our baby is healthy and growing well. Time is moving so much quicker this time; I feel like we waited for an eternity to have our ultrasound with Emma. Now, it's almost alarming how quickly the days are going by.

I will be sure to post the big announcement tomorrow evening. Stay tuned! (by the way, please say a prayer that we're not having twins!)

Celebration

My office at work was doing a great bit of celebrating today. One of our physicians received final travel approval today to travel to China and adopt their daughter. He and his wife have previously adopted two beautiful daughters, who will be entering 3rd and 4th grade this year. Their new daughter is 6 years old and will meet her new parents sometime after the first week of September.

We can not wait to meet her once they come home. Please keep their family in your prayers as they prepare travel arrangements and secure their visas (mom, dad and both girls will be traveling to meet their new addition.)

Moving right along

I went to the doctor today for a check up and everything is progressing well. I'm feeling good and the heartbeat sounded wonderful. I'm really excited because I go back 3 weeks from today for my ultrasound! It has really snuck up on us. Kevin is predicting we're having a boy and I think I'm leaning towards a girl. We'll see who's right.

Enjoy the picture above. Emma loves those little rectangle wafer cookies. You know, they're made of 3 or 4 layers with creme in the middle? Anyway, she just devoured a chocolate one and was feeling quite satisfied.

A Special Surprize

This darling little onesie was waiting for me when I picked Emma up from daycare today. Every year, the class make "Friendship Shirts" for all the kids. They are so good at making little crafts, even with the babies. The made us a cute hand-print gift for Mother's Day and a foot-print for Father's Day. Emma's foot is in the middle and all the other little "dots" are the toe or fingerprint of her classmates. Isn't it sweet. I love having these little keepsakes that I will always be able to pull out in the future to remember how little she once was.

Where have we been?!

Someone politely pointed out to me that I have not made any posts about Emma in quite some time. My appologies. Let me bring you up to speed. First of all, she is growing and changing so much every day. I look at pictures of her from just a month ago and I can see such a difference. Her hair is really starting to thicken and grow; I can not wait until I can put little bows and pony tails in it!

Milestone wise, she is really taking off. Her crawling has become much more sophisticated and much quicker. She is all over the house and we are chasing her constantly. One of her favorite targets is the cat dish. A few times we have been too slow and she's nabbed a piece. Luckily we get her before she starts chewing it up. I caught her in the act the other day and have photographic evidence. Also, please note her There's Something About Mary hair- nice.

She also is starting to talk! She says mama, dada, daddy, hi, and kitty. Kitty was actually her 1st word. We thought it was a fluke but she still says it.

We're trying to teach her some body parts. For the last 3 weeks, we've asked Emma where her belly is. We ask her every day and every day we point to her belly button and say, "There it is!" Well, this week, she finally got it! She pats her chest area a little more than her belly area, but still, she gets it! It's so cool to see that we've really taught her something. Now I'm working on toes.

She is also beginning to try and pull up on furniture. She's standing really well if we stand her up. She hasn't quite been able to pull herself all the way up but she gets to her knees and is trying really hard so it's just a matter of time.

All in all, she's still our sweet girl. I can't believe she'll be a year old in about 6 weeks. It sounds cliche, but time has flown by so fast. It makes me a little sad to think she's creeping out of being a baby.

I'll post more pics again soon. Hope all is well with all of you. All our love!

February 4th

That is the tenative date that Emma will become a big sister. Yup, that's right, we're doing it again. We are so pleased to announce that we are 12 weeks pregnant with our second baby.

We started this blog toward the end of my pregnancy with Emma to keep everyone updated. We'll continue to post about sweet baby girl and also keep you informed of our pregnancy.

I'm healthy and baby is growing well. We should be able to have an ultrasound in September to find out if Emma will have a baby sister or baby brother. We covet your prayers and support. Thank you all for your love and friendship
Love, Kevin and Mandy

Yay

I just had to make a quick post.....


Kevin passed his NCLEX exam! He's officially an RN! I am so proud of him and so happy for him!

Trying to Settle

Sorry we've been MIA for a bit. Things have been a little chaotic the last few weeks around our household. We moved out of our house into our apartment on July 2nd. We were supposed to close on the house tomorrow but there's been a delay so it looks like it will be next Friday.

We've been in the apartment a week but I still feel really upheaved. There are still boxes and random piles of stuff laying everywhere. We've discovered that we had a lot of useless crap laying around our house that we don't have room for in the apartment. We've only been married right at two years but we've really accumulated a lot of stuff!

We're trying to sort through and decide what has to stay, what can be stored and what we want to get rid of (there's a lot of things in that last category.)

Even with all the craziness, though, we are so happy to be moved. Our complex is quiet and peaceful. God has so richly blessed us, bringing all of this into reality. We, and alot of our family, prayed about moving for a long time. We first talked to a realtor in February. We then waited and prayed asking God to show us if this was the right decision for us. On the one hand, the economy isn't good for selling homes. It's great for buying a home but we knew we weren't in a position to buy right away. On the other hand, we felt as though we were in a constant state of stress and anxiety with our neighbors. God really placed it on our hearts that it was time to move so we moved forward with our realtor. After only 40 days on the market, an amazing feat, we had a contract on our house. Ahhh. Thank you, God.

So, we're adjusting to different drive times, different amounts of space, and the hassle of not knowing which box anything's in (I'm a sloppy packer), but we are at peace and happy.

Once we get more settled, we'll post some pics of the new pad. Hope all is well with everyone. Love and miss you, Kevin and Mandy

Praise God!

We have a contract on our house! I can't hardly believe it. After only 40 days on the market we are on our way to moving out of our first home. Part of me is a little sad because we really do love our home. The other part of me is excited to move to a different part of town and try something new. We're going to rent an apartment for a year or two (hopefully) and then will try to buy again. We found an apartment we like today and will be moving the first week of July.

Keep us in your prayers that the inspection and appraisal goes smoothly; they could cause potential snags that would be deal breakers.

Yay! We're moving to the south side!

Happy Father's Day

Here's to the very best daddy (and husband) I know. We love you so much!!!

9 Months! (almost)

Emma will be 9 months old in a few days. We celebrated by having her picture taken at Sears. They do a really awesome job and you can purchase a CD so you can make your own prints.

Emma wasn't extremely enthusiastic about the picture taking process. I think we got several good shots, though. Enjoy a few of my faves.

"Kitty"

Emma has begun babbling using lots of consanants and lots of syllables. Normally this sounds like another language with a few "ma-ma's, da-da's, and ba-ba's" thrown in the mix. (We pretend that she know what they mean.)

This morning, I was sitting on the couch with Emma getting her ready. She looked into the dining room where Jack (our cat) was stretched out on the floor. "Kitty." She said, "Kitty." Just those two syllables. I know it was probably just one of those cool coincidents that we get to witness occassionaly.

I've wondered, though, if sometimes babies know in their mind that Jack is a kitty but they just can't get their mouthes to work right yet. In their head thinking, "Kitty, kitty, kitty, Jack is a kitty," but when they open their mouth it comes out, "grbrammm." And then, sometimes, they get lucky and it comes out just the way the intended it.

Yeah, probably not.

Hangin with the big kids

After church, Emma and I went to see me very good friend Kellie. Kellie will be having her second baby, Carter, any day now! We are so excited and had to take her some goodies for him. We also got to see Ashlynn's new bedroom. Ashlynn is 3 and just the cutest little girl ever. She is very excited to meet her baby brother and I think she will be a good little helper.

To help her prepare for her new status as a "Big Girl", her baby room was updated. She got to pick out new furniture including a full size bed and a matching dresser. She got new bedding and pillows and, well, her room is fit for a princess. It's precious.

Emma had a blast playing with Ashlynn this afternoon. She bounced on her bed, sat on a princess couch with her, rolled around on Ashlynn's bean bag and played with some of her toys. It was a great day. I hope the next time we visit it will be in the hospital to see baby Carter!

New Jammies!

Emma's aunt Jill and uncle Joe sent her some new jammies in the mail today. Old Navy makes the cutest baby stuff! After her bath, Emma put on her new jammies and sang, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into her hairbrush. Now she's off in dreamland. Good night.

Splish splash, Emma's taking a bath

I feel like time is moving so quickly. Sometimes that's a good thing. My very good wonderful friend, Kellie, will be having her second child any time now. I remember the day she called me to tell me she was pregnant and that seems like only a month ago. Sweet Carter will be here soon and I can't wait to kiss his face off and squeze his little cheeks.

I am also so happy that it is almost time for Kevin's sister Mae and her husband Ian to move closer to us! They live in Charlotte right now where Ian is completing a laproscopic fellowship. But they will be moving to Wichita in a month or so which is only about a 4 hour drive away. It is going to be so awesome to be this close because they are expecting their first baby this fall (and I have to be able to kiss his/her face off too!)

Emma is growing so fast. I can't believe she'll be nine months old in a couple weeks. We've just decided it's time to move baths into the big girl tub. Her baby tub turns into a seat that you can put in the big tub to help keep them from going under. She has always enjoyed her baths and smiled and gabbed through them. But man, oh man, she loves taking baths in the big girl tub. She kicks her feet and wiggles her fingers through the water. She really loves it when we pour water on her with a cup (see pic above). She'll be taking showers before I know it. Okay, I'm rushing things a little.