BABY'S HERE!!!! TRA-LA-TRA-LA-TRA-LA!!

No more Ofie, hello Cassidy Isabel. 7lbs, 19.5 inches, already bigger than Gretchen. Mom and baby are fine, Cassidy was delivered via C-Section at 8:13 PM. Here are the first pictures!!!



Cassidy in the warmer getting her first shots and vitals

Mom and Cassidy in the recovery room.

Dad feeding Cassidy for the first time, though she didn't really want to eat.

Cassidy's first weigh-in.

Mom seeing Cassidy right after the C-Section

More pictures will follow in the coming days!

Waiting....impatiently

We're still here waiting (yes we know most first time moms deliver after their due date). This is me we're talking about though and if things aren't done in advance I think they're late. I guess this is my first great motherly lesson in patience.

Luckily I still feel great, going to the gym and sleeping fairly well so that is definitely nice. However patience has NEVER been my strong suite and with everyone else getting excited to meet the baby it doesn't help. I keep trying to tell Ofie that her dad and sister are very nice, and way more fun than I am. Apparently someone told her how crazy the Kitson and Gerken families are and she's decided staying inside is safer.

At least we have a doctor's appointment on Friday where they will give us a final date sometime next week if nothing happens. We just wanted to let everyone know we're still waiting and yes there will be updates posted if something happens (I'm shocked at the number of people who don't think we'd tell people if we had a child)

P.S. thanks Schahl family for daily updating your blog this week to help me get through the LONG workweek, you've been a lifesaver.

39 weeks....any day now!

It's getting so close we're excited and anxious. We made it past my birthday, our anniversary and got to see Harry Potter, we're finally ready to see our little one now. Well Brian wants to have today to hang out with his friends, and so far there is no excitement so that shouldn't be a problem.

We went to the doctor yesterday and she was very pleased with our progress. 2 cm, head is down and ready to go and she really thinks this weekend is the weekend, we'll see. She estimates the baby is about 7 pounds 7 pounds 4 oz, it'll be fun to see how accurate she is (and at least 7 pounds didn't scare me, had she said 9 pounds I might have passed out). Both sets of grandparents are very excited and both have trips planned this weekend so of course their concerned with the doctor saying she thinks it will be this weekend. Luckily for them (and not me) most babies aren't born in just mere hours.

We're hoping to post baby news on here very soon for everyone, ever since we knew we were due in late July we've been pulling for the 19th of July so maybe we'll get our wish. Long story about my mom always confusing my birthday (the 9th) with my Nana's (the 19th) I figure if we give her a grandchild on the 19th it will be easier to remember and maybe she'll start to get mine right :)

Well until baby news or our 40 week appointment next Friday, that's all! Here is a picture at 39 weeks (ooh I just noticed my double chin, hopefully that won't be much longer)

So close it's scary....38 weeks

Well we went to another dr.'s appointment on Friday, 38 weeks..we can hardly believe it. This whole 9 months has flown by and while we're excited to meet our new little one, we're also nervous about those sleepless nights that are in the very near future. The doctor's appointment went well, 1 solid cm dilated, Ofie has dropped (thank goodness too, heartburn is sooo much better now) and heartbeat is at 138. My swelling feet have been much better, and both Brian and I finally got back to working out this week after weeks off because we were too busy with moving. I feel very fortunate to feel as good as I do at this point because I know many women are miserable by this point.

We made it through my birthday and now are really hoping to make it past Friday without Ofie's arrival. Brian took the day off so we can go to a nearby townwide garage sale, our 39 week appointment, and to go to see Harry Potter and a nice dinner for our anniversary. We keep telling her that after July 18 we're ready. We'd really like to have the day to enjoy ourselves and spend together, but we'll see if Ofie cooperates. I'm really thinking Ofie is coming before her due date and very possibly this week. To be on the safe side I made a few meals ahead of time and put them in the freezer so we'd have some easy, quick meals once we're back home and completely out of it.

We'll keep everyone posted if there are developments this week, our doctor did say they will not let us go past 41 weeks, so we would be induced the last week of July if Ofie has not arrived on her own by then.

Moved Check, Full Term Check, Unpacking almost Check

Well hello again everyone. We've had a very busy week since our last update. We moved out of our old place, unpacked a ton of our stuff, and already made some updates/changes to the new place. We are so excited to be in our new home and already have started our wish list of updates. Brian has quickly become Mr. Fix it. On our first day in the house he worked on the air conditioner which was causing some difficulty on move day (90+ degrees, followed by a beautiful mid 70's day the next day, go figure). He has replaced a faucet, the wax ring in a toilet, many lightbulbs, outlets, etc. I've been very impressed! Thanks to all those who helped us with updates (carpeting, painting, etc) and those who helped us moved, we REALLY appreciate all the help and we couldn't have done it without all of you.


Brian is Mr. Fix It, watch out Handy Manny, here he comes.

I am happy to report that Ofie did not feel that move week was a good time to come surprise the parents and she has decided to let us get settled in and make her accommodations perfect before her arrival. My feet did begin swelling up quite a bit (think cankles). With lots of water and elevated feet, I can usually keep the swelling to a minimum and yesterday they even looked like my old feet for a few hours (it was cause for celebration). Our dr.'s appointment last week was good, everything continues to be right on track (we're officially full-term now)and we both continue to be healthy. We will be going every Friday for dr. appointments now and our goal is to make it past my birthday (this week) and our anniversary (next week 16th) before Ofie arrives. Selfishly, I'd like to not be in the hospital for my birthday and we'd really like to have a nice dinner and go see the new Harry Potter next weekend for our anniversary. We'll see if Ofie has other plans.

Below you will see pictures of our completed nursery, we love it and it all came together in just a few days!

We've been busy so there have been no belly pictures for awhile, but here we are at 37 weeks and 2 days. When we're relaxing on the couch, Gretchen has taken a liking to my belly, it's a very comfortable spot for her to snuggle up. Disregard my color choices, my favorite shorts were in the wash so I was wearing my favorite old gym shorts of Brian's.

Until next week that's all, only one more room in our house to unpack and then it's time to sit back, relax and wait for Ofie's arrival!

We're Homeowners!

Yeah as of 3:45 yesterday we became homeowners for the very first time. Immediately following the closing we went home changed into grubby clothes, got Gretchen and headed to the house to work. We primed the baby's room last night and my mom and I will be painting it this afternoon. No time to waste. As we were working Brian said nothing like waiting until the 8 month to get the baby's room ready. So now it's crunch time 4 weeks until baby day (we hope) and so much to do.

Brian's parents are coming up tonight to help tear up carpeting and make the sloppy joes that we'll be serving our moving team on Saturday for lunch. We're very appreciative for all the help people are giving/will be giving this weekend. Tomorrow new carpeting is getting installed and Saturday is the big move. Gretchen explored the house, but was not a big fan of it and was very ready to go home at the end of the evening. We think she'll be fine once our furniture is in there and she gets used to everything.

In other news, we had another Dr.'s appointment on Tuesday. Everything looks great, we're healthy, right on schedule and the baby's head is down which is perfect. Doctor thinks the baby is perfectly content and not ready to arrive, I was very excited to hear that! The heartbeat was higher at 146 I'm sure she's just excited for the new house and all. Tuesday I did decide that having a baby in the summer is probably the craziest idea ever, especially when on the hottest/most humid day of the year (105 with humidity, 98 actual degrees) the power went out in the Dr.'s office while I was there. Never a good thing to be waiting for the doctor to come in for your exam and have the lights and air conditioning go out. The rooms instantly became hot and that doesn't bode well for a bunch of pregnant women. Hopefully it's not quite so hot next week for our appointment.

We will post pictures of the house progress once we get moved and can find our camera adapter to upload pictures. We did get a picture at closing with our mortgage person and our realtor....both said they have never been in a picture before with new homeowners. I'm sure you scrapbookers out there are as shocked as I am, especially since both have been in the business for many, many years. I knew it was an important picture for our scrapbook, and luckily rememember our camera.

Sold Sign

Finally a picture of the front of the house. The first thing to go is going to be the awning, we think it will drop about 10 years off the look of the house.
Brian drove by the house one night on his way home from work and saw the sign. We of course had to make a trip back to get a picture. No scrapbook will be complete without the sold sign! Only 4 more days until closing, and one week until moving.