ONE month!

So our little man was ONE month old yesterday. It is hard to believe that a month ago I was still in the hospital recovering. Caden at ONE month is:

• Wearing newborn clothes, and a very few 0-3 months (his little rear makes this process difficult)
• Wearing cloth diapers 100% of the time as of last week (Newborn GMD prefolds under Thirsties Duos size 1 covers during the day and BumGenius 3.0 on the very tightest and smallest settings at nighttime)

• Eating and nursing really well (though we are still having production issues with breastfeeding) - nurses for about 20-30 minutes at each feeding and then takes a 2 ounce bottle. He is eating about 2.5 ounces at each feeding every 3-4 hours and weighs 8 pounds, 13 ounces - where as at birth he was only 7 pounds, 5 ounces.
• Sleeping amazingly, especially at nighttime. All he needs is to have a full belly and be swaddled with his paci and he'll happily go down for 3-4 hours at a time. Typically we go to bed around 10pm and get up around 10am (recently, I've been getting up after the 7am feeding and using the baby monitor to take advantage of those 3 hours of productivity to shower, straighten up, and get things done - so that when he is up we can play and get out and about!)
• Loving cuddle time with mommy and daddy
• Slightly unsure about Chloe - but will allow her to get really close and give kisses, which Chloe loves to do! (I'm fairly certain Chloe thinks that Caden is her "puppy").
• Truly an overall happy baby with a really great demeanor. We are so blessed.

Our one month old

Best friends forever... Mamas and our babies...

Caden (3 weeks) and Rylan (3 months) - Best friends already.

Caden and I had the pleasure of having Kortney, who has been one of my best friend's since 7th grade, and her son Rylan come over to hang out last Friday. Kort and I were pregnant together and are now getting to experience the joys (and stresses) of being new mama's together! We had such an amazing time, talking and venting and sharing and subjecting our boys to photo after photo! This one is my favorite. I know there will be MANY more of these in the future. :)

My first Halloween

Favorite shot in the PRECIOUS outfit "Aunt" Heather and "Uncle" Matt got for me. I LOVE it.

Our adventure into... Cloth diapering

A look inside of our diapering world - the top drawer of our changing table

From L-R (back row) you have an extra pail liner in yellow, 6 Bum Genius 3.0s, Flip inserts, and newborn GMD prefolds. (front row) You have our burp cloths, a few disposables just in case, and then the Thirsties and Flip covers.

So this is a strange thing to show you - I know. But for me, it gives me a little bit of sanity in this crazy new world of parenting AND it gives me a little bit of pride in the fact that we've FINALLY done it. With tomorrow being four weeks into this new role as parents, we have started cloth diapering.

For those of you that I talked to through my pregnancy, you know that I got the notion that this was something I wanted to do from several of my mommy friends who have manage to do this successfully. Namely, Nichole at niclupton who was a friend of mine in college and Sarah, our associate minister's daughter. They made it look and sound SO easy - and the prints are so cute... so I started checking into it. Add to that all of the money that you can save all while making the world a little greener - and I was in!

Our stash consists of 24 green mountain Cloth-eez prefolds in size newborn and 24 in size small, 3 Thirsties Duo Wraps (with 3 more on the way - because they are the only ones that are fitting little man at the moment, as he lives up to his name with the tiniest little rear end around), 4 Flip covers with inserts, 7 BumGenius 3.0 All in one diapers (that will fit him until he is 35 pounds - at which point he better be potty trained!), and 2-3 other random AIO diapers that we have gotten from Kelly's closet which is wear we buy most of our diapering things.

We are trying out different things to see what works for us... but are currently using prefolds and covers during the day and the AIO diapers at nighttime because they keep him drier. His diaper rash and redness has already gone away, and it seems to be agreeing with his little bottom. Overall - so far - I am loving it.

Christopher comes home tomorrow (he has been at a Music Educator's conference) so he hasn't gotten to experience this adventure yet - so I'll keep you updated on how that goes! I will also post pictures of his cute little rear end in the fun prints sometime in the future - you can bet on it. (Little man's rear end - not Christopher's - in case you were confused!)

Wow - what a ride!

Our gorgeous little man. Caden Joshua - born October 12th

So... my high hopes of posting once a week have been taken over by the reality of the difficulty of the last stages of pregnancy and the first few weeks of being a mommy! Man! What a wild ride it has been. Now, as we're sitting here and Caden is 3 weeks and 1 day old - I will share with you a few of my reflections on what these 3 weeks have been like.

1. The last few weeks of being pregnant were the most difficult. I was incredibly blessed to have a really easy pregnancy (and to those of you who mocked me for this, my labor was not all that difficult - but I will save that story for another day). The last few weeks though - MAN - I felt HUGE. All forms of movement were difficult and at times almost unbearable. I didn't lose my stamina though. With a few more naps and swollen feet we kept on truckin' and doing the things we do (including late night football games and most noteably Melinda's wedding weekend - which turned out to be the day before I went into labor - talk about working up until the end! Haha).

Sweet Melinda, looking gorgeous on her wedding day.

2. Melinda's wedding weekend was crazy - but tons of fun. It was such an overwhelming experience to be a part of hers and Johnny's special day. To get to watch them and see how in love they are was really neat. It was also really emotional for Christopher and I to both be in a wedding where we were standing in the same spot we stood for our wedding a little over two years ago. I'm not going to lie - I got teary a time or two. She was GORGEOUS. It was also incredible to get to see some friends that we don't see often. We spent the weekend with Matt & Claire and Laura & Joshua - which was WONDERFUL. We are truly blessed with amazing friends.

Laura and Me at Melinda's wedding
(Chris says we look like sisters - I miss this girl like you wouldn't believe!)

3. So - a lot of you know - Caden was supposed to be born October 30th. Christopher was certain that this date was not accurate and that he would come early - but neither of us were quite prepared for my water to break early in the morning of the 11th! Wowza! I mean, we weren't even packed (which is probably a shock to those of you that know what a planner I am!) So here we are - at 2am on Monday morning- packing the bag with the list that our lamaze leader gave to us. It is quite remarkable that we came anywhere close to getting the things we needed. Though my water broke - my body wasn't quite ready to labor yet - so I wound up on pitocin for 12 hours - then they stopped it (and let me shower and eat which was AMAZING) - then I went back on it at 3pm on Monday afternoon. I was on it until 10pm Monday night when my body finally decided to start cooperating and beginning to labor - by 2am Tuesday morning (24 hours after my water broke) my body began to enter the hard labor phase. At 5am when Dr. Harraghy checked me - I felt certain that we had made SIGNIFICANT progress - however, was disappointed to learn that I was still only ONE CENTIMETER dialiated. What?!?!? At that point - 29 hours into this process - we made the decision to have a C-section which everyone was still doing well. Once that decision was made - we rushed off and the little man entered the world about an hour later.

4. C-sections are no joke - especially if you weren't planning on having one. There is this buzz all around you where everyone is doing like 30 different things all at the same time. It was somewhat scary and certainly overwhelming - but in the end - it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The worst part was that with all of the craziness in surgery prep Christopher could not be with me, and after being spoiled by having his unending support during the first 29 hours of labor, not having him there was tough. (Seriously - he was incredible - I could - and probably will - do a whole post on this at another time). And like all new moms will tell you, once our little man was here, all of the craziness and the difficulty of everything was forgotten, and having him here safe and healthy and gorgeous was all that mattered.



5. Okay. I have a confession. I started this post THREE days ago. I have left it open for THREE days in hopes that I will be able to finish it - but clearly, that hasn't happened. Instead, for now, I am just going to share with you what we have so far, and come back another day to continue to fill you in. Alas, I guess this is the life of a mommy of a newborn! :)

Sooo... thanks for visiting, and for caring about what is going on in our corner of the world. And most likely, if you're here, thanks for the love and support you've given our new little family during this crazy and exciting time. We're lucky to have you.

Check out this little man. :)

Last Friday I got to go to dinner with Kortney and Rylan before the Maiden/St. Stephens game. What a FUN time we had at the game and then later at dinner. Rylan is such a joy and is really an INCREDIBLE baby - I have loved getting to share in some moments of these first two months of his life.

Me and Rylan at the game...

Rylan laying on Mama's lap - she is excited about almost being a Grandmommy! :)

St. Luke's Shower

On Saturday, September 18th some incredible ladies from church got together and threw a shower for Baby Caden and me. Barbara, Miss Bink, Miss Paula, and Mary Nelson were the hostesses - and it was truly wonderful. There was not a detail that was left unnoticed. If you have ever been in these ladies homes you know that they put extra love and care into even the smallest of things. Enjoy some shots from the day. :)

The gorgeous table set up - with the whale ceterpiece (the bubbles are glass balls and the "spout" is a fun vase with white flowers)

Precious duckies floating in the punch bowl

Me and the fabulous Nelson women. :) I ADORE this family.

Miss Bink and me - looking cute and matchy matchy. :)

Thank you ladies for all that you did. It meant SO much.

Travelling in style...

A combination of many life events led us to the decision that we were in need of a new car. Chris had been driving a 2004 Taurus - and about a month ago the transmission started to go. Considering Kelly Blue Book only said the car was worth about $2500 at this point - replacing it was just NOT a reasonable option... so that kind of kicked us into motion towards what we should do. Slightly fearful of what a car dealership would actually be willing to give us for his car... we waited for a while... but finally bit the bullet Saturday before last and went to CarMax to have them check it out. When they came back with their offer - $2000 - we were set - the car was going away at the end of the week whether we had a replacement or not.

So that REALLY kicked us into high gear, and led us into a search for the RIGHT new car... we knew we wanted something bigger - we knew we were looking for a SUV - but weren't sure what. Chris looked some on Saturday, I went back with him on Monday, and Tuesday we travelled to CarMax in Gastonia to look at more cars there. FINALLY we narrowed it down to a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe - which we LOVE.

We are so so so excited! The biggest benefit is that there is PLENTY of room for us and our GROWING family. HOORAY!

Falling in love...

So I know that this being a mom thing should be growing on me... and I should be used to it by now. But I can honestly tell you, that nothing we have done during our pregnancy has made it seem any more real that the events of these last two days. Yesterday we started lamaze. After being ten minutes late (EEK!) and spending the evening getting to know other people in the class and learning about preterm and early labor, we finished by laying on the floor and doing relaxation techniques (think yoga breathing without the stretching). Not entirely enlightening, but enjoyable in it's own right. Being with a class of people who are in the same place in life is surprisingly helpful (but I can tell this class is going to be EXCITING to say the least!) Oh the things we find comfort in at this point. :)

Today, however, tops the cake of all of the things we have done to prepare to welcome our little man into this world. Originally we weren't going to get a 3d/4d ultrasound; however, when we did our original anatomy scan when I was 18 weeks the only thing the little stinker would show us were his male parts (if you remember from my post in June) - so while we were excited to know WHAT he was, we couldn't even see the slightest bit of a profile. So after talking about it for quite some time, and finding a SUPER amazing coupon, we decided that it was something we wanted to do. And let me tell you... it was worth it. While the first two ultrasounds we had made it real, because you could see a little jelly bean growing inside of me, and then could tell that he was developing with the second one... this one gives us a glipse into the little man that he is going to be. I am so excited. I hope you fall in love with him as quickly as we did.

I love him. :) I mean, I am probably biased, but isn't he SO stinkin' adorable?!?!? Check out his cute little nose and little lips. Oh goodness it makes me SO excited for the end of October to get here.

Yet again, I am not very good at this...

So as the days flash by and the weeks tick past, I realize that I am having a hard time keeping this blog up WITHOUT having a baby here... how in the world am I going to do this once our little man arrives?!?! As if in agreement he just did a somersault inside of me. Here here mama! No way at the rate you're going!

But this IS important to me, and I DO want to do it... so here is my vow to you (all 9 of you who actually read it)... I WILL do better. My new goal is once a week until the baby arrives, or more if my life is exciting enough to merit it... chances are slim that it will be that exciting... so once a week it is.

As for updates since the last time I posted - for ease of catching everyone up, I am opting for list format. Here we go:

1. School is back in full swing and I am actually amazed that I am doing as well as I am. Not to say that I am full of energy and on the top of my game. But overall I am exceptionally pleasant. Truthfully, the only real side effect is that my "mama instinct and voice" have kicked in, which is actually proving to be helpful in the breakfast and lunchrooms at keeping everyone in line.

2. Sleep is something that I am not getting as much of as I would like. This saddens me. I LOVE sleep. However, not being able to lay on my stomach (though I understand and certainly don't want to squish the little guy) is not ideal for me. Also strange things like hip pains (what I am I? 80?), FREQUENT (like yes, MORE than usual) restroom trips, and random middle of the night awakenings are making it so that I am not getting anywhere near as much as I want.

3. Our house is really starting to look fabulous. I am just going to brag for a few minutes here about how absolutely AMAZING my husband is. Over the past few weeks he has hung new blinds in every room in our home. It looks INCREDIBLE. So good, in fact that the pictures I took before, I don't think I am going to post, because I want NEW ones to show you how awesome it looks! Along with that he has assembled furniture (we now have a bookcase in the baby's room) and just been overall incredible.

4. As a continuation of #3 - our little man's room is REALLY starting to come together. Last night we put books on the bookcase, and hung some pictures on the wall. At this point all we really need for the room is a rug, which we are on a quest for. I will post pictures of it within the week (I think I need deadlines to hold myself accountable).

5. We are in the midst of shower season. See, because we are SUCH good planners, I am having a baby 3 weeks after my sister in law gets married. In all fairness, she planned hers first I suppose, but nonetheless, all that we are doing for the next few weekends is attending showers. For the record, I LOVE showers. Not just mine, but all showers in general. I love little snacks and seeing people you love and lots of fun gifts and even the dumb games. So I am excited... but this is what the upcoming weeks look like:

• Saturday - Sept 5th Wedding shower for Melinda and Johnny at Mamaws house
• Saturday - Sept 11th Wedding shower for Melinda at my house (mom and I are hosting)
• Saturday - Sept 18th Baby shower for me at the church (thrown by Barbara, Mary, Miss Bink, and Miss Paula)
• Saturday - Sept 18th (Yes on the same day) Melinda's Bachelorette Party
• Saturday - Sept 25th Baby shower for me with friends (Heather Pollock and Emily Horning are throwing it)
• Sunday - Sept 26th Family Baby shower for Chris and I at our home (we are also using these as a chance to get to show of our fun and gorgeous new home!)
• Saturday - Oct 9th Melinda gets married (YAY!) Also when we are hoping I DON'T deliver. :)
• Friday - Oct 22nd When Christopher believes Baby Kale will make his entrance into the world.
• Saturday - Oct 30th Baby Kale is due

6. We are in FULL swing with Marching Band here in the Kale household. Chris is directing at SSHS and I am excited to attend my first home game this Friday (pending I do not catch any strange illnesses - which is what happened the LAST time I was supposed to go to a home game!) October is when they kick off into Saturday competitions and BUSY BUSY BUSYness - which was perfect timing, yet again, compared to when I am due.

7. We don't think that our due date is accurate. I am pretty sure that the real due date is not Oct. 30th but actually Oct 25th. We go for a 4D ultrasound on Thursday (I am REALLLLLLLLLY excited) and hopefully can see more than about his size.

8. We are cloth diapering. I am PRETTY super excited about this. We are slowly in the process of building our stash. Currently we have six 3.0 BumGenius one size diapers and are in the process of ordering Flip covers and inserts, as well as some Thirstie Duos and prefolds. Christopher is not quite as sold on this as I am, but I just really feel like it is an easy way for us to do our part to help out the earth. The whole process is pretty overwhelming but we are both excited. So nay-sayers don't rain on my parade. :)

9. I am officially there. To the point in pregnancy where people can without question tell I am having a baby. I was really excited to get to this point, however, now I am getting tired of people saying "WOW Catie - I sure can tell you're pregnant!" or "MAN! That baby belly sure is sticking out!" Thanks people, really, I can look in a mirror, I know it's out there. LoL.

10. This is really getting long, which will not happen when I don't go over a month without posting. :) For now, I must sleep (refer to #2). Goodnight blog land. MORE to come this week.

Family vacation...

The whole crew on the pier

...is truly one of my FAVORITE times of the year. Each year over the 4th of July all of our family packs up and heads out on another vacation adventure. This year was no different, and we loaded up the cars and headed out to Topsail Beach. Topsail is one of my favorite places to go because unlike a lot of the North Carolina and South Carolina beaches, it is really low key. We love it because we can go and relax and read and not feel like we are being pushed around by all of the ads to go and do, we get to spend time just enjoying one another. Below are some shots from while we were there...

The ocean at sunset and the remnants of an old pier

The first of my bestest. Me (26) and Jess (21). She lights up my life.

One of the cutest pictures ever. Em Bim (17) and me. I love her.

Me and Zack (11). I can not believe how old my babies are. Man. He turned 12 this week and Samantha will be 9 in October.

Samantha (8) and me on the beach after dinner.

Me and my sweet mama. You can see a little bit of the baby belly showing in this one (23 weeks).

Our family. Mama, me, Baby Kale, and my darling husband.

Though all of our vacations turn out to be incredible, this one was extra sweet, because it was the last one we have together before little man arrives in October. I have no doubt that NEXT year's vacation post will be a lot more ACTIVE than this one. :) Hahaha. But like everything else in our lives, we are savoring the moments that we have right now, and looking forward of the precious ones to come.

Sweet Baby Rylan!

Welcome to the newest love in my life... Rylan Corbin Coulter. :) He was born on Tuesday, July 20th and I am pretty sure that other than the sweet little man I am creating as we speak, I haven't loved another baby more.

Rylan is the son of my friend Kortney. Kort and I have been best friends since we were in elementary school... and it was such an incredible experience to get to walk with her through this journey of becoming moms together. I can not wait until our little men can be friends. :)

Mama Kort and Mama-to-be Catie (26 weeks pregnant) and Baby Rylan (1 day old)

Turns out I'm not as good at this as I thought I'd be...

You know, I'll be honest, I always wondered before I began blogging how exactly it was that people went a WHOLE month without ever logging in and sharing something. I mean, really. As many times as we're all on the computer during a day or a week... how does it come to the point that we're too busy to update? However, as you can see from looking at my last post, which was just over a month ago, apparently, I am no better than the rest of the world.

Summer is here, and at this point is over halfway gone. In a blur the last weeks of school (which consisted ENTIRELY of testing), a week of CrossFlame tour, a much enjoyed week on vacation with our family to Topsail Beach, and an incredible week in Daytona Beach with our youth the whirlwind has begun to settle and Christopher and I currently find ourselves in Fayetteville, NC - cleaning out my Grammy's house - and it is nearing the end of July. Phew. It has been QUITE eventful. But, as most of you who know me best know, going non-stop is kind of what I do. Even at 6 months pregnant. There is MUCH to update you guys on, nursery pictures to post, new family pictures to post, and (gasp!) FINALLY some pictures of our house that will be coming in an upcoming blog post. But for now I will tell you that we are doing really amazing, LOVING our summer off, preparing to settle in and enjoy the rest of what is left of our break, and cherishing all of our last moments together before the little man arrives.

Soon, the posts will come, and THIS time, it will NOT be a month. :)

Catching up...

I missed all last week because Christopher and I were gone with the Crossflame youth choir from our church on tour in Tennessee. I just read a fun and slightly different post from a close friend of mine, and decided that even though it hasn't been that long, you might be in need of some catching up on where we are in life. So, here it goes.

1) We are living in Hickory, and have been for a year. (I wouldn't think this necessary, except a close friend of mine just discovered today that we were no longer in Gastonia... lol)

2) Summer is here, and yet we're still busier than ever.

3) I am so glad to be done with testing for the year I could scream.

4) We are both getting quite excited about the fact that we're having a son.

5) Caleb, Cooper, Connor, Carson, and Coleman are all names that we're discussing at the moment... but we're still open.

6) Yes, we have decided to be one of "those" families that have names all starting with the same letter... mock us if you must.

7) I really think Chloe knows that I am pregnant, she responds to me differently than she used to. It's positive, really... she is extra gentle with me now.

8) For middle names we are thinking Andrew, Matthew, Christopher, and Joshua.

9) Yesterday, on Father's Day, I felt our son moving for the first time.

10) It kind of feels like a marble is rolling around inside of my stomach... it is the weirdest and coolest experience.

11) Being pregnant has really been a good experience for me. I feel the same as I did before I got pregnant.

12) Some people can't handle #11, and so they aren't as nice as they could be... as if them wishing pain upon me is supposed to make me feel loved. Like they want me to be in their gang. Listen up people, I am just as much a pregnant mama as you are, with or without morning sickness.

13) That said, I did have my first negative pregnancy symptom while on tour - swollen feet and ankles! Eek! I never thought I would be excited to see my ankles again once they went down... but all is well now. Apparently walking in 100 degree heat is not the right combo for someone who is with child.

14) We are using the summer to get everything in our house in order. In order to do this effectively, I would have to stop scheduling trips and social events during our free time. My love of people is getting in the way of my overall effectiveness.

15) We picked out and ordered our nursery bedding - and I LOVE IT. Google Tall Tales Bedding by Carter's if you are interested, and you can start loving it too!

16) We are working VBS every night this week. This has made me quite excited about the fact that when I do have a 1st grader, I will only have ONE and not the NINE that I am currently in charge of.

17) Emily is in town for the summer and I am excited about spending some free time swimming and hanging out with her. (See number 14).

18) I am not sure if it is a good or a bad thing that I am 21 weeks pregnant and still wearing pre-pregnancy jeans and people don't realize that I am having a baby.

19) I miss my friends that are spread out all over the place. I want them to be close again.

20) I do love the fact that we are living in a place where we have friends, and a church that has people our age in it that we can love on and share support with. It makes life happier.

21) Working for the school system is amazing, and I am really excited to be able to experience summers off and getting off at 4pm once I have a baby.

22) We are SO blessed by people that have already started showering our son with love and fun new things... Cathleen, Brandy, Emily, Melinda, Johnny, and Mamaw... just to name a few.

23) I want to be more diligent about being prayerful for those I love most.

24) I have found that when I am praying for those I love least, the relationships go considerably better. (I am aware this is a duh statement, but one I felt the need to make).

25) Included in our whirlwind summer are a week on Crossflame tour (that we just returned from), a week at Topsail Beach with my family, a week at Daytona with the youth group (for me, Chris has to work), 1/2 a week at dad's in July, and 2 weeks of band camp for Christopher.

26) Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary. It is insane to think that it has really been 2 years. It is also hard to think that I really love this guy more now than I did when I fell for him eight years ago... and even more than I did on my wedding day when I was pretty positive I couldn't love ANYONE any more than I loved him.

27) I am most excited about watching Christopher become our son's father and take on all of the role's that entails.

28) It is a weird feeling to think that you are carrying another human inside of you. Really really weird. Unbelievably cool, but weird, nonetheless.

I am sure I could write for days... but for now, this should keep you occupied. Enjoy it, laugh at it, shake your head and wonder why I would give you so much insight... whatever you do, know that as you read it, I am glad you care. :)

My Little Man (OH Man)

So... it seems that as I am new to this blogging thing, I did not proof the previous blog QUITE as well as I should have. Instead of typing "Man oh man... what a crazy thought." (which was what I was attempting to write)... I, instead, wrote "Man ON Man"... which somehow has a very different meaning. Haha! Thankfully one of my closest friends pointed it out and we got quite a laugh out of it. :)

Today was a busy and exciting day. We went at 3pm to the OB for our 2nd ultrasound. Christopher, Mama, and Elaine (Chris' mom) went with us. We were all quite excited to see what we could see... HOWEVER it turns out Baby Kale has a little bit of his mom and dad's stubborness... the only thing the little booger would show us (other than his organs - which all looked fabulous) were his "man parts" as the Ultrasound tech kept referring to them. LOL. We didn't get to see his face very well... nor did we get the ultrasound picture that most people think of; however, we did get confirmation (on SEVERAL occasions) that it IS indeed a BOY.

Thinking of life with a little boy running around is crazy to say the least... but we are excited to see what God has in store for our future. We know that He has a plan for our lives, and we are ready and willing to follow it. So ready or not, here HE comes.

19 weeks and counting...

As the school year comes to an end I can not help but think about how quickly time passes. Today I am 19 weeks along... and I really feel like it was just yesterday that I discovered that we were becoming a family of three (well, four technically, since Chloe our sweet puppy totally counts in our book). I know that it won't be any time at all before we are preparing our lives to welcome baby Kale into the house. Man on man... what a crazy thought!

This week school is ending, our students are graduating, and we get to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl! To say I am thrilled doesn't even come close. Since my pregnancy has been such an easy one (thank you Jesus!) it is kind of strange to even think about the fact that I am carrying a life inside of me... especially since I don't even really feel pregnant. Sure, throughout the time of the pregnancy I have felt tired and slightly emotional... but never anything strange that makes me think, MAN - I am having a kid! All of the normal pregnancy symptoms have passed me by... I haven't been nauseous, no morning sickness, no heartburn, nothing out of the ordinary. It is crazy.

I will tell you this though, I am excited to see him/her again... it is truly one of the neatest feelings I've experienced in my life. I will keep you guys posted and hopefully post pictures for you to see this week once we know for sure. But for now, I'm going to get some rest while I still can.