Christmas 2010

Love Joy Christmas

Shutterfly has classic, elegant Christmas invitations for your party.

View the entire collection of cards.

This is the first time I've ever ordered Christmas cards! I'm just so excited to share our little family with the world. And the little one is so fun to photograph!

Apologies for the lack of updates lately--as soon as I figure out how to type with one hand a little better, I'll get some updates posted!

Love you all!

Great Old Friends!

In September my sister hosted a shower for me and Cupcake at my mom’s house in Springfield, MO, with help from my Aunt Kathy and my Aunt Jan and cousin Ashley. It was a WONDERFUL time, and I just can’t believe how lucky I am to have such great friends from the past!

Most of the girls in attendance have been friends of mine since high school and college, a lot of whom I have reconnected with thanks to good ol’ Facebook (to which I am addicted). It was amazing to see all of them—lots of them married, some with kids, and all of them grown up into beautiful, talented, kind women I am proud to know.

We had taco salad for lunch and mostly spent the time chatting. It was great to see my friends connecting with new people they hadn’t known before or reconnecting with people they hadn’t seen in years.

I got TONS of great advice from these ladies, and Susan had them all write a little letter to Cupcake. One of my greatest wishes for my daughter is to have a support system of women like I have had throughout my life, in family and friends like the ones who were in Springfield with me that day. We were of course showered by amazing gifts, and I hope I can continue to stay in touch with all these women as their lives grow and change (and hopefully knit some of them baby gifts as well)!

Honey-Do

I'm a list maker. At any given moment I have at least 2, if not 3 or 4 or 5 or more, lists that outline what needs to be done, for work, for the house, for the baby. I make lists when I am packing to go out of town for a weekend. I can barely stand going to the grocery store without a list. It's not even worth my time to leave the house to run errands if I don't have a list of some sort.

So in preparation for Cupcake's arrival, I have made a list that we need to complete. And by we, I mean a lot of times, Aaron, because there are only so many things I am able to do at this point in my pregnancy. Aaron is a good sport about it—he indulges me with my list of tasks—and I try and be realistic about what can get completed by December.

This weekend, he tackled a task that has been weighing on my mind for years. You see, Aaron loves technology, and consequently, all the wires that come with it. In fact, he may really love wires more than he loves the technology those wires drive. He has a crazy collection of wires and adapters and things I can't name. It's very handy, really—we always have whatever we need to plug this electronic device into that one. For example, I can move shows from the DVR to the computer, or from a video tape to a hard drive. Way more impressive than my own mixed-tape set up from high school, where I dubbed my CDs on to cassette tapes for the car.

So we have a lot of wires in the house, connecting televisions to cable, and computers to televisions, and routers to devices, and so on. This weekend, Aaron spent time planning out a wiring layout, and he hid all the wires in closets and made new jacks in the walls for all these things. I think he did a great job. And I only had to sit on the floor in some closets a few times feeding wires through walls to him, and he helped me and my pregnant self get up off the floor every time.

I even learned how to wire Cat5 jacks—I'm pretty proud of myself for that one.

Now, there are no wires trailing across the floor in any of the rooms, and you can most conveniently connect to the internet, wirelessly or wired, in any room in the house. It's gloriously nerdy. And now the baby can have a laptop whenever she's ready. I think Aaron will begin teaching her to code software at an early age.

Thanks, Aaron! One more thing checked off the list!

Still Kickin'

Me, the blog, and the kid are still here, in case you were wondering.

People are always asking me if the baby is active, and let me just tell you—the answer is YES! This little girl is a whirlwind already—there is hardly a time of day that she ISN'T kicking me. The doctor recommended that I keep track of how often she kicks by counting the amount of time it takes her to get to 10. It's usually around 30 minutes, but sometimes she kicks that many times in 5 minutes!

I feel it all day whether I am sitting or standing or walking or lying down. It's quite enjoyable, but it is SO weird. That something—no, someONE—is in there, flipping and turning and kicking and punching and stretching. A whole person, who will be born in around 12 weeks! WEIRD.

The only part that makes me wrinkle my nose a bit is when she pushes directly on my belly button (which, in other news, is getting smaller every day) from the inside. It always makes me kind of squirmy when someone, even me, pokes my belly button from the outside—and it's just as weird when Cupcake does it from the inside.

Otherwise, I adore feeling her move, and I think I'll be a little bit sad when I don't get to feel it any more. Though I do wonder if she'll ever take naps…

Showered With Love!

Cupcake's Grandma Sheila and Aunt Ashely (Aaron's mom and sister) hosted a baby shower in the Quad Cities this weekend, and Aaron and I came home feeling overwhelmed with love and incredibly blessed by his family!

Since we were going to be traveling all the way to Illinois for this party, we decided it would be fun to have a couple's shower--Aaron deserves to celebrate with his family, and we wanted to see everyone we could, so all the guys were invited, too! For a lot of them, this was the first shower they'd ever attended, and I heard a few of them were nervous about attending, but I think it turned out great.

Sheila and Ashley had TONS of great food for everyone to eat (including a great big tray of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, one of my current cravings--and it had a bowl of gummy worms in the middle, which is one of Aaron's favorite treats). There were cupcakes (my favorite!) with awesome handmade little monkeys on top, courtesy of Jon's daughter Marisa, who is an amazing baker!

When everyone arrived, Sheila got them to work on decorating onesies for cupcake--which was a GREAT project for the adults and the kids alike! They turned out so cute, and I am sure you'll see them featured on this blog as the cupcake tries them all on. Because she's so smart, Sheila made sure they spanned from Newborn size to 18 months, so we'll be able to enjoy them for many months to come.

At present time, Aaron's little cousin Tony helped us with unwrapping the presents (he's pretty much a present opening expert) and Aunt Ashley was AMAZING at keeping up with his speed on taking notes of who gave us what. It took some fancy pen work to keep up with that energetic little guy!

We received so many nice things--we have SUCH great friends and family! How did we get so lucky? We are so thankful, and we love all of you so much! Keep an eye here to see Cupcake enjoying each and every one of your thoughtful gifts.

Love,
Kate and Aaron

Cupcake's Dresser

Well, dear readers, it is apparently baby room improvement week here on the blog!

My parents, being the first-time grandparents of baby Cupcake, are pretty pumped, to say the least. Mom calls me about every day with something she's read or heard or seen or thought up about the baby or her room or supplies we might need after she arrives. It's pretty great seeing them this excited about their granddaughter--they are going to be AWESOME grandparents.

As Aaron and I were trying to decide how to furnish and arrange Cupcake's room without breaking the bank or crowding the space too much, my mom called to let me know she had an idea (she has lots of ideas, and they're usually good). She said she had an old dresser that she thought they could build a changing table top for, saving us the need to buy either of those two things. The old art supply chest of drawers from the garage was going to be the subject of the renovation, and I have to admit, at first I was a little skeptical. That thing had been out there for ages and ages, and I'm pretty sure there was at least a pound of glitter spread among the drawers.

However, with a little TLC (and some assistance from my carpentry-loving brother-in-law, Cameron) I am pretty sure this is the best dresser ever! Check out the photos!

A Furry Friend for Cupcake

I had dinner with my friend Amy P last night and she helped me review my registry and think of things I might be missing. While I was there, her ADORABLE son Aidan ran in with a box from Build-a-Bear and gave me (and the baby) this!

Aidan tells me his name is Monkey, and Amy said he picked it out, kissed the heart he put inside, and wanted it to be Cupcake's first furry friend. I'm SO excited to add this to our nursery décor!

What a lovely evening with some wonderful friends!

Wannabe Design Star

I've been looking at fabrics and knick-knacks for Cupcake's room since I found out we were having a baby--any excuse to design a new space! There's a great store in Springfield my mom discovered years ago, called FM (no idea what that stands for). If you drove past it you'd never give it a second look--it looks like a junk shop where you might be able to buy some really cheesy and cheap silk flowers. Inside, however, is a different story. They carry TONS of great decorator fabrics, so after we told my parents we were pregnant, it was one of my first Springfield stops.

At that point we didn't know whether Cupcake was a boy or girl, so I went in thinking I'd pick some fabrics I liked for a boy and some I liked for a girl. I walked out with fabrics that have chocolate brown, orange, sage green, and blue, and that's what will be used to decorate Cupcake's room.

The big squares of decorator fabric will be used for curtains, bumper, and crib skirt, with accents of orange and brown REALLY soft minky dimple fabrics (inside of the bumper, on a super soft blanket, back of a throw pillow for the rocking chair). Then we'll add a few monkey accents, too--a mobile, some wall hangings, etc. Aaron is a big fan of monkeys, and we thought it would add some playfulness to this otherwise very sophisticated room.

My oh-so-talented mother is going to work some magic and put these fabrics together to create a nursery design that I am going to love, and even though it isn't pink, I think the Cupcake will like it, too.

More to come on the furniture soon!

A Little Late

OmGEEE people, I have let myself down on this blog.

It was going to be this fabulous documentation of each moment leading up to the birth of my child, and then the experience of raising said child thereafter, and instead…

You get a lame update every 10 weeks.

Whatev.

Here is what's happening with me and Cupcake these days:

1. Cupcake is a girl, in case you hadn't heard. Aaron guessed it the week we found out we were pregnant. I refused to let my brain decide one way or the other for fear of getting fixated on one sex, and then being disappointed when it was the opposite. Toward the end I think I kind of thought it would be a boy (because I wanted to be the opposite of Aaron), but I didn't really care which. She's going to be awesome, and maybe some day she'll have a brother (who I hope does not want to play football, but I think Aaron would like that a lot).

2. I have still been feeling pretty much amazing, thanks for asking! It's everyone's favorite question these days, and sometimes I feel a bit guilty about answering, "I feel AWESOME!" I didn't have one moment of morning sickness, and I really wasn't all that tired. I probably get about the same amount tired now as I did first trimester—maybe because of the heat? This summer has been brutal in the Midwest.

3. The house is STILL for sale, but we've (well, I've) put a deadline of August 30th on that whole thing—then I need to hunker down and DECORATE! The current house is fine for us and a baby—we'll do a little bit of rearranging, but we don't NEED that other room or basement we were hoping to be getting…what we really need is less stuff. I imagine September will be the month of purging, rearranging, and redecorating. I'm not sure Aaron is as excited about all of that as I am…

4. Cupcake moves ALL THE TIME! I have a nagging fear that she will NEVER sleep and therefore I will never sleep after she is born…but hopefully this is not the case. She kicks and punches and does flips in there all day and I have a hard time not giggling every time I feel her. It is an AWESOME feeling. Aaron felt her moving once, but sometimes it seems like every time I grab his hand and put it on my stomach, she stops. Hmm…sounds like a joke her daddy would play on someone.

5. Baby registry—I just took a crack at that the last week. It's very overwhelming to walk into one of those giant baby super stores—there is SO much stuff in there! Thankfully I have great friends who can help me figure out where to start. (Thanks Missy and Amy P!)

So, that's a "quick" catch up. I would promise to do better but who knows when I'd rather be napping than blogging…so I'll just say here you go for now and try my best to keep up!

Heartburn!

I knew pregnancy was going to bring me all sorts of new experiences, and honestly, I am excited about most of them.

However, this newest "experience" is one that I'm not so excited about—heartburn.

I've never had heartburn before—I'm not really the type to eat much spicy food (I'm kind of a wuss about spicy stuff), and I think usually I can stop myself before I overeat and reside in that pleasantly full phase of a meal. On Sunday, I didn't really eat anything out of the ordinary—we got Chipotle for lunch and I ate half at lunch time and half for dinner. I mean, the portions are huge, so splitting it in half usually seems to work out just fine for me.

However, as I got ready for bed, I started noticing this annoying warm feeling in my chest, and soon it was in my throat. It didn't really burn, per say—not what I imagined it would be from all the commercials that show people with cartoon flames in their esophagus. It was definitely like nothing I'd ever felt before.

Usually with headaches and body aches I just get in bed and go to sleep, and in the morning I feel better, but as soon as I lay down in my bed, the feeling got worse, so I sat up immediately. Aaron suggested I try some Tums, and I knew that was on my list of approved medications for pregnancy, so I chomped about four of them. (They were actually pretty tasty—berry-flavored and a little chalky. And as Aaron pointed out, they have calcium, something my body needs anyway, just like the commercial says.)

Anyway, since then I've noticed this same sensation twice more, though not as pronounced as Sunday night. I've added a bag full of Tums to my desk drawer. I can only imagine this is going to get worse as the Cupcake takes up more and more space in my body and pushes my stomach even closer to my esophagus. Fun! The old wives tale is that heartburn means your baby will have a full head of hair when he is born, so I guess we'll see.

Cupcake

The knitting girls (if you don't know already, I get together with a group of my favorite ladies and knit on Sunday mornings) informed me that they need a nickname for the baby, so we can quit saying "it" when we refer to him or her. AP called her little one "Nugget" before he was born, and Missy called her baby "Peanut" before she finally made an appearance.

At our knitters' weekend to Tablerock Lake a few weekends ago, AP suggested the name Cupcake, since I LOVE cupcakes (a ridiculous amount).

Aaron, my sweet fiancé, even asked if he could marry me and our little Cupcake when he proposed last week. (Insert chorus of "aw!" here.)

So we're going with that—Cupcake. Today, Cupcake decided that the curried tofu salad sandwich and fruit that I thought looked good in the cafeteria was not what he or she wanted to eat for lunch, so instead I ate oatmeal raisin cookies and a cherry-flavored Blow Pop. Healthy.

Too Big For My Britches!

Well, I knew it would happen...15 weeks pregnant and I am starting to get a little too big for my britches! In other words, only one pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans now fit around my growing belly! I have bought some maternity jeans, and a glorious invention called the Bella Band,

and I am making it work (as Tim Gunn would say).

It's a little frustrating--I STILL don't really FEEL pregnant. I have always carried my excess weight around my waist, so it kind of just feels like I am getting fatter, and I can't suck it in the way I used to. In fact, today, as I stood in front of the mirror getting dressed, I tried to pull my abs in, and it was a little painful! I suppose I should just get over it--there' a baby in there (as Aaron keeps graciously reminding me).

Aaron's cousin Pam lent us her baby heart monitor--maybe that will help. Listening to the baby's heart on a regular basis might make me feel more like I'm pregnant, not just fat! :)

Going Public

Welcome to my blog, family and friends! I've been writing just a little here and there since February--since Aaron and I seriously started trying to start a family. I can't promise this will be incredibly insightful, but I hope you enjoy seeing what I'm thinking along the way. Maybe I'll even talk Aaron into guest-posting one of these days. I hope you enjoy it!

The News!

It has been a week of revealing our news to our loved ones! Keeping a secret as big as this one has NOT been easy—and anyway, part of the fun is seeing our family and friends get as excited as we are about our news!

My parents were ecstatic—my mom said that she "wants to be a grandma" and has been thinking about it a lot, and my sister said that even though she has had lots of friends tell her they were pregnant, it was WAY cooler to hear it from family.

Aaron's mom enjoyed the "You're too young to be a grandma!" card, and was super excited for us, and Aaron's sister helped us start thinking of names. She and Aaron have both said that I am "the type" that would have a girl, so that's their vote for baby gender.

Aaron's dad and step mom said they were "elated" for us, and we are looking forward to seeing them in a few weeks.

The knitters were excited to hear on Mother's Day that I will soon be a mother--Amy P is ordering books for me to read, and Missy loaded me up with a whole baby library.

There are still several people we'd like to tell before the news gets all over the place, like Aaron's good friends from childhood, lots of Reddy cousins, my aunt Jan and cousin Ashley, and more of our good friends in Kansas City. In a few more weeks, the news will be out! Our volleyball team might be a bit disappointed, but I think they'll survive.

The Tiniest Heartbeat

Aaron and I went yesterday for my initial prenatal appointment with my obstetrician. I have been nervous…I have mentioned before that aside from being very tired, I don't really FEEL pregnant. I haven't had any morning sickness whatsoever, and it just seems like I should feel something different. To have some inherent knowledge that I am pregnant…or a big letter P burning on my forehead.

So I was excited and nervous to go to the doctor—I wanted to hear good news, of course, and had no reason to think that I wouldn't, but one never knows, right?

Anyway, my doctor is very matter of fact, and asked us if we are going to get married…I suppose there will be PLENTY of times we'll be asked that question over the next year. (In case you are wondering, the answer is maybe we will, maybe we won't. Stay tuned.) After a regular exam, we went to have a sonogram to measure the size of the baby and estimate how long I had been pregnant. THAT was amazing.

On the screen we could see a little blobby shape that was the baby, inside it's little blobby amniotic sac, and the best part—there was this fluttery movement on the screen, which was the baby's heartbeat. At 7 weeks and 3 days, a heartbeat! Aaron held my hand and we were both pretty quiet…like I said, amazing. The heartbeat was strong and in perfect range at 154 beats a minute, and the rest we will just wait to see! It feels like I've been waiting my entire life to see that on the screen.

Spilled Beans

A few weeks ago, Aaron's cousins were in town, stopping by on their way to the Quad Cities. Earlier that day I had taken my second pregnancy test—just to be SURE that it was true. Without thinking, I chucked the box and the test in the trash in the bathroom and forgot about it…until after our house guests had left.

Then I noticed that I had done it! "Oh, no one looks in the trash can," Aaron says to me. Well, turns out, Aaron's cousin's girlfriend, Kat, HAD noticed, but like a champ, kept it to herself. She and her boyfriend Bart (one of Aaron's oldest friends and among his most favorite cousins) gave us quiet congratulations after they knew that WE knew that they knew.

It is AMAZING to share our news with our loved ones…can't wait until we get to tell everyone!

First Blush

So, I'm at the orthodontist today, getting my braces off (phew, glad I got that done BEFORE I have a child—I'm not sure I could take myself very seriously if I had braces and a baby). I'd been there for hours—they took off my braces, fit me for retainers, then wanted to take some photos of my beautifully aligned teeth and what have you. I sit for some photographs (completely jealous of the flashes they had on their Canon, by the way), and then the tech says to me, "Okay, do you mind taking off your earrings? We're going to do some head x-rays."

I thought nothing of it and started to take my earrings out, and then the tech says, "You're not expecting, right?"

I froze. Because I am! I forget sometimes—I've been feeling really good: a little tired, and smells seem stronger to me than usual, but other than that, it doesn't really FEEL like I'm pregnant.

But I didn't quite know what to do—I haven't been to see the doctor yet, and I'm a worry-wart anyway, so I don't want to be telling everyone until the doctor says things look normal, but since I AM pregnant, I don't want to get x-rays taken and risk any harm to my fetus. Conundrum.

So, kind of sheepishly, I said, "Actually, I am." She looked a little surprised—so I said, "I'm only about six weeks—so don't tell anyone!" She smiled and told me she'd need to tell the doctor so that he doesn't wonder, but we won't tell anyone else.

We proceed to tell the doctor (a great orthodontist, if you're looking for one in the Liberty area, let me know) and then I get congratulated by him and the tech and two hygienists! I blushed a little—explaining I am newly pregnant and haven't been to the doc and all of that. The doc said it is funny that he accidentally happens to be the first person people end up telling a lot of the time…but how awkward!

I texted Aaron while I waited for my retainers: "Just had to tell the orthodontist I am pregnant so they wouldn't take x-rays. Can't believe the first person I told was an x-ray tech."

Just another funny story that I'll be able to share later—when I can tell EVERYONE!

April Fools!

This was the most memorable April Fools day I've EVER had. I woke up at the normal time, took a shower, dried my hair, and started brushing my teeth. And then I thought to myself, maybe I'll take a pregnancy test today, what the heck.

So I did.

AND IT WAS POSITIVE.

I stood there in silence staring at it for a while...not quite sure what to do. I've done enough reading and listening to my friends to know that false positives are very rare. Aaron was still asleep, radio alarm blaring (which rarely wakes him up). I took my little test in there and kissed him on the forehead. "Baby," I said to him, "I have to tell you something. And this is NOT an April Fool's Day joke."

We're excited to say the least--but this is such a weird experience! I have the biggest secret of my life brewing--no--GROWING inside of me right now. And I can't tell ANYONE! It's insane. It's weird. It makes me nervous!

I am trying not to stress about it--currently I feel great (maybe a little tired, but that may be because I went cold turkey no caffeine). I worry about whether this is real, really going to happen, really going to end up in a sweet little child of my very own. I have been waiting for the morning sickness...I think that might make me feel like it is more real.

I have now taken three tests, and called my doctor, and am counting down the hours until I can hear from a doctor that everything is going great and I can tell my friends and family about our joyous news. I wanted to put it on Facebook, on April Fool's day, and see what people said...but then on the other hand, I want to present it on my terms...for now, I will write it here.

Squeeeeeeee!

Containment

I am trying SO hard to keep from getting excited, but today at work, I developed this whole plan for letting my coworkers know I was knocked up. It involves cupcakes and the need to search for party decorations that are equally blue and pink…anyway. Unnecessary, at least at this point.

I've been Googling early pregnancy symptoms, and thinking to myself, ooh, I have that one! But not that one. (Boo.) All this excitement and anticipation is just going to make it hard on me if I am NOT pregnant yet.

I've felt sort of like this before, but I think the big difference is the potential father of my children is such an amazing person. He's going to be a GREAT dad, and I'm so ready to see him move into that role. He'll have so much to teach his kids, and he just makes every day and every mundane activity fun and exciting. His curiosity and energy level are like a kid's, so I think it will be fun to watch him interact with our babies.

I'm also so excited to see my parents as grandparents. My mom is a teacher, and she LOVES to study how individuals learn. I like to think that my children will be pretty smart—the combination of my random creativity and Aaron's math and analytical skills, plus my patience and his drive…they are going to turn out to be pretty darn awesome, or at least I hope so. My mom will have an excellent time playing and teaching and coming up with new and fun ideas for learning. I love to watch her teach—and I think it will be even more excellent with my own kids.

My dad is great with kids—he's so gentle and funny, and kids always think he is hilarious. He'll be that grandpa that is always ready to play whatever silly game the kids invent, and he's also one of the best ticklers I have ever met! He used to chase my sister and me around the house on Saturday mornings, threatening to tickle us to death. We would laugh for hours (and presumably, stay out of my mom's way so she could get a few things done). He's also a good listener, and an excellent problem-solver, and pretty much the handiest guy I know. I can imagine him building block towers and doing puzzles with my children, and even playing tea party if I have a girl.

My sister will also be thrilled—and be an excellent aunt. She has great ideas, and loves music so much that I can imagine her singing with my kids, and playing silly games, and buying them cool little gifts from places she visits. I want to be able to tell her she's going to be someone's aunt.

And my friends! My friends will be ecstatic (well, those of them that already have children, or want some in the near future). A few of my friends might be apprehensive, but I think I can show them that having kids doesn't have to make you boring or reclusive. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think my kids will be cool and that I'll be able to have conversations about literature and pop culture, mixed with my perspective as someone's mom.

So we'll see. This blog post hasn't helped—I'm more excited than I was 10 minutes ago. And I don't even know if there is anything to be excited about. Current status: excited and anxious (and trying not to be).

Just a twinkle...

I've always thought that was a funny saying…a twinkle in one's eye. You know, like your grandma used to say—"That was when you were just a twinkle in your parents' eyes." I don't feel incredibly twinkly at the moment, but I do feel all SORTS of other things.

Jealousy, for one—not what I expected to feel when looking forward to having a child in the near future, but every time I hear that another friend or coworker or acquaintance, even, is pregnant, I feel this insane rush of jealousy. I'm a good faker, though, so you wouldn't know—I still ask excited questions and listen to the stories and soak in everything the bearer of the news has to say. It's weird to want something so much you are jealous when someone else has it…I never felt like this about marriage (or the single life) or love or home ownership or anything else. I don't really consider myself a jealous person, so it just feels strange.

Fear, for another. Maybe not outright fear…maybe more of a generalized anxiety about the state of the world into which I may or may not be bringing a child. The things I can control (choice of a suitable father for this possible child, living conditions, love, health, happiness) aren't that concerning at the moment, but the idea of things I cannot control (my mother's ideas about whether this potential child's parents should be legally married, the room, or even house, in which the potential child will live when he or she is born, whether I will work, whether I will be able to stand not being home...this list could go on and on) is almost overwhelming. What about schools? What about insurance? Should I have a natural birth? What about immunizations, and socialization, and pets?

I need to get a grip. If there isn't even a child on the horizon (yet) then what am I doing worrying about all these things that I a) don't need to have answers for right now, or b) won't be able to control anyway?

I'm excited, too, don't get me wrong. Mainly I'm trying to restrain myself from getting TOO excited so there isn't let down if this isn't the month for this potential kid. Current status: twinkling.