Rollin'

Kate is almost 5 months old, and she has discovered how to roll from her back to her tummy. This is backwards according to all the baby books, but we'll take it! She will roll onto her tummy, and then gets mad because she doesn't know how to flip back over. This is only the beginning of having a baby on the move.

We dressed Kate up for Halloween, she's got to be the sweetest lion ever! She didn't seem to mind the costume even though it had a head piece. She got a kick out of the door bell ringing all night and the kids that came to the door all wound up on sugar. She smiled all night long until it was time for bed. We can't wait for next year when she can walk!

Things are changing fast around here. Kurt was accepted into Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. We will be moving around the first of the year hopefully. We put our house up for sale today. It's weird to think about coming home to some place other than here. It is were we brought our baby home! And for all but 8 months of our marriage have lived. I know we will find a new place to call home, and I hope it is as great at this one!

We are looking forward to Kate's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. She should be sitting up by Christmas time, so we hope to get lots of picture by the tree and with presents. She's growing way too fast, but hopefully we can keep up with her!

Lazy Blogger

I must be the world's worst updater! Sorry for the prolonged silence. Kate is doing great! She is 3 1/2 months old now, and she is "exploring" her vocal range. She squealed at the top of her lungs all morning, and she even shared her talents with everyone at Target today. Luckily...no one seemed to mind. She has also discovered her hands and fingers this week. She holds her hand up and stares at it like it's the most amazing thing ever. She should be rolling over any day now. She will almost do it, but she can't quite get her leg to push off hard enough.

In the last few weeks, Kate has developed pink eye and a sunburn. She recovered from both, but mom and dad had a few hard nights with an unhappy baby. Her next doctor appointment is October 12th...more shots are coming. Mom is already not looking forward to that.

Kate has been going to Mother's Day Out at Quail Springs Baptist church, and she seems to enjoy it! The picture of Lori and Kate was taken right before they left for the first day of MDO. There is another baby in her class that is only 5 days younger than her, and everytime Lori sees him, he is sleeping in the swing! He's never awake! It's bizarre.

Next week brings another trip to Texas to see Grandma and Grandpa. We'll be going to the Texas fair also. Kurt had his back surgery on August 28th, and has now been cleared to start picking up Kate again! This is good news for all 3 of us. Thanks for checking in...I'm really going to attempt to keep things more up to date, but I guess I shouldn't promise anything due to my track record.

Smiles and Shots

Kate is doing so well! We went to the lake last week, and she was so impressed with her life jacket that she fell asleep on the boat! She has started to smile all of the time at us now, and she is babbling and cooing in an effort to "talk" to us. Her personality is really starting to develop as time goes on.

We all survived the first round of shots. Kate was stuck 3 times...twice in the left leg, once in the right leg, and she got one shot orally. She was definately not happy about that at all. Once we got home, Kate slept for 3 hours, only waking up to eat and be changed. She developed a low grade fever that afternoon, but it was gone by the time we woke up today. Thank goodness we don't need anymore shots until her 4 month check up.

Nothing major is coming up for us right now, but we will keep posting pictures when we get the chance.

Living Large

Alot has happened since the last post! Kate made her first road trip to Texas successfully, and she has had her first experience in the swimming pool! She loves the water, and we hope she will be an accomplished swimmer like her daddy. She is beginning to smile at us several times a day. It's so cute when she opens her mouth wide and her eyes crinkle. Every once in a while we hear a little giggle out of her, but those are still happening at random times. Kate still loves to wake up a few times each night, but she usually goes back to sleep after we have met her needs. (eating, changing diapers, cuddling)

Today was Kate's baby dedication at our church. It was important to us to stand in front of our church and family and promise to raise Kate in a home that serves the Lord. We have been so blessed by Him with our baby girl. We can not fathom taking on parenthood without the strong foundation of our faith in Jesus. Only through God's grace can we face each new day as we try to learn how to care for Kate.

The coming weeks bring more new experiences. This Saturday is our childbirth class reunion. It will be great to see the other babies! We will also be returning to Texas...this time to the lake. Kate will get her first boat ride while dad rides the tube. She also has a check up with the pediatrician, as well as her first immunizations.

We are excited to report that Hannah Grace Gomez joined us on July 19th! We took Kate to the hospital to meet her, but she was more interested in eating than socializing at that point. Hopefully, one day soon they will be able to play with each other. We will try to update more often! Thanks again for checking on our girl!

Kate is four and half weeks old now, and she is starting to do a few more things than sleeping, eating, and pooping. She's starting to smile at Kurt and I, and she holds her head up much more than she used to. She's also fascinated by any type of lighting! We went to Texas last week, and when we stopped at a Starbucks to feed/change her, Kate could not stop staring at the lighting! Kurt thinks she's going to be a lighting expert when she grows up. She's gaining weight, and filling out like crazy! I'm not sure how much she weighs, but she doesn't look like a newborn to me anymore.

Texas was lots of fun! Kate got to spend some quality time with Lori's family, but she didn't get to swim because the water was a little bit too cold. Maybe in August she will get to swim. Now we are just waiting on Kate's friend, Hannah to be born! She's due on the 14th of July, so we hope she will come soon! Kate's baby dedication will be on Sunday, July 29th, and we can't wait to celebrate with our family. We will probably have a party at the house afterwards for people to come by and see her. Thanks for checking on Kate! She's doing well, and we'll keep you posted on her progress!

Life's good when you're 18 days old!

Life with Kate has been one new adventure after another. She loves to sleep all day and be up all night long, which makes for two very sleepy parents! Kurt is great with her, especially at 2am when it's party time. She has been to church for the first time, and she was a huge hit! We are having pictures taken today for a birth announcement. We'll try to post some of those pictures here for your viewing pleasure. Next week will be Kate's first road trip to Texas. We are going to visit Lori's cousin from Chicago, and we are looking forward to seeing how Kate does in the car for 3 1/2 hours. She loves her car seat, so we are thinking optimistically.

For every hard night that we have with Kate, she seems to provide us with a "worth it" moment. Today, she giggled out loud 3 times in a row with the sweetest smile on her face! Right now, she is asleep on Lori's stomach as this is being typed. She takes such little breathes and smells so good! Parenthood is the hardest job anyone can have, and we both definately appreciate the jobs our parents did a million times more now.

Her 2 week check up went very well. The doctor said that her length is average (20 inches...up 1 1/2 since birth!), but her weight and head circumference are "petite". Who would have guessed that Kurt and I could make a petite baby? She has an umbilical hernia, but the doctor said those usually heal on their own with time. We just need to watch it for a while. We get a break from doctor visits until she is 2 months old as long as all is well. So, on August 10th,(her aunt jenny's birthday) we will head back for the first round of shots, which won't be much fun for Kate or Mom to watch! Thanks for checking in on our girl. Check back for more updates as she keeps growing!

The rest of the Story

Saturday night he decided Lori and the baby were ready. We found ourselves headed to the hospital around 9:30pm. We were headed there with the thought that this was just another false labor like she had been having the last two weeks. After getting checked in and being observed for a couple of hours the nurse informed us that Lori was indeed in labor and would be admitted. We were shocked but excited that it was the real deal. By 2am her contractions were picking up and she was getting a epidural. She didn't feel much until about 7:15am and in the nurses words she was ready to have a baby. At 8:19 Kate was born (which was pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen) she weighed 6lb 14onces and was 18 1/2 long. She scored a 10 on her apgar which is almost unheard of and is pretty much the most perfect and rediculously good looking baby I have ever seen.

God's Timing

Well its time for Dad to put in a blog. Last Thursday I was finishing my last day at camp and mom went in for her regular appointment with the doc. When I arrived back at the church I was told by my wife that we had a decision to make. She went on to let me know later that night after I had some time to relax that her doc gave her the choice to go ahead and induce labor. She also told me we had until noon the next day to make our decision. By noon the next day we had made our decision. We had decided to trust the perfect creator to bring her at his perfect timing. God has created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows exactly when we are complete...

Another week!

Well, the doctor seems to think things are going pretty well at this point. The baby is doing well, and she is around 7 and a half pounds right now. I am 3 cm dialated and 80% effaced. It's like waiting for a bomb to go off at this point. It could happen today, or it could be June 28th before anything gets moving. I am sort of tired of these "false labor" contractions that I've been having, but it's suppossed to be good for the baby to have them. Kurt went to camp with no major excitement happening back home. I thought it might be the real deal on Wednesday night, but it wasn't! Now that he's home, Baby "K" can feel free to make her debut anytime now. I'm trying to go about my business and think about other things, but it's not easy. This isn't a very exciting post, but there isn't much else to say about this week! Hopefully soon there will be something worth celebrating!

Slowing down

Baby "K" has had a big week evidently. She gained more than a pound! She is now on track to weigh more than 8 lbs if I carry her all 40 weeks. My uterus also measured one week ahead for the first time! It was 38 cm instead of 37cm today. The contractions that I was feeling all week long helped me progress from 50% effacement to 75%, and her head has come down a little bit more. I am still dialated to 2cm. (If this is all too much information, sorry! It's all in the business of having a baby!) As we were leaving the doctor's office, she said, "Maybe we'll see you next week, maybe we will see you before." I hope she waits until after my next appointment so Kurt can be there for everything.

Otherwise, I am just plain tired! I took 2 one hour naps today, and the last time I went to Walmart for groceries, I about passed out from pushing the cart and picking things up. My body is definately telling me it's time to slow down. I took myself for a pedicure today to help me relax some. We are having professional pregnancy pictures taken tomorrow with the same photographer that took our engagement and wedding pictures. It will be fun to have her do them since she knows us so well.

While I am not looking forward to Kurt being gone next week, it gives me the opportunity to spend some much needed time with my mom and sister. They are going to babysit me in case I go into labor, and we will most likely spend the week watching girly movies and giggling like crazy. I am so glad to have this precious time with them before I become a mother myself.

If anything worth updating about happens this week I will post it here. Otherwise, I will do another doctor update next Thursday! Happy weekend!

Just Getting Started

I decided to start this page in an effort to keep our friends and family updated on the latest and greatest in the world of babyness that is about to become our lives. For those that haven't heard our story, Kurt and I realized in October of 2006 that we were going to become parents! It was somewhat of a "planned" event, but can you ever really plan for something so huge as this? We quickly told our families our news, but held back for one month until I was 2 months pregnant to tell friends and people at church. Those four weeks were exciting, because we were walking around with what seemed to be the world's largest secret! The first trimester, while not horrible, was no fun at all. I slept most of the day on the couch and could hardly stomach any of the foods that we normally ate. Peanut butter and jelly became my dearest friend.

The second trimester brought on a spurt of energy that I now wish was still around. We worked on the baby's room, bought furniture, found a stroller, took a much needed vacation to the carribean, and just enjoyed being together. We found out that we were expecting a little girl, which thrilled us to no end! She has a name, but it has been kept top secret, and will be revealed at the time of her birth! Something had to be a surprise, right? We did tell people that it would start with a "K" as that is somewhat of a tradition in the Malthaner family.

The third trimester has presented new challenges as I am feeling very tired....and very large! Until recently, I could hardly eat or breathe due to the baby being so high in my belly. She has since "dropped" and engaged in my pelvis which is a sure sign that she will one day vacate her current residence! Praise the Lord! I will not be preggo forever...My weekly doctor appointments began last week, and the doctor told me that it looked like she would weigh 8lbs if I carried her to 40 weeks. (I am 37 wks now) Then, she checked everything else out, and said "It doesn't look like you have to worry about having an 8 lb. baby because you are already dialated 1.5-2 cm!!" This was music to my ears. I think I tap danced out of the office. There is no way to tell when Baby "K" will make her debut, but we hope she can wait until June 8th or later because her daddy will be 4 hours away at children's camp from the 4th-7th. I go back to the doctor each Thursday, and will keep updating the progress of this little one until she sees fit to join us on the outside.