Coming soon!

Hi all,

So no major contractions yet still, and had another good nonstress test result today, but the docs are ready to induce me on Thursday since I'll be 1 day from my 42 week mark. Guess the little one just likes it too much in there! :) I'm still hoping to go into labor before then, but if not, we'll definitely get to meet them by Thursday or Friday! Pretty exciting!

So just wanted to let everyone know. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully we'll be able to post pictures early next week! Can't wait!

much love,

k&m

Still waiting...

Just a quick note... We are still waiting but we did find out that Kate is 2cm dilated! And since the baby is just chillin' in there, we also did an ultrasound to estimate the baby's weight. Over 8lb! Can you believe that?

Anyway, we're going to go out tonight and probably have our last date for a little while. Hopefully, within a few days time we will be parents!

-Michael

In the meantime...

So no new news on the baby front as of today. We just passed our 40 wk mark last Friday so I'm hoping Pelé will arrive in the next week or so. The docs want me to get a nonstress test this Thursday to make sure the little one is doing well. If his/her movements are any indication I'd say he/she is doing splendidly! They are times Pelé moves so much I wonder if he/she is having a party in there or something! ;) And its not always the most comfortable thing for mom! Luckily Pelé usually settles down after I lay on my left side for a bit. But, geesh! Really, what are you doing in there! :)

In other news, Michael is making great progress with the bathroom and we might have a real floor in there soon. I've also done a little painting in the dining area with a nice orangish color (don't worry they make these great no VOC paints now that don't release any bad chemicals so pregnant women are okayed to use them) . It really brightens the place up.

Here are some pics of the transformation in progress:

In the beginning, finding the termite damage:

nice and rotten!

after removing the termite eaten sheetrock and support boards:

Nice view from kitchen into upstairs bathroom. New support boards in place.

A HUGE thanks to Jarno for his help with this bathroom plumbing and wall project! You're awesome!

Alright! Hole? What hole? ;)

And in the bathroom the bathtub is in place! Here's a pic with some tiling choices we're considering:

Saturday we actually got out of the house for a little while and headed up to Bedford, Va to see the memorial service for D-day. They have a monument there as Bedford lost the most soldiers on D-day than any other town in America. It was a really nice service and we had a great time. It was also especially nice to get out and do something together other than work on the house. We needed that little break. I also had a few laughs as a couple folks asked when I was due and got to see their look of surprise when I said "yesterday". :) Not sure they were prepared for that!

Spring is definitely here and is moving quickly to summer. We learned the lady who lived here before us really had a nice garden going and it's been fun discovering what flowers she had as they begin to bloom in our yard. We've had tulips, peonies, and now these beautiful yellow, red, and purple flowers are coming in.

Our little garden in the back is actually starting to grow some of the beans and cucumbers we planted! Just hope the deer don't eat them all... :) Also, the little garden off the porch is looking pretty good!

Unfortunately the cilantro has sprouted up to seed. :)

But the tomatoes and lettuce are doing great!

And some nice flowers growing off on the side.

All the flowers and growth make the days very enjoyable, though it's getting pretty hot round here. Can't wait to take the kiddo down to the river or to Claytor Lake later this summer!

love to all,

k&m

Real quick update

So far baby Craft is still cooking.  :)  The due date approaches this Friday, but I think Pelé might stay in just a little longer.  I think he/she is enjoying their time inside.  And to be honest, I'm feeling pretty good still and so can't complain too much.  He/she will come when they're ready and that's best, so we'll just have to see when that is!  :)

We had a really great weekend with visits from my parents and our friend Jarno.  We got SOOO much work done on the house it was awesome.  Thanks so much to them for their help!  I'll get some pics up from the weekend soon.

We'll try to send out a note when we head to the hospital at least.  :)  Have a great day!

-k & m

bathroom and peek at nursery

So we've been working hard his weekend!  :)  Michael's making good progress with our upstairs bathroom renovation and we even bought a bath tub Sunday.  Of course it's taking much longer than we had originally hoped for, but that's what happens when you tear up the floor and find termite damage underneath.  Oh, joy.  Always our luck.  ;)  So we had to tear out the wall between the bathroom and dining area as well.  Here are a couple pictures:

First I'll back up and post a few when my parents were here helping with things in the beginning...

Dad helping empty the bathroom of the old fixtures:

Goodbye sink!

While the fellas were hard at work upstairs

My mom was working hard downstairs sanding the windows in the den. Thanks mom!

And now how the bathroom looks at this moment. This picture looks from the dining area into the bathroom on the upper level.

Fun times! :)

But other than bathroom work, we've done a lot with the bedrooms in preparing our room and the nursery. We finally moved the guest bed out of the nursery and moved the crib in. Here's what it looks like so far.

3 walls are the yellowish color and the one wall is the green color. No pictures up on the walls yet, but we have some really fun and colorful curtains my mom made for us. We even have some super cute African animal buttons we sewed on.

Fun! :)

That's about it for now. Hope everyone had a GREAT holiday weekend.

luv,
k&m

37 1/2 and counting....

Well, it might not be that long now! But of course it could still be awhile. ;) Here are some recent pics. First is that of the nice baby shower my department at VT held for us last Friday.

Yummy Cake!

Pic with the cake. :)

And a few pics of the recent belly. It's getting pretty big!

And we got a great gift from the department! A jogger stroller! Thanks so much everyone! You're way too generous!

Here's Michael putting it together:

So I guess we're hoping the kid will cook a little longer so we can complete some more house projects, but I personally hope Pelé doesn't stay in too long! ;)

Oh and the nursery's basically done! We'll post a picture when we move the crib in. Stay tuned!

Hope all is well with everyone! Much love, k&m

36 wk update

Well, I'm at 36 weeks now!  Time's moving along!  I had a doc appt this morning and so far everything is still looking fine.  I haven't been having any "real" contractions as far as I can tell.  And I'm glad of that.  Don't want Pelé coming early.  :)  It's hard to realize that we could have a little one in only 2 weeks or so!  But I'm figuring it'll be a bit longer.  Pelé has been moving around a bunch and likes to kick dady when he puts his hand on my tummy (and takes up his/her's space!)  :) .  

I think we're both feeling pretty good about things and feel good about all that is happening although we're not looking forward to the decrease in sleep.  :)  Who knows what is to come, but we're in it together which at least makes me feel better... 

Over the last couple weekends we've had a few nice visits with friends and family .  Heather and Coelle visited last weekend and it was a lot of fun to catch up and just hang out.  They only stayed a short while, but it was really really nice of them to make the trip.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.  Wasn't quite on the ball with that.   

A weekend or so before that Michael's parents visited and we got a lot done around the house.  Michael and his dad worked on our upstairs bathroom project while Liz and I did some gardening.  We have some herbs growing out back now!  And a few tomato plants and a couple flower plants.  It looks great!  

The nursery has been painted and now just needs a little decorating.  It has happy yellow and green colors.  Even if the kid can't see color for about 4 months it'll hopefully lift our spirits when we're going in there 3x a night. ;)  I'll post a pic of the room when we have it set-up completely.  

In other news, Michael's soccer team is in the finals this weekend which is exciting and we have our third birth class on Sunday.  That's about the extent of our plans for the weekend besides me writing a term paper (monday is the last day before summer!) and more work on the house of course.  

Hope everyone is doing well!  

love k&m