Week 2 and 3...

Well, we survived week 2 - again mainly due to grandma help! You really do need a 3-adult-to-1 baby ratio, it makes quite a difference. During week 2, Grandma Fran went home and Grandma Nancy arrived! We had a lot of fun with the camera with Grandma Nancy - there were tons of photo shoots of our little girl Kate, here's a few of the good ones...

We also had visitors! Kelli stopped by to say hi and got in some good awake time. Then, Kim and Diana stopped over and cooked me dinner! It was amazing (especially since Grandma Nancy had left that day, so we were all alone!); we had salmon, a salad, and tasty rice krispie treats! Thanks girls, you're the best! On Friday Katie & Joey stopped by too for our first play date with our friend Kristin. Joey looks like a beast compared to little Kate, but I'm hoping she catches up to him soon!

We also survived our weekend alone no problem. It was pretty uneventful and we even managed to get a little sleep : )

Grandma Fran arrived again on Tuesday - the additional back up was definitely welcome! She even got to do some one-on-one babysitting while Jason was out of town and I went to a book club cookie exchange. Trying to make cakepops for the exchange was maybe a little too aggressive for having a 3 week old, but somehow we managed to get them all made just in time! Even Kate is an early fan of them...

All in all Kate is a little more awake these days but she still doesn't cry much (fingers crossed it stays that way)! She started smiling more during week 3 too - but it could just be gas  :) And her weight is slowly starting to climb back up, she was back up to her birth weight as of Monday of week 3! way to go nugget! And that's about all we do, feed her, watch her squirm around, and change her diaper and then feed her again. Hopefully we'll have some more exciting adventures soon! Till then, enjoy a few more pictures (I especially like the ones of Jason celebrating his 31st birthday along with Kate celebrating her 3rd week!)...

Week 1

Well, we survived! Special thanks to Grandma Fran, who was with us through our first week. The extra help was definitely appreciated! Kate is a great baby - she doesn’t really even cry… she sleeps, eats, and poops (a lot) and occasionally gives us a smile or two. We got a little nervous about her jaundice levels after our first night at home, so we made a few extra trips to the doctors office to have it monitored. Good news is her jaundice levels are way down and we are just working on getting her weight up now, since she is so little. But nothing to worry about. Here are some pictures from her first week at home…

Welcome Kate Marie Roudabush!

So, I'm a little behind on the blogging, but I thought I was going to have more time! As most of you know by now though, our little nugget arrived almost four weeks early!

We welcomed Kate Marie Roudabush into our lives on Thursday, November 25th a exactly 12:00pm. She weighed 6lbs 2oz and was 18.5 inches long. Isn't she cute...

So now for the story...

I went to my 36 week doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and just for fun the doctor decided to check to see if I was at all dilated. And wouldn't you know it, I was already at 3cm, even the doctor looked surprised! She told us that while I could very well walk around for a few weeks at 3cm, we should probably go ahead and install the car seat this weekend just to be safe.

As you can imagine, Jason and I were a little surprised, especially since we had NOTHING ready for our little nugget. The nursery was non-existent, the furniture we ordered still hadn't arrived and we had not put together one swing, stroller, car seat, etc that we'd received so far. Jason's parents, John & Nancy, arrived shortly after our doctor’s appointment and they were all for helping us get our place baby ready. We figured we'd at least have Thanksgiving weekend to get everything organized, so we weren't too worried.

All that changed at 4am on Thanksgiving Day when I woke up to go to the bathroom and realized that my water had broke (or at least I hoped that was what was happening!). We called the hospital and they said to come on in and they would check everything out, since I wasn't even having contractions at this point. We quickly packed our bags (we hadn't even thought about doing this before hand), woke up John & Nancy to let them know we were heading out, called my parents to put them on alert, and made it to the hospital around 5am...

At around 6am they confirmed that my water had broken and moved me from Triage up to Labor & Delivery. I started having contractions around this time, but nothing too painful until about 8:30 or 9am, which is when I naturally asked for the epidural. After that I rested/slept from 9:30 till just before 11am when the doctor came in to check to see how dialated I was (for the first time since my dr. appt on Wednesday). Once again we were quit surprised (and so was the doctor) when she said I was fully dilated and ready to push!  After 45 minutes of pushing, out popped Kate Marie Roudabush! One good looking baby all things considered...

John & Nancy and Julie & Billy were able to come and visit Kate just after she arrived. It really was a blessing to have them all in Chicago for Thanksgiving! After delivery, we were moved upstairs to Postpartum... we got a sweet corner room with a beautiful view of the lake (If you're having a baby in Chicago you have to be crazy not to come to Prentice Hospital, this place is amazing). My parents and my brother arrived shortly after 4pm after catching a flight from San Antonio, and were able to spend some time with us while the Roudabush's went back to my place to make a turkey - it's still Thanksgiving after all (and I was dying for some sweet potatoes). My parents and Jason then headed home for a real Thanksgiving meal around 8pm and I waited patiently for Jason to bring me a to-go plate...

After two nights in the hospital we finally made our way home with our beautiful baby girl. It was quite a weekend and we were so thankful to be able to share it with our families!

More Baby Shower Celebrations!

Lucky me and lucky little nugget! We had two more baby showers this month; first a Chicago baby shower and then a work baby shower...

Marie and Gina and Donna and Michelle threw a wonderful baby shower in Chicago! Both my Aunt's and my counsin's were able to fly in for the weekend and we had a great time catching up. The baby shower was a huge success and we have even more baby "necessities" then I thought possible! I love it all though and I know little nugget will love it too. Thanks to EVERYONE for coming and for the amazing gifts. It was a great day and I loved being able to spend time with all of you! Here are a few pictures (more to come)...

Also, my wonderful PCA engagement team threw a surprise work baby shower for me! They decorated the audit room (pink streamers, balloons, and confetti) and made taco dip (amazing!) and cupcakes and bought all our bedding for the crib (a crib, which I hope will arrive before nugget!). Then we all headed out for a group lunch! It was awesome! Thanks to PCA and our audit team!!!

Also, here's a picture of me at 35 weeks

Another Wedding, A Cincy Baby Shower and Liz Turns 30!

Another weekend in October....another wedding.  We headed back to Cincinnati in-mid October for Ryan & Allie's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great reception, made even better by the fact that both John & Nancy and Julie & Billy were with us! Here are some pics from the event...

Julie & Nancy were also sweet enough to host a baby shower in Cincinnati for me (and Jason of course). I made out like a bandit and everyone was so nice! Nugget is certainly starting out spoiled! Here are a few pictures from the shower, thanks to Michelle Savage, one of my very best friends, who is starting her own photography business! To see more of her pictures go to www.michellesavagephotography.blogspot.com.

And a picture of our closet once we got everything back to Chicago - where is it all going to go!?!? Doesn't Jason look great with that diaper bag....

And then I turned 30. Wow. 30 felt old only because being pregnant makes you sort of lame on your birthday, but we made the most of it. Jason was a sweetheart and catered to me all weekend long. Friday, my actual birthday, I worked all day (boo!) so we just ordered take out and caught up on our shows from the week. Saturday he helped me make over 100 mini meatballs for our Sunday family dinner and then took me out to Francesca's for an amazing Italian meal (I know, pasta back to back nights, but I can't help it, I love it!). Then on Sunday we made cake pops (see pictures below) - which are amazing little balls of chocolate cake & cream cheese frosting dipped in a chocolate/candy shell that taste like a ho-ho, only better. We handed the cake pops out at our Sunday family dinner. It was probably a little backwards to be the one cooking and hosting on my birthday, but being at home was way better than heading out to a crowded restaurant (see, being pregnant = lame). Thanks to everyone who came; I had an amazing birthday weekend and was so happy to spend it with you!

And The Fun Never Ends...

It's only been 3 weeks since our last blog, but we've been going non-stop since then!

First, we went to CIM Ball, which is really just prom for Kellogg grad students.Apparently the thing to do is to show up with your Kwest trip group and have some sort of theme accessory. We went with Jason's Moroccan group and ended up with mustaches and glow sticks. Why mustaches? Don't ask me, but being a good sport I went along with it - despite it looking ridiculous. Other groups wore jorts with their suits (Guatemala), or Cleopatra wigs (Eqypt), and one group even had a pirate theme going although I'm still not sure what trip they had been on. All in all it was a good time, we took a trolley from Evanston and hit up a few key Chicago landmarks for some picture opportunities before heading to the prom. The best part of the night might have been when Jason's roommate from the trip randomly "Iced" some guy on a trolley that pulled up next to us. If only I had video - or even a picture - of that one, we'd be the youtube hit for sure. Here are some pics from the event....

Next we headed off to Ohio for Nick & Brandi's wedding. It was outside and despite being a little chilly, went off without a hitch. The reception had a beautiful view of fountain square and a great band/trio/group played throughout dinner. Then the real music came out and Nick danced to his favorite song "The Cupid Shuffle" and then all the girls came out (including me and nugget) for "Man, I Feel Like a Woman". If nugget ever sees pictures of me dancing during that song she'll probably be scarred for life, but it was good to know I still have a few moves! Here are a few pictures...

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Kuiper's Family Farm for apples, pumpkins, and most importantly donuts! We invited a few other couples to join us - all of whom have kids who are about a year old. It was a great time and the donuts did not disappoint...

Oh and somewhere in the middle of all that we also had a quick one-night trip to Columbus to visit Angie & Matt Wooster in their new house in Columbus! It's a beautiful home, with and even more beautiful backyard, and made Jason and I jealous when we came home to our lil' condo in Chicago. Here's a shot of the four of us and the boys drinking their sangria from those fabulous glasses...

And there's my 30-week shot. Looking at the picture compared to the 26 and 21 week shot, it doesn't look all that different, but believe me, I'm bigger! I'm starting to feel all the weight now and it's gotten a little harder to move around but I still really can't complain. Our last doctor visit went great. I had the big glucose test, where they make you drink this fruit punch-like liquid then wait an hour and draw blood to see if you've developed diabetes. I passed, so no diabetes for me, and everything else looks good too! Nugget moves around a ton now, and while it looks and feels pretty creepy (not sure I'll really get used to being kicked from inside), it's also very reassuring. Apparently she's about 17 inches long, and this is about as long as she's going to get height-wise. The rest of her growth from here on out will just be adding weight to that tiny frame of hers... let's hope she doesn't end up with Jason's tree-trunk thighs!

We're Still Here!

In my defense I did give fair warning that I'm not good at this whole blog thing yet. However, I suppose since a month has passed since my last post, it's about time we had another one. So what exactly have we been up to? Well, Jason has been having the most fun. First, he spent a week in Morocco on his Kwest trip with 30 other Kellogg students, came back just in time for a bachelor party in Cincinnati and then headed out to Vegas with a few friends. The fun is over now though as he heads back to school today. Here's a few pictures from his wild adventures...

While Jason was in Morocco, I took the week off and had my mom come into town so we could start baby shopping! Holy cow do babies require a lot of crap. Even armed with our Baby Bargains and the ConsumerReports Best Baby Products books, we were still lost during our first stop at Babies R' Us. There are so many options from cribs to bottles and strollers to pacifiers, who knew it would be such an ordeal to make a decision about something as basic as a blanket! We were lucky enough to have some much needed guidance during our second shopping trip - a big thank you to Donna, who stayed with us for nearly 3 hours in the BuyBuy Baby making sure we scanned everything we would need. Every salesman in the store was on a first name basis with us when we finally left! Since then I've been taking suggestions from everyone as well - the more help the better! If you have a favorite baby item, let me know!

Other exciting events over the past few weeks include me golfing at a work outing (I only looked slightly ridiculous with this baby bump on the course), a girls night out - really a mom's night out as the other ladies all left their kids at home with their husbands for a change, an EY celebration event for team JPower, and a reunion with all my old friends from Maytag. Here's a few pictures from the month including another baby bump shot - 26.5 weeks! 

We'll try to update more frequently from now on! Hope everyone is doing well!

Getting Started...

I swore I would never have a blog, but with the arrival of our little "nugget" getting closer every day, and so many of our dear friends and family living outside of Chicago, I suppose it had to happen. I have no idea how often we will write or what we will say, but it will mostly focus on our little nugget and will hopefully be a good way for us to keep everyone updated on how things are going. So, first things first. If you haven't already heard....

It's a Girl!

And a very healthy and happy one so far. We had our big 20 week ultrasound last Thursday and we're pleased to hear (and see) that she has all her fingers and toes, a beautiful heart, and everything looks great. It's kind of amazing what you can see - for instance did you know that she already has a fully functioning bladder? Yeah, she pees right in there, and the tech can see it all working. Weird. At the very end we tried to do some 3D ultra sound pictures, but they ended up looking a little too fake. She looked like Han Solo coming out of that carbonite stuff in Star Wars. It's sort of like those hidden photo's, if you stare at it long enough you'll start to see her. It was, however, very reassuring to finally see such clear amazing pictures of her and know that everything is going well. 

I'm already almost 22 weeks, and it feels as though the time has flown. For the most part I've been a very boring pregnant woman; no morning sickness, no tiredness (still up until 10pm or 11pm and then up at 6am for those Angie/Liz workouts, on occasion), no crazy cravings or food aversions, and no terrible mood swings (although we'll have to ask Jason for confirmation on that one). I think for the most part I'm actually more sane and normal than before I was pregnant. Go figure! I do feel very lucky though and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the next 18 weeks go just as smoothly. 

Here's the first shot of my "bump" - those elastic pregnancy jeans sure are nice!