I started back to work the week of Thanksgiving and Nathaniel got to spend some quaility time with Papa & Gobbie (Matt's parents) that week. And he started to daycare the following week. I miss him during the day but I know he is being well taken care of. Dropping him off at daycare each day isn't as emotional as I had expected. I have more of a pull of the heartstrings when I pick him up in the afternoon and read how much I missed during his day. We are also adjusting to our new schedules for work and family time-some days it is easier than others.

He also turned 3 months old the week of Thanksgiving!! Isn't he so cute and getting to be such a big boy?!?

Hugs,

Khakki

First Road Trip

Our first road trip (outside of visiting family) was to DC in early November. Matt had a work conference there and since I was still on leave, we decided to tag along with him. We left on a Wednesday and headed to Lexington, Virginia, where we visited with friends and spent the night. Thursday we headed to DC for the conference where we stayed in another hotel room through Saturday night. On Sunday, we traveled a few miles down the road to Mount Vernon for Nathaniel's first history lesson. Where better to start his history lessons than George Washington's home? Nathaniel was such a great trooper during our time at Mount Vernon. We finally made it back home on Tuesday. I don't think we will be signing up for another 7 day trip anytime soon!! We were so ready to be home and to relax in our living room after "living" in hotel rooms for so many days. When we left on Wednesday, our car was so full of stuff! I felt like we took a sampling of everything we owned with us for the trip. I think we made it home with everything too, which is surprising after all the unpacking we did.

Ready to roll! Mount Vernon

Nathaniel is up to 9 lbs 13 oz now!! He really fills out the carseat much better now.

Two Month check up

It is hard to believe that it has been two months since Nathaniel's birth!

Two month stats

9 lbs 2 oz

21 1/4 inches

First Smiles

Where does the time go?

Recap of weeks 5-8

Nathaniel started developing eczema on his face after his first month, so we didn't take as many pictures of him in the following weeks.

We were able to skype with our family in Michigan and really enjoyed talking with Aunt Nan & Uncle Tim. We are so glad we are able to "visit" with them more often with skype.

My parents came to visit one weekend and are starting to skype with them more often as well.

We made our first appearance at church and he made it through the church service and Sunday school with little to no fussing. Yeah!

Our biggest accomplishment so far is that we made the trip to visit with my family. He was a really good car rider. Ben and Jenna were gracious and invited us to stay with them when we visited and we enjoyed spending time with them and seeing how much Kase and Cheston have grown. We look forward to spending more time with all the family for Thanksgiving.

Much love,

Khakki

No sleep 'till Brooklyn

Well, at least no sleep until Nathaniel sleeps. Fortunately he has been a pretty good sleeper for us. There have only been a few nights where he has forgotten that he is supposed to be sleeping when the lights are out.

Week three was as uneventful as it can be with a newborn. Family, friends and neighbors have made sure we are well fed. We took a few strolls around the block in our stroller. And he was up to 6 lbs 14 oz! And I made it over to shop at the ever famous consignment sale at our church and got some great bargains!

Week four was definitely more eventful. We made our first appearance at a church meeting on Tuesday night. On Wednesday we met a friend at a local lake for a hike with the kids. I do use the term "hike" loosely as all the other mom's had toddlers so it wasn't quite hiking as sight seeing. Either way, it got us out of the house and gave me some exercise and interaction with other moms. On Thursday we met two wonderful ladies (Abby & Courtney) for lunch and enjoyed our time together immensely. And we rounded out the week by stopping by work for a visit, a visit to a wonderful older couple at their home and a surprise birthday party for a friend at Sweet Cece's. I think we are going to lay low this weekend.

The first month has flown by! I hope that the weeks will start to go by slower since I will be heading back to work in November.

Nathaniel sure is growing and changing every day. Friday night (9/23-4wks old) he weighed in at 7 lbs 6oz! Not sure of his length, but he definitely fits better in the carseat now (but he still looks so small in it).

More "firsts" to come in the following weeks when we take our first trip to our old stomping grounds to meet our knit group friends, first trip to church, first round of shots and first road trip!

Stop by again soon for more updates on this great adventure!

Khakki

Are you ready for some football??

Our little boy is ready for some football. Maybe he will try out to be a kicker one day, he seems to be off to a good start.
Week two has gone pretty well. In addition to working on his football kick, he has also been working on his coaching abilities and has proven he has the lungs for that job. He has expressed his thorough dislike of baths so far. Hopefully that will change as he gets older (I hear his mom hated baths at one time too).
He is also excelling at sleeping at two weeks. Normally he eats every 2-3 hours during the day and has one 4 hour stretch at night. Matt has been really good at getting up with him after the first feeding of the morning and allowing me to get a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Taylor (our fur baby) has done really well with him. The day we brought him home, she acted as if she could care less about us bringing him in-she was just glad to see us after 5 days of not being home. Now she will go over and sniff of him occasionally and when he cries, she sometimes barks. Not sure yet if she is letting us know that he is crying or is she is trying to tell him to stop.
Nathaniel's two week doctor visit was a success this morning. He now weighs 6 lbs 3 oz and is 19.25 in long. His doctor says he is looking great and is growing as he should. Our next visit will be a little more eventful when he has to get his shots-I am not looking forward to that at all.
Matt set up the studio lights tonight and took some great pictures of a very alert little guy. He isn't this alert for very long during the day, so we are loving every minute that he is so alert.
Isn't he so precious!?! We just can't get enough of him.

Well, I must go to bed now. One piece of advise that has been passed along that I like to follow is sleep when he sleeps. Otherwise, I am on auto-pilot and that doesn't work for very many days.


Thanks for stopping in and seeing what our little one is up to at two weeks.
I will try to keep updating as I can.
Khakki

Let the good times roll

Wow, what a week! Nathaniel has really been a great baby. Unfortunately most of his first week was spent in the hospital due to having jaundice, but we are home now and still can't believe that he is ours! It has been surreal at times thinking that we made him and get to see his sweet face each day. I know there will be times when we are at our wits end and may wish we could send him away, but right now we are loving every minute we get to spend with him.

Daddy Matt is really enjoying being a Dad and photographer (again). We may have to buy stock in a photo printing/storage company as he has taken about 200 pictures since last Thursday.

Here's what it looks like to bring home a little one who is under 6 pounds. He is so tiny in the car seat.

And then there was 1...

Day that is!!! My blood pressure is not cooperating, so we are going to have a baby this week instead of waiting until the due date! My bp isn't high, but the potential for it to get high quickly is too great a risk to the baby so we are going to make sure we are both okay and deliver early.

Lots of prayers would be appreciated on Thursday, August 25!

Many pictures to come soon of baby B!!

Hugs,

Khakki

4....

Four weeks left! (or there about depending on when the little one wants to arrive. :))

We finished our classes on Saturday and are now informatively prepared for the baby's arrival.

Doctor says everything is still fine and right on target for measurements. A little swelling in the legs at night, but doc says that is to be expected, especially when you are pregnant through a hot summer. :) I will have to say that I have yet to be truly uncomfortable and have enjoyed being pregnant.

My company held a party Saturday night for 10 years of being in business. so we were able to get all snazzy and go to a nice dinner for the celebration.

Hugs,

Khakki

5 To Go

Well, here we are...5 weeks to go. Seriously, where has the time gone?!?

Our friends Holly, Pam and Brenda hosted a wonderful baby shower for us a few weekends ago and we received many wonderful gifts (some are pictured here). We can't wait to use all the baby items we received.

The doctor's appointment two weeks ago went well. The baby was really active compared to the appointments where I go in the mornings. We will go back this week and start our weekly visits next week!

I started nesting a few weeks ago and the pantry has been re-organized along with the kitchen cabinets and a closet. Hopefully I will be able to finish some of the other closets within the next few weeks.

Matt's Mom painted a mural for us on the ceiling above the baby's bed. What do you think? We love it!!

Our garden is still underway with tomatoes and the peppers are starting to come along. We will post our garden stats to close out the gardening year later. We have been pretty impressed with all we have harvested this year. Matt spent last Saturday morning pulling out all the plants that had stopped producing along with all the weeds that had started to take over. I only go out to observe the progress now and he is harvesting everything for us. We have also had grapes this year!! I bought a grape vine about 4 years ago that we knew would take some time to bear fruit and after 2 years at the cabin and two here, it has provided us with a bountiful harvest of grapes! They aren't seedless (didn't think about that when I bought it) so it takes a little more effort to eat them, but they are quite good. I think that when the food comes from your own back yard, the food tastes so much

better.

Have a great week! I hope to be back more often in these last few weeks to keep you all updated.

Much love,

Khakki

The Countdown Begins...

And so the countdown begins. Today marks week 32. Only 8 weeks to go!!! I can't believe that we are in the beginning of the final stretch to meeting our little one! It seems like only yesterday we were 8 weeks along and couldn't wait to tell everyone because waiting until 12-16 weeks seemed like forever. The summer has really started to heat up here and I am going to keep thinking positive thoughts that I am not hot because, so far, I haven't really been uncomfortable. (Check back in August to see if the perspective has changed.)

Last weekend was our last trip before little "B" gets here. We went out of town with the majority of Matt's family. It was a nice last get away for us. We got to spend lots of time with the three kiddos and older brother on the way there and back. The kids were really good traveling companions and it helped that they would need to stop more often like the preggo woman would. :) They were also troopers on Saturday when we went hiking. I only made it a mile, but the kids (8, 6, & 4) made it for 6 miles!! Yep, they were real troopers to go six miles. From what I heard, they were the ones that kept the adults going instead of the other way around.

Sunday I spent the day relaxing with Mom B while Matt and the rest of the gang went to the local theme park near the town we were in. We really enjoyed our time with the family and look forward to more trips with the whole gang in the future.

The room is starting to come together, at least in thought and on paper. Once we start making visible progress, I will post some pictures. I will say the ideas are awesome and can't wait to share them with you!

Little "B" moves around quite a bit here lately and likes to hang out on the right side of my belly. I can poke at him/her and the response is normally a kick back at me. :) It really is amazing to have a life growing inside of me. To know that the baby is growing and moving on its own is so amazing! All I am doing is keeping it fed and safe and it is becoming a little person is truly a miracle and I can only attribute that to God.

I am looking forward to meeting this little one and continue to thank God each day for such a miracle.

Love to all,

Khakki

Beginning of Summer

Our summer has been pretty eventful so far. Last weekend we went home to West Tennessee to see my family and got to spend a little time with little Olivia (I forgot to take pics while we were there). She is so precious and perfect and we cannot wait for our little one to get here so they can play together!

We also stopped by the cabin to do a little clean up work before the new renters move in. Matt cut the grass and did some things in the house while I worked on pulling weeds in the flower beds and pulling up the landscape lighting. The flower beds and lighting need a lot more TLC than we can give right now, so the best option was for the lights to go. Hopefully we can make it back out there soon to finish working in the flower beds.

Then this weekend we went to Lexington, VA for a beautiful wedding and were able to spend some time hiking around a favorite spot of ours on the Blue Ridge Parkway called Indian Rocks. These rocks are amazing! We don't know the history on them, but they are really cool to hike around and walk under in some places.

Our garden is still doing great! We finally got some broccoli from the garden and have enjoyed lots of green beans and squash. Will hopefully be putting some of it in the freezer this week so we can enjoy them in the fall/winter as well.

Baby B and I are doing great! We went to the doctor last week and are doing well and right on schedule according to our wonderful doctor. We still can't believe that in about 11 short weeks (give or take a few) Baby B will be here and our lives will be forever changed! We have been receiving (and buying) a few baby items and can't wait for Baby B to use them! Our names list continues to get smaller and we think we may have the names narrowed down for delivery day. But we are still keeping them a secret. :) Starting to get in the tired phase again (or maybe it is from all of the traveling) and I think Matt secretly hopes I start "nesting" soon. I have tried to tell him that "nesting" doesn't always happen so he doesn't have his hopes too high, but I know he wishes I would get motivated to do some organizing/going through stuff.

MJ asked for some belly pics (can't bring myself to photograph the actual belly yet, sorry MJ) but I will end with some pics of me sporting the belly bump. Hopefully I won't regret putting this on-line for the world (ok, the three of you) to see. :)

week 25 week 29 week 29

Have a great week!!

Khakki

A Post with Lots of Pictures...

So, what's been going on with you during the last three weeks? Well, I'll go first if you don't mind...On the gardening front...

The garden exploded since the last picture was posted. Here it is this morning...

(from left to right: broccoli, green peas (almost gone), green beans, tomatoes (hidden by the squash) zucchini, squash, corn)

So far, we have harvested over a pound of green peas and almost 10 pounds of squash!

The broccoli has started flowering and the green beans are starting to sprout.

And the best surprise this year is that our grape fine has grapes on it!!!

We planted it when we were at the cabin and relocated it to our new house, so it is either a 3 or 4 year old vine and this year it has grapes on it!

And one last gardening item, I installed a timer for the soaker hoses so we don't have to worry about forgetting that we turned the water on and running up the water bill.

On the knitting front...Here is the blanket I made for Olivia (who arrived of Friday, June 3 weighing in at 7 lb 12 oz.)

Thanks for making it to the bottom of this post. I didn't realize I had so many pictures to show!

Love, Khakki

What's new with you?

We had a doctor's appointment this week and everything is going well and right on schedule. Roughly 16 more weeks and the wee one will be here!

We have our crib put together and all ready for the little one. Since the room is already yellow, we don't plan on painting, so now we are just trying to decide on bedding (maybe this?) and will be registering soon for all the other baby goodies we are going to need.

We have a garden again this year and have experimented with starting it all from seed. Not sure if we do a garden from "scratch" again, but it has been a good experiment so far.

Trying to finish a gift for Olivia (Liberty's little one due in less than 2 weeks) this weekend. Once I send it off to her I will post pictures.

Just one more week of after-school mentoring at Harvest Hands and the kids will be out for summer break! It is hard to believe that the summer is here (but I know all the students and teachers are so ready for it!). I probably won't be able to mentor 4 days a week next year, but will see how it fits in with the baby's schedule. I would miss my kids too much if I didn't go at least once or twice a week.

Have a great week!

Khakki

Learning to wave

Baby "B" says hello to all the family and friends out there!

Our last appointment went well and will have our next one next week. We were able to see the heart, limbs, fingers, toes, etc at the last visit.

We are still sticking to our decision to not find out the gender and it was tough not to ask at the appointment. A friend of mine found out they are having a boy and for a day or so I really wanted to know if we were having a boy or girl, but I think it was just momentary weakness for knowing. I know that finding out in September is going to be so exciting, so I can wait until then.

Since the last appointment, baby is doing well and is enjoying lots of sleep, doing somersaults and just hanging out in general. Baby is about 8 in (crown to rump) and weighs almost a pound! It is really amazing to know that a little person is growing in there! Truly a miracle and a gift from God.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Love, Khakki

Off and Running

The day has arrived for me to give in and start a blog. Hopefully I will have something to talk about (that shouldn't be difficult for me, right, Matt?)

Watch for pictures and updates of Baby B, crochet/knitting projects and maybe a little gardening.

Happy reading!

Khakki