the munchkin

fun with dad

uncle ray and aunt mel came to visit


mohawk girl

sleepy head

go longhorns!!

Grace was happy to see her team win the Red River Shoot Out over Oklahoma today! Another Saturday football afternoon...

more pics

Here are some more pictures of Grace along the way!

the first month

Here we are, Grace is already one month old today! It's amazing to see how much she has changed already in just a short time. We are enjoying every minute of it, especially the fact that she is only waking to eat once each night now. She has a little personality that is starting to show and has become more interactive even just in the last few days. She has been making squeaky sounds for some time and is starting to coo. She's been on her belly doing 'tummy time' and has to use her entire lower half as leverage to lift her head-quite cute. Sometimes she gets frustrated that her head is just too heavy to lift and starts to cry. One of Grace's favorite things is to 'watch' football with Dan while sleeping on his chest. We've been going out walking with the stroller most every day and Baxter is grateful for that.

Its funny that life has finally slowed down for us AFTER having a baby. Dan is into his routine with coaching and working out of his home office during the day. I am definitely enjoying this time at home being a mom. So far she has made my job pretty easy, and even when she's crying we still think she is cute.

I think I can officially say that all of our boxes are unpacked now and there are even pictures on the walls. This house feels like home already and the area will continue to do so as well. I feel like I am a little removed from the city now that I don't go out so much but there will be plenty of time to explore in the future.

Grace Marie

Our baby girl has arrived!! And she decided to come on her own time schedule: 1 1/2 weeks early, arriving on the day we were supposed to close on our house! Oops! (more on that later).

She was born on Tuesday, August 26th at 5:52 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz, 19 1/2 inches long and with a full head of hair!

Here was our first lesson that you can't count on plans much once you have kids. Things started happening Monday night about 9:00 as we were doing the last packing of boxes and I was getting ready to go to work for Tuesday (Dan planned it that way so there was no way I could try to do any of the moving). I was feeling achy in my low back- no big deal, right? Then I started to notice crampy-type feelings that were seeming to come and go.... sort of regularly. I was in such denial that there was any chance that this could be labor- we're supposed to make it into the new house first! Dan was encouraging me to call in to work. No, let me see what this really is. Well 7 minutes apart, hmmmm..... Ok, called work, called the midwife and the doula. I guess I'd better pack my bag for the hospital rather than for work. We left for the hospital when the contractions were 3.5-5 minutes apart. I was already halfway there when they checked me at the hospital at 2:40 a.m. Wow! Everything just went really fast. Dan was awesome in helping me through the contractions and our doula was great in helping both of us. The midwife checked me again about 4:45 after my water just broke and she announced that I was complete. I said, "Are you kidding me?!" She said, "I don't joke about that- you're ready to push!"

What an amazing experience to bring life into the world. I'll let you look at the pictures rather than you having to listen to me gush about the experience.

Meanwhile, Dan left in the middle of Tuesday after Grace was born to sign papers for the house and then coordinated the move to happen Wednesday instead of Tuesday. And just like he said he had envisioned, I left the apartment to have the baby and brought her home to a new house (just a couple of boxes needing to be unpacked.....) Thank goodness for family! Patti stayed with me in the hospital on Wednesday and Ron and my mom helped Dan coordinate the move (Yes, we had movers!) Piece by piece we are getting the house settled and learning how to be parents. It seems (so far) that we have a baby with a laid back personality- we are glad! She's had plenty of opportunities to learn how to cope with stress while along for the ride inside of me!

I'll keep you posted!

Counting Down

We're counting down... 3 weeks to go. Life is good here in San Antonio. We are both getting up to speed with our jobs. I am off orientation and learning the ropes of a new nursing unit and new system. Dan is 'off' for the month of August and doing the administrative work to get the team ready to start their new season in September. He's been receiving lots of phone calls with people interested in joining the team thanks to Michael Phelps and the US Swim Team!

We are also very excited to be moving into a house just in time before the baby comes. The 3rd story apartment life is for the birds!! Things couldn't have worked out better the way we found this house. We'll be getting in 2 weeks before the baby is due and have a nice home to welcome her in to this world. What a blessing that my mom is able to come down to help with the move and is going to stay through until after the baby is born. (I can't believe she agreed after the ordeal the last move turned out to be!)

I had an ultrasound this week at the request of the midwife just because of changing practice in the middle of pregnancy. I gladly obliged as everyone down here says I look like I'm "carrying like it's a boy" enough to make me a bit paranoid about washing up all of the pink outfits and blankets. No worries, its still a girl! Dan and I kind of felt like we were getting a sneak peak at Christmas presents or something. It's been since the first of April that we've seen her. It made us that much more excited for her to finally get here!

We went for a last hoorah today as our time of life as we know it is dwindling. We went to SeaWorld and had a lovely time. We saw some of Baxter's relatives (the sea lions), enjoyed the Shamu show, and floated on the lazy river to cool off. It was a nice little getaway in our own city!

Well, we made it!

What an adventure to move half way across the country!! We had an ABF truck moving the majority of our belongings and it would be arriving 3 days after us so we chose to also tow a Uhaul trailer behind Dan's truck with the main items we'd need for the first few days- mattresses, kitchen stuff, table, loveseat.... We made our first pitstop on Chattanooga, TN at my parents' house where we crashed for a night and then took my mom with us for the rest of the journey to ride/drive with me to help me stay awake. At the end of the first day of driving we received great news that we had an offer on the house!!!!

We had gorgeous weather along the way, almost cool, low humidity- like Michigan in the summer, not Mississippi.

On the third day of driving, Dan's truck started acting funny. His transmission could not go into 4th gear- not cool with towing a heavy load. We figured it had to be the first day of driving through the mountains that did it in. We don't know why it didn't present itself on the second day, but thank goodness b/c there was nothing to be had in Mississippi. We made it through New Orleans and having to climb all of the overpasses of Houston just did it in (Houston is 100 mi. wide!) We slowed it way down but the truck was hurting so rather than getting stranded on the side of the interstate, we stopped at a truck stop in Katy, TX for help. And for all you guessing out there, our daughter's name will not be Katy!!

What stress!! How were we going to get the Uhaul trailer to San Antonio since the truck was toast and also how to get the truck there? All the while, having a deadline of 7pm to make it to the apartment in time to get the key! We considered all kinds of options. Unload the truck at a Ford dealership in Houston and get no money for it (transmissions are not cheap to rebuild or replace)... rent a Penske truck to drive with our items transfered into it so it could tow the truck... leave the truck at the truck stop??? What to do?! As Dan said, it was like tripping and falling at the 23 mi mark of a marathon...

We borrowed the Katy/Houston phone book and started making calls. Either way it seemed like the price was going to be outrageous. I made a few disheartening calls to towing companies and their rates were pretty high and we were still 167mi from San Antonio. Then all of a sudden a larger ad for 'Guardian Angel Roadside Service' caught my eye- they even had Psalm 91:1 listed in their ad. Was this a sign?! How amazing, he could tow the truck with the Uhaul still attached and for 1/4 the price we were getting quoted otherwise!! What a sigh of relief!

We shuffled some belongings around and Dan and Baxter joined my mom and I in the Honda and we were on our way again. Mimi and Baxer 'shared' the back seat. We made it to the apartment with 10 minutes to spare!

Wow, that's all we could say. This whole idea of uprooting life to take a chance was a bit intimidating and that was without knowing all that was to come. I really do believe through this experience that God will not give you more than you can handle. Neither of us would have stayed as calm had we not known there was an offer on the house to offset the new costs we were incurring. And then to find that ad for the Guardian towing service and have it pan out to be such a blessing at a time like that. Amazing!

Ever since that major hurdle, things have been great. Everyone is SO nice here. The apartment is, well, an apartment. It's actually very roomy, but its just 27 yrs old and I guess we've been spoiled in our last 2 homes. It's only temporary and we can take our time to find the right house. Moving in town will seem like a breeze after this!

Dan has started coaching and has coached his first meet already. I think he is going to do great and there has already been positive feedback from the kids and parents. Its so nice for him to finally be doing what he loves and not completely exhausted at the end of the day. Already, this is the most time we've spent together in a long while.

I have also started work. I started my 1 1/2 week orientation off with a bang by passing out in front of my entire orientation group! :) They say its not uncommon around this stage of pregnancy for that to happen but geez! the timing couldn't have been better. 10 minutes into the first day and there I was on floor. I woke up seeing the faces of a bunch of strangers- luckily all nurses- standing over me. I heard one say, "Aw, she's just preggers". Yup, pretty much. Don't call an ambulance. I'm completely fine, just a little embarrassed. It's amazing how I didn't splat flat on my belly though. Go ahead, its ok to laugh, I am right now!

I transfered my care to a Midwife group and will be delivering at one of the local hospitals. I had a first appointment already and am very pleased. Baby survived the move just fine.

We officially closed on the house yesterday. What a sigh of relief there. All things are squared away and now we can go back to being excited about the upcoming event in September!!

(the belly shot is at 33 weeks)