My Baby Love is 6!!

Dirk used to (still does) call me "My Love" so when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn he called her "Baby Love". Today that little Baby Love turned 6. Let me share some memories about her arrival.

My due date with Kaitlyn was Sept. 21. I was barely 1 cm dialated when I saw the doctor a few days earlier but her decided he would induce me on Sept. 26. He was anticipating an 8# baby. I went to Strong around dinner time on Wed. the 25, to have my cervix "ripened". Whatever they put on me was a wonder drug, because the contractions started almost immediately. They weren't uncomfortable so I ate dinner and Dirk and I watched TV. The nurses kept coming in to check on me because the contractions looked pretty bad on their monitor. Later in the night they got bad and we realized it was the real deal.

I tried to avoid an epidural if I could (what was I thinking???) so got into the tub so relieve some of the pain. That helped for a bit. But then the contractions intensified. Bev was going to be my labor coach so Dirk called her and when she arrived I was about 8 cm. If I was going to get the epidural it had to be then. So I consented. Great decision!!! When it was finally time to push, I did so for about 2 hours. I was exhausted and couldn't do it anymore. So they got the vacuum out. That didn't work. Next came the forcepts and I think they literally ripped Kaitlyn out of me! Sorry for the graphics. Bev announced, "It's a girl!" and I couldn't believe it! When they cleaned her up and laid her on my chest I just sobbed and sobbed. I was so overwhelmed with love for this perfect little girl. We could tell right away she had curly hair. She weighed in at 8# 1 oz. and was born at 3:44 am. My doctor had wanted to induce me on the 26th. because he was on that day, starting at 6:30. But she came before he was on duty. So she was delivered by another doctor from the practice.

Here are some pictures of Kaitlyn through the years. I don't have any digital from her infancy.
She's 9 months old at Aaron and Christine's wedding. She loved Bunny then and still does!

Summer of 2005, not quite 3. Can those cheeks get any bigger?

Family Camp 2005

Bad hair day in Nov. 2006; she's 4.

She broke her elbow in Jan. '07.

At Amy and John's wedding, with cousin Joshua. Age 4

Taking time to smell the flowers on Easter, '07. Age 4.

Nursery School graduation, May '07

Her birthday in Pre-K, with Grandma Z.

She lost her first tooth, Feb.'08, age 5

First day of Kindergarten


Kaitlyn, you have brought so much sunshine into my life. You will always hold a special place in my heart as my firstborn. Just the mention of your name makes me smile. I love your imagination, your creativity and sensitivity. I love everything about you!! Thanks for being our Baby Love.

Look for pictures from her birthday party to come in the next few days.

Renee's First Day of School

Renee started Nursery School last week. It was finally her turn and she was excited, although she did tell me a few times that she wasn't going to go. "Oh yes you are." She walked right in, found her cubby and never looked back. She has a few criers in her class but I am thrilled to say that she is NOT one of them!!! We did that enough last year in Sunday School and Morning Moms!


She even made a new friend, Lily.

I don't know any of the children or their moms so it's a little weird right now. I miss seeing all the familiar faces of pre-k kids/moms but that will change as the year goes on. I'll just have to get out of my comfort zone and introduce myself and hope they're nice.

We had some damage to our house when the remnants of Ike went through. Our power, phone and cable never went out but the wires were ripped off the house. RG&E put the wires back up and Dirk did the others. The top 1/3 of one of the maple trees snapped off, landing on the wires.

Yet Another Milestone

First let me catch on some pictures from Renee's birthday party. We just had a small gathering of family for cake and ice cream. She loved opening her presents and Kaitlyn was a little Mother Hen, helping her. Her expressions and little comments kept us all laughing.




Kaitlyn gave her this Lite Brite and was more excited about it than Renee. I think she's played with it more anyway.

New flashy jeans.









Amy and John took her out for ice cream a couple of nights later. She enjoyed that. Sorry, I don't know how to link to another blog but Amy already told about that.




On another note, Kaitlyn started school today. She was so excited; she even woke up before her alarm went off. She got dressed, fed her fish and made her bed, all without me even knowing she was up. But I could tell she was nervous because she went to the bathroom several times. While she was brushing her teeth she looked in the mirror and started giggling. Then she said, "I look like a Kindergartner." Amy stopped in on her way home from work to watch the big send-off and Dirk got permission from his principal to come in late. We were all ready for bus 333 to arrive at 8:27. It was a few minutes late but not bad.





As the bus pulled away I said to Dirk, "That stranger just drove off with my baby and I don't even know her name." I later found out it's Sue. And yes, I cried. I started just watching Kaitlyn walk out to the red line (the "don't stand beyond this point" line) and then when the bus came into sight. She didn't know I was crying so that was good. But she did ask me to walk with her to the bus. I thought maybe the driver would tell me her name but she didn't. Kaitlyn climbed the steps and never turned around......she's all grown up now I guess.
A few of my friends all met at Black Creek Park to pass the time a bit. Renee had fun playing with her friends and we ended up meeting a little boy that will be in her Nursery School class.


When Kaitlyn got off the bus at 4:10 (it was supposed to drop her off at 3:41!!) she was all smiles and she couldn't stop talking about school and how much she loved it. I heard all about it for the next 30 minutes, including the part about the little girl who lost her playtime. We'll have to watch out for her. She did make a new friend, Sara. She actually lives across the street so they sat together on the bus, along with Sophia who is across the hall from them.