Kate's First Christmas

Kate in her adorable Christmas outfit Nana got her

Ican't believe Christmas has already come and gone. Everything has been such a blur since December 11th!

We had a great Christmas this year. David led the music at the Christmas Eve service, which was also Kate's first outing! It was a sweet time to slow down and be reminded about why we celebrate. Kate did wonderfully through the service & had quite the fan club afterwards.

We enjoyed spending Christmas morning as our new family of three. After we had opened our gifts & spent some time hanging out together, my parents came over, so we could spend some time with them before they headed back to Austin. After they left, we spent the rest of the day over at the Mitchell's - opening gifts, watching movies, etc.

Santa's little helper



I am so thankful for such a sweet baby, an incredible husband, and a supportive family to share it with.


In Kate news, she is still doing wonderfully. She is such a sweet baby that already seems so much older than she is. I am trying to treasure every minute with her - even the ones at 3:30 when we haven't gone to sleep for the night yet!! She is on a little bit different of a sleeping kick the past couple nights - or I guess I should say lack of sleeping kick. My friends assure me it's completely normal & she'll grow out of it. She is definitely worth every minute of it! So, that being said, I'm off to take a nap while she does!

Visitors

This week, Kate had some of our favorite people make the trip to come to meet her.

On Monday, Renee (my best friend from college) & her husband Brent came to see her (and us too, I guess ;). They live in Denver, but were in Dallas for the holidays, so they made a day trip over. Kate loved getting to meet her Aunt Renee & can't wait to see her again!

Renee & Brent Dixon with Kate - He's a natural ;)

Yesterday, David's good friend from college, Curtis, came to meet Kate. Curtis is always so much fun to have around & Kate loved getting to hear him laugh :)

Curtis, Kate (with a funny look on her face) & David

Thanks guys, for coming to visit!!

10 days

Ten days ago our lives changed forever.

I can't believe our baby is 10 days old. The days have gone so quickly, but at the same time it seems like an eternity ago that we were headed to the hospital.

I didn't make it online to do a one-week update, so here are some things we have learned about our little Kate in the past 10 days...

--She is a great sleeper - she is sleeping about an hour just before each time she feeds, but the best part is at night she's going about 4-5 hours between each feeding. That means, if I stay up for her late night feeding (11:30), I only get up once at night.

--She hates to be cold. She will fuss until you cover her up.

--That means she hates to have her diaper changed, because she ends up cold.

--Overall, she is super easy: flexible if I need to move feeding times around, great at riding in the carseat, etc.

--But, she DEFINITELY has a mind of her own. When she knows she wants something (to eat, to be covered up, etc) she wants it done immediately. I am quite sure we will be purchasing "The Strong-willed Child" in our future!

--She loves to eat. She started out only eating about 15-20 minutes at each feeding - but in the past two days has decided she needs about 30 minutes. I'm not sure if it's a growth spurt or her new norm - but she is not having it if I try to finish the feeding time early :)

--She is so strong - she can push up on us and move her head all around.

--She almost always has her feet crossed. Such a lady.

--She hates to have her hands tied down. I swaddle her at night, but she spends the first 5 minutes of each evening trying to figure out if she can work them out. If you catch her during the day though, she's usually got her hands out of her blanket.

--She is a MOVER. She will lay in your lay and just move her arms and legs all around. Hopefully this means she will enjoy exercising like her Dad, instead of hating it like her Mom!

I am sure there are many more things I am forgetting, but most people are probably bored by now, so I'll wrap this up. I can't wait to learn even more about this little girl who has already got us wrapped around her finger!

Hopefully it won't take me forever to get my next post up. Until then, enjoy some new pictures!

A note from Daddy

David has been writing this over the past few days. It is too precious not to share. He is an incredible writer - so don't be disappointed when my writing returns!

Change.

This is the theme of life as we wrap up 2008 and welcome in 2009. Change seems to be everywhere. The weather is turning much colder, the economy is recessing, a new President (running his whole campaign on this one word by the way), and now this…They said it would come. Almost everyone I talked to commented on how my life was going to change. They said my time would no longer be my own.They said I would no longer be able to go out to eat. They said that I would no longer know what quiet was.It’s funny how people tell you all of this while laughing. I think they know what you are getting yourself into. They want to give you the heads up on what’s going to change in your life so you aren’t COMPLETELY surprised when it happens. As I’m sitting here finally home from the hospital I can’t help but reflect on how my life has changed already. I was prepared for what everyone said, but there were things that they did not tell me would change. Here are a few of the things that they missed…[Disclaimer: Some of the following may be a bit sappy, but bear with me. I’m not usually a sappy guy so I think it can be excused this once.]

How my love for Amy would change…
Whenever they took Amy back to have her C-section delivery, they made me wait for a few minutes in another room before I could come in. As I sat there waiting I couldn’t help but have thoughts of “what if I lost her?” I don’t know if it was that thought, or the fact that I had watched my wife struggle through labor for the last 14 hours, but I lost it. I couldn’t keep myself from weeping like a little baby. I felt helpless. I was reminded then just how much I loved her. I couldn’t imagine ever living life without her and just the thought of it was overwhelming. Fortunately everything went well and I didn’t have to worry too long. Watching her be a mother in the first few hours of our baby’s life made me appreciate all the more the reasons why I married her.

How my control over life would change…
I’m an organized guy. I like things in there place where I can find them. My DVDs are even arranged alphabetically in a nice cabinet (my friends like to rearrange them without me knowing to mess with me). I’m also a builder so alongside this partially OCD behavior is the confidence that I can fix anything that is broken… so I thought. The minute we got home from the hospital baby Kate came unglued. It’s funny how they are so quiet while you have nurses on call 24 hours of the day then they come home and WHAM! Welcome to reality Mr. Mitchell, you are the proud owner of a miniature tornado siren. We tried everything to calm her down, but apparently baby gas is incurable at times. Tears would soon follow as I realized how much I didn’t like trusting God as much as I thought I did. I’m convinced He does things like this to remind me how much I have to improve as well as forcing me to grab Amy by the hand and pray.

How my emotions would change…
Crying is not macho. You don’t see a man randomly crying and think, “There’s a manly guy.” We don’t like doing it. We feel like we’re not really men if we let water come out of our eyes. It’s a silly thing really if you think about it, but that’s just the way it is. I have come to find out that having a baby turns your emotion level up to 10 (I thought it was just the women that dealt with post-partum). Over the past few days I’ve had to embrace the fact that it’s ok if I need to let loose a little. I can even let Amy see it, as long as it’s been at least a year since the last time she saw me cry.

How my view of how God loves me would change…
“Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so…” We learn this song from the moment we are able to make words with our mouth. We grow up knowing God loves us. We quote AWANA verses expressing how much God loves us. We hear sermons in church or on TV all about how God loves us. I knew all the bible answers, but it didn’t really click until I held that little life in my own arms. I couldn’t help but think of how helpless she was. How for the next few months she wouldn’t even be able to feed herself. I didn’t love her for her ability to do things for me but simply because she was my daughter and I wanted to take care of her. What an amazing picture of how God must view me. In reality I am helpless. Helpless in knowing what is really best for me. Helpless in making my own heart beat. Helpless in my ability to save myself from sin. Not because of anything that I do for Him, but simply because I am His child… He loves me. These are just some of the major ways in which my life has changed. I would write them all but I would probably run out of space and you would be extremely bored. I tried to compress it down so that it was readable.

Before this ends, there are some people who I want to thank for all they did…

Jennie Coleman – For taking and posting so many great pictures from the hospital.

Justin Rector – For bringing me Chick-Fil-A to eat while Amy was in labor.

Daniel Bond – For offering to bring me Chick-Fil-A while Amy was in labor. Sorry I never got to take you up on all the offers for food.

Cody Terry – For taking me to Pizza King to get out of the hospital for an hour (sorry again Daniel).

Jim Johnson – For praying with us and for us at the hospital.

Amy’s parents – For doing anything that was left to do.

Carson Coleman – For providing the entertainment.

All our friends and family who visited us (and those that wish they could have).

We're still makin' it!

Content. That's how we feel. We are loving this baby thing!

We have definitely spent the past few days figuring eachother out. Learning her needs, wants, etc. For awhile, it seemed like as soon as we'd figure something out she'd change and do something else. Yesterday, we had a meeting at the hospital and they gave us some new tips and things really seem to have fallen into place. Kate is on a great schedule and seems to have really taken to it.

She eats well, sleeps well, and is overall pretty amazing! Last night, I only had to get up once to feed her! She slept about 4 1/2 hours between feedings. It was only one night, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or her new routine - but I'll take it either way!

My mom and dad are here and have been quite a big help. Mom helps me all day and stays up if Kate doesn't go right to sleep (or if she stays up most of the night like she did her first night home!) and lets me sleep some. David hasn't officially gone back to work, but is going in a couple hours a day just to stay caught up. It is such a blessing that he has a flexible job where he can spend so much time with Kate & I this first week of her life. He has been an AMAZING help. He is already a great dad - changing diapers, sitting with me through feedings, rocking Kate when she cries, talking to her, etc. Tonight, he even had his first alone baby-sitting job while my mom and I made a trip to Target. (Turns out she does need newborn clothes, even though everyone told me she'd be too big for them!)

As you can tell, we love taking pictures of this little girl. Enjoy!

This is he onesie I gave David to tell him I was pregnant. She is most definitely worth the wait!

I had a little mini-photo shoot with her today. We got a few good pictures - hopefully more to come!

holding Daddy's hand

Here's what you really wanted...

I'll update more later with of the details of our hospital stay, our trip home, our first days home, etc., but I figured all you really want is pictures anyway - so here ya go! She's already changed so much since she was born. I'm sure there's only more of that to come!

right after her first bath - look at those cheeks! 12-12

12-13

12-13

12-13

time to go home! 12-14

at home in her cradle 12-14

laying on Mommy's hand 12-14

holding Daddy's hand 12-15

Kathryn Elizabeth Mitchell

Oh, where to begin? I guess where we last left off. This might be a long one, so either skip to the bottom if you just want pictures or settle in. I'll try to give the short version!

We arrived at the hospital on Thrursday afternoon about 3:45. By 4:30, I was in my hospital room, hooked up to the Pitocin to help keep my labor moving along. They checked me at about 9, and I was at 1 centimeter - finally some dialation! Then, by 11, I was between a 1 and a 2. A little disappointing, but still progression. At about 12, I realized it was going to be quite a long night and made the decision to get an epidural so that I would have the energy for the rest of my labor throughout the night.

We tried to get a little sleep between blood pressure being taken every 15 minutes, a heart monitor, vitals being taken, etc. and at 6:15, my doctor came in to check me again. This time things were a little different. I was still progressing, but still slowly. The difference was Kathryn wasn't having it anymore. Her heart rate had begun to dip with my contractions, and then her heart rate went up higher than it should be, and wouldn't come back down. Dr. Martin began to discuss the option of a C-section. At the time, I thought it was just that it "might" happen. She sat there with us for about 15 more minutes and by the end of that 15 minutes, it wasn't just a possibility anymore. Dr. Martin said that Kate had finally just had enough. I had been having contractions for about 3 days at this point, and her little body just couldn't handle it anymore. She was concerned that if she let me progress the rest of the way, by the time I got there Kate would be very sick.

I was disappointed, but I knew that a healthy baby was alll that mattered. So, a little more epidural, a cute outfit for David, and 30 minutes later, Kate was being delivered!

She is absolutely beautiful. Everyone talks about what an even combination she is of David and I - the "Mitchell cheeks", my hair line, my nose, Davids deep-set eyes, etc. It is amazing to look at this baby and see ourselves.

during my C-section

being wiped off just after delivery

brand new!

This post only took me all day to write - turns out having a newborn takes a little time ;) I am going to try to get a post up again later tonight/tomorrow of more pictures so you can see what she really looks like now!

Home

We're home.

I've got less than 2 seconds before Kate needs to eat, but I wanted to update that we are home. It feels really good. We're doing well - still trying to figure each other out a little - but we'll get it. We couldn't be happier with our precious little one.

I promise to put pictures up TODAY! :)

Hospital Bound!

It's finally here! It's time!

We are headed to the hospital. At my doctor's appointment, she monitored my contractions for quite some time & they are coming every 2-4 minutes. Some of them are very strong & she says I am in labor! Kate's heart rate is great - but not changing with contractions - which she said is normal when you're overdue, and been having contractions for so long. Nothing to worry about, but she said it's time for us to get this baby out.

So, we're headed up to the hospital to get started!

We'll update as we can - by we should have a baby by tomorrow!!

Another day down...

Well, December 9th came and went. I am officially "overdue". Things are still about the same - contractions every 5 or so minutes - but nothing too difficult. I have had a few really hard contractions, but not consistent hard contractions. I guess those are still to come! (Yay!)

Today, December 10th is a special day for David & I, because 5 years ago we started dating, and 4 years ago today, we got engaged. We were hoping that it would marked with another special event of our daughter being born, but the hours are dwindling and I think she has decided she didn't want to share her day.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 1:30, where they'll hook me up to the monitor & check me for progress again. So, maybe we'll have more news then.

OR MAYBE I'LL GO INTO REAL LABOR TONIGHT! You just never know :) That's the fun part about all this. You just never know.

David has said Friday from the beginning - maybe he's right. Who knows?

It's go time...

...or at least that's what my countdown says. Not so much of what my body says though. I just got home from the doctor, so here's the update for the week.

There definitely is some progression. I am now 80% effaced (yay!) and my cervix has moved into postition for labor (whatever that means!). Still no dialation, but she wasn't surprised. Again, she told me not to worry about that at all.

I am also having consistent contractions. I started a few days ago having random contractions, but nothing that I thought much about. Then, last night I started having them about every 20 minutes. Nothing painful - but I was at least aware of them. I was able to sleep & this morning they were more like every 10-12 minutes. Still, again not painful at all. At the doctor's office, she put me on the monitor and was able to tell that I'm having contractions every 3-5 minutes. They still aren't super strong, but another good sign.

So, what does this all mean. We don't know. I asked Dr. Martin that even though she can't tell for sure, could she at least guess, and she gave me about the same answers. Could be today, could be tomorrow, or could have to be induced! The most feeling I got from her was that it would in the next couple days. She did schedule my inducement for next Tuesday if nothing has happened by then. I also have an appointment to be monitored on Thursday afternoon of this week also.

So, I'm off to walk a few miles, eat some Mexican food, etc. so that we can move this thing along. Just kidding. It would be great if these contractions got stronger though! I defintely wouldn't mind today or tomorrow!!!

1 day to go...

That's what the countdown on the side of the blog says...1 more day. If only it could really tell me when I was going to have this baby! Tomorrow is my due date, and it is strange to think about. As of tomorrow, I will be offically ready. (But, if you've talked to me in the past week, you know I've been officially ready for awhile now!)

It just baffles me how this whole process works. How all of the sudden, your body & your baby decide they are ready and labor begins. It is amazing to me that today this baby lives inside of me, quite content to be warm and carried around, and sometime in the next week she'll be held in my arms instead. It is amazing to me that someone cannot see God in the whole thing. It's simply a miracle.

Anyhow, still no baby. I go to the doctor tomorrow, so if Kathryn doesn't decide to come before 1:30 tomorrow, Dr. Martin will discuss induction for the following week. I am really praying we don't have to go there. If we do, we will be fine, but I am praying lots that my body would take care of this process on it's own.

For now, we just wait and see. I'll update tomorrow (or sooner if I go into labor!) with the newest news.

We are definitely ready (as ready as we can be!) to have our little girl here!

Ok, she can come now...

Kate's Room

We finally finshed Kate's nursery. It's been very close for awhile now, but just needed a few details to be completed. Well, they're completed - she can come now!

Now we just need more pictures of our sweet girl to put in the frames!

My mom and her talented friend Liz made the cornace for the window!

Kate's handy Daddy hanging the cornace

Deck the Halls

Last weekend, my parents were in town & we had a super productive weekend. Not only did we finish Kate's room, but my mom & I finished my Christmas shopping, and wrapped all the presents! We also got out all my decorations for Christmas, and got my house decorated! David and I decorated the tree last night - so now the house is completed. I guess she can come now!

Us in front of our decorated tree - it's kind of shadowy - but there's a shot of my belly for ya!

Kate's Nana (my mom) got her a new stocking!

Fence Building

While my mom and I were busy - so were the boys. Between October thru December, my parents were going to be here 4 different weekends(for showers & such), and my dad loves to have a project. His idea this time was a privacy fence. David & I had talked about this a few times before, but when we had it bid out, it was way too expensive & David didn't know how to do it, so we just hadn't. Since Dad had some experience, David decided to take advantage of the offer. They have worked hard, and it's almost finished. Did I mention we have a HUGE backyard??

Digging the first postholes

My brother was in town one weekend & helped set the runners!

David had a youth event (does playing paintball count as ministry?) so I helped Dad set the last post. See - even I helped!

David & Dad with his fancy new nail gun!!

Isn't he too cute?

The finished corner! Didn't they do a great job???

There's a few things left to be completed, but they're almost finished. The way I see it, Kate won't need the backyard for a little while at least - so I vote she can go ahead and come even though they're not finished ;).

Can you tell I'm ready for her to come??

...any day now...

PS. I can't get my font to go back to normal size. I have tried a billion times. I'm done trying.

You've been pregnant forever...

That's what my sweet husband told me this morning as we waited in the waiting room to see the OB. It does feel like it. I've been pregnant since the beginning of March - that is forever!

39 weeks to be exact. I've been pregnant for 39 weeks. Technically only one more week to go...

This morning they checked me again, and finally we have some progress!! As of today, baby Kate has dropped down "significantly" (more than the last time) & I am 50% effaced. Still no dialating, but she says that's not unusual for a first time baby.

Dr. Martin said everything still looks good as far as the baby goes - still head down, etc. Her only concern with me was my blood pressure, so I am trying to take it easy so that I don't end up in the hospital before I'm supposed to.

So, that's the news of today. Don't forget to put your guess in for her arrival on the post below!