So 3 Months Later...

WARNING! This is ridiculously long. I've been doing this post for 4 days. It's tough to stay motivated when the browser crashes every time you try to upload multiple pics. Oh well, it's done now. Hope you enjoy it, if you make it all the way to the end! Also, I'm fully aware of the shameless self-indulgence exemplified by the absurd number of pictures... and I'm ok with it. Have fun scrolling. Here goes...

"For this child I prayed..." -1 Samuel 1:27

It's hard to believe that it has been 3 months since my last post, which means it is also hard to believe that Abbott is 3 months old! Where to begin, where to begin? How about this:

And now with a little more pizazz!

Before I proceed, let's get one thing straight... I'd be lying if I said I didn't go through my Limp Bizkit phase in college. Come on, you know you did too. However, I currently think they are one of the most terrible bands of all time, so that is in no way an endorsement of Durst and Co. That said, the song seemed appropriate.

So a lot has happened in the past 3 months, and Abbott is changing every day. Perhaps I'll summarize each month separately.

August:

We spent most of the first month home just getting used to having an additional family member. Fortunately adjustments were minimal because Abbott was a pretty easy baby right out of the gate. Our main focus was trying to get a pattern established and letting Em get as much rest as possible. We had many visitors and Abbott got to meet lots of friends and family. Kyle and Julie stopped by, and Gwendolyn came to visit for a few days. So did Mason, Amber, Anna Kate, and Grace. We got to see Nana and Papoo, Moninny, and Poppy and Dovey as well. Charlie, Oriana and Clare and Kyle were also here for a few days. It was the first time that I've seen my brother since May of 2007 and we finally got to meet Oriana! We had a blast with them just hanging around the house and playing some serious Wii Disc Golf. Here are a few pics from August... just a few.

September:

A very eventful month. We didn't get to go on the annual Gulf Shores trip this year, seens how the baby was only 2 weeks old. However, Hudson, Melissa, and the kids met us back down there over Labor Day weekend and we had a blast. And Abbott did great on the 8 hour car trip, which actually ended up being about 11 hours! Both ways! Around 1 month, she really started being responsive, cooing a lot and smiling at us and to our voices. She also started tolerating a little tummy time, but only a little. She experienced her first football Sunday with Dad too. Oh, and lets not forget that first round of shots. That was not fun. Em and Abbott took a little road trip to Crossett one week and then I met them with Nana and Papoo in Hot Springs for the weekend. Abbott got to go out on the barge, but she pretty much hated her life vest. The picture should explain why. Here are some more pics from the month... just a few.

October:
This has been the least eventful month since Abbott arrived, yet it has still managed to be a blast. Of course, how can every single second not be an absolute blast when you have such an amazing, beautiful, perfect child? We haven't done much. We haven't gone anywhere. I spent a Sunday with Mom a few weeks ago for Family Day with her church and had a great time. She's been over a few times for dinner, which we've really enjoyed. Abbott loves to see her Moninny. We've spent a few Sundays with Chip and Kirsten for football. It's become tradition on the weekend when we're all in town. Dad and Deb came over one Saturday for a few hours as well. It's been really great for Abbott to get to spend so much time with all of her grandparents, on both sides. It's truly a blessing. Here are some pics from October so far. Marc and Dana are coming in on Friday for a long weekend. We are super excited! This will be their first time to meet Abbott. We'll post more pics afterwards... but just a few! Enjoy!

If you've managed to make it this far, then thanks for taking the interest. Now that I've proofread it, it actually isn't that long, there's just a lot of scrolling with all the pictures. Maybe it felt long because it took FOR-E-VER to get all the pictures uploaded and arranged. Ironic, since I decided against doing slideshows because they are so time consuming! We'll keep the updates coming, and it won't be 3 more months. I made a home page to serve as kind of a central hub for this blog, both of our Facebooks, and our MobileMe gallery. Feel free to bookmark it for quick access: www.emmyadam.com

PS-I just want to make it perfectly clear to all who read this how truly thankful I am for my beautiful wife and daughter. I don't know yet what God's will for my life is but He has, at the very least, given me a taste of what fulfillment is.

Our First Day Home

We're home! The doctor gave Abbott a clean bill of health and we got discharged this morning around 11:00. First order of business was to introduce her to the dogs. Sam, Frodo, and Lola were very excited to see us since we've been gone for 3 days, but they were also very curious about the baby. After some sniffing and licking, everything seems to be great. Frodo seems to have taken to her the most. He has been very curious all day and he keeps lurking around whenever we hold her. He likes to sit next to me in protective mode. Emily got a long nap today and I hung out with the sleeping beauty on the couch. She spent a lot of the day in the cradle that Em's dad made for us. Not much else has happened today. Max grilled some awesome filets on the Green Egg and went ahead and rewired and installed a few light fixtures... just because. I just wanted to give a quick update and let everyone know that we are home, Em and Abbott are both doing great, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I've put more pics at MobileMe so check them out when you get a chance.

Super Baby Shower Extravaganza Weekend!

Hello all! It’s been too long since a post has been... posted(?) about the goings on in the Koelling household. My last post was on January 31st and Em’s was on February 7th. Sad, sad, sad. It’s been the most eventful year in our 7 years together and I haven’t written anything about it. Hopefully everyone knows by now that Emily is pregnant. And although you can’t tell by looking at her, she’s due in basically a month. July 16th is the official due date and so far, everything has gone pretty smooth. I know I can’t speak from “I have a baby growing inside me” experience, but I don’t think that Em would disagree that her pregnancy has been pretty perfect so far. Not until about 3 weeks ago did she really start showing any true signs of discomfort. My first taste of it was a few weeks ago when I called her at work and she answered the phone breathing very heavily. I said, “Em, you sure are breathing hard.” And she replied, “Yep, I’ve been walking.” That, for me, was the tide turner, if you will. But MAN... she’s just about the cutest little pregnant thing I ever did see! So needless to say we’ve had a lot going on, from remodeling our house, making baby preparations (nesting, I’m told it’s called... see, I’m learning!), and being gone or having people here every weekend, the last 8 months have flown by and here we are just 36 days away! There are several “events” that have occurred that I want to write about and share with everyone, and I’ll do it in a retrospect kind of way; however, this post is to kick things off again and share the great weekend we had last week. It was Emily’s baby shower and there was a great turnout. We had so many friends and family come in for the whole weekend and it was a blast. We definitely scored on supplies and the house is all “babied” up. Em has done a great job on the nursery and the closet is packed full of clothes. We aren't going to have to buy clothes for a while, that's for sure! I know, I know, famous last words. I've already bought shirts since the shower. One has the Star Wars lettering on the front and it says "Barf Vader". Yeah, it's not exactly girly, but it was $6 at Walgreen's and I couldn't pass it up. But I digress. The shower was incredible. Em and I feel very blessed to have so many friends and family that care so much. I think we're about as ready as we can be. I'm very excited about being a dad and can't wait to see Em as a mom. We just got back from week 2 of our childbirth class at the hospital. Tonight it was all about labor itself and it did not pull any punches. I turned to Em during the video and said "yeah, good luck with that." She starts her weekly appointments on Monday. Up to this point, everything has looked great. Friday marks 35 weeks... we are definitely on the home stretch! I'll do my best to keep everyone posted and I have full intentions of posting more often now. I'm certainly gonna have plenty to write about, the question is, will I have the time?! We had a great time with everyone last weekend. Thanks so much to everyone that was there and thank you all for the wonderful gifts. I've posted a few pics here, but if you want to see them all, click on the link below. I've started a website for us to post pictures and info, etc. I'll keep blogging here, but pictures, videos, and random stuff will be on the site. Enjoy!

www.emmyadam.com

Wake Up, I'm Pregnant!

So it's been 3 months since my last post and a lot has happened in that time. I kept meaning to post some updates, but the longer I waited, the harder and more overwhelming it got. Leave it to a life altering event to provide me with the proper "kick in the pants" I needed to finally get after it. I know I tend to be wordy, and people have always said that I make a three ring circus out of everything... well, I have no intention to do anything different here.

It was Friday morning, November 7th, and I was asleep. Emily was up getting ready for work, which is typical. What was not typical was the way she kept asking me when I was getting up. I still had like an hour to sleep and she was all "hey when are you getting up?" "I'll get up in a little while." A few minutes passed... "so, when are you getting up?" "Babe, I'll get up in a few minutes." Another few minutes pass and she says "Hey, are you gonna get up?" "Seriously, how many times are you going to ask me that question?" Then the light comes on and I opened my eyes and saw this:


Then, after I rubbed my eyes, I saw this:


Needless to say, we are both very excited. Emily told her family pretty much right away because she knew that she wasn't going to see them until Christmas, but we waited and told my family over Thanksgiving. We told Dad and his wife Deborah, my sister Clare, and the Walkers (Dad's sister Debbie and her family) when they were here in Longview, and then we went and had brunch with Mom in Tyler and told her. My brother Charlie lives in Montana and we called him with the news. Everyone is very excited. This will be Emily's parents' NINTH grandchild, my parents' first, and my Aunt Debbie just became a grandmother too. In fact, she had just flown back from England where Abbey and Clark had Caleb.

It's been really fun over the past month as we gradually got to tell more and more people. We've definitely started the "preliminary" stuff. Our friends Marc and Dana just had their baby, Jake, in Phoenix and we visited them last weekend. Emily is doing great given the situation, although I don't think she tells me how she's really feeling most of the time. In her case, the whole "morning sickness" thing should just be called "sickness" because it seems to be pretty constant. She's a trooper though and isn't letting it keep her down too much. Last Thursday was her first official check-up with the baby doctor. I met her at the office and he came in and did his thing. After some questions and a little calculation, he said we were at about 8 1/2 weeks, when we were thinking it was more like 7 1/2. We weren't even sure if he was going to do an ultrasound, but he was all for it. When he gelled her up and put the transducer on her belly we could immediately see it. It looked like a little jellyfish and in the middle was the heartbeat, as clear as day. I've heard all the stories about how having a baby will change your life and I think I have a healthy respect for that concept, but nothing can explain the feeling I got when I saw that little thing fluttering away. Total joy and emotion. When I got to the doctor's office that day, I didn't even know if we were going to have an ultrasound, much less see a beating heart! What a surprise!

So here we are now, almost 9 1/2 weeks into pregnancy. It's so weird, because it seems like we just found out yesterday. I made a comment to a friend of mine tonight about how it was still pretty early, and he said "not really, you're almost through the first trimester, that's 1/3 of the way". WOW! Time really does fly by. July will be here before we know it. By the way, July 16th is the projected due date. My birthday is the 24th, so it should make for an exciting month. I told Emily she might have to hold out and have the baby on my birthday... she didn't like that idea. People keep asking me if I want a boy or a girl and my response is that I just want a healthy baby... and when he gets older he'll be the best big brother ever. Wait... um... I mean she'll make a great big sister. We'll know somewhere around 19 weeks when Em has her first full ultrasound. Until then, the doctor has said that everything looks 100% perfect and all we can do is pray that the baby continues a healthy development. We'll keep everyone posted on the latest goings on. Please keep Emily and the baby in your prayers.