The Waiting Game...

Well, it's finally here! We're having this baby whether we like it or not. We got to the hospital last night around 8 and got settled into our rather large room. By the time everything was done and Em was all "patched in to the system" it was almost 11. They gave her an Ambien and it knocked her right out and she got a few hours of sleep. Her water broke about 1:45 this morning so there was a lot of activity for a while. The contractions really started getting her attention after that and they gave her the epidural around 5 am. Some tiny spurts of shuteye was all either of us really got once her water broke. Em's mom got here around 7 this morning and Mer around 8. The doc checked her around 8:15 and she was dilated to 4 cm. Another check around 9:30 and she was at 6 cm, so it looks like things are moving along. Her contractions are pretty strong and fairly regular, but she doesn't really feel them. Her biggest issue has been some nausea, which the doc says is a good sign and very normal. So we're just waiting now. Uhh... the nurse just checked... 9 cm! Looks like she's coming way sooner than expected! We'll keep you posted.

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

Sweet Baby=17 weeks

We went for a ultrasound yesterday and saw one very healthy and sweet baby. He/she was flip flopping all over the place it was hilarious. There was strong evidence of a girl but the tech was a little hesitant to "call it" at 17 weeks. I say we are having a "don't paint the nursery yet girl!" But Adam says, "now she said that we still have to confirm that in 2 weeks." Anywhoo.....exciting time all around. Traci (the xray tech that I work with) spent so much time looking and taking pictures, it was really neat. It is crazy to see how much she has grown over the past 6-7 weeks. Enjoy the pics...get ready because they are too sweet:)

Bye Bye Baby

We have had the best time with Garrett this week:) Pretty uneventful but I did take him to the doctor at the beginning of the week. I promptly called Mer after the appointment and informed her that "we both did very good!" He has been so funny and
oh my goodness does he love Adam (I know who doesn't:) Every time Adam even walks in the room, Garrett starts flipping out..it's pretty funny. If it's not obvious, the puppies loved him too and followed us everywhere!

A Week With Garrett

Em and I are keeping our nephew, Garrett, for the next week while his mom, dad, and two big sisters go skiing in Snowmass. What can I say, we need the practice! He's incredibly easy to take care of and we're having a blast. We've only had him for about a day so far, but trust me, that's been plenty of time for a nice handful of throw up, snot, and poopie diapers! But it's ok, because all the laughing and playtime makes up for it. Hope you guys are having a great time on the slopes. Garrett misses you, but he's in good hands. See ya next week!

Happy New Year!

So once again, Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye. I can't believe it's already been over a week! Em and I went to Crossett to spend the holiday with her family. We had a blast hanging out with all the kids and the 3 new babies. Here are some highlights from the week.

I think I should point out that there is a certain "opening presents" aspect of Christmas that still makes me giddy. But I was pretty surprised on Christmas morning when I was pretty sure I was more excited than Olivia and Maxwell. Those kids came out, with the rest of the family watching, and stood there and stared. The first thing Maxwell did was walk right past, and over, all of the Santa presents, which included a Wii, and check to see if Santa ate his cookies and took his signs. Of course, Santa did not disappoint. After some encouragement from the grown-ups, they finally dug in and started opening their presents. We had a great Christmas lunch with all the traditional goodies and enjoyed some much needed rest and relaxation with our family. 5 days of sleeping in (if you call waking up to children giggling at 7:00 in the morning sleeping in!), eating good food, and too much of it, playing Wii with the kids, and sitting by the outdoor fireplace. We also celebrated Memaw's 80th birthday with more food, family, and fun at the Pope house. Happy Birthday Memaw!

A big highlight of the week was on Friday after Christmas. Emily got another sonogram and we got to see the baby. It's amazing how much it has changed in the 2 weeks since her first one. Although it looked a little alien-ish at the time, there were eyes, arms, and legs as clear as day and that kid was moving like crazy! It was very surreal to see the baby moving around, surreal and amazing. See?!

Most people that know me know how much of a Star Wars nerd I am. So you can imagine what a proud uncle it made me to learn that Maxwell has begun learning the ways of the Force! I was envious of most of his Christmas presents, and might have played with some of them more than he did. Fortunately, I was able to get some great footage of Maxwell in his Star Wars garb. I prize the following video as one of the funniest I've seen. I call it "Jedi-In-Training" and I must say... the Force is strong with this one.


We came back to Longview last week and finished out the holiday season with a very low-key New Year's celebration. Our friends, Chip and Kirsten had us over to their house for fajitas and some Trivial Pursuit. Chip's fajitas were awesome and Trivial Pursuit is ridiculously hard! At 11:30, all of us were falling asleep on the couch, struggling to ring in the new year. Em and I left and got home just in time to watch the Ball drop. On New Year's Day, we slept in and then laid around watching movies all day.

Emily and I are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year in 2009!

Great Friends

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. Marc and Dana are some very good friends of ours that we met when we lived in Shreveport. We were in grad school with Dana and she and Em hit it off immediately. I met Marc through her and it didn't take long for us all to become close. When we graduated, Em and I moved to Longview and Dana worked in Shreveport while Marc went to grad school. Once he finished, they both moved to Longview. We were pretty much joined at the hip with them during their 2 years here and they have become some of our best friends. Marc is one of the funniest people I've ever known and Dana has one of the biggest hearts there is. Most of our weekends were spent together, we had "dinner night" several nights a week, and we were all fortunate enough to work together. We took trips together, ran 1/2 marathons together, worked out together, watched movies together, pretty much did everything together... so Em and I were saddened to see them leave when they moved to Phoenix at the beginning of October to be closer to family. About 6 months before they moved, Dana found out she was pregnant and on December 2nd, baby Jake joined the cast. Em and I flew out to Phoenix on December 4th and spent about 4 days with them. He's a great looking kid with a head full of hair and he performs all his baby "doodies" well! We wanted write about Marc and Dana so we could share a little about them with those that don't know them, and to let them know how much they mean to us. We miss you guys terribly and can't wait to see you soon! Here are some pics from their going away party and our trip to see them last month. Enjoy!

Party

Phoenix