Kaitlyn Metcalfe is here!!!

January 15, 2009 - after 20 something hours of contractions and 2.5 days in and out of the hospital (yes, for real,) Kaitlyn decided to make an appearance after 35 minutes of labor!

She weighed in at 7 lbs., 19.5 inches.

We are doing very well and already had so many wonderful visitors.

We will update you with more once we have gotten a few hours of sleep, we just wanted to make sure to share our wonderful news!

She can't wait to meet you all!!!!!!!

Update!

No baby for us yet.... but Stephanie and Jeremy had their little boy on Friday:) Braydon Hill and he and mommy are doing GREAT!

Seems like our little girl are making a statement and saying she doesn't like the winter - so she's holding out on us and not coming out!

We went to the doctor last week and they did an ultrasound and they say she is a tad small - so now they aren't sure if they were off on the due date or she's just tiny like the rest of us!

The plan is to go to the doctor this week and then if nothing happens, we'll go back again the week after for an ultrasound. If nothing happens still - then we are scheduled for an induction on February 2nd.

So, keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't decide to make her apperance during a snow storm or too late - cause we don't want to have to wait to get induced:)

We'll let you know if anything else happens!

Happy New YEAR!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

We are so blessed to have just the best and most generous friends and family in the world! This weekend we were surprised with yet another shower, this time in CT at my mom's house.

Our great friends Stephanie and Jessica along with my mom and Aunt planned a fabulous TEA party for all our friends and family that aren't in Maine:)

They were able to surprise me even though I thought I had figured it all out! They invited people who I haven't seen in a very long time and it was so nice to be able to catch up and share the day with everyone. There was quiche and cookies and tea and cake - blindfolded baby diapering games (which Dave was the ultimate champion of after a few rounds) and lots of catching up.

I have never seen so many gifts in one room, I'm still overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who came and the idea that such a small creature could require so many things just to keep her going once she get here! She is certianly all set to come home now as we have her car seat and stroller, tons of beautiful baby clothes, her pack and play, high seat, memory books, her first piggy bank, a first aid kit, bottles and pacifiers and even toys for when she gets bigger. We absolutely loved everything that we got and even got the most popular baby shower gift ever!!!

We received 3 of the very same sleeper even though it wasn't on our registry - it's a very popular design and everyone loved it, so we took a picture cause we thought it was so funny that we got so many.

Now, we get to relax and set up the apartment for her arrival - just a few short weeks left. We will continue to wash her stuff and set up her space. We will get her car seat installed, and make sure her bassinet is ready for her. We are so excited - and can't believe she's almost here!

Thank you to everyone who came to the party, it was so nice to see so many people who are so important to us in the same room - especially around the holidays! Thanks to Grandma from Maine who drove all the way down for the party even though she's coming to visit us this Friday anyway:)

Merry Christmas and we'll post more updates soon!

SURPRISE WEEK!!!!

What a busy few weeks we've had.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we left early in the morning on Thursday and made great time up to Maine for a big family dinner. My dad drove down from Canada, and my brother, mother, me and Dave drove up together from CT. We had a lovely dinner and then Friday, the girl went black friday shopping and then Dave and I went to his 10 year high school reunion, which was much more fun than either of us had expected it would be.

Saturday started my week of surprises, with a surprise shower up in Maine with the Metcalfe side of the family. It was a wonderful party and we got to hang out with all the ladies on that side of the family, which we love doing anyway!!!!! I had my suspicions that there would be a party (as it's the only time all year we usually get to see his side) but they diverted me and had me wondering;)

We drove back Saturday night which was great because we were able to unpack the car and get a good nights sleep and then unpack everything and put things away on Sunday with enough time to relax and put up our Christmas tree before work on Monday. (we were thinking of not putting the tree up this year, but then my mom gave the baby her first ornament so we had to put it up so that we could continue the tradition!)

Then, at work - I had another surprise shower - only this one was a TOTAL surprise! Apparently, they had tried to have it 2 other days, but I had worked from home those days because I've been getting more and more uncomfortable as the weeks go on, and it's nice to be able to work from home when I don't feel good. Little did I know that they had planned 2 showers on 2 of the days I worked from home. (oops:( )

Check out the awesome diaper cake my co-worker made for me for us. I thought they had ordered it from a company because it looked so great!

Here are some pictures of all the beautiful stuff everyone has given her - she is going to be one stylish little lady, especially for the first 6 months of her life. She has more clothes than me at this point and we have already started washing it all and putting it in her dresser for her.

This drawer only holds her 3 month clothes and blankets and bibs, and that wasn't even all of it as some of it was still in the wash!

Here is her crib full of all her cool new toys and blankets and clothes. Check out the cute sneakers

her daddy bought her at the mall the other day.

Then Friday, we went to the doctor for a check up and were told that we have to come back in 2 weeks for our first "baby is on her way" appointment. We should find out then if anything leads him to believe that she's preparing to make her appearance. After that appointment, we have to go see him every week until we deliver her at Greenwich Hospital in CT.

Keep your fingers crossed that the only thing that continues to happen, is that she kicks my ribs for the next few weeks! I've already been starting to feel fatigued like in the first trimester, but I'm trying hard to fight it. My back is feeling much better, but now that she had changed positions, I have new reasons to be uncomfortable sitting straight up all day as she tried to stretch herself out:)

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the beautiful gifts - we love them and can't wait to use them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NESTING

NURSERY SET UP

So, yes I have become overwhelmed by the nesting instinct aa I cannot sit still knowing there is so much left to do! So, today we cleaned out a bunch of junk, (we have a lot and this will continue for awhile probably) re-organized our closets, moved furniture around, and made space for her crib and changing table in the nursery!!!!!

The crib is bigger than what I really wanted for the apartment, but it's very hard to find a small, safe crib these days, so we went with the one with the highest safety ratings from Babies R Us. The changing table is from IKEA and the drawers will hold her clothes until she runs out of space and has to share a dresser with her mommy for awhile:)

We ordered a glider for her nursery, but since the crib is so large, we might have to keep that in our room or the living room - once it comes, we will find space for it.

We had ordered 2 arm chairs to go with our new couch bed (for guests) but decided that 1 was enough, especially in case we have to put the glider in the living room. (We have to leave space for all her stuff)

We have started looking for pediatricians so we can interview, started writing down questions for the next doctors visit about the labor plan and are trying to finalize our plans for our last few weekends before she comes. Now we have to decide if we want to take the childbirth class - I don't want to at all, but Dave thinks it might be a good idea - so we will see after the next visit if the doctor thinks it's really important, or it we can skip it. (My theory is, the less information I am bombarded with, the less freaking out I can do between now and delivery day - makes no sense to stress out over things that can't be controlled.)

It's starting to get very stressful, just because you never know what is going to come up and we're trying to plan our weekends and make sure we have everything ready in time. I'm sure this is completely normal and will go away - if not, send your good thoughts and wishes to Dave who has been unbelievably patient (even for him) through this whole thing and who never laughs at my endless lists of things we have to do!

Hoping we make it through the holidays with no incidents and minimal stress...

~The Metcalfes

Nursery!

Daddy painted the nursery for us on Friday while "we" were at work.

Here are some before pics of what used to be our "office."

And now, after a whole day of painting, Daddys first project is finished and we have a beautiful nursery space that we need to fill with furniture. (which is out of stock and hard to find but we are being patient...) The color is a light purple which Daddy actually picked out and it looks so much better than the bricky color we had in there before:)

He did a wonderful job and now we have to fill her room with all of her stuff. We'll get the changing table this week and hopefully get the crib and glider as soon as it gets back in stock:)

Our next appointment is Dec. 5th and then we start going every 2 weeks and then every week until she comes.

I got my prenatal massage yesterday and the lady worked a lot on my shoulders and neck, but wasn't able to do too much for my back because it's not safe to put too much pressure there now - but she gave me some suggestions on how to make it hurt less, so we will try that this week.

Hope all is well with all of you!!!

Making Space for Baby!

We are at week 30! Can you believe it????

Friday, Dave is painting the nursery and then we are off to a hotel for the night so I am not near the fumes.

We tried to order her nursery furniture, but of course what we wanted was out of stock online, so we hope to go pick up her crib from the store with our friends the Hills next weekend.

The only thing we haven't decided on yet, is her changing table/dresser - every time we see one, we don't like it enough to buy it - but hopefully soon we'll find the perfect fit!!!

Our next appointment is December 5th - and that same day we are scheduled to get our new living room couch and chairs. (we got a sleeper sofa for all the visitors and helpers that will be coming by next year so they would be more comfortable:))

We put a storage unit in the bathroom so that we would have space for all her bath stuff and we plan to clean out some space in our closets for some of her stuff as well! It might be a little cozy in here, but we will make space for all of us!!

The only problem we are having is that now my back hurts all the time. It's not my lower back it's kind of in the middle and it's very hard to get comfortable. Sitting at my desk at work (even with an ergonomic pillow) gets unbearable after about 3 hours, sitting on our couch is impossible unless I have 3 pillows behind my back and my feet up on an ottoman, lying down at night is even tricky because the only time it's comfortable is when I'm on my back which I'm not allowed to do for long - so it's been a challenge.

We are hoping that the new couch and chairs we are getting will be more comfortable for me, but in the meantime, I sit in our super stiff desk chair with a pillow behind my back and my feet up. I'm hoping the pain disappears as mysteriously as it appeared, but I'm assuming I'm not that lucky!

Hope all is well with you all and we'll post more updates as they come!

Thanks for reading.