I know, I know.....

I've been a very boring blogger lately! There just isn't much going on that is "blog worthy". When my little lady arrives I can always fall back on the "new pictures of baby" because I know that's what we all love most about blogs:) But for now, I just don't think you all would find pictures of me cleaning my house very interesting!

We are heading up to Chris Fanigan's parents home in Boone for Labor Day so perhaps I shall have something to post about when we return. What is everyone else doing for Labor Day??

Also, leave me some funny jokes in my comments. I would like some new jokes:)

30 Weeks and a Fun Date

I've hit the final 10 weeks stretch! Getting into the 30 week zone seems like a big deal. Hard to believe that starting next week I'll only have single digits in my weeks left til D Day! Little Girl seems to be doing well. She is definitely taking up more and more room! Those huge meals I was eating a few weeks ago are no longer a good idea (not that they were a good idea when I was eating them, ha!) A good night's sleep is getting harder to reach as are my toes:) But I still have nothing to complain about in pregnancy world. God has continued to bless me with a very easy and problem free experience. I passed my glucose screen but am now on iron pills for slight anemia. Iron pills are shockingly hard to get out of their packaging I would like you to know. But back to baby, according to BabyCenter.com she is now about 3 pounds....and I say, "Is that all!?" I am still at a loss as to how I am going to handle her being over twice this size by birth. Surely the balloon will pop before then? :) After 10 more weeks I will be so happy for her to be here, but for now I am still very glad to have more time to anticipate and prepare for her arrival. And to enjoy feeling all her cute movements. I will miss that when she is out! She's my little buddy:)

Tonight David and I went down to University City Lake and rode the paddle boats! I had never been on a paddle boat before and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect and the sunset was just getting pretty. I recommend it as a late summer date activity!

Heading off to the feeding frenzy!

The guy at the paddle boat rental took this and I was so pleased he did a good job. We don't have many pictures of the two of us during my pregnancy. 

Taken by the long arm of Dave:) I think it looks like I have a pillow stuffed up my shirt in this shot. 

This guy was very cool. I was surprised he let us get so close to him.

I am grateful to the Lord for providing these special times for Dave and I before Kate joins our family. The one thing I've been feeling apprehensive about lately, as I've considered her coming, is that we will really miss being "just the two of us". I'm sure there are things we will miss, but I am also sure that we would never trade having her to go back to being just a couple.  All the same, I am glad to make special memories right now!

Laurel Anne, My Sweet Niece

So, I completely love my little niece, Laurel Anne! What a sweet time it was to be able to be there at the hospital (though not in the room) when she was born. To see her at only an hour old. Change and dress her. Snuggle and hug her. She is the cutest baby ever! 

Meg was amazing and throughly enjoyed every aspect of Laurel's birth which was no surprise to those of us to know how positive Meggie is:) She had a great epidural that kept her feeling so happy that she even declared that she was having fun during her 45 minutes of pushing! She thought the whole experience was over too quickly:)

It made me so excited for Kate to arrive! I think I am just going to cuddle her 24/7. I can't get enough of snuggles. I miss holding Laurel and looking at her precious face:( I am so excited that she will be here in only 4 weeks for my baby shower!!!

Look at those chubby cheeks and double chin....and at only 2 days old:)

Here's the champion momma eating her first meal and drinking "postpartum  punch". Doesn't she look beautiful?

Still a little bit yucked up from birth:) Being held by her adoring extended family for the first time.

She is a thumb sucker! I just think it's SO cute to see tiny babies sucking tiny thumbs.

First bath! She liked it:) I think she is going to be very easy going just like her dad and mom.

For some reason she kept digging her fingers into her eye and face. It made us laugh alot. It didn't seem to bother her at all!

Auntie Anne LOVES her little niece!

And so does Uncle Mike! 

"Pop" loved to hold Laurel like this and just stare at her:)

First morning at home and wide awake! I couldn't get a good one but her eyes were wide open and she laid on my lap and looked at all of us, turning her head back and forth. It was super sweet.

Precious new family! Meg and Will are already doing such a wonderful job caring for Laurel and I look forward to learning from them in the months ahead! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Any Day An Aunt

Hello All! Anytime now we could get the call that Meg is having baby Laurel! If she hasn't come by Wednesday then she is going to be induced Wednesday morning:) I wanted to let you all know that I will try and get myself together so I can update Meg's blog. www.thekittrells.blogspot.com. But if not, check this one and I will keep it updated!

Kathryn Rebecca Hopper Connolly

Today, as I was putting on my makeup, something randomly made me think of my Granma's neighborhood and house. With the memory came a pang of missing her. Awhile back I mentioned that one day I would post about her since we are naming Baby Kate after her. I decided today would be a good day. 

My granma, born Kathryn Rebecca Hopper, was an only child. She grew up in Georgia in a middle class family. She often told us happy stories about her childhood which were a delight to us! Once, when running and eating a popsicle, she fell and the stick jammed her in the back of the throat. It was so traumatizing to her that she was never able to swallow pills and always crushed up her medicines later in life. This always fascinated me and was all the proof my mom needed when telling us not to run with lollipops or popsicles in our mouths!

Granma attended an all girls college in Georgia and kept all her year books. She showed these to me when I was a teenager and they were SO much fun to look through! I don't remember what she received her degree in. I will have to sit down with my Aunt Allie sometime and gather those kinds of details. 

Granma married my granpa, Raymond Connolly, in the mid 1940's. He was a good bit older than her. She has such funny stories about their courtship and engagement. Granma was famously clumsy and on one of their first dates Granpa took her for lobsters and dancing. She was attempting to crack her lobster's claw when it flew off her plate and onto the nearby dance floor! She would always laugh remembering how Granpa crawled out on the floor among swirling couples to retrieve her errant lobster! When Granpa was ready to ask his Kate to marry him he planned a cunning surprise! She was having a wrist watch or a ring (I am not sure we ever got this clear) repaired at a jeweler and it was ready to be picked up. Granpa told her he would pick it up for her and as he did so he purchased a diamond ring as well! They went on a picnic together and he told her he had her watch with him and handed her a box from the jeweler. She opened it up expecting to see her watch but saw the diamond ring instead. However, instead of catching on and being delighted she just looked confused and exclaimed, "This is not my watch!" We always laughed at/with her about her density at such a romantic moment:)

Granma and Granpa had my aunt, Eileen Louise, and of course my dad ,Michael James, by 1950 and they were their only two children. A funny fact, both Aunt Allie and Dad were born right on their due dates and to her death my granma always said, "Well, of course they were, that's when the doctor said they would come." If only it were always as easy as the doctor just having so say! 

My aunt has never married so Meg, Mike, and I were the only grandchildren on Dad's side of the family. Thus we got much attention and love! Until we moved to North Carolina we lived within 10 minutes of both Granma and Aunt Allie. One of the more amusing and lovable things about Granma was that she never learned to drive. Each week Mom would take her and us kids to Snyder's Grocery Store for our weekly shopping trip. Snyder's was a family owned and operated grocery store that Granma had been going to for years. She knew the original Mr. Snyder who was a very old and sweet man in the days we went. Snyder's was about 25 minutes from our home and so it was a big event for us to pick of granma and go down there each week. That time provided so many of the memories I have of Granma today because it was such a consistent time of seeing her. I treasure memories of riding in her cart with Meg and being piled high her her food, eating soft serve frozen yogurt with sprinkles that the store served for a time, laughing at funny products she would buy like Melba Toast. Just little things that over weeks and years added up to special memories. 

Sometimes, after getting home from the grocery, one of us would be allowed to stay and spend time with granma. This was always a treat! Every so often we would also get to pick out a cake mix and icing of our choice and return to her house to bake it with her. She was always patient with us and always looking for ways to create special memories. There were certain books we looked forward to reading at her house, special knick knacks that Granpa had brought back from India to touch, even special aprons to wear while cooking!

Our family tradition was to spend every Christmas Eve at her house with dinner and TONS of gifts. A few weeks before Christmas Meg, Mike, and I would help her decorate her tree and be filled with excitement for when we would come back and the tree would be piled with gifts! She and Aunt Allie have been SO generous to us over the years. Christmas memories at Granma's are the coziest in my memory bank. I can still still see the glow of her big lights on the tree, the glitter of her handmade paste angel tree topper, smell the fruit in my stocking, and hear the laugher of our family as we enjoyed being together. 

If you are wondering why so many of my memories are only about Granma, it's because Granpa passed away when I was 6. Most of my memories are from after he had died since I was so little before then. But, one of the things I so respect about my Granma was that she kept up such a vibrant and full life after Granpa's death. She lived in a little neighborhood called Greenbelt. It was a community built for older people and young families so it had many amenities within easy walking distance. She volunteered at the children's reading hour at the public library for years and would walk to the library each week. She was beloved by the many children she tended to over her years of doing it. She was always gracious and gentle which made children trust her. She would often take us on walks through the winding neighborhoods to the playgrounds and to the convienience store. She never let the fact she couldn't drive slow her down! She and my aunt were also always having outings and trips. They were best friends. We loved getting to spend time with them as kids! They took us to do so many special things that granma's and aunts make even more fun when they take you instead of mom and dad:)

After we moved to Charlotte in 1996 we saw her much less but trips up to MD and times she and Aunt Allie would come down here kept us very close and were times of making many more memories. We never fell out of touch. 

However, even in all this love, fun, and enjoyment, my greatest sorrow as a child was that my granma was not a Christian. I knew this meant that if she died and hadn't given her life to the Lord I wouldn't ever be with her again in Heaven. I prayed so genuinely that God would save her! Over the years, our family shared the gospel with her many times but always to the same polite and uninterested response. She didn't openly oppose God, she just believed she didn't need a Saviour in Jesus. 

Then, about 6 1/2 years ago she became sick with cancer. She needed surgery and dad traveled up to MD to be with her. The day before the surgery he was alone with her for a time and took the chance to share the gospel with her yet again. And, yet again, there was no immediate response of repentance and faith. But the next day when he went back she pulled him aside as she was being wheeled into surgery. "I did it," was all she had time to say. Dad's heart leapt knowing that she meant she had given her life to Jesus! After she had come out of surgery Dad had the chance to ask her to elaborate on what, "I did it", meant. She told him that the night before she had been laying in her hospital bed thinking about what he had said to her that day about the gospel when the Lord spoke to her and said, "Kate, what are you waiting for?" "I guess nothing Lord," and she gave her heart to Him in repentance and acknowledgement of her need of His blood! What JOY to my heart!

One year later she passed away from the same cancer. I still miss her deeply, more than I even thought I would when she died. But instead of the pain of eternal separation, there is the joy of knowing her gentle, ladylike soul is worshipping Jesus in Heaven and that she is waiting for her family to join her there!

 Many years ago I decided I wanted to name my first daughter Kathryn and call her Kate in honor of my cherished granma. In God's kindness David also liked the name and even though he didn't get to meet my Granma Kate he wants to be able to honor her. I know it's also the name the Lord has for our baby to be named. A few days after we found out we were having a girl He reminded me that when He called granma to salvation the name He used was Kate. "Kate, what are you waiting for?" I pray that, "Nothing Lord!" will be the response of our little girl's heart when one day Jesus calls her name! And, I hope that I can communicate to her how very special the lady she is named for was. 

There are so many other things I could tell you about Granma and the memories we made with her, but that would take longer than I have to write (or that you want to read!) To close, here are some pictures of her!

I love the picture below because Granma was pregnant with my Aunt Allie it it! Can  you see her little bump?
Holding my aunt and my dad! She looks so happy in pictures from this season of her life!

This was taken in her front yard on one of our trips up to MD with mom after moving to Charlotte. That's my Aunt Allie standing in back with us. I love this picture. 
I love this picture also! It shows perfectly how spunky, fun loving, and spry Granma remained until she was so sick the last year of her life. She would do anything to make her family chuckle! Doesn't she look so cute?

25 weeks 4 days

Here is my big 'ole belly at 6 months:) It's so funny to me when I see a picture of myself because I am always surprised by how big my tummy really looks! It doesn't feel that big from my perspective. Haha. I definitely like this stage of pregnancy. It is so fun to have a round tummy that isn't too cumbersome yet. And feeling Baby Kate move all the time is so much fun. I keep wondering, "Shouldn't this be getting old by now? She keeps doing the same things." Yet it never ceases to amaze and delight me to feel and see those kicks and swishes and wiggles. I think she is an adorable baby:)

It has really been striking me lately how the person Kate Malament didn't even exist 6 months ago and now she is a living human being. It's incredible the way the Lord creates a new life! What is also incredible is how much I LOVE a little person that didn't even exist 6 months ago and who I have never truly met. I always thought it was a little cliche talking about the "miracle of life", but now that it is happening to me I realize what an immature and foolish perspective that was! It IS a miracle and a rich, rich blessing and work of God to create a child as a gift and stewardship. I want to freshly worshipping Him through this stage of pregnancy. He has done great things and I am definitely filled with joy!

All is going great with the pregnancy. Kate is growing right on track and so am I (although, I think I wouldn't mind being a little behind schedule with my growth;) I am really starting to "feel" more pregnant, especially when sitting for a long period or when walking up stairs too quickly, things like that. But, as David keeps reminding me, these extra pounds are helping to ensure that Kate is healthy and therefore they are very worth it! It's funny to have your insides ever more crowded out by baby and her watery home. I can feel organs being displaced and squished. A lovely visual, yes?

My next appointment is a big one where I get my glucose test and checked for anemia and fun stuff like that. I will also be entering my third trimester at that point! I can't believe it. Only 2 more weeks until the final stretch. 

Here is a random picture of Dave and I at Angelo and Kasey Delli Santi's wedding last week:) It was a super fun wedding! I am SO happy for them to be married!

Time With Meg

I have returned safely from my trip to Knoxville:) Meg and I had a wonderful time! We didn't do much beyond hanging out at the Kittrell's house and doing some final shopping for items for Laurel's arrival so my pictures aren't terribly intriguing:) But we enjoyed our selves very much. It was so weird to leave Knoxville knowing that I could be driving back over in a few days or a couple weeks and that the next time I see Meg she will have Laruel. (Mom, Dad, Me, and Mike are all driving over to Knoxville together as soon as we get the call that Meg has gone into the hospital.) 

One of the little projects we did was to wash and put away all Laurel's clothes. Below are pictures of her clothes pre-washing and then of Meg arranging them to put in drawers. Baby clothes really are the cutest things, next to the babies themselves!

Here is Will trying out my new Snoogle body pillow! I got this the other night and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is pregnant or would like some "full body" support while sleeping, watching TV, reading in bed etc. It is so cozy to have it all curled around you while you sleep and it helps keep my body supported and aligned:) Will was making fun of me til he sat in it! (and last night Dave laid in it and declared that he wanted one as well, which the staff at Babies R Us warned me might happen, hehe:) Will is not using the Snoogle correctly in the picture, by the way.

On Wednesday night Meg and I made dinner for the family. She had been wanting to try a recipe called Chicken Supreme which was pounded out chicken breasts with Monterrey Jack cheese/herbs/butter rolled into the center. It was delicious! After you had the cheese rolled into the chicken you had to dip each roll into egg and then crushed ceaser salad croutons and while we were doing this part we started laughing really hard that the little chicken rolls looked just like hampsters. So we renamed the dish "Hampsters In a Pan." Needless to say, the Kittrell family did not find this name too appealing:)

No time would be complete without a silly face pic!

The Kittrells all, minus Dan who is in Gaithersburg, MD right now doing an internship. They are truly a special family and I always feel so loved and at home whenever I am there. Meg is a blessed girl to have become a part of their family!

Since we were going to stores with cute baby clothes I had to buy some things for Baby Kate:) Here are two of my favorite things I got her. The top one if from Babies R Us and I loved the color and how cool it looks. The bottom outfit is from Target and cost a grand total of $3. Hooray for end of season sales! I LOVE the elephant on the onesie:) Look at her beautiful eyelashes!

Well, that is all for now. I will hopefully remember to have Dave take a picture of my tummy when he gets home tonight so that I can give an update there.