shades

Yesterday I was able to go shopping with my mom and sister to get all the last minute things she needed for college. We had a lot of fun and it seems it gets easier each time we take Emery out. We had to go to Target of course and I found Emery a couple of cute outfits and some adorable baby sunglasses. I just wanted to share that picture with you all because it's one of my new favorites. Enjoy and hope all is well with you!

long overdue announcement

It seems a little ridiculous that we would wait six weeks to announce the birth of our daughter. However, in the midst of diaper changes, 3am feedings, and lullabies, blogging was pushed to the bottom of our priority list. Now life is starting to hit a routine so I find myself happy to announce that Nolan and I have a bouncing baby girl! Her name is Emery Ruth and she joined us on July 3. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 14 oz, and was 19 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and we are enjoying watching her grow each day. She now weighs well over 9 lbs, she's probably closer to 11 lbs by now actually. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with her while Nolan goes to work. Sometimes I wouldn't mind switching places but I most certainly would miss her before too long. I was just commenting to a friend today that I think she's getting very close to responding to us and laughing with us. She coos more and more each day and occasionally I can get her to smile when I blow raspberries on her belly or kiss her cheeks. She has a prominent dimple on one cheek and I love trying to get it to show. I'm nursing her and that is getting easier each week as well (thank the Lord). She gives me about 3-4 hour breaks in between feedings at night so I am not too terribly sleep-deprived. Nolan is such a great dad. He willingly does the gross jobs like suctioning her nose and emptying the diaper pail. He's also not afraid to get the dirty diapers and Emery certainly puts him to the test on those! Hopefully I'll be able to update this a little more and let you know how Emmy is growing and changing.
In other news, I had to have my gallbladder removed last week. I went 23 years without ever having surgery and then I underwent 2 within 5 weeks of each other (I had to deliver by C-section). Pregnancy really messes with a girls' body! Luckily I was able to have outpatient, laparoscopic surgery. The recovery time has been much quicker than the C-section. My mom came to stay with us and got up with the baby so I could sleep a few nights so I am on the mend.
Tomorrow my mom and sister are coming to pick up Emery and I so we can help Bethany pick out a computer for school. My little sister is moving in to college this weekend! I'm so proud of and happy for her but I cannot believe she'll be so far away from home (SIU Carbondale).
Well, as I said, I will do my best to update more often. That's all our news for now. Enjoy some pictures! She's seriously the best baby ever!

update

Hello all!
We had our doctor appointment this morning and here's the news: I'm still not dilated! ah! Anyway, my doctor wants to induce me this evening at 9 pm so we're going to enjoy our last day of freedom and then head to the hospital this evening. We'll update as we can and of course there will be pictures soon!
Love to you all!!
Nolan, Amanda, and Baby!!

still pregnant

Hello all!
For those of you that check this blog and are thinking, "I bet they haven't updated because they're busy with their new baby..." You'd be sadly mistaken. I'm still pregnant!! I realize I shouldn't complain to much because many woman go much farther past their due date than I am (not even a week yet) but I'm ready to have this baby!! I'm getting very anxious and I don't really like not being able to give people definite answers.
On a positive note, Nolan and I have had a great couple of 'last days' together. Emotionally I might be crazy because I'm super excited and impatient to have this baby. On the other hand, I'm a little sad to be changing into a family of 3, rather than just a couple. We are definitely excited to meet our little one though! The last few days have been wonderful for me though because I've been reminded how amazing my husband is. He's actually the greatest!
We're going to the doctor tomorrow morning at 9:15 for another checkup. My doc said she doesn't really like her patients to go much over 41 weeks because it increases the risk of having to do a C-section and can create complications for the baby. 41 weeks will be Wednesday so I don't know if she's going to induce me tomorrow or wait to see what's happening. As of last Wednesday I wasn't dilated at all so we'll see what sort of progress the little one has made in a week's time. Any prayers would be much appreciated. Despite the fact that we're nervous about what's going to happen, Nolan and I aren't enjoying this limbo time. We'll be sure to give you updates as we hear them and when baby comes, you can count on pictures! Thanks for the love and support and prayers!

The Nursery

So just wanted to post some pictures that were taken on the way to making this new nursery of ours. Remember that it goes from an awful pink that will never be seen in this house again to this little cute nursery ready for baby K. Hope you all enjoy!

Its been awhile....

So for all of you that have been reading the blog for sometime have probably stopped reading it because we never update it with new things. Well this time we have a good excuse. By the way this is Nolan writing this time, I haven't wrote on here yet so I decided it was time to let everyone know from my side what is going on. So the excuse is that when you are having a baby come soon you really try to get things finished before the little guy or girl gets here. In our house we had a bright pink room that was there when we moved in. Now it has been transformed into the new nursery. I will post pics later on when I have some time to do that. This room was also the room that we had stored everything that was moved into the house that we did not need at the time. It was filled to the brim with stuff. When we actually got to sorting things out I found out that most of the stuff that was taking up the room in there were books! My wife loves to read so they were all of her books that had been packed into boxes. After much sorting and placing books in their right places the room was finally ready to be worked on.
I would like to say that I was able to do all the painting myself but I am even happier to say that I am glad that we have the friends that we do. The first night of trying to cover up that horrible pink...and I say horrible because it was everywhere....walls, trim, closet door! AHHHH!!! was done by me, Jen, Nikki, and my wife with a respirator on. There was one gallon of primer down and you could still see the pink like crazy. Round two of priming was done by me, Nikki, and Kristy came by to help. Kristy, Nikki, and I did the painting of the walls and then I finished the rest of the painting up myself. Big thanks to Nikki though for coming over to do the red on the bottom part! Now I am glad to say that last night the last of the pink finally disappeared! I finished up the trim and now it is all gone! EVERYONE CHEERS!!!! Yeah!
Other than that with the room, our house is a disaster, I finally put up a new mailbox and numbers on our house. I feel that is it officially ours now! Manda is 35 weeks pregnant and is about ready to burst...the baby is getting bored and wants out....no room! It will be here sooner than we know.
Well if Manda does not post on here then I will try as well. For now here you go and I will try to put some pics up.

Jack of All Trades

My husband is awesome! I just wanted to show you some pictures of what Nolan was up to the last couple days. I do have to add this his wonderful mother did help paint the bottom color behind the toilet and his dad gave us the great idea to put the sink where it now is; previously it was on the other side of the room which prevented easy flow to the laundry. His parents also bought us mini blinds for all the rooms which look great and make it feel that much homier. (Thanks, Sue & Al! We love you!) So Nolan painted, installed the piping for the toilet and sink and set up a second bathroom for us! He can go into the detail of all the work he did but that's the gist. I feel so blessed to have a 'jack-of-all-trades' man. So far I don't think I've found anything that he can't do. That is a great quality to have and it saves us a lot of money since we don't have to hire outside help and time since we don't have to rely on others. We have a lot of work to do on the house before Baby comes. It has been frustrating to me because I'm limited in what I'm able to do such as paint or lift heavy objects. Nolan has been understanding and patient. Meanwhile, I've tried to be less controlling and accepting that his way of doing things are just as good (or often times, better) than how I would want them done. It's probably the Lord's way of humbling me and saying, "See, Amanda, you can't control everything." A hard lesson to learn but I'm sure I'll be the better for it.

In other news, I'm reading a compelling book by Tony Campolo called Red Letter Christians. The book is about Christians and politics. He has challenged me to think for myself and want to be involved in political decisions. It's not an easy book to read because it does make you want to take action, which is not always easy. However, I appreciate his objective opinions and that he challenged Christians to follow Christ's examples and commands. So there is my book recommendation of the month. I've also ordered Shane Claiborne's Jesus for President so I'll give you my opinion of that after I've read it; whether you want to hear it or not--ha!

Tomorrow I go to the doctor for a lab test to check for gestational diabetes. I get to drink some substance that looks like Orange Crush but I have my doubts that it tastes the same. I also finally have a list of questions for my doctor. This doesn't seem like it would be exciting but up until now I feel I have taken a passive role in this pregnancy and just let things happen as they will. Now that Baby's arrival is fast approaching, reality is setting in and I'm anxious to talk with the doctor about what lays ahead. If you could keep me and Baby in your prayers as we visit the doctor tomorrow we would appreciate it. I'll let you know how the test goes when we receive the results. So far the pregnancy has been blessed and easy-peasy so I'm praying the results will continue to show good, safe progress.
I leave you with hopes that you all are safe, happy, healthy, and rejoicing in another day!
Much love!

At the urging of my sister-in-law, I shall update our blog. I knew I wouldn't be good at this. Anyway, Nolan and I are great! Today I had another check up. My belly is measuring 25 inches and I'm starting to feel Baby move! The first time was actually great timing on Baby's part. I was just getting ready for Nolan to take my 5 month picture and right up by my chest I felt like my stomach did a flip. It was too high for my stomach so I assumed it was Baby! I really haven't felt too many kicks or heavy movements so I'm enjoying this time before it starts to get painful. I was able to hear Baby's heartbeat a lot today. The first time wasn't that great because it was faint and Baby was moving around too much. Today I was able to hear a strong heartbeat for a longer amount of time. It is my favorite moment at doctor visits when she is moving the tool around my belly to find the heartbeat and then, we find it and I hear Baby! I cannot wait to hold this little guy (or girl) but I know the time will come sooner than I imagine.
In other news, Nolan and I will be heading to Florida this Friday. My friends are throwing me a birthday party and then we'll be heading south after that. We'll be staying with Derek & Ashley for a week. We always have a great time together so I look forward to that. Ashley got us tickets to Aquatica, Anheuser-Busch's new water park so I have major plans that include an inner-tube and the lazy river! Nolan will have to experience all the slides and water rides and let me know what I missed.
We're slowly but surely getting the house put together. My parents and sister visited this weekend so they were finally able to see the house. They took me out for my birthday on Saturday and then Bethany stayed until this morning. I always enjoy time with my family and this weekend was postponed several times so it was great that we finally were able to host them. Hopefully we can host Nolan's family in the near future too (hint hint, Kittermans).
I will leave you with some pregnancy pics and my hopes that you are all well! Much love!
*these pictures are of me at 5 months (about 21 weeks). As of Wednesday I will be 24 weeks!

Halfway There!

Hello all! Yesterday I went to the doctor for another checkup. As of today I am 18 weeks and 1 day along! That's halfway! Everything is going great. I was able to hear the heartbeat briefly yesterday. Baby seems to be pretty active and wouldn't sit still long enough to get a better reading. Dr. Green-Morrow says everything sounds good though. I also had my blood taken in order to check for signs of Down Syndrome, spina bifidia, or any other chromosomal disease. I'm starting to feel pretty pregnant. I definitely want to eat all the time and last night I realized my belly button is getting smaller. That was certainly an interesting discovery.
We are getting more and more settled into our home. I'm anxious to get the one room cleaned out so we can make room for Baby. Life is good for these Kittermans and I hope you all are well! Much love!

Surprise!

I hope to never forget the rush of emotions. Relief, excitement and shock ran through me the moment I looked at the screen. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A living being, moving around and for the first time I said, “This is it. I really am pregnant.” I just haven’t felt pregnant and with the recent disappointments my family has faced, I was a nervous wreck to visit the doctor. Then they stuck goo on my abdomen and put the tool to it and I saw our baby! It was a feeling like no other and I just felt a bond instantly. I know that sounds cheesy but just wait until it’s yours. Our baby is so cute! (ha! Actually it looks a little like an alien right now). We were able to see Baby moving around and waving to us. It was so weird to feel attached and in love so quickly. I know some pretty awesome babies but I know they don’t compare to my own! So…SURPRISE everybody! Nolan and I are expecting our first child! He or she is set to meet you June 25^th. I’m 15 weeks along and feeling great. I hope they’re all like this! Nolan is excited and it was great to share the sonogram moment with him. He’s going to be such a wonderful dad.

In addition to baby news, I'll give an update on the house. We are officially moved into the house and out of the apartment for a whole week now. My boss and her friend helped us move the big items last Saturday and then Nolan's family (Mom, Ian, Bekah, and Riley) helped move the smaller things as well as cleaning on Sunday. They were such a blessing! I've tried to play the pregnancy card as much as possible when heavy items need moved! Actually it's been hard to take a backseat because I like to help. Nolan took this last week off to finish things at the house that need to be done in regards to our loan qualifications. He's a lot of help from our friends, Les and Cubby. They've been so great to get into our crawlspace and fill the outer walls with insulation as well as helping Nolan with other projects. Nolan is frustrated that he keeps finding problems with the house but I try to remind that's just the 'joys' of owning a house. I will add pictures when I get a chance to take some and the house is a little more cleaned up (if that ever happens). I have to say that my all time favorite part of my house is my new washer and dryer! I no longer have to haul my clothes to a laundro-mat! I'm definitely spoiled but loving every minute of it!

** I promise to add the sonogram picture but I have to unpack my scanner first. Sorry!