Well Little Peanut...this is my letter to you.

I wanted to write you a quick note and tell you how much we are thinking about you. Tomorrow marks your 16 week "baking" period. We have a doctor's appt today and we are hoping like heck you and the doctor both cooperate and decide to go ahead and tell us if you will be a boy or a girl. I will be honest here Peanut...in the beginning, we both wanted a boy pretty badly. Now, all I want to do is hold you in my arms and smell your sweet smell. Your daddy and I woke up this morning talking about the day you will one day come into this world and how we knew it would be the best day of our lives so far...aside from the day we married one another : )

Your name lil one has already been determined...so now all we need is for you to tell us which one you prefer. If you are a girl your name will be Karleigh Marie Kelch...your Daddy came up with this name and your mom thinks its the best name ever! It sounds like pig tails and BIG bows, and until you are old enough to protest...well, that's what is going to be in your hair (which I am certain you have because the book says heartburn=hair..and well love bug...you have been giving mom a lot of heart burn) Some people have asked us if your "girl" name is a family name...and to be honest Peanut the answer to that is yes...and no. None of your human family has ever held the name Karleigh, or Marie. But, your furry friend, who I know you are going to love is Daisy MARIE Kelch...so in some form you will hold a family name. And dont be upset Peanut that you and the dog share the same name. At one point I thought I couldnt possible love that pooch any more...then I found out you were coming into my life. This pooch is more than a pooch...you have both held my heart at different points in time :)

And if you are a boy Peanut...your name will be Gage Matthew Kelch, as your dad jokingly says..this name is "strong like bull" Yes, you can tease him one day for saying that : ) I do! Truth is Peanut, we dont really know how we came up with this name either. But from the day we started building the house you will come home from the hospital to, we have called you Gage, and even dubbed your room Gage's room way back before the room was even built and the house was just a concrete foundation. As you can see Peanut, we have dreamed about you for quite some time. You have always been a dream, and now you will be a dream come true and we consider ourselves incredibly lucky for that. You decided to come earlier than we expected (see blog #1) but we know God has placed you here NOW for a reason and looking back we wouldnt have it any other way.

So in just a few hours we will know how our lives will be mapped out. Whether we start saving for the Princess wedding you always wanted...or the hot rod car/truck I KNOW your Dad is going to buy you one day (he cant help himself, you will learn to love this about him as you grow up..he spoils ALL of us rotten) Your Dad is amazing and beside himself with joy over your upcoming arrival. I want you to know that you and Daddy are the 2 best things to ever happen to me. If ever you have doubts about how much we adore you, I want you to always look back at this letter and know how VERY much your dad and I love you...even though we have never seen, held, or met you! You are our angel, our souls, our everything...now bake away for 5 more months and we will meet you then. We love you our precious baby...see you (via ultrasound) in a couple hours. Say cheese!

Love - Mom, Dad, and Daisy!

Proper Potty Lighting

This week's blog is another "awww" moment brought to you by DK. If you know Dustin you know he LOVES projects and fixing things...and you also know he will drive you absolutely batty until he finds a project to work on. This poor daddy-to-be has been super anxious about getting the nursery painted and maybe even building something in there for our lil person. But, since we dont know for sure what our lil bundle of joy will be...Dustin had to settle for just a small project here and there. In a desperate attempt to find something for him to "fix" I asked him last weekend to please install a dimming switch in the nursery so that when I/we got up with Peanut in the middle of the night we wouldnt have such a bright light shining down on us...better for Peanut and better for sleep deprived moms and dads. Before I knew it we were off to Lowes and one hour later, viola...we had a dimming switch in the nursery (GOT TO LOVE THAT GUY) That is one heck of a husband and a daddy to be! I thought maybe that little project would buy me some time...at least until this weekend. Nope...last night I was laying on the couch and I hear a "come here" from the master bathroom. Thinking...this is odd...and do I really want to go in there...I entered at my own risk. Dustin was in the water closet and said "come here, all the way inside I have a suprise for you" Even more neverous now...I stepped inside and D closed the door. He then turned the light off and then back on. The light that came back on was a cozy, low lit, barely even there light....perfect for moms-to-be that get up in the middle of the night to go potty no less than 18 times. Dustin them exclaimed, "now this is proper potty lighting" I died laughing. How in the world did I ever, ever get so incredibly lucky. He then proceeded to tell me he thought it only fair that if Peanut had a dimming switch then we should have one too and he thought a low light might be better for me in the middle of the night when I got up to use the restroom. I was elated!!! I didnt think I could be so excited about a dimming switch. This had to be one of the most thoughtful acts of kindness anyone had ever done for me. They say its the small things that count and boy were they right! At 2am when I got up the first time...I flicked on the bathroom switch and wouldnt you know it...that boy was right...it WAS the perfect, proper, midnight potty lighting. I love you my precious Daddy DK...thank you for being so wonderful to me, Peanut, and even D-Marie! We would all be lost without you my love!

Meet our baby....

My mom sent me a link this morning of a website that took pictures of the parents and morphed them into an image of your baby...the results are not fantastic, but it was comical all the same.

I thought I would post the results below.

In other news, everything is coming along fine. I am dreaming about our Peanut every night and wondering constantly what our baby might be. I actually dreamed 2 nights ago that Peanut was a girl and Dustin wouldnt talk to me...crazy I know, but that was the dream. I am counting down the days until my next doctor's appt when they will hopefully shed some light on this baby's "parts" and I can paint the nursery. Dustin and I are chomping at the bit to start working on the nursery. Dustin wants to build something in there really neat for the baby. We dont know what that mught be yet....but something special. I am kind of thinking built in book cases or a custom toy box...but we'll see. The nausea seems to have lifted a wee bit, which has been GLORIOUS!! I definitely have more energy again too...but I attribute much of that to not feeling so green. Either way, relief has been so nice. I can feel the baby "move" around in there a bit. I cant feel kicking or anything like that...it feels more like when you drink a lot of water and then you can hear/feel the water moving around in your tummy. Thats what it feels like. I am anxious for the time when I can feel kicking and moving...but I know one day I will miss this early phase in the pregnancy too...so I am doing my best to cherish every minute. My belly is starting to pooch too. Most people still dont notice, but those looking for it can tell...and my pants are for the most part not fitting at all. Its neat to see the progress, but I know I will miss pre-maternity clothes in no time..

Oh, Dustin bought me an iphone last week so at our next ultrasound I can video record the baby moving around inside my tummy in addition to the still life photos. I will upload the videos to the blog as soon as I leave the next doc appt on the 27th.

Anyways, thats about all for now. Things are still going great and I will continue to keep you all updated.

Wake up sleepy head!

Good Morning All...well...everyone except Peanut. This morning we had our Down's Syndrome testing. We wont know the results for another 2 weeks, but we went ahead and did the test. The test is completely optional, its not required. And we know no matter what the results, we are going to love this baby more than we ever thought possible. But, we wanted to know ahead of time what we were up against, because if our baby does have special needs, mommy will not be returning to work, and we need to make some concessions accordingly. So...for 2 weeks we're going to wait to hear back, and in the mean time just pray our Peanut is A-OK : )

In order to do the test they measure the amount of tissue behind the baby's neck, and they also do blood work. The ultrasound tech was trying to get Peanut to roll over so she could get a good pic of his neck and he was not having it. She pushed and pushed on my tummy to get him to wake up to no avail. The only time he really moved was when I laughed. He seems to respond to that really well. At one point she pushed pretty hard and we could see his little hand actually push back against my tummy. It was the cutest thing! I got to see Peanut's lil legs, arms, and hands too. 5 fingers in the picture...TINY little hands. I also got to see the spine, ribs, and his lil heart beat flicker. The heart rate was at 160 beats per minute this morning. The tech said that was normal : ) Poor Dad came to the doctor with me, but didnt get to partake in any of the fun. They wouldnt let Dad's back in the ultrasound room for some reason : ( But I do so appreciate Daddy DK taking the time out of his day to accopmany me. Dustin, you are the BEST!

So...aside from being an uncooperative sleepy head, our Peanut looked good this morning. My next appt with the doctor is Aug 27th and I will be between 16-17 weeks by then. We are hoping like heck they will tell us FOR SURE what Peanut will really be. I still think its a boy...but...I have been eye balling some really cute girl nurseries here lately! : ) So I guess we will see. Here's a pic of our Peanut today.

Today's craving???

Carrots with gobs and gobs of ranch! But I only want to smell the ranch, not eat it? Baby K...you puzzle me sometimes. Last night, it was chocolate cupcakes with 4 inches of icing!! I didnt eat it, because I didnt feel wel enough to bake the cupcakes, but you wanted them nonetheless : )

The other thing I am puzzled about...why in the world am I still feeling nausea like its week 6? The nausea didnt kick in full force until week 8 or so...but my goodness, does it ever end? I hopped on the internet and joined a group of girls that are all expecting in Feb 2011. Seems like a handful of them are still feeling green...but most people had their symptoms go away at week 10? Not fair! : ) Well, Mr Peanut...I have no choice but to hang in there, but just know this is getting old...and mommies never forget anything! So when you're a teenager and you are wanting to stay out later or get out of trouble for something...I will think back to all those weeks you made me feel like poo and will have no trouble dishing out chores to do! So you keep that in mind Peanut.

More later, but I wanted to fill anyone interested in on the craving-o-the-day!

Then and Now...a lot changes in just 2 weeks!

I promise not to paint walls...YET! : )

I want to start this blog with a quick snip to say jut how incredibly happy I am with life right now. I went back to work at Continental this week and I could not be more content. Yes, the money is awful...but I am loving being back at work, and I really appreciate D standing by my side and allowing me to take this job over a higher paying one. Aside from that, I get more excited every day about welcoming a lil person into the world. I see toddlers at the store or even babies and I cannot wait to have our very own. And lord knows there is no better partner in the world to have a kiddo with. I have never been more at peace or content in all my life, and I just wanted to share that really quickly.

So it just occurred to me that I have been a horrible mother and havent updated the blog since my last doctor's appointment. So, for those of you that have not already heard the news...here goes. I met with my doctor last Friday for her to check on our precious cargo. She couldnt find the heartbeat still with her stethoscope so she had to do another ultrasound. (YEAH) While she was doing the ultrasound she was surprised at how much the baby was moving around in my tummy. Although it is still too early for me to feel "him" moving he was no kidding doing somersaults in there. The lil acrobat!! She said babies dont tend to do somersaults until about 12 weeks...so she was thinking that I was actually at 12 weeks instead of 11. Which would put this coming Saturday, 8/7/2010 as week #13 and not week #12. So yeah!!!!!!! It is officially safe to say that we are pretty much in the clear for miscarriage!! Woo-hoo Peanut, make momma fat!! In addition to witnessing Peanut's gymnastic aptitude the doctor also said..."Oh!" To which I replied...oh..is that good? She then said, OK..if you promise not to paint walls in the nursery, or count this as a definite answer, I will tell you what the baby's sex looks like right now. She then turned the monitor towards me and waited for Peanut to spread open his lil legs and show us the goods...drum roll....not 20 seconds later that lil toot gave us a full monty and there it was...a tiny lil TT!!! So, even though its early, it looks like our Peanut may indeed have a Pea-nis!! (haha)
My next dr appt is on August 27th...and we should know by then what this lil toot is going to be!

In the mean time...Daddy DK asked me to write a quick synopsis of what foods I am craving so we can look back at this. So..here goes. My current cravings

VENISON or beef please! Absolutely NO chicken or fish...in fact, I cant even talk about them. However, sushi sounds amazing?? WHAT? I think this stems more from my craving of salty foods and I want the soy sauce on the sushi and not so much the sushi

Chinese food..which I didnt even eat until I met DK. But I love chinese food right now, and aside from Chikfila chciken sandwiches, this is the only way I will eat chicken right now. Brnig on the General Tso's

KETCHUP!! Especially Whataburger ketchup! Again, I think this is something with the salt or the vinegar? We went to Wal-Mart the other day and a bottle of vinegar had spilled on the floor..it was the most heavently aroma I have smelled in 3 months! : )

FRUIT..apples more specifically..in any form, sliced, baked, apple sauce, pie....but my favorite is sliced with a dollop of peanut butter and a glass of milk on the side. YUM!

Finally..WAFFLES!! This one craving for whatever reason is not going away? I have eaten 2 waffles every morning for breakfast for the last month..and although its not the healthiest meal I could eat..its not the worst, and boy does it make my tummy happy in the morning! I cant believe I am not tired of this yet though?

I think that about wraps it up. Other than to say that every day I am more thankful for the amazing man I have by my side. I have really felt green the last few weeks and I dont know what I would do without Dustin! He is by far the most amazing, thoughtful, considerate man I have ever come across! I love you D, I cant tell you enough...and I cannot wait to have this tiny person with you. Cheers to today, tomorrow, and forever my love! You are my EVERYTHING

To Peanut, one day when you read this, I hope you can tell how much your mommy and daddy love you already! We wanted you, and God blessed us and we could not be any more thrilled about your arrival. Your daddy hugs you every night, and I think about you constantly and cannot wait to hold you in my arms. We love you our precious baby!