I found this in our drafts, something Kevin wrote back in July and somehow never got posted:

SO…..we haven’t posted anything here in quite a while. Rest assured that it is not because we are any less enthusiastic about being parents but more because we don’t have a lot of time at the end of the day. However, we are on vacation now, on cape cod and time is a little more easy to come by at this point. Haleigh is growing and developing normally. She has started making vocalizations (her attempts at conversation), and it is great. I love waking up in the morning to the sounds of her talking to herself. I love waking up in the morning, peeking over the edge of her crib and being met with a happy grunt and a smile. I’m sure most parents feel the way I do but it is definitely something that you can’t appreciate fully until you go through it yourself. As we close in on the three month anniversay of Haleigh’s birth, we are fortunate enough to see daily advances in her cognitive, verbal, physical and social abilities. She continues to “infect” us with her addicitve smile and her great sense of humor. I don’t know exactly what we did before her but I do know that I would never want to go back. In a time when divorce is at about 50% and broken families are on the rise, I am happy to say that I could not wish for a better wife or a better daughter. Allison and Haleigh are the reason I strive to succeed in everything I do and I only hope that I can be successful enough to always provide everything that they need and everything that they deserve.

I just realized I never posted any of these!

Who could believe that it has been five weeks since Haleigh was born. Thus far, we have had a pretty easy time with Haleigh. Aside from some random fussiness, she is a great, easy going baby who is easy to love and already has a personality that is easy to get addicted to. We’ve kind of slacked off on the picture taking but plan to pick up the pace soon. Once we do, we’ll be sure to post photos here. All in all, thing are going great and there isn’t anything that I could complain about. It amaezes me that so many people, before her birth made comments such as, “get your sleep now” and “it’s going to be the hardest thing you ever do.” Personally, I can’t imagine anything better to be doing with my life. We are responsible for raising this amazing little girl and I feel honored to be allowed to do so. Sure there will be difficut times but I’m also sure that those times will be more than made up for by the love that is felt and shared throughout our lifetimes together. Anyhow….sorry for the lapse in the posts. I’ll be sure to contribute more frequently with updates.

Miss Haleigh had her first experience as a model today! She did great, and I’m very excited to see how they came out
I will post a few when I get them.

Just when you think you know what love is, someone throws a curveball. This time, the curveball was thrown by a 7 lb little person.
I am obsessed with my baby’s feet. And her eyes. And her toothless grin. And the fuzzy hair on her head. I expected, but never would have been able to predict the feeling that would come over at me every time my daughter would smile. It is a feeling of joy and fear all at once. It is a feeling that just plain terrifies me to know that this little human being has been entrusted to me to be loved, protected, and provided for forever. Because I have no idea what I’m doing. It is a feeling of wonder—I imagine, what will she look like? What will make her happy? I try to picture her as a kindergartener, a high schooler, on her wedding day. And then I have to remind myself that her life will seemingly fly by; in a matter of a month, she will change so much, and I need to absorb as much of her as I possibly can right now. Even at 2:00 AM when all I want is for her to stop crying and go to sleep. I am awed by the fact that she came out of me; love created by love.
And I am reminded that real love is selfless. Whether it be in a marriage, a friendship, or raising a child, it is when little else matters but the best for the one you love.
I now find myself insanely lucky to spend every day with a husband and a daughter whom I love more than life.

So the birth of Haleigh turned out to be a 3-day event….
I saw Dr. O’Toole on Wednesday, May 7th, and she made the decision to induce me on the upcoming Friday (the 9th) due to the fact that I was already a couple of days past due and I had a wonderful, itchy case of the PUPPS rash (Google it if you don’t know what it is), which she said would only get worse if I didn’t have the baby soon. She told me the hospital would call me on Thursday night around dinner to come in for Prostin gel, to soften and prepare my cervix for the induction on Friday.
Thursday night came, and around 8:30 still no call. Needless to say Kev and I were pissed and called the hospital, who gave us the excuse that triage was very busy that night and they forgot to call us. They told me to come in right then. We got there, they put me on a fetal monitor for about a half hour, I got the gel, and almost immediately started with regular, every 3 min. contractions. I was monitored for another hour or so as protocol for the gel, and a little extra time due to the contractions. We got sent home around midnight because my contractions weren’t painful.
Now we come to Friday, induction day. My Dr. had also told me that if I didn’t end up going into labor on Thursday from the gel, that the hospital would call me to let me know when to come in for the induction, after 10 AM, but probably more like noonish. Well, it comes to 3:30, and no call. So again, I call them and the labor and delivery nurse said she was just about to call me (yeah right). We grabbed our bags and left for the hospital, which we arrived around 4:30 PM.
Once I got hooked up to all the monitors and machines, Dr. O’Toole came in, checked me, and broke my water in hopes that things would start naturally and I wouldn’t need any Pitocin. TEN HOURS LATER she comes in with a big yawn, (I’m sure after a nice nap) to check on me, but my contractions were still fairly irregular. She ordered Pitocin and an epi (for when and if I wanted it). My contractions started to become regular, but not all that painful, and it was obvious that this was going to take forever…..I was so uncomfortable and tired, I opted for the epi simply so I could sleep, because this obviously was going to take a while!
I spent the next however many hours in and out of sleep, poor Kev watching TBS movie after movie, and I finally started dilating a bit more. I also started throwing up (who knows why), so a batch of anti-nausea meds were added to the concotion in my IV (along with the normal IV fluids, the Penicillin for group B strep, and the epidural). I got stuck at 7 cms for a few hours, and then things picked up. Once I got to 9.5, my Dr. said I could begin pushing…..but she got stuck in another delivery…..so again I had to wait! I reached 10, the baby was in +1 position, and I only pushed for barely and hour and a half, and there she was! After almost 27 hours, Haleigh was born to We Were Soldiers playing on the TV.
All in all, the long hours of feeling uncomfortable, being stuck with needles, puking, boredom, frustration, being hooked off and on machines to go to the bathroom, etc. were more than worth it

Haleigh in her Homecoming Dress

First Family Photo

On the Car Ride Home

Welp, I’m at weekly appointments now, going every Thursday as it’s been working out with my schedule. Two Thursday’s ago, Dr. did the internal exam, with no good news for me as far as dilation or anything–booooo….. She said I was measuring a little small, and ordered an ultrasound just to check. Though she seemed pretty confident that the baby was “probably just hiding on us.”
Well we had the ultrasound last Monday, and I guess the baby was just “hiding,” cuz the ultrasound tech said the baby was about 6lbs. 7oz.
At last Thursday’s appointment, Dr. O’Toole said that the baby is now officially full term and anytime he or she feels like coming out is good! She said the baby will be a “nice size–not too big,” which I of course love to hear. She refused to wave her magic wand (despite my request) and just take the baby out, though…But she did promise that she wouldn’t let me go past May 16th, and “I just might be talked into inducing you on the 12th” if the baby hasn’t come yet. Gee, thanks.
I was counting on last night’s full moon for some action. I should have known better. However, last night I did have the joy of feeling the absolute worst I have felt this whole pregnancy. That must be a good sign???
About 2 more weeks left!

After much anxiety and impatience (on my part at least), we had our baby shower this past Saturday! And let me say, no one has better family, friends, and coworkers than we do. We arrived to our shower with over 50 people standing on the front porch cheering for us….and were overloaded with gifts and generosity from everyone! I’m sure I speak for Kevin as well when I say that we both felt overwhelmingly loved and appreciated that day. We went from having literally almost nothing for this baby, to needing almost nothing! We can’t thank everyone enough for all the effort it took to plan, as well as for all of our gifts.

Additionally, my coworkers threw me a HUGELY surprising baby shower at work on Thursday! That was very unexpected, as I just assumed invitations to the “family” shower were enough! I was distracted by a trip to HR to fill out “maternity leave paperwork” (which I later found out was completely bogus), and arrived back to the team room with 20 or so people yelling “surprise,” food everywhere, a pile of gifts, and an insane amount of balloons all over the room! I have no clue how they managed to plan this for weeks and set the whole thing up, without me having a clue. Many of the same people involved in this still came, with gifts, to the shower this Saturday…

THANK YOU seems not nearly enough, but it’s all I’ve got right now!

I should have taken THIS pregnancy test!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/pteg.html?cpg=70H

I think tickers have a way of making time move more slowly, but this one’s cute!
I can honestly say at this point in the pregnancy that time has flown by. I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that I’ve managed to escape morning sickness, heartburn, and severe backaches thus far, or maybe it’s my busy work schedule, or perhaps that I have a husband that spoils me–or maybe a combination of it all.
They say the last month is the longest, so hopefully I won’t be eating those words! If the only ailments I have include baby hiccups and the constant sensation of someone jumping on my bladder, then I’m expecting to sail through the rest of this…