My Heart is Happy

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted anything! I had resorted to just emailing pictures and stories since I'm CONSTANTLY on my phone, but I found that I was leaving people out and it doesn't archive the posts like the blog does. Well, I'm in one of my favorite towns doing some of my favorite things. In Stillwater, visiting Jonathan and Candice (and lots of others). Everyone went to the game, but I sat this one out because it costs $60 for my baby to go! Isn't that insane? She doesn't even take up a seat!! Anyways, it's good to have some alone time. I'm an introvert, so instead of being energized by being with lots of people it tends to wear me out. I'm watching FRIENDS, eating candy pumpkins, drinking a diet coke, and relaxing. =) Life with Kate has been so fun. Rolling over is almost automatic when you lay her on her back, and squeeling is a way of life. She talks and squeels when we're riding in the car and we can hear her from her crib in the mornings. It's so cute. She's very reactive now and likes to grab at things. We were at a restaurant today and I was having to move things out of her reach because she was knocking things off the table. I KNOW this will get very frustrating, I just was so excited for a new milestone! I know, I know, I'm not supposed to hold her at the table ( I say to the voices in my head), I just don't know what else to do when she's screaming from her infant seat and everyone else is trying to have a nice meal!! Hopefully this will get better when she can sit up in her own seat. Fundraising is going well. It is slow, but steady, and each day we are reminded that God has provided today what we need to get through today and He always has. We are learning the hard lesson of discerning between wants and needs, but it's so great. Jason is doing amazing staying focused and on task. He's so good at meeting new people and sharing what he's passionate about. It's so clear that this is what God has called us to do. I'm just excited for him to be able to do it full time so pray that the up front funding will come in quickly!! We've been seeing lots of both sets of G-parents and that has been a blast. It's so nice to have them around because it means Jason and I get lots of breaks! And we enjoy the company. =) Pray for us as we are having an appointment with our pastor from our old Church in Stillwater in hopes fo getting some more referrals. Monday we are headed to see Josh and Lindsey and the kiddos. We are so excited to meet Jada!

Trial Run

I'm trying to figure out how to post on the blog from my phone. So we'll see if this works!

Well, it's the end of Kate's 7th week of life. I can hardly believe it. People kept telling us "Enjoy them in the first few weeks because it goes by so fast!" Well, I have decided that it goes by fast because you don't realize it ever happened, not because you're having so much fun and time is flying. It's because you're so busy and exhausted that you have no idea what's going on!! I'm not saying it wasn't fun...it was and it's getting better every day! It's just been way harder than what I was prepared for. I told Jason that I have had to persevere through more trials in the 7 weeks of being a parent than I have my whole life it feels like, but it's all so much more rewarding than anything else. Jason is doing amazing with raising support. Our trip to Duncan was huge success and much thanks to Grandad for setting up some of our appointments. Speaking of perseverance, we need your prayers for us to persevere over the mountain of raising the rest of our support. We had a long conversation and redefined each others' roles in the process and redelegated (sp?) some of the responsibilities. Our goal is for each of us to stay on task and follow through with what we say we will do. Also, Jason is headed to Sudan the first week of August and will be gone for 2 weeks. It will be the longest that we have been apart since we've been married! Kate is growing beautifully. She continues to lose her hair which bothers me more than it does anybody else. I keep wanting to cut it in the back and Jason thinks I'm crazy. =) Don't worry I won't cut it. We drove 3 hours home from Duncan yesterday and Kate was a trooper. We left an hour after her feeding so she went 4 hours without eating (an hour longer than usual) and didn't make a peep till we got to Allen and had to stop at stop lights. She HATES it when the car stops moving and will cry when we stop at a red light. As soon as the car starts moving again she stops crying. It's really funny. Here is a random assortment of pictures and videos from the trip to Duncan.

I have been letting her sleep on her tummy during the day since I'm in and out of her room to check on her. She sleeps really well this way and aparently migrates because that's definitely not the way I laid her down.

This was after her 7am feeding. She's always the happiest and most alert in the mornings. We had a blast.

This was when we pulled into the garage after the drive from Duncan. She was such an angel! Not fussy at all.

She was so content to lay on Pop's chest. She fell asleep for a long time. He's a natural. =)

Kate's first trip to the pool...I was a basket case!! Just ask the other Morris clan..we were only there for maybe an hour because I couldn't stand it any longer. Thank you James and Kinley for putting up with your Nervous Ninny auntie! James and Kinley on the other hand had a blast! K wanted out of her boat the whole time oblivious to the repercussions and way to go J for going down the slide!!!

This is kinda boring but it least you can see her in action!

This was the day we went to visit Jason's old workplace. She ruined that outfit shortly after we left the house. I had to change her and all I had was a gerber onesie. =( She looked like a boy.

She's getting to where she LOVES baths. It's really fun.

Well, I had to go to the doctor yesterday because of some pain that I was having at the "trauma" site. And speaking of trauma...I had to take the baby with me to my appointment. When we parked the car I was sure she would be asleep in her seat after a 30 min. car ride, but she was wide awake. We got in the elevator to go up and she started fussing a little bit, but I was sure she would fall asleep any second. When we sat down in the waiting room she started screaming so I took her out and held her until they called me back, which was fine except everytime I had to put her back down in the infant seat she screamed bloody murder. I have no idea why she was so fussy (she was full and dry) except that she knew mom was in a vulnerable situation and wanted to make it as uncomfortable as possible. Once we got called back by the nurse there wasn't a room available so I had to sit in this tiny little hallway with my humongous stroller and i was totally in the way. Then I started to smell something coming from her diaper and there was not a changing table in site. I had to wait until I could get a room and then change her on the exam table, then I had to keep the dirty dipe in the diaper bag so as not to make everyone else in that room miserable for the rest of the day. During the exam I couldn't even talk to the dr. because of Kate screaming so they called a nurse in to hold her through the whole thing. She was very pleasant as long as someone was holding her. (Thanks a lot PaPa, I blame you). ANYWAYS, as soon as we got on the elevator to leave, she fell asleep and slept the whole way home. The kicker was when I went to get her out of her seat, I totally forgot to buckle her in. I was horrified and so thankful to say the least that God protected us all the way home. Long story short, turns out I have an infection so she gave me some antibiotics. Please pray for a quick recovery, I'm ready to be back to normal.

Finally we have the time and concentration to sit down and do something for ourselves! It's been a long road these last two weeks. My whole life I have wanted to be a mom and had NO clue what that entailed until recently. It has been emotionally, physically, and spiritually the biggest challenge I have ever faced. I have had to make more snap decisions than I ever have in my entire life. Thanks to Lindsey, I have realized that deciding to feed Kate at 3pm or 4pm thankfully has no eternal significance! Either way she eats and gets nourishment and in turn is a growing, healthy, baby girl! It's just my need to control the situation that needs to be put under the microscope. Thanks to all of you came to see us and helped us so much in making the transition with Baby. We have been feasting on all of the wonderful treats that everyone left in our freezer. Everytime we sit down for a meal we are reminded of how much we are loved! Jason has been so amazing with helping me feed Kate at night and with staying calm. I had to make a really hard decision about breastfeeding vs bottle feeding and finally had to pray hard and just make the plunge. I won't go into a lot of detail, but anatomically Kate and I are not a good match for nursing. We thought we would be able to overcome it, but I started to dread every feeding because of how much pain and tears were involved. I wasn't bonding with her and felt nauseous every time I heard her cry, because I knew what was wrong...she was hungry and I was the only one who could feed her. I did a lot of research and asked for lots of advice and have decided to pump as much milk as I can from myself and supplement the rest with formula. It has made for a much happier household since mom is not constantly in tears. Satan still grips me with guilt sometimes about not nursing so I still need you to pray for God to help me overcome that. On a lighter note, I am posting a few pictures of Kate's first few days of life. We have been in kind of tizzy with our three-hour rotating schedule and have forgotten to take a lot of pictures, so some of these might be repeats, but some of us haven't even seen her yet! Sorry for such a long post there's been a lot going on lately!!

Jason had said right before she was born, "I hope she grabs my finger." And she did. =) This was right after she was born and they laid her on top of me. At the time I was still smiling, but in about 5 min they had to take her away from me because my blood pressure dropped significantly and I didn't have the strength to hold her or feed her right away. I was very sad that I couldn't do those things. That wasn't the way I had pictured it. They kept me in labor and delivery for a few hours after her birth to keep doing blood tests to count my blood cells. We are so thankful that I did not have to have a transfusion.

She was SCREAMING the whole time, it was the most beautiful sound ever. Not so much anymore.

Thank heaven for epidurals.


She was immediately calmed when daddy was holding her.

I had just had a shower...I have never enjoyed a shower that much in my life. I wanted to be clean for our first family photo.

Go to the blog to see this video

First off I want to say I'm sorry that I'm not quite as prolific at blogging as some of you might have hoped.  I am still learning and the fact that it takes me so long to do it is a bit of a hindrance.  That being said, we are still waiting on Baby Kate!  I thought maybe the full moon tonight would do it for me, but aparently she's quite content to stay just where she is.  We went to the doctor yesterday and I was still only 1 cm dilated but about 70% effaced.  Unfortunately, none of that really indicates when labor will be begin.  She did say that first babies tend to all of a sudden decide to come just when you didn't think you were making any progress, so maybe she will surprise us.  Everything looks great, she's head down and likely will not turn breech.  Her heart rate is very strong and so are her hiccups! She gets them about three times a day and they get bigger as she grows!  I couldn't get the sonogram pics to scan so you will just have to wait to see her!  I included some pictures of the new additions to the house.  Jason has been working so hard and has been so patient with me barking orders and making him change things.  He redid the entire guest bathroom and the dresser for Kate's room and both look amazing so I wanted to show them off!  We will keep you updated with the baby status!

Here are some more pictures of the house. You can look at the other album on slide.com (there's a link to them on the right hand side of the page). It's pretty huge transformation!

The spots on the floor are from the glue. We are still working on scrubbing them up.

Our lovely fireplace. But there are no flies!

I love my curtains Mom!

Baby Kate's Bed all ready for her. That pink blanket was our very first purchase for her. Jason calls it their nap blanket.

Everything is still kind of bare, but her bed is ready for some good sleeping. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

Hey everyone! So sorry it's been so long. I didn't feel I had much to update you on, but I guess I was wrong. Well, between remodeling, going to the dr. and swatting flies, life has been pretty crazy. For a couple of days we kept coming home to HUNDREDS of humongous flies. And hundreds is NOT an exaggeration!! We would kill a whole bunch of them, think we were done, and then a whole bunch more would appear. We had NO clue where they were coming from. Well, remember the critter in the fireplace I wrote about a couple of months ago? Aparently it died in there, because that's where all the flies were coming from. It was so gross, and I just knew they were bring in all kinds of nasty diseases and landing on my sweet babies things! Anyways, I have yet to see a fly since we boarded up the fireplace, and needless to say I am running low on clorox wipes! We went to the Dr. on Friday and we saw our new dr this time (since mine is leaving for maternity leave in 2 weeks). My dr will be back 3 days after my due date but she is TOTALLY convinced that I won't have her before that...I beg to differ with as much pressure as I'm feeling and Braxton Hicks contractions, but aparently that makes no difference. All is well with baby, her heart rate was 152 bpm. Very good. My weight and blood pressure were on target and my aches and pains are signs that Baby Kate is thriving. I will show you a couple of pictures of the fly remnants and some of Kates things and I will post more about the progress on the house once I have some good "after" pictures. Our furniture is all of the place so i don't want to take them yet (just call me vain, it wouldn't be the first time!) Only 8 weeks to go!!

This is kates Chandelier in her room that her daddy picked out for here. When I get the crib together I will post a picture of her crib and bedding. It all looks SO cute!

This is her tiny little swim suit!! I was at Gap looking for stuff for me, but couldn't resist!

Just a glimpse of what's to come!


This is a very small fraction of the ones we caught.

You wanted belly shots so here ya go!

Wow, it's January 5th and I am almost finished with my 5th month of pregnancy! I can't believe that half the time has passed, but I also can't believe I still have so much left. It's wierd feeling like it's going fast but her debut can't come fast enough! The more we feel her kick (and she's doing a lot of that these days!) the harder it is to be patient for her! Anyways, we were supposed to be closing on our house today, but no news from the realtor so far. At this point we hope we can wait until tomorrow morning because if she calls this afternoon then I have to ask off work and that would just be a mess since there aren't people just readily available to take my class. So, be praying for our patience as we already have boxes packed and piled just waiting to be moved out. This is killing me because I can just imagine all those dust bunnies collecting behind them and I cant clean them. And it just looks tacky. We also had a very large water bug (which distinctly resemble cock roaches) climb behind the pile so I know he's back there it grosses me out every time I think about it! Anyways here are some of the pictures I took at Christmas. I think you will enjoy them. =)

This was when Lindsey, James, Jason and I went on a nature walk Christmas day. This one of the many moments I captured, because they look like they are deep in conversation. I thought it was a very sweet Mommy/James moment. =)

This is a "You're the sweetest uncle" moment. =) When James finally got down Jason was so happy that James had just chilled in his lap for so long.

I was so excited about my new diaper bag!

Yummy.