Tomorrow, my baby celebrates a big milestone.  She turnes one.  Sniff, sniff.  I'm thrilled of course that she's made it to her first birthday, and I never want my babies to stay at one specific age b/c I love all the stages they go through (up until about 15 months ha ha), but I am just really wanting a baby right now.  Easy, some of you may say.  Get pregnant again.  Not an option right now.  Next year, maybe, right now, no. 

I'm a very reminiscent person, so I've been thinking all day, "last year at this time"...

By now, Katie was 2 days overdue.  I woke up during the middle of the night feeling pretty crampy, but I'd woken up many nights feeling like that, only for it to be a false alarm.  I figured this was no different so I refused to even look at the clock, even though I woke up multiple times throughout the night.  Andrew woke up early on the 5th and Daniel knew I'd had a rough night so he got up with Andrew.  I tried to go back to sleep, but was in too much pain to sleep.  I got up, cleaned the shower, then took a shower, hoping the hot water would ease the cramping.  After I got out, I got on the computer to track my contractions w/ a handy dandy online tool.  I sat there for an hour (since that's how long they want you to track it for) and sure enough, they were 5 minutes apart.  It was the real thing, no doubt, so I called the doctor to let them know.  While I was on the phone, I had to quite talking during a contraction so they knew immediately it was the real thing.  She told me to come in right away.  I called my mom and told her to come on over to pick up Andrew.  As luck would have it, she got stuck behind a construction truck so what should have been a 30 minute trip, turned in 45 minutes.  I was yelling at her to get here (not literally at her, but I was yelling out "Get here NOW, mom!")  We handed Andrew off to her and sped off to the hospital.  Daniel dropped me off at the door so he could go park.  I got inside and couldn't go any further.  A nice man got a nurse for me who brought a wheelchair and wheeled me to my room.  I was already at a 9 with my bag of waters bulging.  Twenty-six mintues after my arrival, Katie Jo Bain was born.  A healthy 7 lbs. 15 oz.  A dark-haired beauty.  She came so fast (and I got there so late) that there was no hope for an epidural so I did it all natural.  I'm pretty sure the entire hospital heard me.  There were about 10 people in the room w/ all the nurses, students and family (Daniel and my sister, Jini)...all those people, yet no doctor.  Nope.  He didn't make it in time.  But, all went very well and I have such fond memories of that day.  So, now that you know all about her birth, let me tell you about my beautiful, sweet, "baby" girl.  She has a smile that will light up any room w/ a personality to match it.  She has the most beautiful eyes, pretty blonde hair w/ a slight curl in the back.  She has 6 teeth and is currently working on getting two more in which is making her a little grumpy. I'm really praying they'll come in before Monday, which is when her "party" is going to be.  She has been walking for about a month now and is really fast at it too.  She knows a fewl signs, "more", "all done", and "milk".  She loves to sing, clap and dance and I love to watch her do all of those things.  She yells in a very commanding voice, "MAMA!" when she wants me and I'm not around.  She eats table food like a little pro and she eats A LOT of it too!  I don't know where she puts it!  She absolutely loves her daddy!  She lights up when he comes home from work, runs to him and kisses him.  BUT, she is a mama's girl through and through.  She says, "bye bye" (and waves as well), "clap", "mama" and "e,i,e,i,o".  So, now that I've told you a little about my baby girl, here are a few recent photos of her.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE JO!

I just recently had surgery (plastic surgery) for health reasons and for comfort reasons.  I look much better if I may say so myself.  I haven't been able to lift anything heavy, do any housework whatsoever (laundry, cleaning, dishes), no cooking, etc.  Sigh.  Such a rough life!  LOL  No really, it's been nice to have a bit of a break, but it's hard having to rely on other people for so many things.  I'm so thankful to have my family nearby and to have such a wonderful mom!  She kept the kids for me for over a week.  Then she had surgery herself, so she couldn't keep them anymore.  Daniel is taking a week off work to take care of things and hopefully at the end of that time, I'll be back to where I can start doing things myself.  It's been hard not being able to take care of my kids.  Seems like Katie got so big while she was away from me.  She got a lot more hair and her two teeth are really showing now.  She just today started sitting up on her own.  Such a big girl. 

I would upload some pictures but I was a dork and fried our USB port and can't do that until it gets fixed.  Bummer.

Andrew is now 2 years old!  On his birthday, I took him to get his picture taken and ended up getting Katie's done as well.  We rode the carousel then went to Applebee's where they sang Happy Birthday to him and brought him an ice cream Sunday.  I can't believe my baby boy is 2 already! 

Katie will be 4 months old in just a few days.  The time is flying by with her as well.  She is the sweetest baby.  Always smiling and cooing.  She is a little flirt already!  We're going to have to watch this one!  She'll be a heartbreaker for sure.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!