Dear Kate

I know you're warm and snuggly in there, and probably still growing. I just wanted to let you know that any time you decide you're ready to come out, we're really ready for you. Please spin around though first, ok?

I had an ultrasound Monday and it confirmed that you are still breech, which I could have told them since you haven't budged at all since about 24 weeks. Here's your cute little picture...



Whole bunch of baby, huh? The U/S tech did a bunch of measurments to give an estimated size, but she didn't tell me what your size was. I'm waiting for Vandy to post your u/s report online so I can see just how big you're measuring. I'm guessing by the assistant (who I think was a student) saying "wow, that's a big head!" that you're pretty good size. Dash was 9lbs 4oz at 38W6D when he was born and you are 37W1D. I'm guessing you're around 8 pounds already. We'll see I guess. You've been measuring more on track than Dash ever was so hopefully you're a little more petite.

Dash sat through the ultrasound and recognized you, as soon as you were on the screen he said "Baby Kate!" I hope he doesn't expect you to be some black and white TV image when you come out. :) He's also turned Baby Kate into "Baby Cake!" So that nickname might stick around for a while.

We're going to try to flip you next Thursday, don't be too mad at us. And try to cooperate, ok? It's time to let it go now, upside down is fun, I promise. And your face won't be so smushy when it's not under my ribcage. And you know, as soon as you flip, if you just want to come on out, that's fine with us too. We can't wait to meet you, and love on you from the OUTSIDE. Just 20 more days, give or take. :)

Love,
Your momma.

Kate's Surprise Shower

Saturday, June 13, we all got up and went to The Little Gym like any other day. I wanted to stop off at Babies R Us and get Kate's coming home outfit (which I didn't find) and go to Bed Bath and Beyond and get John's Father's Day present (an electric skillet, which he LOVES). We also stopped off an ate at Ketchup, I saw a commercial for it earlier in the week and needed some parmesan french fries...

John wanted to get dessert at Ruby Tuesdays on the way home and see if they had any of the newly legalized, higher alcohol content beers on tap. You can pretty much get me to go anywhere with the promise of dessert. Especially if it's Oreo Tallcake.

So we walk in and the hostess asks me when I'm due, which I think is kind of odd, most folks have been pretty mum about me being pregnant if they don't know me. I tell her and she starts leading us back into this back room where someone's obviously having a party. I'm thinking, I've got to tell this woman I don't want to sit near a party with a 2 year old in tow. It's just not a good idea. Then I realize she thinks I'M the pregnant girl that goes to this party!! Ahhh!! So I say, "Oh no, I'm not with them!" and try not to make eye contact. You can probably guess who it was. I hope Roz and Rachel are proud of themselves for pulling off such a surprise. :)

Honestly, it's a good thing my mom was sitting closest to the door or I would have made a bigger dork of myself. :)

So, you got me girls, and I think you all rock. Thank you so much for celebrating our sweet impending arrival. It's always so good to see you all in one place and to laugh our butts off and eat good food.

Here's the crew before I showed up... do they look giddy with anticipation? I think so...



The cake...



Roz and Liz giving John a hard time about not thinking he could get me there (I'm guessing... somebody's saying something funny, regardless...)



Me and the Dashman who was saintlike during his sister's first party...



He sat out in the bar with John and my Dad and told my Dad how he had a vagina. Good times.

And finally, the gifts. You girls went completely overboard.



I love you all very much and again, thank you so much!!

Miss Kate's Room

So after Kate's lovely shower (which is waiting on pictures so it gets the post it deserves) I decided to get Kate's room for real ready for her so I could take some pictures of things from the shower in a background that wasn't organized chaos. :) I finally took some pictures after I got everything moved around (which was a freaking lot of stuff!) The furniture in these pictures is my furniture from when I was a little girl.





I made the picture above the crib (as many of you know, I'm sure) and the bedding is Amy Coe's Pink Pop bedding. I scored it at TJMaxx for 19.99 for the whole set! I found it on ebay for 129.99 so I was really proud of myself. It's discontinued so I guess that's why it was so cheap. :) I found the peonies at Carlton cards around Mother's day for 4 bucks a piece. I'm still looking for a mirror or something for above the dresser and a mobile of some sort. And curtains. :) The mobile that matches the bedding isn't very cute. So I guess that's my next mission...

Publicized...

Kind of. So I started this blog when I first found out I was pregnant because I just had to tell SOMEONE and I figured a private blog was a good secret keeper. It's STILL invite only because of twitter.

So Twitter. I'm not a giant fan. I don't think I have enough going on in my life that anyone should really give a rat's patootie about reading about it every second of every day. And that's what facebook is for, right? However, I think it's a good way to update you all on what's going on during Kate's birth. I have a twitter app on my itouch and John has it on his blackberry, so even if we can't get internet access in the hospital as long as John has phone service we should be able to update. I just don't want everyone and their momma following it. :)

So my plan is to leave this site invite only until Kate's birth, and then either make it public and keep up with both of them (which I seriously doubt), switch over to just this one, or switch back to just the Team Dixon one. I'm not really sure. I like that I have a lot of control over the Team Dixon one since it's run through our website. However, if I ever cancel that website, that blog will disappear and that's not cool. So we'll see. Either way, I promise you won't have to log in to see this blog for longer than 6 weeks (thank you, Jesus), I know it's a giant pain in the butt. Plus, am I right that you can't follow private blogs on your feedreader? I could never follow Patrice's...

Still...

I'm still trying to flip your sweetness around. I've tried everything, swimming, laying upside down on an ironing board, crawling around on hands and knees, ice packs on my belly, and most recently a chiropractor. You are firmly lodged in exactly the same place. :) Either you can't move due to an obstruction or you just don't want to. I'm banking on the latter. :)

I bought new bedding for your crib this week, it's obnoxiously hot pink. :) I've liked it ever since I saw it and just thought it was way too loud for your room but I couldn't shake how much I liked it. So it's ours. :) I hope you like pink.

Breech

You, my dear, sweet, girl, are breech. I'm 32 weeks today and you're head is all up in my ribs, bless your heart.

You're also adorable. See?



We had a 4D done on Saturday (May 30th) and that's how we found out you were breech. Our midwife gave me some exercises to do and they're no fun at all but they definitely get you moving around a bunch. You still have plenty of time to turn (and please do) but I'd feel better if you just turned now. :) If you're still breech at 35 weeks, we'll schedule an external version for 38 weeks and hopefully that will work. I feel like it will. I think you have plenty of room in there, maybe just prefer to be head up. And I can't say that I blame you. :)

Dash is getting more and more excited to meet you (we've been telling him you'll play trains with him. Sorry to commit you to that...) and now he'll say "Kate come play trains?" He's going to be a good big brother and you're going to love him to pieces. Just 8 more weeks...

27 weeks

See? Slacker.

I hit 27 weeks today. I still feel relatively good, I've been WAY more active this pregnancy than I was with Dash, mostly because I'm CHASING Dash. :) I can tell it's made a difference though. I don't have any swelling yet and I haven't gained nearly as much as I did with Dash.

So. Since January... We found out you're a girl! Yay! One of each. We're so lucky. A boy would have been awesome, I'm sure the two of you would have been best friends, but I'm so excited to have a little girl.

Your room is coming along beautifully. We moved all of your Dad's stuff out of the back bedroom and girled it all up. If you came home today, you'd be right at home. Of course, I hope you don't come home today... we're so excited to meet you though and see your sweet little face. We haven't had as many ultrasounds this time as we did with Dash, mostly because we switched doctors and you aren't measuring big like your brother was. I hate that we don't get to see you often. So far, we've only had the one 20 week ultrasound. You were adorable then though. Your daddy cried when he found out you were a girl. Something about seeing you for the first time makes it real for both of us. I think he was overwhelmed with how lucky we are.

I have my glucose test Monday, I think everything is fine. I hope so because I've been eating a TON of watermelon and I'm looking forward to the summer peaches this year. I'd hate to give those up. After that, we should go to appointments every 2-3 weeks so it really gets exciting then!