Abernethy Family Pictures

We took some family photos!Click to View photos

Pictures with Aunt Jes

Click here for the rest of the photos
As a Christmas present to my Mom, Jes and I took pictures together with Kate!

Cousin Jenn and Vincent's Church wedding in Dallas

Last weekend Kate and I took our first solo trip out of town. We traveled to Dallas to see my Cousin Jennifer and Vincent have their church wedding. Kate was excellent in the car on the way there and back, but boy did I get a taste of what it's like to be a single mother! Trying to get all our stuff to and from the car from the hotel was crazy!

Kate is really smiling a ton now and it is soo fun to make her smile and laugh!! She has now started to put everything in her month (she especially loves her fingers!)Also, her hair seems to be getting a little hint of red!!

We are all very excited for Kate's first Christmas!

Kate's 2 mth photos

Thanksgiving

Kate is now 2 months old! She weighs 10 lbs 4 ozs. (50%) and is 22 inches long (25%). She is really smiling a ton now and even laughing at her Daddy and me. We have also taught her to stick out her tongue and she does it all the time now! She was great on our trip to Lufkin for Thanksgiving, she slept the whole way there and back! Everyone is saying what a perfect baby she is, and I have to say that I agree!
Check out our Thanksgiving photos

Kate's Meet and Greet Baby Shower

Kate had a Meet and Greet Baby Shower in Alice on Saturday.

Here are the photos of the shower

Jessica & Brian's Wedding!

They did it!!! Mike and I were both in Jessica (my sister) and Brian's wedding on Friday! After having to reschedule the wedding, it was so great to see them fianlly have their special day!! We were so delighted that we got to not only be a part of their special day, but that we were there!


photos from rehearsal dinner

photos from the wedding

Kate at 6 weeks!

Wow--Kate is 6 weeks already! She has started to smile alot! Before it seems she just smiled for no real reason, but now it seems we can make her smile! She also loves to sit up and look around when she is awake. She loves the song "head, shoulders, knees and toes" and as you can see in the pictures she can hold her head up and look you in the eye when she is laying on your chest!


Check out the rest of the pictures of Kate at 6 weeks

Halloween '08

Aunt Kristin made Kate her very own first Halloween custume! While Kristin was here this weekend, she put Kate in it! As you can see, she turned Kate in a glow worm!

Thanks Aunt Kristin!!!
Check out the rest of the photos!

Uncle Doug and Aunt Kristin Visit

Guess what-Kate is now 9 lbs 2 oz!! Yeah! She is a month old and still doing great! She even slept 5 hours straight the other night (I woke up feeling like a new women!) So this past week, Kate saw the doctor and we had her first professional pictures taken. Then this weekend, her Uncle Doug and Aunt Kristin (Mike's brother and sister) came for a visit and went to a UT game with Mike.
Click here to see her one mth photos
Click here to see the photos from the weekend

Trip to Jes and Brian's on Oct 15

Michael, Kate and I took a trip to south Austin to have dinner with Kate's Aunt Jes and Uncle Brian.

Click here for the rest of the photos

So you think you can dance

We had our first date night last night and we had a great time!

Here are the rest of the photos

We've made it 3 weeks!

Well, now we have made it 3 weeks! I can't believe it has been 3 weeks already! Everything is still going great with Kate. Actually, tonight Mike and I are going on our first date night! We are going to see "so you think you can dance" in concert tonight! Yeah! My wonderful sister, Jessica, is coming to watch Kate. Kate takes a bottle like a pro after a week of practice, so I know she will be fine! Thanks Jes for watching Kate!

This past week we had some visitors: my friends Lana and Stephanie, our friends Christy and Jake, and Mike's Aunt Barb, Uncle Bud and cousin Zach.

Check out the photos from this week with Kate

Kate's visitors from weekend Oct 3

The weekend of October 3, Kate had some visitors! Her grandparents Layssard visited for the weekend. Also, my Aunt Connie and cousin Jennifer met her for the first time.
Check out the photos from the weekend

We have made it 2 weeks!!

Kate is 2 weeks today and I have to say we are doing ok. She is breastfeeding great and weighed 7 lbs, 11.5 oz and 20 inches at her doctor's appt on Friday. I am feeding her every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. Mike actually gave her her first bottle today and that seems to go ok. She is a really good baby and seems to love to sleep and eat! Mike and I are enjoying being parents, just miss sleep. Mike goes back to work tomorrow, so we will see how that goes. We are very happy for all the help we have had over the last 2 weeks from our parents and my sister Jessica and Brian. Thank you all so much!

First Bath Sept 27, 2008

My sister had stayed the night on Friday night to help us with Kate’s first bath on Saturday morning. I had tired to get all the products together for the bath ahead of time, but I forgot the baby shampoo! Mike had to run upstairs and get it! Also, Mike videotaped the bath. Kate was not too happy about it and cried the whole time! It was neat to see how curly her hair got when it got all wet. It was so soft after the bath! After the bath, I wrapped her in her towel and she took the biggest crap ever!!


Check out the cute photos from her first bath!

First Walk and First Trip to Grandparents Abernethy Sept 25, 2008

We took our first walk with Kate that morning. It went well, but I couldn’t really make it very far!
Mike’s parents had invited us over last Saturday to watch Aliens on their new 65 inch tv, but since my water broke we didn’t make it. So we decided to take our first trip with Kate to their house in Sun City, which is about 25 minutes from our house. Kate slept the whole way there and back in the car. We had a great time with good food and a huge TV to watch!
Check out the photos from her first walk and trip

First Doctor Visit Sept 24, 2008

We arrived right on time and filled out the needed paperwork. We were called back to room 8 and found that Kate weighed 6 lbs. 15.8 oz, which was more then she had weighed before leaving the hospital. This is good because it shows that the breatmilk was working! She was still 19 inches long. Kate had been a little jaundice in the hospital so she got tested for this again and the results were fine! We met with Dr Ellis who showed us some things and talked with us. One funny thing did happen, Mike asked if it was ok if Kate lived within close quarters with dogs. Dr Ellis made a funny face, and asked “she doesn’t sleep with the dogs, does she?” We laughed and said “no.” Mike explained that we had 2 dogs that liked to kiss Kate. She said that was ok.

Check out these photos

First Day at Home Sept 23, 2008

We left the hospital around 2:00pm after dressing her up (which Mike did not understand, but she sure did look cute!) I freaked out a bit on the ride home, thinking “are we really ready to do this? Do we know everything we need to know?” Well, we arrived home safely and then it was time for Kate to meet her hairy sisters, Sammy and Trudy. We decided to have them meet each other on the back porch. Sammy did very well; Trudy went a little hyper crazy! After Trudy calmed down, she found she loved to kiss Kate’s feet! Sammy loved to kiss Kate on the face! Trudy freaked out every time that we changed Kate’s diaper and would jump on the pack-n-play to see what was going on! That night, Mike’s parents came over with dinner and my sister Jessica and Brian came over and we all had dinner together and toasted Kate. It was a special night! Also the night, Trudy was like a “little mommy” to Kate . She guarded her pack-n-play all night long! (She is over this now!) Check out the photos from Kate's first day home!

Kate's arrival into the world

On Saturday, Sept. 20 Mike left me to go downtown to tailgate for the UT game. He called me around noon to tell me that he was in the finals of a washers tournament and should be home in an hour. I told him that I am feeling fine, no reason to hurry home. Not 5 minutes later, the oven alarms that my brownies are done. I get up to check on the brownies and as I open the oven, fluid starts to run down my legs! I realize that “my water just broke!” So I call Mike and of course he doesn’t answer his phone!! Finally, I got in touch with Mike and told him that my water had broken and he needed to come home. I took a shower and got dressed and put the rest of the stuff in the car. Mike got home and we left for the hospital. At 1:30 we arrived but had to wait for a room for an hour. Once in delivery room # 11 I got hooked up to a monitor that showed I was having weak contractions about 7 minutes apart that I did not feel. The nurse examined me and I was still only 1 cm dilated. She tested the fluid and confirmed that my water had broken. The doctor on call wanted to wait until 6:00am to start pitocin.
Well, it was a long night Saturday night with nothing happening. They started the Pitocin at 6:00AM and nothing continued to happen. At around 10:00 am the on-call doctor examined me and I was still only at 1 cm dilated, but she didn’t think that my water was broken. So she decided to break my water and it was pretty awful! There was a lot of blood and Mike almost passed out!
Once my water was broken, things really began to pick up! I started to feel the contractions and Mike was a great coach. He helped me breath thru all the contractions! At 1:00pm I was really beginning to be in pain so we called for anesthesia to put in the epidermal. By a little after 2 pm I was feeling no pain and was now 3 cm dilated. Mike’s parents, my parents and my sister and her finance were all waiting!! By 4:00pm I was ready for a nap and was 7 ½ cm dilated. After the nap, at 6:00pm I was 10 cm dilated!! Now came the time for pushing!
I now know why Labor is called Labor—because it is work! Pushing is hard work! After an hour of pushing, I was getting crabby! Of course, our nurse had to leave because it was the end of her shift, so I didn’t want the new nurse to think I was a crabby person! Mike and the nurse were coaching me to push and they kept telling me that they could see the head. I told them I thought they were lying to me! Finally the doctor was called and at 7:39pm Kate was here!
She has tons of hair and long shinny toes!! She weighed 7 lbs, 5.6 oz and is 19 inches long. She sleeps a lot, but is breastfeeding pretty well. I haven’t had much sleep, but my body seems to be healing from labor. Mike and I are still trying to get a handle on everything, but I think we are doing pretty well so far!

Kate's Birth, Sept 21, 2008

Here is the link to the pictures from Kate's birth. She was 7 lbs 5.6 ozs and 19 inches long. I promise I will blog about the whole 2 days of labor soon!



Click on this link to view the photos

First Pictures of Kate

Here are the first pictures of Kate, who is now 13 hours old! Jill and I made it through the first night without any issues. Kate is feeding well...when she chooses to feel like eating instead of sleeping.

Jill and I think Kate is just the most beautiful baby we've ever seen, but we may be a bit biased. One thing that is really original to Kate though is her hair color. She has a golden brown hair, almost as if it was highlights that someone put in. No exaggeration, 3 labor and delivery nurses (and they see babies every day of their lives) said it was the first time they'd ever seen a color like that before.

No one can figure out whether Kate looks more like her father or her mother, so most likely, she's a blend of both of us.

She's been a great baby so far, rarely crying and smiling at me every time I talk to her. I am even convinced she said her first word yesterday (which a nurse will attest to, I swear).

More postings will come over the next couple of days, but wanted to get some pictures out now in our (very short) break between feedings.

Love, Mike, Jill and Kate

I am so pissed at my cervix . . . .

Well today is my official due date!! But no sign that baby is ready to come!! We just saw the doctor and I am STILL at 1cm dilated!! So it looks like I will be induced on Tuesday, the 23rd. We will keep everyone posted!

My sisters wedding . . . . canceled due to hurricane

Well, due to the hurricane heading our way, my family has decided to cancel Jessica's wedding for this weekend. My poor sister and Brian, things just don't ever seem to go their way!! All the work of planning and now they will have to start all over almost! Please pray for them to have strength through this and that it only brings them closer together!

And, yes, I am still very pregnant . . only 7 days until my due date!

Nursery Update

One of my favorite shower presents, one of my Mom's friends, Martha Holmgreen, recovered the chair that Mike and I had bought. It looks so great in the room! Thanks Martha!

Kate's Baby Shower, August 2

My baby shower on August 2 was great!! Thank you so much to all who hosted this event for Kate and I : Lana, Crystal, Becca, Jes, Jennifer, Amanda and Stephanie!! I really appreciate it and I had a great time! Also, thank you to everyone else who attended the shower! Also, thank you for everyone who could not attend, but sent a gift anyways! Thank you all so much!! Looks like I need to start working on some thank you cards before Kate comes!!
Check out the photos from the shower

Jill's 30th B-day, July 31st

I turned 30 on July 31!! Crazy! Mike made me breaksfast in bed and sang me happy birthday and I opened all my presents. My friend Stephanie treated me to a manicure at our favorite spa. That night Mike and I had dinner with my sister, Brian and Christy & Jake at Trudy's, which is where Mike and I had our first date. It was a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who send gifts/cards and called me on my special day!
Pictures from my special day!

Jessica's bridal shower, July 26

My sister, Jessica, who is getting married Sept 13 had her bridal shower on July 26. I traveled to Alice, Tx, America for the event, that had a huge turn out! She had almost 50 guests and spend almost an hour opening gifts!

Check out the photos from the shower!

Kate's nursery update

Mike and I (or should I say Mike) did some work in Kate's room last weekend. It is really starting to look like a nursery! Now all we need is a baby to put in it! Guess we only need to wait 2 more mths for that!!