Callie Lynae is here!

This will be short and sweet because this very proud daddy is very tired. Callie Lynae came to us at 12:24 pm Tuesday afternoon. Cori woke me up at 1:40 after a few contractions and I started timing them with her. We went into the hospital at 3:30 a.m. and Cori started pushing at 10:00 a.m. After 2 and a half hours of pushing, and a little help from the vacuum I saw her. I fell in love with this little girl the second I saw her. Some highs were watching how hard Cori worked to bring our daughter to us, seeing Callie's head for the first time, when Callie's head stated to come out, realizing she was a girl, and holding her for the first time.

I can't describe what I felt when Callie was born. It has definitely changed me for life. I can understand why parents do some of the weird things they do. I'm so sad that I will have to go back to work so soon. I'm actually a bit sick, so between that and being tired I don't think I can write much more. I'm going to add a couple of my favorite pictures. I'll do a longer post later, and I'm sure mommy will do a good blog soon. Thanks to everyone for you support, it means a lot to all three of us.

39 Weeks Down, 1 Week To Go :)

We have officially 1 week to go :) That's 7 days people! I remember when we first started blogging about our pregnancy...and here we are, 7 days (more or less) away from being parents :)

So much has been going on this week, so bare with me and this long blog.

On Friday, Josh has his regular season basketball game, and it was in Rochester. My mom was pretty mad at me for driving there by myself...but I felt really good and had a gut feeling I'd be okay driving! I made it there safely (got lost, but my dad helped me out via a phone call-thanks Dad!). When I arrived Josh's game was almost over, but I got to see his prime coaching in action.

At one point the Roch. coach called a time out, but the ball was in the air - so of course, any good coach (like Josh) would freak out...which he did (can't call a time out when nobody has possession of the ball). I was really pulling for him to get a technical, because he never has and I would love to see one :) But the game was too close, so again, he used his good coaching skills and chose NOT to put his team down!

My friend, Brittney, took a picture with me that night and posted on facebook, so I just had to post it on our blog! This is a shirt that one of the high school students made for me! He is the boys basketball manager...I love it :)


Our school has some "polls" going on about what our baby is going to be (Male=M, Female=F), the due date, and the weight! I took pictures of it, because I thought it was so neat! We were going to have money involved, but figured it was against policy, so instead...Josh and I will buy a treat for the winner :)



On Monday afternoon, Josh and I headed into our Dr.'s appointment! I'm FINALLY starting to retain water...my fingers are officially swelling :( And occasionally my feet (not my whole foot, just by my heels)...but I've gone 39 weeks without swelling, so I guess it's okay. I did chop my hair off to help with the swollen face (it's more slimming)!

Our baby is measuring 40 weeks, and the Dr. "guessed" our baby was 8 pounds...HOLY CATS! But I also know he was just rubbing my stomach when he suggested that size, so he could be totally off. I was born at 7 lbs. 2 ounces and Josh was 7 lbs. 10.5 ounces...so we'll see!

He was "checking" me out and said "OOOHHH!" really excited. He then said, "I can feel the babies head!" I of course quickly asked, "Is there any hair?!" Yeah Cori - the Dr. can tell! It's like that time Heidi told me she was pregnant (first time being an aunt), and I said, "YEAH! I"m going to be an aunt, or an uncle!" Seriously...the things I can say sometimes!


We are dilated to 1 cm!! To get to 10, you must start at 1 :) 1 week, 1 cm, 1 baby...I'm liking the number :) How about 1 more day until we have this baby already! The bad news is you can be dilated to 1 cm for a VERY long time. Good news-we will for sure have a baby Tuesday, March 23rd. That is the exact marking for 1 week over-due, and our Dr. will not let us go beyond that. So 14 days or less...how about WAY LESS!!!

So we were SO EXCITED when we left the hospital (I was pretty much freaking out) that we went to Albert Lea to celebrate with a delicious Green Mill dinner :) Yes we have been eating out a lot, but we're going on a lot of dates now, because once this baby comes, all of our date nights turn to sleeping (only when baby sleeps - in 30 min. increments) and changing poopy diapers and restless nights!


As stated before, I have taken up a new hobby (well, I used to do this, but just picked it up again)...sewing :) I have sewn SO MANY things in the past few days...and I love it!
Last night I was sewing the sides of a receiving blanket, and low and behold-the needle on the machine broke. Right when it snapped, I just happened to be sliding the fabric through-not under the needle, but near it. The needle ricochet off and went through my left middle finger nail and through my skin. I was like "HOLY CRAP...I have a needle in my finger!" I told Josh we needed to go to ER, but I probably should have prefaced it with - I'm not in labor!So we got to the ER...they did an X-Ray, because they wanted to see 1. if it was in my bone, and 2. how big the needle was. It took FOREVER to get it out. I sat there and had the Dr. picking pieces of my SKIN off with a tweezers...pretty sure I could have done that! But after about 30 min. of "picking" and not getting the needle, they numbed my finger and made a cut! At one point he said, "Scalp-o"! haha I felt like a patient on Grey's Anatomy :) But needless to say, the needle came out :) FINALLY!

This morning I was wicked crabby-honestly not really sure why at all. It could have been the drastic change in my mood the day before (really high and then in a ton of pain)...just being tired, or like my sister thinks - "labor is coming sooner than you think, Cori!"...
Either way...for the first time this entire pregnancy, I can honestly say that today I felt...well, bitchy.

So I sit here drinking root beer and eating thin mint girl scout cookies :) What a combination...Hopefully this is the last "regular" blog before we start posting about McBaby...

We're just a few days away from our baby...
A gender, a name, a weight, size, fingers, toes, hair-no hair, eyes, cute little nose that I'll probably want to eat :) YEAH! Super super excited...

Love to you all,
Cori & Josh XOXOXOXO

38 Weeks down...2 Weeks to go :)

Well, give or take...but we may have only 14 days left :) It's hard to believe that we started out with 9 months and now we have 2 weeks left to go!
I have still been feeling really good; however, I will be honest...we had 9 hours of parent-teacher conferences last night. Not a big deal, I love them...but 9 hours for a 9 1/2 month pregnant woman was a bit too much! I got into bed last night, and poor Josh! I was whining that I was too tired, too uncomfortable, too sore...I think he was jumping for joy when I finally fell asleep! This morning my entire body was just sore...

I'm going in for a massage tonight, so that will help A LOT!

Besides the long day of conferences, I am still feeling GREAT and still sleeping through the night! I don't have any back pains, but I stand on the heels of my feet, so my heels get pretty tired by the end of the day! No swelling either...well, just in my face :( I feel so fat when I look in the mirror.

Our Dr.'s appointments are going really well. We are measuring right where we need to be! McBaby is sitting head down and ready to go! When looking at the pictures, I have definitely dropped! The heart beat is still strong and my stomach is continuing to burst out! I haven't gained any weight these past 3 weeks...which is kind of exciting for me! Considering it was sad seeing the #'s on the scale continue to go up!

No matter what anyone tells a pregnant lady...YES, I know I'm supposed to gain weight, and I know it's healthy...but seeing a number I never thought I would see...it tugs at your emotions a little bit!
This past weekend I started sewing :) I bought my own sewing machine and started making mommy made boppy pillow slip covers and mommy made receiving blankets :)
Here is one of the boppy pillow slip covers I made, and some pictures of Kix all swaddled up in a mommy made receiving blanket :)

Josh and I have everything ready to go :) He's packing his "Daddy Overnight" bag tonight...Wow...it's coming SO FAST!

Can't wait to meet you little one!
Love,
Mommy XOXO

McBaby could arrive any day now...stay tuned :)

37 weeks down...3 to go :)

Josh and I have hit Week 37 without any problems :)

So far I have not had any morning sickness, I haven't swelled up (my fingers are a smidgen bigger and it hurts taking my wedding ring off, so I stopped wearing it). My feet haven't swelled, my back only hurt for a while, but that was due to a cute little foot being lodged in my ribcage, no acne, no major mood swings...

All around, this has been a very easy pregnancy :)


This week brings so many exciting things:

1. I started feeling Braxton Hicks very frequently. Many would say that isn't something to be excited about, but it actually is...it only means that McBaby is that much closer to making his/her grand entrance!

2. I gained ZERO pounds this week :) WHOA WHO!!! I'll tell you in the end what my final weight gain is! I'll just say this - it's more than my sister Heidi gained!

3. McBaby is FULL TERM! That means that if we went into labor TONIGHT, McBaby would have no problems surviving! According to the books, McBaby is just hanging out in there practicing his/her breathing, blinking and even crying! I felt hiccups for the first time too - that was so fun :)

4. Josh and I are all set for the arrival of McBaby! We have the room put together and the essential items we need to get by the first couple weeks. Because we aren't finding out the gender, we still have two big showers AFTER McBaby is born...can't wait to share the fun in those :)
This weeks advice from my weekly email was this:

what you're thinking
"I can't eat, I can't sleep, but I can do a great imitation of a beached whale. Seriously, are we almost done with this?"

HAHA - That makes me laugh so much...It's so not true at all :) I'm still loving this! I've learned to eat a bowl of cereal before bed and I am good to go the rest of the night :)
Speaking of night - I'm 37 weeks pregnant and STILL sleeping through the night! Poor Josh is lacking in the sleep department though! He's being such a great sport. These past few weeks I've started snoring (the Dr. explained that it's some thinning and totally normal to start doing during pregnancy), and I guess I was really sawing some logs last night...Poor guy got up to sleep in the guest room...he didn't want to wake me in case I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. What a great husband!


Other news this week:
KAYLA AND MIKE GOT ENGAGED!!!

That's right, Josh's little sister is going to get married :) YEAH! We are so excited for the both of them! They are such a perfect match for each other! McBaby can't wait to meet Aunt Kayla and Uncle Mike :) YEAH :)

I forgot to post the pictures from Valentine's Day as well...kind of dropped the ball on that one! Josh bought these SWEET shirts for us :) We both wore them to school on February 12th! When we were apart, the hearts on our shirt weren't all lit. Only 2.5 was lit. But when we were together-ALL of them would light up! Our students LOVED this...it was a pretty big hit!



Then my Valentine took me to a romantic dinner at the Old Mill in Austin! The food was good, scenery was AMAZING and we were all dressed up for the occasion :) I love you Josh - you are so good to me!

Maternity Photos

On Sunday, Mike O'Halloran came down to Austin to photograph our Maternity Photos :) We have been utilizing Mike's photo skills for some time now (he photographed our wedding)...

We began our session in our home! Mike brought some backdrops and we took tons of pictures! We took pictures in front of our window, the backdrop and even in the nursery! Then we ventured over to Austin High School and took some pictures in the gym :) Oh yes...what kind of pictures would there be without Josh and I in a basketball gym!?!Mike posted a few pictures on his blog (you can become a "Fan" of "O'Halloran Photography" on Facebook!!!!)...Enjoy the couple we were able to see!

We cannot WAIT to see the rest :)
Just another reason why everyone needs to be on Facebook - you get faster updates! Which, by the way, we will be posting pictures of McBaby during our hospital stay! I will not be updating the blog until after we get home. If you read this and want to see pictures...you'll have to join Facebook to see instant pictures :) Our hospital has WiFi!!!

Goodbye Cooper, we will always remember you...

Today was a VERY sad day for Josh and I. Our day started by relaxing on the couch, watching the cats sleep (Cooper cuddled on top of Striker), patiently waiting the arrival of Josh's mom, Lynn who was visiting for the day.
When Lynn arrived, she had brought down lots of goodies! There was a great "Lavender" kit for me to use in the hospital ! So many of my friends on facebook recommended we use lavender to help create a calming environment, so she has fully supplied me with it :) She also bought Josh a great book on "What to do in the delivery room".

We have some friends that are opening a coffee shop in Austin called, "Gymocha", and today they had a trial run for their friends. We brought Lynn there with us and BOY WAS THAT PLACE AWESOME! The environment on the inside is so great ! I can't wait to go back :) McBaby and I will be going there to do work when I am on maternity leave :)

We then ventured over to Target to purchase some more last minute things we will be needing in the hospital and at home. We had some gift cards and coupons, so we went all out :) Then the three of us went out to Applebees for dinner! Thank you so much Lynn, it was so nice to spend the afternoon with you :) We're getting closer!!!
So now I am to the part that makes me so sad...and is so hard to write about :(
In October, 2007, Josh and I got Cooper from a friend as a kitten. He was such a cute little kitty :) Very playful and active! He was pretty skittish, but we loved him anyway!

As Cooper got a little bigger, he started chewing on things. We figured it was his age, so we let it slide. When we moved into our house, Cooper started getting into all heaps of trouble. He chewed on our air conditioning wire, phone cord wires, iron wire, etc...you name it - he probably chewed on it.

We were going to get rid of him in the summer of 2008, but decided that we should try "cat proofing" our house and give him another shot. So we did. Throughout the time, Cooper would still find things to chew on. At one point, Striker was really sick with a bad U.T.I., and we had to lock all three of our cats up in the laundry room to make sure Striker wouldn't pee all over the house...well, Cooper didn't like being confined and chewed on our washing machine tube...so we had some water on the floor. Not a lot, but enough to be annoying.

Eventually, Cooper started coming around! He would hang out by us, cuddle a little bit, allow others to pet him, and he wasn't chewing! YEAH :) We figured we had everything all fixed.

Then we got pregnant...

One night I locked Cooper, on accident, in the nursery. When I realized what I had done, it was too late - he had already peed in the crib. Now he had marked his territory.

There were two other times he had done this, and one of these times was when the bedding was in the crib. So this was it - last straw...we can't have a cat peeing, or even laying, in the crib that our child is going to be in.

So we started researching Humane Societies and what kind of options we had for Cooper. We asked TONS of people if they wanted him, but nobody did...we knew that we had to get rid of him before our baby arrived, but it was SO HARD for us to do. We do love Cooper, and he really is a good cat - just needs more attention than we are able to give him.

Then there was this morning's events...
I was going to curl my hair, so I plugged in my curling iron, but it wouldn't turn on. So I clicked the "test" button - nothing...Tried Josh's plug in - nothing. I did this for a couple minutes then finally plugged it back into Josh's plug and hit the on button...

It was at that moment that I was well aware of the fact that Cooper chewed through the curling iron cord as well...
I was shocked. Yes - when I clicked the on button, a spark came flying out of the "chewed" part of the cord and shocked me. It burned a hold in my pants (the shock hit my leg) and I screamed very loudly. I was totally, 100% okay, but it scared me more than anything.

Josh ran into the bathroom right away to make sure I was okay...then he researched about pregnant women getting shocked...I'm totally okay! Apparently there have been pregnant women who have been shocked before by an electric fence - much more voltage - and were fine.

It was then that I realized, maybe Cooper is out to get me. Maybe he is trying to kill me...
Ridiculous, I know...

So when the three of us (Josh, Lynn and myself) were at Gymocha, Josh and his mom were researching places to bring Cooper. They found a very nice Humane Society in Burnsville, and Lynn told us that she would bring him there for us. She knew how hard it would be on us, and figured it'd be best if we said goodbye in our own home :(


So tonight, when Lynn left, through many tears and extreme sadness, Josh and I said goodbye to our beautiful orange cat, Cooper. We sent along his favorite food, toy and even the laser light for him.

I felt bad that I could barely say goodbye to Lynn, but I think she totally understood...So now we just sit back and remember our fun times with him :) Having him constantly run in circles, chasing the laser light! Watching him curl up with Striker like he is a little baby! Having him pester us constantly for "people" food! Watching him sit by his water bowl, patiently waiting for you to give him fresh water. Having him paw at you when you are eating! Watching him sneak around trying not to get caught doing something. Having him curl up next to you on his own terms, but being so excited that he is allowing you to pet him!

Oh Cooper, we are really going to miss you! We hope you find a good home...one without kids! We will always love you, and please know, Cooper, we had to do this...

4 MORE WEEKS :)

That is LESS than one hand to count on! I can't believe it...we are getting so close! Think about all the fours in this world: there are four girls in my family, our cats each have four legs, we have four bedrooms in our house, I was 4th runner up at Miss MN, I've been teaching for a TOTAL of 4 years...and now we have 4 weeks left until McBaby arrives :) WOW!!!!

McBaby weighs about 6 pounds now and is full grown in length. I have have pretty much been gaining one pound a week-with a couple extra here and there...

I am STILL sleeping through the night with the 1-2 times getting up to go to the bathroom. Josh is starting to have a lot of dreams which is keeping him up. He had a dream that HE was pregnant and giving birth one night! I liked that one :) I had a dream that we "surprisingly" had twins...that was interesting...Josh has given me the rights to 3 1-hour massages before McBaby arrives! I was smart about it and I split these first two up in to two half hour sessions, and then I go for one hour the next two times :) I went last night for my first half hour and BOY DID THAT FEEL GOOD :)

My back stopped hurting a few weeks ago, which is a HUGE relief; however, when she started massaging my back (I was able to lay on a maternity pillow they have...they specialize in pregnancy massages), I didn't realize just how good it was going to feel! I didn't realize my back was that exhausted already!Then, during my massage, I started to get REALLY REALLY hot...so hot that I thought I would either pass out or throw up! So she turned a fan on and removed one of the blankets-that helped A LOT! But then, I started getting these pains in my lower stomach, and I started thinking "Oh my gosh, is this is...am I going into labor right now?" Josh was in Mankato for basketball, and I was going to meet my girlfriends for dinner and a movie after my massage, so I thought, "Okay, call Steph and Katie...one will get my bag (which I'm still packing) and then they'll be in the delivery room with me until Josh arrives..."


Then the massage was over, I stood up and felt fine! They sure liked the idea though :) Now Katie asks me when the next time Josh has an away game, because she's ready!! Haha-I have such good friends :)

Which by the way, you MUST SEE "Valentine's Day" - Such a good movie :) I'd totally see it again :)
Now I'm trying to compile a list of "things to bring to the hospital"...because we are at this stage of our pregnancy!!!! If you have any tips...email them to me or leave a comment with an idea!