D-Day

Today's the day! We find out if we're having a boy or a girl...I can't WAIT :) We'll update of course, so stay tuned!!

Chasing Squirrels

It's fall around here, and that means more time outside running around in the leaves. Not for me, particularly, but for the dogs.

This also means more time chasing squirrels! Gracie and Bella LOVE to chase squirrels...and this picture captures their typical reaction. Please click on the picture to enlarge, you need to see Bella up close!!

So happy with this fall weather, hopefully it stays!!

Three years...

x

Conner William Kampen

Conner is here...we now have a nephew! Born on Monday morning, November 16th around 4:4oam, he weighed in at 7lbs 14oz. He's adorable, and we love him so much already! Congrats Jeremy, Lindsay and Mackenzie!!

(sorry for some of the blurry pics...as you can imagine, at 12 hours old he was a little squirmy!!)

How we found out...

A lot of you have been asking for the details on how we found out we were pregnant! I woke up, the Wednesday of the first week of school (yikes!) and felt a little funny. I just had this feeling, and thought that taking a test couldn't hurt anything. I wasn't necessarily late or anything, but just wanted to see if maybe my hunch was correct.

At 6:05am, the first test was a little fuzzy. It took a long time to go either way, but finally a VERY faint line appeared. I about fell over. Literally. I composed myself enough to walk out and wake Stephen up to get his opinion. My entire life I've wanted to be a mom. That's it. And I had dreamed of how I would tell my husband, the little clues I would give through fun gifts to make him guess. It would be so romantic and magical. Well, waking your husband up at 6:07am to look at a wet pregnancy test is not exactly the same. I just needed affirmation. His response? "I'm not going to believe that. I can't really tell one way or another. I'd have to see another one."

Nice...I don't have to pee anymore. How can I take another one. I took his brutal honesty as a sign that I needed to wait. I went about my day, surprisingly if you know me well, not thinking about it much. When I got home that evening, I decided to take another test. I figured if it came back positive at night, it was legit. I took another test, and by "another" I mean 4. They were ALL positive. Stephen was in the other room, so I collected them all and put them under a little note in his bathroom. Looking back, that's really gross. I bunch of pee sticks on his bathroom counter, where his toothbrush is. But I didn't care!

He came to bed a bit after I did, and went directly to take his contacts out. I snickered quietly as I watched him open his card...

He turned around, laughing. "You took 4? These are expensive!" We hugged, laughed and talked about the surreal reality that we were going to be parents. It still hasn't completely sunk in.

We're now 16 weeks (4 months for all of you out there that don't do things in weeks...I was a hater before this, too!) and thriving! Heard little Dotson's heartbeat today, a solid 153. Can't wait to find out what it is...just two short weeks :)

DART

Stephen and I, along with our "roommate" Brian, decided to take the DART on Wednesday night to have dinner in Uptown. Random, yes, but also very fun! It was full of awkward moments, like when a patron asked me if I "walked barefoot in the Summer," and then proceeded to walk away when I wouldn't give him my name. Would you have? Come on...and of course Stephen and Brian just laughed, leaving me in awkward misery alone.

I digress...the DART! We left at about 6:40 pm from the George Bush Turnpike location and traveled to Cityplace, where Stephen and I had our reception. We surfaced on the West side of 75, so we were able to simply walk to West Village. We had dinner at Village Burger Bar, then decided to hop on the McKinney Avenue Trolley to grab a drink further into Uptown. The trolley ride was awesome, you just have to typically wait 10-15 minutes for pick-up. Good thing for us...we had all the time in the world!! After the guys had a drink (yes, I had water...no judgement) we took the Trolley back to Cityplace and the DART back to Richardson. When we arrived home it was 10:07.

Overall, it was fun! It just took almost 2 hours of travel that we could have done in 30 minutes with a car. It makes you feel very fortunate for having a car, something we take for granted. The train was full of people both times we were on it, so it does make me think that it is useful for some. If you are a fortunate car owner...take your car. It's not terribly convenient.

My Sister's Wedding

Last weekend was my baby sister's wedding in Austin, TX. We drove down on Thursday night to be there for all of the festivities. It was a blast...though the weather didn't hold up. We didn't let it stop us, though!! Stephen and I love Austin, and being there the whole weekend, able to soak up all the great places the city has to offer was amazing! Here are a few pics from the beautiful wedding, and of the happy couple! Congrats, Hayley and Matt! We love you guys!!

Hayley with my Mom and Dad

My turn

The sisters'-in-law

Oh yeah...SURPRISE! Three preggo's at her wedding :)

My main men

The Happy Couple

Father/Daughter Dance

Sparklers to end the night!!!