Newborn Photos

Below are some of my favorite pictures from Kathleen's 6 day old newborn photo shoot. We took her to see Tracy who owns Memories by TLC for our first family outing. It was so much fun and Tracy was amazing to watch as she worked with Kathleen to get her to pose so beautifully. The studio and office where she works are in two of the upstairs rooms of her home. This set up makes you feel comfortable as soon as you walk in the door with your newborn. Tracy keeps it 90 degrees in the studio with a heater so that the baby is cozy and sleepy throughout the session. With a handful of other baby calming tricks up her sleeve, Kathleen was incredibly happy to be there soaking up all of Tracy's attention. It was so impressive we even took a home video of how a couple of the poses came together. (I'll be adding an edited clip to this post a little later on.)

As a proud Mommy, I have to brag that Tracy loved Kathleen's sweet, "mellow" attitude so much she asked if we could come back the following Monday for some additional modeling shots. That's right - my little girl was asked to come back so the photographer could try out a couple new poses, props and fabrics on her!

Kathleen Margarette Dickenson: May 3, 2011

Throughout my pregnancy as we prepared for Kathleen's arrival I had April 30th in my head as the day to have everything done by. We prepared the nursery over our Christmas break and got the remaining details in order as spring approached. With baby showers in March and April, all of our friends and family helped us celebrate and prepare as we anticipated the birth of our first child. With all the preparation behind us by the end of April, the plan was to sit back and enjoy as we waited for Kathleen's arrival in May. Now I can say that I am certainly glad we decided to prepare early.

When I woke up at 6:15 on Monday, May 2nd my water broke. Calvin and I made the necessary phone calls, finished packing our hospital bags, cleaned up the kitchen, and then continued to wait the rest of the day for contractions to pick up to 3-5 minutes apart. At 6 pm we headed to the hospital and Kathleen was born at 11:30 am on Tuesday, May 3rd. She was 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19.5 inches long. We were all impressed that she waited to arrive on the 3rd! Also - we were in the Labor and Delivery Room number 7. 

The hospital story I already love telling most is how strong Kathleen was as soon as she was born. When I took her in my arms for the first time to lay her on my chest she promptly grabbed and pulled out the IV access that had been started in my hand and taped down in case of emergency. All of a sudden the doctor looked down and saw her waving it around. I had not even noticed. They had to pry her little fingers off it in order to take it away. I was ultimately glad she took it out for me. I had not enjoyed the fact that it was in my hand the entire time anyways.

We are so thankful and blessed to have this healthy, beautiful little girl with us now. She's amazing and already has such a sweet aura about her. Kathleen is great at being a baby. She took to eating right away. She has regained her birth weight and seems to be going through her first growth spurt over the past few days. It doesn't matter who's holding her, she's always laid back and calm. The only time she fusses is out of hunger. Otherwise she currently doesn't even cry for a dirty diaper. 

As we get adjusted to creating and refining our routine, there are still several times a day where Calvin and I stop whatever it is we're doing at the time just to declare to one another how awesome our baby is. I still have random moments of unbelief that she's really here with us, that we're living our dream together as a family. I am doing all that I can right now just to live in the moment. I want to enjoy it for all that it's worth. One of mine and Calvin's biggest life dreams has been fulfilled in becoming parents. God has truly given us a gift that will bless us for the rest of our lives.

Below are some pictures from the hospital and bringing Kathleen home:

Pop Pop holding her the day she was born. 

Hanging out with Mommy in the hospital on Wednesday.

  

Finally headed home on Friday morning! 

Waiting for Daddy to bring the car around. 

Kathleen's outfit was complete once we go a little Rascal hair on it.

A quick update on the Burger Tour

So I didn't keep up with this on the blog like I expected, but I certainly still had fun with the Third Trimester Burger Tour each week. Here's where we went:

Week 28: Five Guy's Burgers and Fries - This was much better than I expected. Right now they are ranked #3  on the list for burgers and #2 on the list for Fries. I love their fries and the burger had a great meat to bun ratio with all the standard fixin's. By going in to order the "standard" I accidentally got the double cheese burger and took half of it home. From now on I'll be ordering the "Little Cheeseburger".

Week 29: Blue Note Grill - This restaurant is right across the street from where we live and it was my favorite going into the tour. They're burgers are made from 100% beef brisket that they grind daily at the restaurant and the buns are buttered and toasted to perfection.

Week 30: Piper's

Week 31: Only Burger

Week 32: Bull City Burgers and Brewery - This place is by far #1 on the list, for both the best burgers and the best fries. They opened on the 24th of February and Calvin and I fell in love.

Week 33: CHAR-GRILL - Char-grill is great for what it is. The hamburger steak burger is what they are known for and it is a must to order over the regular burger.

Week 34: Vita

Week 35: This week Mom came down to help us with a deep clean of baseboards, windows, blinds, and light fixtures on Saturday. So we took her to Bull City Burgers and Brewery for lunch to taste what is by far the #1 burger in Durham in our opinion. We were pretty excited to be able to go back for a repeat visit.

We accidentally allowed Week 36 to slip by without a stop. Going into week 37 I was very much looking forward to Wimpy's. King's Sandwich Shop was also planned for week 38 to wrap it up with a couple greasy spoon favorites. They are both still on the list to try soon even though they did not make it in the third trimester. Since Kathleen was born half way through the 37th week, the burger tour really only made it to week 34. However, Calvin and I are both agreed the Bull City Burgers and Brewery wins hands down. I'm so glad they opened just in time for the tour. And since the use local meet whenever possible, I will continue to eat there any time I have a burger craving!

Love is in the details

Love is in the details - This is the only saying I can think of when trying to describe the well put together baby shower that my best friends Brandy and Lucia threw for me this past Saturday. When thinking about all that they did for this event, and all that they've been for me over the years, "my cup overfloweth."

Following are a few pictures from the afternoon. They had all my favorite treats including Lucia's famous barbecue chicken dip, baked brie, strawberries + pineapple with fruit dip, sparkling pink lemonade and Carolina Cake Delivery brownies. I loved being able to see all my best friends together. Really you can't feel anything but love when your in a room surrounded by people who have gathered just to show their support for you. 

They also had a great, non intrusive, baby shower game for us. Everyone wrote cute sayings on post-it notes like "Remember you asked for this!" and stuck them to individual diapers in a canvas bin. So when Calvin and I are dealing with a messy one in a few months we'll have something to laugh at as we pull the diaper from the bin. 

The vase in the middle of the table is birch wood with Kathleen's Monogram in the center.

Sparkling Pink Lemonade with real drink glasses and plates. They hand washed all of these after the shower!

Lucia's graphic artist talents come in handy with any event that she's involved in. 

The gifts were all so generous and thoughtful. Hidden in those bags are all of our cloth diapers, my diaper bag, all of Kathleen's bottles, the luxury version of a baby Bjorn carrier, wipes and diapers to last the first month at least, and the most beautiful newborn cream tutu with headbands for Kathleen's newborn pictures. 

This wonderful ribbon banner was also accompanied by the one over the drinks. I have some great ideas on how to use these in the future for pictures with Kathleen. Each circle is made of at least 5-6 layers of cut paper for the design. 

Cameron Indoor

Calvin's divinity school team, Let Us PREY, killed the competition this year in Men's Rec. Intramural Basketball. I believe they stacked the deck in order to guarantee they would play the championship game in Cameron Indoor. All the boys were super excited to get their chance for glory on the famed court. Families, girlfriends and friends all gathered to share in the exciting experience. And now Calvin also has his coveted Intramural Championship T-Shirt from Duke. Being intramural junkies, these are must haves in our household.

Below is the clip of Calvin's play of the game where he effortlessly sinks a three. Right after this play he looks up at me filming in the stands and I give him a huge thumbs up, being the supportive wife that I am. Just then Calvin sing songs to me.... UNC lost! Thanks for the ginger delivery of the breaking news my sweet husband. I reminded him after the game that he enjoyed giving me that ACC Tournament update a little too much since at the time he was also having me film Duke students in Cameron Indoor and I was cheering him on for a good play.

Overall I'm proud of the boys. They had a great season together and really enjoyed each others company outside of the classroom while getting some exercise. It's exciting for them to have had this experience in their 3 years at Duke together.