Kate's just starting to really enjoy her play time. She smiles, coos, and flails her arms and legs when she gets excited. She has the most fun playing games with Grandma Kristi, aka "the baby whisperer." I also took this video to show off her new dress with the ridiculously over-sized bow right below her chin (technically it's right below her neck, but there's really no distinguishing between the two yet).

Kate Update

Here's the latest pictures of baby Kate. She's 6 weeks old already-crazy! Amber and her kids came to visit recently and had a great time. Lucy couldn't wait to spend time with her only girl cousin on this side of the family. She loved dressing her up, holding her, and bringing her stuffed animals to play with. Amber made me a sling while she was here-thanks, Amber!!! Kate and I love it. Hopefully I can get more done now(too bad this won't make showering easier-that's something I just don't get around to as often as I used to...).

Letters From Home

Over the past few weeks, I have received several letters and emails from home congratulating us on the arrival of Kate. We have been so blessed by loving friends and thoughtful families from all over the States. My favorites include the Smack kids and Dorothy Smith:

Dear Danny,

How are you doing in Iraq? Do you like the food that we sent you? You are Awesome!!! When are you coming back? You, me and my dad when you come back we are going to shoot guns, got it? See you in a little bit.

From: Ti Smack

Dear Danny,

Did you have war yet?? How are you doing??I liked your letter. What do you do there?? Do you like being in the Military??

By: Tate Smack- You rock!

Dear Danny,

Hi! This is Emma Smack. I am 3 years old. I like going to nursery at Church. I love my family. I like to eat dinner. My favorite food is hot dogs. What do you eat in Iraq? Thank you for being a Marine!

Love, Emma

Joe made me that letter above, not sure what those two people are doing to each other. I'm thinking one is kicking the other, or peeing on the other, or kicking a golf club into the other. Whatever the case, it was a nice thought.

Kate's Photo Shoot

Grandma Kristi and I took Kate to Portrait Innovations today for a photo shoot. There were so many cute ones that I got the package that included the CD with all the photos they took from the session. I think she made about 50 different faces during the whole session-here's a few of my favorites.

Cute Kate

Just a few more pics of baby Kate. She's been so much fun to watch grow and change every day. What a beauty!

Baby Kate's Debut

Kate Fay Gibson was born on May 11th at 9:51 pm. She weighed 7 lb. 10 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. She's just beautiful and we're already in love with her! It'll be hard to convince people that she is actually my daughter-she definitely takes after her daddy. I can't believe we're parents!

Danny was able to "be there" during the labor and delivery via yahoo messenger. The web cam was set up right next to me for most of my 24-hr labor. We set it up through the hospital, who decided that the local newspapers would be interested in publishing our internet labor story. Both the Reporter Herald and the Coloradoan printed the story and a huge picture on the front page! Here's the links if you want to check them out:

Coloradoan's story "Web cam broadcasts baby's birth to Iraq":
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990513001

Reporter Herald's story:"Iraq Marine watches birth in Loveland by computer link" :
http://reporterherald.com/news_story.asp?ID=23092

I Miss you! (A post for Danny)

Picture explanation. I don't think I've taken a single picture facing forward since I've gotten pregnant. They've all been side shots. I guess the front shot isn't as exciting, but here it is anyway. Also, Courtney's back, which means daily photo shoots, so here's today's top pic.

Video explanation: The other night I decided to get cozy and bust out the sweat suit. I came out and posed for mom, not realizing that my belly was totally hanging out the bottom of my shirt. And the way I found out was by mom tickling my belly-gross! It was actually hilarious and we both thought it was so funny that it needed to be on video. This time I kept myself covered, though. You're welcome.

Hey Honey,

When you called today I was teaching gospel essentials. I usually turn the phone on silent, but it was on vibrate today so I noticed you calling (I use my phone to keep track of time). The second time, I was noticeably distracted so I told my class you were calling and they said I should answer it. I tried to, but just barely missed you. So sad! I'm glad you got to bed a little earlier than usual, although that probably just means you were deprived of sleep at some other time during the day.

Today went well. I taught on the sacrament and we had a pretty good discussion. And then Relief Society's lesson was on the sacrament too, and the teacher covered all the points that I didn't have time for in my lesson-it was perfect! Ted and Julie said they got your letter and the pictures were hilarious. They're great-I love that family! Next week's lesson is on the sabbath day. So let me know what you come up with.

I had this weird dream last night that I was still single and looking for guys to date. It was so discouraging and annoying. Then I realized somehow that I was married to you and didn't have to waste time trying to play the dating game. I could just invest myself in our relationship. I felt so much more confident and stable once I came to that realization. There's so much comfort in knowing that we're in this for the long haul (although saying it that way just made it sound way intimidating). I love you so much.

Keep up the good work. I hope to talk to you soon.

love, Amy

Basketball or baby?

I got into a little fender bender recently. Besides completely smashing the truck, it was quite uneventful. Both the baby and I are fine. Insurance is handling the repairs and I should get the truck back sometime this week...hopefully before the baby comes.

The other picture is my sister Courtney and me posing in our new shirts from Mom. The bigger I get, but more I think I must be having a basketball and not a little girl. I am a very weird shape! But everything's on schedule-I'm measuring 38 inches from my belly's top to bottom (that's over 3 feet!) and the baby seems healthy. One more week to go...

Dad's Birthday Bash

Today was Dad's 52nd birthday! I think Dad's love language has to do with food. The more food, the better the occasion, and the more love he feels. So we had quite a spread-veggies and dip, fruit platters, seven-layer dip, 5 types of cheese with crackers, dilly buns, taco soup, cheesecake, and gingersnaps. All homemade and delicious! We forgot to get candles for the cake, but Preston (Shad and Bree's son) knew it was Dad's birthday and that meant blowing out candles. So mom found some tealights for Preston to blow out after we sang "Happy Birthday." The cheesecake ended up looking so decadent (amazing Bree!) and tasted fabulous with the strawberry sauce that Bree whipped up. Happy Birthday Dad!

Learning to sew

Here's my first sewing creation. Once I figured out the difference between a top stitch and a baste stitch, it was a piece of cake!

Battle of the Bulge

While admiring my hugeness this week, my mom decided to compare my gerth with

hers. She found a picture of when she was pregnant with my brother Shad (that's me pointing to her belly-so helpful). After deliberating, we decided that I look bigger. It's not a fair comparison, though, because my mom and I are at different points in our pregnancies in these pictures. Can you guess how far along she is? I'm at 35 weeks (5 to go), and she's at...well, that day she went into labor and had Shad, so she's full term. Crazy!

Quick Danny update: He's doing well and sends his love. Thanks to those who are writing him and praying for him.

Weekend at Barney's

My mom and I flew down to CA last week to watch Amber's kids while she and Chris went to Oakland for a friend's wedding. Once Amber and Chris got back (they were just gone Thursday to Saturday) and the dust settled, we decided that it was a lot of fun. It wasn't so easy to see that amidst the chaos and craziness of keeping up with 3 kids all day long. I've only been back home one day and I already miss them. I did, however, get a full night's sleep last night and quite enjoyed it (I'm enjoying it while I can).

Ben, the youngest (just turned 1) became my constant companion, mostly because I look just like his mom. I'm sure that we were quite a sight walking around together: the 8-month-along pregnant woman carrying a one year old. People probably thought "bad planning, lady." I think for the next baby I will try to space them out a little more than that-it was a tiring few days.

CA was beautiful, and coming back to the cold weather in CO felt like we were going from spring back to winter. But CO is so beautiful in springtime, and it's just around the corner (right?!). I hope so.

Point of No Return

The other night in my birthing class we were talking about contractions-how to time them, how they correspond to different stages of labor, how to know when it's time to go to the hospital, etc. One husband raised his hand and asked when was the "point of no return." I think he meant: When do you know that the contractions aren't going to stop and you're definitely going to have the baby? But we all looked down at our huge bellies and someone said "you've already passed it man-no going back now."

The closer I get to having this baby, and the more I learn about HOW she's going to make her big entrance, I can't help but get nervous. But it's all very "natural," so I hear, and your body and the baby know what to do, so I just need to trust the process. We learned that labor is the only human process where pain isn't an indicator of something bad, or of a problem that needs to be fixed. Pain indicates how far along you are in labor. In Germany back in the 50's, women were given super strong drugs that completely knocked them (and the babies, by default) out during labor. Mother and baby would both wake up hours later and finally get to meet. While I don't plan to go quite that far to avoid labor pains, I do plan on getting an epidural. I know you have to plan for anything, so I'm being kind of open minded about going painkiller-free. We'll see how it goes (6 weeks and counting)!

Cute! Cute! Cute!

My Aunt Kathi is amazing! She came out this weekend and in just 2 days made this darling crib set for the baby. Here are the highlights to notice:

1. The crib skirt with the green ribbon edge and a pink "peekaboo" showing through.

2. the "k" pillow. I know it's not written in stone, but having it embroidered on a pillow is pretty permanent too. So it's official-her name is Kate Fay!

3. The bumpers made out of the cutest print EVER! The hot pink edging and bows add the perfect touch.

The Baby Shower

My Mom, Aunt Kathi, Aunt Kerri, and Grandma Bonnie threw me the most amazing baby shower this weekend! We played two fun games: the name game and "pin the diaper on the baby." With the name game, you get a name (we used famous mothers) pinned to your back and have to figure out who it is by asking other people yes or no questions. "Pin the diaper on the baby" is the baby shower version of a game my college roommate, Becca, made up for my sister's wedding shower called "pin the lips on the groom." To add a little of both Danny and me to the game, we used my baby picture for the head of the baby and used camo printed paper to make the diapers. It was such a fun night-thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

My sister-in-law, Bree, made this cute diaper cake for me. That's what 100 diapers looks like shaped into a 4-layer cake (that tidbit of information just might come in handy some day...)
My dad came up with the caption that we put in the thought bubble for the "pin the diaper on the baby" game: "My dad is tougher than your dad!"

From left to right: Aunt Kathi, Grandma, and Aunt Kerri, hard at work. They are a force of nature when they're doing projects, so I just stood back and took pictures.

Danny's mom and sisters were able to come up from Boulder for the event.

Here's the spread (from left to right): mini pink cheesecakes, mini cupcakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels, chocolate cake, and chocolate-dipped brownie bites on sticks. In the background is a lollipop tree, and then there's bowls of pink candy all around the table: M&M's, kisses, mints, jelly bellies, chewy gummies. It was all delicious, and oh-so stylish. The tablecloth is made from some drapes my grandma found for $5.

Baby's First Photos

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Danny wanted to know the gender of our baby before he deployed. The "I'm pretty sure it's a girl" feedback we got at the 20 week ultrasound just didn't cut it. So we found a 3D ultrasound clinic in Vegas while we were there for the USMC ball (we don't have places like that anywhere near 29 Palms). We found out that she's definitely a girl, and that she probably has Danny's nose (refer to the middle picture). She wasn't nearly done baking yet, which accounts for the bony arms and shoulders, but it was cool to see her little face.

Two Growing Girls

The baby and I are both still growing-as you can see. I have about 10 weeks to go. It's hard to believe I can get any bigger!

Grandma's 86 Birthday

We celebrated my Grandma Roundy's 86th birthday on Monday. She said it was the best birthday she'd ever had. I felt more guilty than proud to hear her say that-we really haven't taken good care of her for the past few years if this was the best birthday she's EVER had. Dad bought her a birthday cake and made her dinner, so she didn't have to lift a finger all day. I guess after 86 years of taking care of yourself, your kids, your grandkids, and your great-grandkids, that would be a pretty good birthday.

The birthday cake was a good idea, and maybe a few representative candles would have been nice, but Dad wanted to go all out by decorating it with 86 candles. I'd seen clips from America's Funniest Home Videos of birthday candle lightings going horribly awry, but didn't think we'd have that problem. The candles just looked so small and harmless. I'm just glad Dad didn't light the candles right in front of Grandma's face-she may not have deemed this her best birthday ever.

Moving Home

I moved back home this week. On the way home, my dad and I stopped in Utah for a day. Here's a picture of my lovely sister hard at work. She's posing with some of the delicious fudge she made. What a fun job! The other picture is with Sam and Lucy (Amber's oldest 2) and Oscar. We all matched so cute that I had to document the moment.

The move back home, from packing and cleaning to moving and driving, was such a huge endeavor. I had lots of help (Thanks to the Cummings, Katrina, Norris', Barney's, and Dad!) and somehow got it all done.

Marine Corps Ball

Who knew that Motherhood Maternity would be my store of choice for a ball gown this year? This weekend was the Marine Corps Ball for Danny's Batallion (1st Batallion 7th Marines) in Las Vegas. It was fantastic!

We saw the show La Reve (The Dream. That's a bed in the middle of the stage) at the Wynn Hotel. This is the stage-completely underwater! The stage rose in and out of the water depending on the scenes. The show combined acrobatics, diving, latin dancing, synchronized swimming, Capoeira, and even some slapstick comedic relief all into one-very artistic and amazing.

Did you know that it's the year of the Ox? I don't know what the oranges underneath the ox mean, but I'm sure it's very cultural and ancient. So, Happy Year of the Ox. May you have plentiful oranges to tread on.

The Las Vegas Temple is beautiful! It was nice to get out of Sin City for a few hours and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Las Vegas and 29 Palms (which is also in the middle of nowhere) you'll find a tree covered in shoes. The story goes that all these shoes belong to people who've been killed in the desert by bad guys. I think it's just the desert sun getting to people to the point that they have to find creative ways to entertain themselves out in this wasteland. But that story's not nearly as exciting.