Merry Christmas!

Reading "The Christmas Story" to Ruby!

Merry Christmas to you!

Love, Paul, Katie, & Ruby

Ruby Kae

Ruby Kae was born on Friday, Dec. 17th, 2010 at 1:16a.m. She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long. God has blessed us with the best Christmas present we could receive this year and we think she's a keeper!

Details of Ruby's birth story (in case you're interested...and if you're not, then consider these details as part of my own memory book b/c I don't have the best memory and want to remember how it all went!):

I had contractions Wed. night the 15th and finally decided it was time to go to the hospital around 3:00a.m. on Thursday morning. My water broke as the resident was monitoring me so we were there to stay. We ended up having the c-section talk a couple hours later as Ruby's heartrate was doing some funky things. The doctors went back and forth for over an hour. Just as we were about to say that we would go ahead with the c-section, Ruby's heartbeat started acting appropriately. I labored through the day and got an epidural around 2:30p.m. I went from 4cm to 10cm in two hours and was ready to push around 5:45p.m. Unfortunately, Ruby's head was OP or "sunny side up" which makes it harder to deliver. We once again had the c-section talk after 5 hours of pushing. However, our doctor thought we could hang in there and eventually used the vacuum and forceps to get her out. She arrived at 1:16a.m. Friday morning and had to spend a couple hours in the NICU but was soon able to join us! She is absolutely precious and nothing makes us happier than to have her home with us this wonderful Christmas season!

Uncle Joel

Grandma Ruth, Papa Gary, and cousin Sydney

Uncle Jon and Aunt Stef

Mom and Dad

Gma LaDonn and Gpa Bill

Aunt Hattie

Aunt Carrie and Uncle Kenny

Just Shy of 200,000

After driving the Bonneville with no air, no rearview mirror, and no horn for the last year or so, it finally started having some other issues as well. Paul put it new power steering fluid, new brake fluid (which just continued to leak out and make our car beep nonstop), and the transmission was going. We decided that we couldn't quite drive it to 200,000 miles. We were very close though! So we said goodbye to our 1993 Bonneville and bought a new Toyota Highlander.

Week 39

If I had to guess... I would say that this baby is going to come before Week 40! But since I really don't know what I'm talking about and this is just a guess... no one is going to laugh at me when the baby doesn't come until Week 41... right?!?! Stay tuned!... hopefully we will have exciting news soon!

Week 38

Nicole's Shower

Last weekend, Jen and I hosted a baby shower for Nicole! We made onesies for their new little babe and even though I didn't mean to iron on some of the letters backward... it turned out kind of cute! We had great fun and are so happy for Scott and Nicole!

Retreads vs. Da Heat

So a few of Paul's old med school buddies decided to put together a 3 on 3 intramural basketball team - the Retreads - for a little tournament this week. They actually decided to have 5 players for their team (maybe that's normal for 3 on 3 or maybe it was due to the fact that they are all nearing their 30's)! Anyway, they won their first game on Tuesday night so they played again last night. Paul was talking pretty big before he left saying he'd be home within the hour because if they won, they were done for the night. After about 2 hours, I assumed they had lost and had to play again. However, when Paul got home he informed me that their ONE game had lasted that long. Apparently, they played a group of fellas who were the biggest foul-ers ever. Team members are supposed to call fouls themselves (as no refs are being utilized) and then you take the ball at half court again... so basically you can foul and foul all you want and nothing really happens. Well, the Retreads kept calling fouls because Da Heat were apparently hammering them big time, and Da Heat kept arguing the calls. To make a long story somewhat shorter... feuds kept breaking out because of the foul calling (with cussing and shoving galore). The teams are supposed to play best out of 3 games. In this crazy showdown, the Retreads won the first game, then Da Heat won the next. In game three, the aggressiveness intensified, which finally summoned the intramural supervisor over to their court. The supervisor eventually called the third game when the score was 14-13 and made both teams leave without naming a winner. The Daily Iowan (the undergrad newspaper) ended up being there, interviewing both teams, and publishing an article this morning in the paper. See here (as if this post isn't long enough for you already!). The article seems somewhat mild compared to the story that Paul shared with me, which could be due to Paul's exaggeration in story telling... or maybe just to make sure one team didn't sound "better" than the other (even though Paul assured me that their team was in the "right!"). Anyway, they ended up replaying game #3 tonight... and the Retreads won! I'm glad my husband came home alive and well!

Week 35-37

35 Weeks... very unflattering... but this is my walking gear these days!

37 Weeks... "Mrs. V, it looks like you grew 2 inches overnight!" ~ 3rd grader

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed in Iowa City. Paul had to work and didn't want me to be five+ hours away from him! So instead, his parents came to IC and we had Thanksgiving supper with Jon and Joel (Stef and Syd were back in Sibley). We had a great time, way too much food, and tons of laughs (as usual!).

We have so much to be thankful for - we always do - but this year is extra special! This morning in church we sang "In Christ Alone," one of my all-time faves. There is a line in the song that really hit me this morning. "From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands our destiny." We are already so thankful that God has given us a little life of HIS to take care of. We are so thankful that God knows the plans for our baby and we are certain they are GREAT plans!

Front Row Seats

Paul and I had made plans to attend the season opener of the Hawkeye basketball team earlier in the week. We paid the $12 for our tickets and were planning on sitting in section C, row 36. However, as we were walking around Carver, we ran into a doctor that Paul works with who had front row seats - literally on the floor. He said there would be two empty seats next to him and his son that we could have. Even though we were a bit nervous that we would get kicked out of them, we gave it a try! And, we made it the whole game with no one kicking us out! We had a great time, despite the Hawks losing to SDSU. Even though "Fran is the Man" according to the t-shirts the student section received... it may be a long season. But we will keep cheering anyway!

The ref to the right of the picture is my dad's cousin Rick Hartzell. He got yelled at plenty by the student section! ;)

Week 31-34

31 weeks

34 weeks

Shower :)

A couple weeks ago, my sister-in-law Stef, and good friends Nicole and Jen, hosted a baby shower for me and baby VH. I simply cannot express how special the day was. They made it so much fun and we feel so spoiled. Our house is actually beginning to look like a baby is going to live here soon! Thank you so much girls!

My sister-in-law Carrie, Hattie, and my mom were able to make the trip to IC for the shower!

Everyone made little onesies using iron-ons. Hat made this one and it is just perfect!

The Jungle Cat

Jon and Stef took Sydney to our house for Halloween - she was the cutest jungle cat ever! Sydney will even let you know that jungle cats like pepper and not cinnamon!

State XC

On October 30th, we traveled to Fort Dodge with our full girls' team and Tyler who qualified for the State Cross Country meet. The weather was beautiful and the group performed well. The girls placed 11th out of 15 teams and Tyler placed 43rd - almost two whole minutes better than his time from last year. This is such a great group and I couldn't ask for better kids to coach for! Go Lions! I'm so proud of you!

Kenny & Carrie's Wedding!

My brother got married last week and I now have another amazing sister-in-law! It was such a fun weekend and I enjoyed every minute of the festivities! Here are just a few pictures (more on facebook).

Week 26-28

These pics are a little old. I'm actually almost 31 weeks! Time has flown! I still feel pretty good, although I can't really run around the golf courses anymore to cheer on my runners! A few facts: I passed my glucose test, the baby's head is down, and the veins in my lower left leg look horrible! I said something about my ugly leg to one of my runners and they said their grandma's looked worse. :) I'm not offended, it's a small price to pay!

26 weeks

28 weeks

Iowa vs. Ball St.

So we got up this morning with plans to walk around Kinnick before the game. We checked the radar and knew it was going to be a rainy day. We decided to go anyway b/c we wanted to say hi to my cousin Jason who was bringing his 6 year old to his first Hawkeye game!... and we thought we could beat the rain. We ended up running into some friends that Paul works with who happened to have two extra tickets. We took them (still knowing that it was going to rain). We had no rain gear - and really weren't prepared to sit through a rainy game with the clothes we did have - Paul was wearing shorts. It was 54 degrees. Just a few short minutes after the game started it started to sprinkle. Then the rain really started coming in the 2nd quarter. At halftime the concession area was packed from people trying to warm up a bit. Luckily we did receive an oversized garbage bag from another friend. Paul and I poked two holes in it and shared it to stay somewhat dry. But... hey - NO fair weather fans here!!! This may be the only game I get to this season so I was glad we did it - rain or shine! And the Hawks dominated - even better!

Ranked!

Despite a heartbreaking beginning to our season (two senior boys decided they wanted to go out for football - b/c they thought they would always regret not having the "football experience" - even though their team was ranked 8th... seriously too heartbreaking to write more than that).... our GIRLS are ranked 10th in the state in 1A!!!! Not only is this team hard working and very talented, they are such an awesome group of girls! I couldn't ask for a better team. I am so proud of them and am excited to see what the rest of the season will bring!

Week 22 - 25

22 weeks

25 weeks... Go HAWKS! ;)

Reunion in P-town

I have been holding off on writing this post b/c I was hoping for some pictures to share but the pictures I was given said "No copying" so I thought I better follow the rules! In August we spent the weekend in Pella with Paul's family - Ruth's side. It was Grandpa John's 80th birthday and the whole family was together. We had a great time and took a whole family picture. I think the pictures turned out very nicely - sorry I don't have any to share! We also had a giant water fight after the formal pictures which also would have been fun to share in pictures. Anyway, I guess you will have to trust that we had a fantastic time in Pella and hope to keep this tradition going.

Halfway Mark!

I can't believe it but I am already halfway through my pregnancy! We had our 20 week ultrasound last Friday and it was so awesome. We saw the baby yawn and then it was moving like crazy! The ultrasound technician actually had a hard time getting pictures of the baby's arm because it kept dancing all over the place! So fun!

20 weeks

21 weeks

Cross Country officially started this week - just in time for the hottest week of the summer! For that I am glad I'm only just over the halfway mark!

Geo-caching with Nick & Becca

Last weekend, Becca, my best friend from high school, and her husband Nick, came to visit us! We had a great weekend with them. For the most part we just hung out and took them around Iowa City to see the sites and walk around downtown. However, they did introduce us to a new activity: geo-caching! In case you are unfamiliar, you use a GPS system to find caches that other people have hidden. It is kind of like a scavenger hunt but you don't really know what you are looking for. The caches are usually in small key boxes or other metal boxes. We went to three different locations but only found one cache - not the best statistics but we had a fun time anyway! Thanks for visiting Nick and Becca!

Here are the boys looking for a very small cache at one of the gates around Kinnick stadium. Unfortunately, we did not find this one and we don't have a picture of the one we did find.

A Weekend for Carrie

The last weekend in July, we headed back to Sibley for a packed weekend with family. While Paul spent a lot of time with his parents, I spent a lot of time with my sister-in-law to be! On Saturday morning we had a bridal shower for her, followed by a trip to the Lakes for her bachelorette party. After spending the night at her sister's house, we drove to Sioux Center and had another bridal shower! She received lots of fun gifts throughout the entire weekend!

On Sunday night we had a wonderful meal with my family - made by my dad on the Green Egg! It was a rare and special occasion to have all of us home in July! As you can see, it's never a dull moment!

Paul then had an interview in Sioux Falls, SD on Monday. He has not received a job offer thus far but we are actually kind of thankful for that as he doesn't interview at Iowa until mid September. Please keep us in your prayers as we go through the job searching process. We were also able to spend some time with some good college friends, Ryan and Pam Klenner, when we were in Sioux Falls. It was so nice to see them!