First Entry... Less than 5 weeks to Go!!

So, this blog will document the arrival and life of our miracle on the way, Baby Conway. We cannot wait for her to get here!

Since our due date is a little less than 5 weeks away (oh my goodness!!), I thought that I would get this going to have a place to share the pictures we have of her to date (thanks to amazing ultrasounds) and our Life BBC (before Baby Conway)... As soon as she arrives, Kevin will use this to post pictures and videos to share with everyone!

I think we'll start with Life BBC...


Our Life Before Baby Conway
Kevin and I were married on June 23, 2001 in Missouri City at Quail Valley Country Club, after graduating from Texas A&M in May. The service, which was performed by the same man who had married my parents 26 years earlier, included vows we wrote ourselves and a family hug with our parents -- it was a perfect ceremony and a great party afterwards.

Here is a picture of us as we walked down the aisle after being announced as Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Conway:

Shortly after our wedding we started building our house in West Oaks. We have now lived in the house a little over 6 years and have enjoyed every minute of it. And, because of Hurricane Ike, we will soon be doing a little 'remodeling' -- besides the fact that the timing is a little complicated due to the impending arrival of Baby Conway, I welcome the idea of new paint and floors!

This will be our first year to not host a Halloween Party in our home... and while I'm a little sad about that, I'm also really ok with not cleaning up after it! And now, a picture of us from our last Halloween Party in 2007 (we were '80's rockers, duh!):

We host the parties with our best friends, Brian & Kayleigh Medearis. It's amazing to think that we have only been a four-some for the last seven years and we've been through so much together. So now, a picture of their daughter (our niece), Bryleigh McCall Medearis (who is 4 years old today, October 13!!!) with Uncle Kevin... (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOO!)


And of course, everyone knows that we are dog people. We've had Boston Terriers in our family for the last ten years, which started in 1998 when Kevin gave me my first Boston, Tigger Marie. Two years later, we picked out another puppy from the same parents and named her Tater Tot. A picture of 'the girls' (as I always called them) from 2002 (taken at our rent house on Halbert Street - this is also the picture that was used on Kevin's poker chips, for those that have seen their faces gracing the poker games):


In January 2007, Tig passed away and we still miss her terribly - she was a great dog. We made it about two weeks before we started trying to find a brother for Tate. In mid-February, we picked out Otis and our lives have never been the same ;).

In the past year and a half (and all thanks to Otis), we have:

• had three pieces of living room furniture reupholstered;
• had sticks, rodents/snakes, and a banana tree (tree being the key word here) brought through the doggy door and into the living room;
• replaced the doggy door more than once (see above);
• lost at least 10 pairs of shoes (some of which were chewed after being buried in the flower beds)
• and laughed more at this dog than any other.

He's an absolute hoot and we love him dearly. A picture of Otis after we picked him out (does he look like he's trouble? I didn't think so!)

While I probably should be at least a little concerned about how he and Tate will deal with having a little one in the house (since they are both used to being our only babies), I would like to think that they will love her as much as we do and that Otis will want to protect her, just like he wants to protect me when we take our walks. Here is a more recent picture of Otis, whose registered name is Monster Otis (and could not have been more appropriate):

We also have Gus, a 6 year old black and white cat that I rescued from the animal shelter in 2002. She doesn't do much except taunt Otis and whine for food - Kevin thinks she's overweight... I think she's just big-boned. Here's Gus as a kitten:

We have been able to take a few trips in the last seven years... mostly to the coast, since the guys have been in fishing tournaments the last few years. Our last trip as a couple pre-pregnancy was to Hong Kong in December/January, where Kevin has worked on/off since last October (in September 2007 he changed jobs). The trip was an amazing experience - I've never been that far away from home - and we were still able to do quite a bit of sight-seeing, even though he was extremely busy with work. This is one of my favorite pictures of him from the trip - this is from our hike when we went to see the biggest Buddha in the world - absolutely amazing...

Finding Out We Were Pregnant!
So, I guess that brings us to 2008... the year of Baby Conway. For some of our friends and family, I think it was a shock to hear that we were actually going to have a baby - I think they had given up on us! :) But, on a Sunday in March, I took a pregnancy test on a hunch and it was positive! So, I dialed the 20+ numbers to call Kevin in Hong Kong (at around 2:30 am his time) to tell him... and since he had only left again for Hong Kong a few days before, I had to wait 4 weeks to hug his neck! Kay went with me to my first doctor appointment the following Friday, and it was confirmed - about 5 weeks pregnant, due November 15. So thankful...

When Kevin returned from Hong Kong in April, we couldn't wait to tell our parents. We had decided to wait and tell them together, so we invited everyone over for dinner under the guise of a welcome home dinner for Kevin and after dinner, we told them. The only one missing was my Dad, but I like to think that he knew about the baby even before we did and that she already has a guardian angel through him. It makes the fact that I miss him tons a little easier to handle.

At 28 weeks, in late August, we had a 4D ultrasound done in our doctor's office. Amazing to see her face. Here are a few of our pictures from that day:

And since then, time has flown by. We've spent the past few months getting ready for our life change and now that we're down to just a few weeks, it all seems unreal. And speaking of life changes, I'm about to start an almost 4 month leave from Deloitte, which has been such a huge part of my life since joining the firm in 2001. Of course, I will miss my team, but I am so thankful for the time off to spend getting to know our new little one.

Kevin was in charge of preparing the nursery (painting, fixtures, chair rail) and he did a great job. We even have a funny story about how stud-finders also find copper pipes in the walls too! (Ok, so now it's funny - was not then...)

We do not have all of our furniture in yet, so the room and decorating is not complete, but here are a few pictures of where we are now:

And since everyone tells me that I need to have a few pictures of me with a baby bump, I'll post one from late September (@ 33 weeks):

I'm not sure when I'll add another entry, but hopefully this is what we'll use to keep family and friends updated on our Baby and what we can have for her as a record of how much her Mom and Dad could not wait to meet her and share her life with others!

Thanks for reading! More to come!
(also - thanks to my friend Allie who has introduced me to the world of baby blogging! :))