Our New Blog

Now that Natalie is here, "Any Kicking" has fulfilled its purpose.

Since the name doesn't seem appropriate anymore, we have migrated all of the pictures of Natalie to her new blog. The link is below.

http://www.natalies-notebook.blogspot.com/

We plan to keep this blog open, to help you find us....

and maybe we will need it again in a few years.

More New Friends

Ally meets Natalie -- It was love a first sight

We came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. Here we are all buckled in and ready for the trip home. We came home to find one very excited yellow lab. Ally (our dog) hadn't seen me or Michelle since we left for the hospital on Friday morning. All was quickly forgiven when she first saw Natalie.
Since that first meeting, Ally has hardly let Natalie out of her sight. On the rare occasion that they are separated, she comes running whenever Natalie cries. Check out the picture below where Ally supervises Natalie's first bath.

The Proud Grandparents

She sure makes friends quickly

More Pictures of Natalie

Natalie Faith

Natalie Faith Riddle was born yesterday at 4:56 pm. She was 8lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches long. Both Mom and Baby are doing great. I'll post some more pictures later.

Tomorrow is the Big Day

Many of you have already heard that tomorrow will be the big day. Michelle's blood pressure has been elevated the last couple of days, so her Doctor would like to be able to monitor her while she is in labor. We are to be at the hospital at 6:30 tomorrow morning.

We have been asked alot what we will name her, so stay tuned...

Any day now...

Its now Week 37 which means our little one is now full-term and could by making her grand entrance any day now. We are now making weekly trips to the doctor and everything looks great, but the doctor will not offer a guess for when the little one will arrive. Just sometime in the next 3-4weeks.

A lot of people have been asking for a new picture of Michelle. Here's the picture we took after today's appointment.

The last couple of weeks have been really busy. We have had two more Baby Showers, one at Michelle's school and one with friends from church. We have assembled the Pack-and-Play and the stroller, installed the car seat, and washed a ton of baby clothes and blankets. Now we are just waiting for the big day.

PS. There are still plenty of dates available in the baby pool if anyone wants to make a last minute guess.

Baby Pool

We have started a baby pool. For $5 you can pick a date. Half of the pool will go to the winner with the correct guess and half will go to the baby (College is really expensive these days, she needs to start saving now). Email me the date you would like to pick or post it as a comment and I will add you to the Calendar. So everyone can play, please also include a guess for the weight. If more than one person picks the birthday, the person with the best weight guess will be the winner.

Some important info to help you make your pick:

1) The predicted due date is February 3rd

2) The doctor has said she will induce Michelle if the baby doesn't arrive before February 10th.
3) Ryan weighed 7lbs 3oz

4) Michelle weighed 6lbs 13oz

4D Ultrasound Part II -- A Little Face Time

We took another shot at the 4D ultrasound today, and the little one was much more cooperative.

She smiled for the camera,

stuck out her tongue,

practiced breathing and making funny faces,

before falling back to sleep.

I wonder where she gets those chubby cheeks?

4D Ultrasound

Today, we had a 4D ultrasound, and the little one was only mildly cooperative. She had one side of her face pressed up against the uterine wall, so the pictures of her face are not as clear as they could be. She spent a lot of time covering the other side of her face with her hand. We made an appointment to go back in 2weeks to try again. We did get some pretty good pictures though and they are posted below. Rest assured that we are having a little girl as we now have undisputable, photographic evidence. I have to protect my little girl's modesty though, so that picture is not getting posted (Although, Michelle and I both find it hilarious that this was the first picture the ultrasound technician printed).

Obviously, she has my nose and a Rivenbark chin. I guess that's a good compromise.

Little hands,

a little ear,

and a great big yawn since its exhausting to have your picture taken.

Week 30

With 10weeks to go, our little one is growing quickly. She now weighs 3lbs 12oz. As you can see from the picture Michelle is growing pretty quickly too. For the last couple of weeks, we have been able to see the little one moving around. I am convinced she's looking for a way out and will arrive before the first week of February.

Baby Shower #2 - Riverchase Elementary Edition

On Wednesday afternoon, Michelle attended her second baby shower. This one was hosted by the instructional support team at the elementary school. Everyone was very generous and we recieved lots of great gifts for the baby. Her closet is really starting to fill up, all of it very pink. Luckily, we have all the baby furniture put together now, so there is lots of free space in the drawers.

Reed checks out the baby

On Sunday, my parents prepared an early Thanksgiving dinner since we will not be making our way up to Hampstead or Webster this year. Here's a couple of pictures of my cousin Reed checking out the baby as she was moving around after dinner.

Baby Shower #1

This past weekend we made our way up to Maryland for a baby shower organized by our family. We had a great time and received a lot of wonderful gifts. We brought two pieces of luggage up from Alabama and went home with four. One whole suitcase was filled with new baby clothes and the baby now officially has more pairs of shoes than Michelle (She is so jealous). Thanks so much for all the great gifts.

If any one has pictures from the shower please email them to myself or Michelle.

More Baby Furniture

Here's a picture of the storage unit we put together this evening. Now we just need to get a dresser and a rocking chair.

Painting the Nursery

I thought about calling this post "So maybe we went a little overboard on the pink, but, hey, we're making the mortgage payments". Last weekend and then again this weekend, we worked on painting the nursery...(Well...I painted the nursery; Michelle kept Ally occupied). We used two different colors: Powdered Blush and Rose Bisque. All in all its very pink. Now that it is finished, I am convinced the little one will be a tom-boy and want nothing to do with a pink room. Okay, I am off to put together the other piece of furniture that arrived this week.

More pictures later.

Putting together the Crib

Since Mom and Dad were in town this weekend and they gave us the first piece from the baby furniture set that Michelle and I had picked, we decided to put it together this weekend. While Dad and I assembled the crib, Michelle read the directions and Mom kept Ally occupied. A few pictures from the job are posted below. Don't worry in the next couple of weeks we plan to paint the nursery a much more exciting color. Poor little Ally either wasn't impressed with the new crib or decided that if the baby gets her own room she is taking over the guest room where she can sit on the bed and look out the window.

And here is the finished project, complete with the toys the Mom and Dad picked out at Disney.