Today is the day!

So here it is 9:30am and we have already been in the hospital for 4 hours. I guess there were a few emergencies last night and they were short on nurses, so there was no one to check us into the room. They finally took Laura back at 7am and got her settled in. Dr. Keeton just left and Laura's water is now broken. So now we just wait as the contractions do their thing. We will keep you posted!

Here she comes!

So it is now official. Unless, she shows up before then, Laura and I are headed to the hospital on Tuesday to be welcome our new daughter into this world. Everyone is very excited and nervous at the same time.

We had a great Easter and hope everyone else did too. Laura had some family down from Ohio, so Delainey spent the entire weekend playing with three of her cousins and she had a blast. Saturday night and Sunday morning she slept for almost 12 hours and would have slept more if we would have let her. On Easter morning, Delainey looked all around the house until she found her Easter Basket and then it was off to church. After church Delainey participated in an Easter Egg Hunt with 70 other kids! We spent Easter afternoon entertaining our family and friends at our house. We had a great meal and shared some great laughs. The kids did another Easter Egg hunt at the house and played the afternoon away. We are lucky to be able to share holidays like this with such great family and friends. Unfortunately, Uncle Jack and Aunt Niki could not join us because they were under the weather today. We did send some food over to them though.

We hope everyone had a great Easter and remembered the reason for such a special day. We will try to get pictures of Jacqueline up as soon as possible!

Still no baby!

Another week passes and still no baby Jacqueline and that is okay. We know the longer she is in there, the better off she will be. Laura had another appt. with her doctor today and other than some more discomfort there has been no change in the dilation. We are hoping around March 24th or so Jacqueline will be here. The only other news is that the rest of the house is getting painted so at least all of that will be done once the baby gets here.

Delainey is now an official Super Sibling! The hospital puts on a little class to show siblings what it is going be like to be a big sister or brother. One of the cool things she got to do was dress up like a nurse or doctor and go up to the new baby nursery. We were lucky enough that there was a two hour old baby in there for everyone to see. In addition to that, she was able to learn how to wrap up baby sister in a blanket and how to correctly hold her. She even got a cool certificate when she was done!

Hope everyone has a great St. Patricks Day and we will keep you posted!

A little closer to baby time....

Laura had her weekly check-up on Friday morning and she is already dilated (2cm)! We are still 4 weeks away from her due date, but I think Jacqueline is ready to join us at any time. Laura's next appt. is on Thursday and the doctor told her if she is 4cm on Thursday, she considers that active labor and she will be admitted to the hospital.

It has been a pretty quiet week here in Columbia. Lots of rain and wind, but we have kept busy. Delainey got her haircut Thursday and Laura said it made her look like she was 5 years old.

We will keep you posted on the baby front, but right now it is time for Delainey's soccer game!

Another busy weekend...

The weekend started off with a bang. We were able to have dinner with the Hogue family at Mellow Mushroom Friday evening and then Delainey became a part of their family for a few hours. She was lucky enough to go to the PlayhouseDisney show with the Hogue's and she had a blast. We heard all about the Little Einstein's, Handy Manny, Pooh and Tigger, and Mickey of course.

Saturday was a VERY busy day for everyone, except Laura who still has a bad cold and needed the downtime to rest. Stephen helped with the first annual Jack D. Oliver, Sr. Memorial Blood Drive and it was a great success. The goal was to have 35 pints of blood collected and we surpassed that and collected 39 pints. Dad would have been so proud and honored that so many people turned out. Jack, Jr. even donated for the first time! Delainey had a busy morning of getting her soccer pictures taken and then playing in her second game. She said she didn't have as much fun this time because the other kids wouldn't share the ball with her during the game. I guess we need to have a little talk about competition.

Sunday morning we had a little downtime and got a little rest. Then, we did some cleaning of the house and all went about enjoying the afternoon in different ways. Laura had to do the real estate thing and had some good success. Stephen and Delainey went out to the lake to ride in Niki and Jack's new boat. Delainey was so excited because Uncle Bubba let her drive the boat and honk the horn. One of the highlights of the trip was watching a Bald Eagle fly low across the lake and grab a fish or snake and soar over top of the boat. What a thrill!

We are getting closer and closer to April 7th and the big day. Laura feels like she could burst at any moment!

Still another 6 weeks to go!

Is it just me or this pregnancy taking forever?!?! I guess I should ask my wife that. Laura just had her check-up with the doctor and everything with baby Jacqueline is moving right along. I personally don't see her staying in another 6 weeks, but we will see. Laura has come down with a nasty cold and has been gracious enough to share it with me. We are just trying to keep Delainey from getting it.

Delainey had her first soccer game a couple of weeks ago and it was a pretty good time. Her team is the Greyhounds and she was given jersey #2 to wear. It was funny to see a clump of 3 year olds chasing a ball around and trying to kick it in the tiny net. Delainey didn't last the whole game, but we are told this is normal. She was more interested in running down the field with her friend Kadin and holding his hand. Last week the weather was to nasty to play soccer, but she should be back out there again this weekend.

We are STILL getting settled into the new house and it is getting there. We just need to win the lottery to make all the changes we want. The good news is that the crib is up and ready to be used! We went to a dinner/fundraiser for our church's youth group this past weekend and had a good time. Delainey loved dancing with the bigger kids and she won a stuffed animal as big as her. I was able to catch up with Brian and Nicole Cendrowski and that was a good time. It was just like being back in high school and college. Laura just got a kick out of spending money on the silent auction. Oh well, it was for a good cause.

Don't forget this Saturday is the 1st ever Jack D. Oliver, Sr. Memorial Blood Drive. It is from 9am-2pm at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Blythewood. Please join us if you can!

Little Ms. Soccer

So February has been pretty good to the Columbia family so far. Laura is still busy unpacking in the house and deciding how she wants things. All this while purculating baby Jacqueline. Delainey is busy playing in her new yard and getting used to her new surroundings. She loves her new pink bedroom and is very excited about starting soccer in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I have been off to Las Vegas squandering the family fortune and being amazed by magicians after I have had a few drinks. It was all for work, I promise!

By the way, Laura and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniv! We were finally able to celebrate with a date to the movies on Sunday to see Fools Gold. Not bad, but more of a chick flick.

By the way, we are having a blood drive in memory of Dad on March 1st. Let me know if you are interested in donating!