Whats new with the Kacals

Well its official my kids are growing up. Can you believe Caden will go to Middle School next year? It just seems like yesterday he was running through the house in underwear and cowboy boots with Spiderman googles on...or jumping off the top of the playground at daycare because he knew he could fly. He's just signed up to play baseball out at Cooper this year. He wants to play with his classmates and I think it will be great for him to meet kids from the other two feeder schools as well as play with the kids he'll play with in high school...if he so chooses.
That other little boy of mine, the one who use to be so tiny and quiet just outgrew his size 12 shoes! I mean tiny shouldn't be used to describe Garrett at any stage of his life but believe it or not he use to be little. He once was chubby and now he is skinny. He seriously grew an inch this month and has been eating CONSTANTLY. He's just growing up and up...and not so much out. Its funny to see that. We signed him up for Tball and next week I sign him up for Preschool! He's also no longer a quiet little, innocent baby...he's always ALWAYS talking and always on the move. He loves to play football and his new hobby is legos. He writes his name SO well...well it may take up the whole page but he does so well. I look at these boys and think WOW where did the time go? It doesn't seem like long ago that Caden was perfecting his name writing skills.
Today I went to the doctor for my 24 week check up. Little Leighton was doing great, her heartrate was a steady 160, she's been moving so much. Its crazy to think we only have 15 more weeks until our baby girl is here...so much to do before she comes! Everything looks great with her. My blood pressure was a little high but they accidently told me to drink the Glucola and that combined with some worry over a friend I am sure is to blame for that. It went down before I left...still higher than normal but surely it showed them it was just circumstances. I go back in a month and then every two weeks after that. I can't believe I have 2 more weeks of my second trimester. In some ways it feels like that day we found out back in September was years ago and in other ways I see my babies growing up TOO fast and know she'll be here in no time.
With Caden in baseball it seems our times flies by, we have practices 3-4 times a week, games 2-3 times a week...What were we thinking putting Garrett in Tball and in another league...he will play out at Frenship. Something tells me I am going to blink and it will be May.
We sure are excited, enjoying buying pink and hairbows...and shoes!
The boys and I just went to visit my sister and her family for my nephew Connor's 4th birthday. Watching Garrett and Connor play together is so funny. They were once babies just happy to smile and poke eachother...now they're running through the house yelling and hitting eachother with Lightsabers. Cole, my youngest nephew is 9months and Caden loves him...and he loves Caden. He had Cole just laughing outloud. I can't wait to see him with his sister. He's sure a sweet boy.

Pictures

Here is her face



Another face


Girl parts


Feet

ITS A GIRL!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!! We had our sonogram today. We went in and the heart rate was 169. Thats pretty high I thought. The tech started and said well its a girl. I was so surprised I cried a little. Michael said are you pretty sure? She said yes. She looked at the organs, she has a great brain and her heart looked perfect...you could see all 4 chambers. Then I said are you sure its a girl...can you check again? She did. Then proceeded to check everything and this baby girl is perfect! She weighs 13 oz right now which the tech seemed to think was great. Then the dr. came in and checked a few things. He was talking to the tech about some things and she walked out. I said ok Dr. Hale is it really a girl? He laughed a little and checked and said yep I already double checked that and yes it is a girl. He checked again just to flatter me and said YEP its a girl.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????

I still feel so funny saying she/her now!!!!

I'm so excited!

Ultrasound today...ITS A.....

BABY!!!!!

Hahaha!

I went in today for my 20 week appt. with my doctor. My gender ultrasound is next week. Anyway my doctor asked what we were having and I told her we didn't know. She said well lets go find out. So we went into the ultrasound room and she did a quick ultrasound. She tried for 10 minutes and that stubborn little baby of ours extended its legs and would NOT give her a good look. It was good because Michael wasn't there and it would have been unfair to find out without him. So I wasn't too disappointed. WHATS ANOTHER WEEK?

But that baby better cooperate next week!

7 more days!

Christmas and Baby

I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2009 is going to bring a lot of wonderful things!!! We're excited. We had a great Christmas. For the first year ever, we stayed in Lubbock. Christmas Eve I cooked a big dinner, we went and looked at lights, Garrett got sick so we missed church. The next morning Garrett and Caden were REALLY excited to see what all Santa had brought them. Santa brought the boys a Wii and some accessories, books, movies, and candy. They got a ton of games for the Wii and a lot of fun things to play with and wear and do. We are blessed. We went to Abilene to celebrate with Michael's family. We really enjoyed our time with Nana, Popo, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Scott, Brittany, Landon, and Gracelyn. We even got to go see Marley and Me. Most of all we really enjoyed spending a week and a half together just enjoying each other. Its so fun to see the boys be SUCH good brothers. Caden is the world's BEST big brother. He is so patient with Garrett and they love each other so much. I can't wait to see what this baby brings!!!
I go next Tuesday for my 20 week appointment then the following Tuesday for my ultrasound. I am so excited. Everyone just KNOWS how much I want a little girl and I do...but having another boy would be fantastic too. So we're just looking forward to finding out who will be the newest member of our family. Isn't that crazy to think about?

I had a QUAD screening at my last appointment. They took blood to check for likelihood of neural tube defects, Trisomy 18 and 21 (Downs Syndrome is Tri.21). I got the results back Monday that I tested negative for all 3 and that the baby looks great. That is such good news.

I had been worried that although I had felt the baby move about the 15th week it was really sporadic. I know that's normal but I'd feel it move a lot one day and then not for 4-5 days. I was just beginning to worry during Christmas week because I had not felt our baby move and then as if the baby heard me he/she has been moving consistently for longer and longer periods more and more frequently. Those feelings are no longer questionable...and I am so enjoying it! I can't wait for the kids and Michael to share that!

I'll keep you all updated after my appointment next week and of course share the news of whether we're having a son or a daughter!!! I can hardly wait!

Let us know what your guess is

Well with a month until our big hopefully reveal we'd love to know what your guess is. Do you have some super instinct or just a guess? Let us know which you think!

16 weeks

Well I went today to have my 16 week appt. I was very excited to hear the heartbeat which was a steady 150 beats per minute. The nurse went ahead and did an ultrasound because she's the best, and we saw my little baby's legs just scissor kicking away as fast as they'd go. Perhaps this baby will not be as calm and mellow as Garrett. We could see its long skinny legs and little feet. We saw its arms just a flapping along with the legs. Rhonda tried to see whether it was a boy or a girl but the cord was in the way and she wasn't sure how to move to get a better look. Thats ok I wanted Michael to get to be there for that. We go on Jan.20th and we can definitely wait a few more weeks.
My blood pressure was perfect. I had actually lost a pound since my last month's appt which means I am up a grand total of 2lbs since my preconception visit in June. I am pretty pleased with that. I know I am eating plenty I just must be getting enough exercise too. That part will probably change by the next appt as the baby starts to grow more. At this point he/she probably weighs around 3 oz and is about the size of an orange. But by the next appt he/she will be the size about the size of a cantaloupe.
Everyone seems to think this baby is a girl and I am not sure if that's just wishful thinking or if some people just have intuition. We'd LOVE to have a baby girl but we know what to do with boys and love our boys so very much. Caden wants a sister, he says he already has a brother. Garrett INSISTS this is a sister...don't be the one who tells him otherwise because he gets upset. He says his sister will have blond hair and blue eyes. I said what if he has green eyes and he looked at me annoyed and said well HE can have whatever eyes HE wants but my sister is having blue. WE just laughed SO hard. But I know he would LOVE having a little brother too so we shall see. The nurse gave her unofficial guess as a girl, and most of our family and friends have also said girl...I just don't have a strong feeling either way.