Caption Contest!

Time for some Friday Fun! Comment with a caption idea!

Thursdays Can Be Fun, Too

Typically, Friday is my favorite day of the work week, since it ushers in the weekend—60 straight hours of being with my wonderful husband and baby girl! This week Friday comes early—I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow, so TODAY is essentially my Friday! :o)

In honor of this special Thursday, I'm letting you in on a great giveaway by a super-sweet and wonderfully crafty friend of mine—the one and only urban hen. She is celebrating three years of beautiful handmade wares by giving away one of the items pictured below. Click here to enter the giveaway, and while you're there, check out the rest of her creations. Hurry up, though...the deadline to enter is midnight TONIGHT!

What to Wear?

Scenario: Kelly is going to a football game between her husband's university and her daddy's alma mater. Her husband, Taras, got student guest tickets for the whole family to go, but then he decided he would rather stay home and take care of baby Abigail (football isn't really a big deal to Europeans, you know). So, Kelly is going with her dad, mom, and siblings, who will all be rooting for MSU...while sitting in the MTSU student section. So, the question is...

What should Kelly wear?

Celebration of Cultures in Centennial Park

Looking for something fun and FREE to do tomorrow (Saturday, October 3)? Check this out.

I'm thinking about going and taking Abigail so Taras can get some study time in. We'll see. If you're going, leave a comment and let me know when, and maybe we can meet up!

Mozart Baby

Abigail combines three of her favorite pastimes: sitting in her Bumbo seat, watching her Baby Mozart DVD, and eating her hands. :o)

(The acute observer may notice that the music heard in the video is not the Baby Mozart DVD. Taras decided to mute the DVD and play some 'real' Mozart on a CD instead. Abigail didn't seem to notice.) ;o)

Rock & Roll

Check out Abigail's new trick. She wasn't too happy about having to do it again for the camera!

Remodeling...

Working on revamping the blog. Come back soon!

Pictures of Abigail

Abigail is here!

**Alyssa here on behalf of Kelly and Taras**

Kelly and Taras welcomed Abigail Ruth at 8:11pm. She weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and hadn't been measured when we headed home. She is gorgeous! Black hair, chubby cheeks, we will be putting up pictures as soon as possible! My mom is staying there tonight to help out because Kelly and Taras are so tired. The new family is doing really well and can't wait for everyone to meet their baby girl.

Alyssa

Baby Update: 37-ish Weeks

Well, here I am at 37 weeks. Taras and I had a picnic in the park after I got my great new haircut! This photo doesn't show the haircut very well because it was so breezy. The breeze and sunshine definitely made for a beautiful time in the park!

I went for my 37-week prenatal appointment on Monday afternoon (technically 37 weeks and 3 days). I am now 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced! Abigail seems to want to be a June baby, but we'll see! As long as she waits until her grandparents get back from Russia on Saturday, I don't mind if she comes a bit early.

I think the midwife who checked me yesterday thought she was being really encouraging when she said it could be "any day now" (she isn't my primary midwife, so she didn't know about my parents being out of the country!). She gave me all sorts of great advice about how to speed things up—I didn't mention to her that I'm trying to avoid going into labor this week if I can help it! On the other hand, I did tuck away her suggestions in case we're still waiting 2 weeks from now!

At this point I'm still feeling pretty well. Abigail seems to be doing great—just growing and wiggling a lot, and getting ready to make her appearance. Here's another picture that shows how much she's grown!

We're trying to be as ready as we can! On Sunday we cleaned out our van and installed Abigail's car seat. We've almost washed all her clothes and other stuff, and her room is certainly inhabitable and cute, if not completely organized. We still have some assembling, organizing, and washing to do—and lots of thank-you notes to write! Everyone has been so generous and kind to us, and we feel so very blessed!

What is the next thing on our to-do list? Start packing for the hospital! It's hard to believe, but we're getting close and we want to be prepared! We're praying we won't need that little duffle bag until sometime after Sunday, but you never know...

Emmeline Renee Krebs

My precious little niece, Emmie, was born May 7 at 2:58pm at Vanderbilt Hospital. She weighs 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 20 1/4 inches long. We are praising God that Emmie and Katie are both healthy! Katie, Emmie, and Josh are all doing well and recovering from a long, exciting day! Here are some photos from yesterday (some of them I "stole" from other family members' Facebook pages; the others are from the time Taras and I got to spend with them yesterday evening). Enjoy!

Daddy with Emmie, not long after she was born. He's so happy to be a grandfather! He'll be such a wonderful one, too! I believe he'll be called "Pop."

Emmie getting cleaned up and swaddled while her daddy, Josh, watches. She didn't seem to like the sponge bath, except when they washed her hair.

Emmie has cute blondish fuzz right now! She apparently likes having her head/hair gently rubbed. :o)

Here's Emmie with her Uncle Taras. He loved holding her, and would hardly let me have her! She seemed to like him, too. :o)

This was Taras' first time to hold a newborn, and he did GREAT! He enjoyed it, too...which is good, since he'll have his own baby girl to hold before long! He's gonna be such a wonderful Daddy!

Finally Aunt Kelly got a turn! Isn't Emmie cute? It's hard to believe I'll be holding my own little Abigail in about 8 weeks!

This has got to be one of the sweetest photos ever! Josh was rubbing noses with his baby girl (aka "giving Eskimo kisses") and talking to her as she started waking up. She was happy and content until he started changing her diaper. :o) He was so gentle with her and is already turning out to be a great Daddy!

Last, but not least, here's a sweet shot of Emmie with her Mommy, Katie. Aren't they beautiful (albeit rather tired)? I'm pretty sure Katie's mom took this with her cell phone very late last night (she posted it on Facebook via Twitter after 1am). We're so thankful Katie's mom, Renee, was able to fly in from Houston last night—in the last available seat on the last plane to Nashville!

Well, that's it for now! I'm sure there will be plenty more photos coming in the days and weeks ahead!

F is for Friday, Family, Food, and...Fotos?

Here's our first "family portrait," taken by my sweet sister Bethany on Easter Sunday. We had just finished a wonderful Easter lunch with my family at my parents' home in Spring Hill. We couldn't stay long, but it was a good little visit. We're looking forward to the end of the Spring semester at MTSU, when we will finally have a chance to catch up on time with family and friends!

We had a good Easter weekend, despite the close call with a tornado on Friday (that's a story for a future post), and the fact that Taras was buried in work for much of the weekend. The Good Friday and Easter services at GCC were a great blessing, and it was fun to have a little time with family. The bit of sunshine on Sunday was also nice, and it gave us a chance to get a couple of good photos of the three Mikhailiuks.


This was a few days into my 29th week. Abigail is growing fast, as you can probably see from the photo. Of course, how much she shows herself depends on what I'm wearing, and the dress doesn't show off my expanding belly quite as much perhaps. Nevertheless, little Abigail is on her way to being a big baby girl—my midwife told me after my last ultrasound (about a month ago) that Abigail's arms and legs were longer than average (although her overall size at the time was normal). It wouldn't surprise me too much if she turned out to be a big baby, given my family history—after all, her Aunt Alyssa was over 10 lbs. and 2 feet long when she was born (and now she's 6 feet tall!). :o)

Thankfully, my "growth" (i.e. weight gain) has stayed on track so far. I'm not sure I can take much credit for it—I feel like I'm eating all the time these days. However, I'm a little more aware of what I'm taking in now that I'm eating for both of us, so maybe that helps. And I haven't had any really weird cravings...unless you count my almost unsatiable appetite for fruit in any form, as well as peanut butter, mashed potatoes, chocolate soymilk, and coffee ice cream (not together, though—that would indeed be weird!).

Speaking of eating, it's time for lunch. I feel like going outside to eat since it's nice and sunny—and Friday, too, which makes it even better. Tomorrow I'm going to register for baby stuff with my mom and sisters, so I'll try to post something about our adventures soon!

P.S. By the way, the dress I'm wearing in the photo is one of my favorite bargain finds ever! I got it for $5.40 off the maternity clearance rack at Kohl's! I think I need to do a fun post sometime soon about all the great bargains I've randomly found when I wasn't even looking...

Cousins, etc.

This is me, Abigail, and my precious cousin Madison, taken while she was visiting my family (along with my aunt and grandmother) during Spring Break. We only got to spend one evening with them while they were here, but we had a great time. Madison really wanted to feel Abigail move, but she only got to feel one little kick before my sweet little girl stopped cooperating (have I mentioned before that little Abigail seems to have a stubborn streak?).

The photo was taken about 2 weeks ago, so I'm even bigger than that now. But at least it gives you an idea of how fast little Abigail is growing. Her Daddy has started affectionately calling her "Little Bump"...but I'm beginning to question the "little" part.

She is definitely doing a lot of "bumping" around these days. And now there's a lot more baby to feel when she moves, so those little twists and wiggles have more force behind them than they used to. I love to sit and watch my belly while she has one of her wild exercising sessions...usually in the evening, about the time I'm going to bed. She also likes to move a lot in the middle of the night, and while I'm driving in to work at 6:30 or so (and right before lunch, too). I wonder if this says something about her preferred schedule...

Anyway, so far we're both doing fine. I do have to go back for a second glucose tolerance test, since the results of the first one were a little high. Hopefully I was just a little sweeter than usual last Monday afternoon, and the fasting test will turn out normal. It will be on Monday morning, so if you read this, you can be praying. I can't eat anything from midnight on, then I'll go in at 8:30 and be there for at least 3 hours for the test. I'll drink this lovely stuff and have my blood drawn 4 times or so. Not the most exciting way to spend a Monday morning, but thankfully I'll be done in time to eat lunch and still work half a day. Most importantly, though, we'll find out whether or not I have gestational diabetes. We're praying that I don't.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading. Check back for more updates coming soon!

Free Concert at GCC Tonight!

What: The Resurrection Letters Tour
Who: Featuring Andrew Peterson, Jill Phillips, Ben Shive, Andy Gullahorn, Gabe Scott, Paul Eckberg, and James Gregory
Where: Grace Community Church
5711 Granny White Pike
Brentwood, TN 37027
When: Doors: 6 PM Showtime: 7 PM
How much: Pay What You Want

FREE STUFF (to do in Nashville this weekend)

Looking for something to do in Nashville over the next few days that won't have a negative impact on your little corner of our not-so-thriving economy? Well, we're always watching out for fun and interesting things to do for free around the Nashville area, so here are a few ideas:

Today—Friday, March 27
Stop by Christ Cathedral on Broadway downtown anytime between 5-11pm for BACHanalia—a “musical marathon celebrating the genius and mastery of Johann Sebastian Bach…in expected and unexpected ways.”

Or…you can hear Harvard University’s Radcliffe Choral Society and the Vanderbilt Concert Choir perform a free concert at Christ the King Catholic Church at 7:30pm.

Saturday, March 28
Enjoy some popcorn and watch A Little Princess at the Davis-Kidd Bookstore in Green Hills at 6pm (not sure if the popcorn is free, but the movie is).

Or, if you’re up for a more adventurous outing, go on a flashlight hike with Team Green and see downtown Nashville turn off the lights for Earth Hour. The hike starts at 8pm. Kids and pets on leashes are welcome (only the pets have to be on leashes, but use your own judgment).

Sunday, March 29
It’s a Free Family Day at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, with an afternoon full of activities for all ages related to the Medieval Treasures exhibit (which is fascinating, by the way). There are art activities and a story time for the kids, plus you can all learn some medieval dances…or combat techniques, if that's more to your liking.

Monday, March 30
Hear Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough speak at Belmont’s Curb Event Center at 7:00pm. Tickets are free, and you can get them in advance at the Curb Center box office or at the door.

This is just a sampling, I'm sure. Please feel free to leave comments with ideas for other fun, free things to do!

Introducing...Abigail Ruth Mikhailiuk

We are so very excited and thankful to be the parents of this precious baby girl! Check back soon for more updates and (hopefully) a video!

P.S. According to the results of the poll to the right, most of you are probably surprised at our little girl! We were a bit surprised, too, but we're SOOOO happy!

Update: Week 19

I’m 19 weeks pregnant today, which means I haven’t posted on here for quite a while! I thought about waiting until next week to update, when I’ll have more to say (you’ll find out why below), but then I might forget to tell some of the less exciting things. So, here’s a quick bullet-point update for now (not in any particular order):

• The pregnancy has been pretty smooth sailing so far. I never had any morning sickness, which is a HUGE blessing. The worst thing I’ve dealt with is trouble sleeping well at night. I dream pretty much all the time, and sometimes my dreams are really wacky. Other than that, I really have nothing to complain about.
• On second thought, I might add that I’m not exactly thrilled with the way my skin is holding up these days. It’s so dry that I seem to be itching somewhere all the time, yet my face is breaking out like it did when I was a teenager. Then there are those rapidly-appearing stretch marks that make me look like I’m morphing into a blonde zebra, and…well, you get the idea.
• On the bright side…I’ve felt the baby move a few times! The first time was last Saturday night (January 31). Taras and I were sitting on the couch watching October Sky, when I felt the first unmistakable little kick. It felt kind of like someone flicking me from the inside. The baby kicked like that several times, and if I was very still, I could feel it from the outside, too! After a few tries, Taras even felt it! We were so excited!
• We bought our first piece of furniture for the baby’s room, which is still a study/storage/guest bedroom at this point. For now, it’s going in our bedroom, because we still need to make space in the soon-to-be baby room. It’s a nice, slightly-used changing table/dresser with a hutch on top with extra shelves. We found it on Craigslist and managed to jump on it before anyone else got to it (which has happened to us more than once with Craigslist). I can just picture little books and stuffed toys and photos on those shelves and cute baby outfits in the drawers…
• Next Monday (February 9) I will go for my 20-week appointment and super-exam. My midwife will check out everything there is to check, and hopefully it will all be good!
  
• On Tuesday, February 10, I will go for an ultrasound and we will finally get to find out whether we have a little boy or a little girl! We can’t wait! Once we find out, we’ll let everyone know and finally introduce you to our son or daughter by name! (By the way, you can vote on what you think we’re having in the poll on the right-hand side of the blog!)
  

That’s about it for now. Check back on Tuesday to find out the answer to the two big questions: Are we having a boy or girl? and What is his or her name? We should have some fun photos and video from the ultrasound to show off, too!