Kealani is 3 Months old!

Here are some recent pics of my happy baby girl. I can't believe how time is flying, how many new things she seems to do every week, and how I already feel like she's getting "too big". I am appreciating every moment, knowing I won't get any of them back... and it's all so easy to do when you have such a cool, chillaxed baby like Kealani. We love her!

Kealani Joy is Here!

Looking up at Uncle Jesse

Sleeping with Daddy

Kisses from Mommy

First modeling job

Angel Baby

She's finally here! Kealani Joy Richert was born on February 16 at 12:37 p.m., weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz., and was 23" long. (Yes, 23".) I can't even describe what a gift she is. I already loved her, even when I hadn't met her yet, but when she was born and the doctor handed her to me, she looked into my eyes and I fell in love with her more deeply than I could have imagined. Jon and I have been loving getting to know her, watching her change every day, and despite lack of sleep, spending days and all hours of the night with her.

We may be in trouble... it seems she already does things her way. I was 10 minutes away from being wheeled into the OR for a C-section, due to getting stuck after a relatively quickly progressing labor, when I realized I was about to start pushing whether I wanted to or not! The doc said, "Let's have this baby!" and from that time, it took one hour and Kealani was here without any cutting! At that point, I didn't care how she got here as long as she was healthy, but now I'm so thankful for the much faster recovery and the ability to do more than I would have been able to do after the major surgery of a C-section.

I thank God every day for my beautiful baby girl, and I am excited, nervous, and so much more to be a mom!

Watching Baby Richert Grow

10 weeks... I know, I don't look pregnant, but I was excited.

15 Weeks

22 Weeks

25 Weeks

30 Weeks

34 Weeks... Right before my baby shower

Valentine's Day... our official due date, and HUGE!

Well, I had time to post the pics. It's been fun watching my belly grow. When I look back at the early weeks, I can't believe how "little" I was! I can't wait to have a baby on the outside, rather than carrying a heavy basketball on the front of my body everywhere I go. Since I'm obviously so great at keeping this up to date, I assume the next time I write will be because Baby Girl is here...

Waiting...

So it's been a while, yet again, since I've added to this, but I have to tell you I made an honest effort about a week ago... and it didn't work!! I don't know if the website was having trouble or if it had been so long that I forgot what I was doing... either way, I apologize to those of you who might actually look at this once in a while.

Today is our baby girl's due date, and here we are at about 5:00 in the evening, just hoping I will go into labor any second. (Of course I know "most" first babies are late, but I tend to listen to the stories about people having theirs early/on time... and ignore the ones who were late.) This little blog is kind of a test to see if it will actually post this time. Then I want to add another one with pics of my pregnancy, which can be found on my Facebook page, but I know not everyone looks at that. If I'm lucky, I'll be in the hospital before I have time to load the pictures!!

Flying Solo

I'm four days into Jon's ten day trip to Rwanda, and wow, I miss him! He went with Eternity Minded Ministries, an awesome organization that goes all over the world to visit schools, orphanages, give eyeglass clinics, put on festivals with music and preaching, and do whatever else God wants them to do while they're gone.

Some of the things the team is planning on doing include helping with an eyeglass clinic (the team brought 4,000 pairs of glasses that they will give to people who have never before been able to read because they couldn't see properly), encouraging Rwandan pastors, visiting a school and an orphanage, and visiting an AIDS clinic to talk to the people getting treatment there. Anyone who's been on a missions trip knows that this could be what they end up doing, but you never know what might come up! He could be doing something completely different, like preaching in a church or sharing his testimony in front of a group of people. I'm proud of him, no matter what he does.

Anyway, I'm hanging out by myself, realizing how much I appreciate Jon's presence. He makes me laugh, helps me around the house without ever being asked, listens to how my days go, and basically just makes me happy. This is the longest time we've been apart since we started dating over four years ago, and I really don't like it!

Baby news: I'm getting rather enormous and can feel baby girl kicking ALL THE TIME. (At least it seems like it.) She's strong and healthy, as far as I can tell from the outside! My pregnancy has been pretty much a breeze, but I'm starting to feel it now that I'm a couple weeks into the 3rd trimester. It's getting hard to sleep, since I can't find a comfy position, and after working all day my whole lower body tends to feel numb and puffy. I have plenty of weeks left, but I really can't wait till this girl is here so I can sleep on my tummy again! Last week Jon and I shone a flashlight on my belly and moved it around because I read that babies at this point can see the light and may respond to it. Baby Richert seemed uninterested at first, but after a couple minutes of Daddy teasing her, she decided to punch him. That-a-girl.

Is it bad that I'm ready for this girl to get out?

So I've heard many friends and women who are pregnant rave about the experience. How amazing it is to know you have a life growing inside of you, and that everything you do is now effecting another human being. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the miracle of life and think that God's gift of creating and having a child is freakin' awesome.

But seriously, I'm ready to be able to bend over without grunting (and yes, I realize my stomach has a LOT more growing to do), walk up a hill without breathing creepily heavy, and just to again feel like I am the one who's in control of my body. And I'm only ALMOST 6 months along! I know the time will fly by and there will definitely be days when I want to put this little girl back in once she's out, but 3 more months seems a tad like an eternity right now. Baby Girl Richert has decided she's going to be a kickboxer when she grows up, and is practicing on Mommy's uterus and ribs. (She prefers the rib that I fractured four years ago, which has never really healed.) Jon says she's just like her momma.

She's a girl, but don't make her wear too much pink

A couple weeks ago Jon and I got our ultrasound and found out baby Richert's a girl! She was facing downward for most of the time, and the doctor actually had to push on my stomach pretty hard, and have me get up and walk around, in order to even get the blurry, not so great profile you see here. She's a feisty one, which is why I was actually thinking she might be a boy. (Most of the time the big kickers have been boys from what I've heard.) Of course Jon is already saying (and worried) she's taking after mom. (A girl's got to stand up for herself... that doesn't mean she's feisty, right?)

We've got big plans for her already: doc said she's already got long arms, so our dreams of having a pro beach volleyball player is on its way to fruition (those legs better match the arms). We just hope she's not an Amazon woman who can't find any boys that are taller than she is. It's been fun to think about what it will be like having a girl, especially since most of the people around us, including our closest friends, all have boys. We can't wait to meet her!