I always knew Seth would be a great daddy but I don’t think I could have ever imagined what an amazing father he would be in every way! He loves Jackson beyond belief and is constantly thinking of what would be good for him!  He is incredibly patient and gentle with him even in recent days when Jackson has tested in every way possible! No matter how rough our afternoon has gone Jackson is ecstatic when Seth comes in the door. They have so much fun together! And Jackson thinks he hung the moon!

Happy Father’s Day, Seth! Love you!

Baby, oh, baby the places you’ll go!

The worlds you will visit!

The friends you will know!

The horn-tooting apes

From the Jungles of Jorn,

Will hoot a big toot

On the day you are born

….

You will find from your very

first moment in space

you’re surrounded by new friends

all over the place!!

…

While you are busy growing

we’re all busy counting

the days till we meet you-

excitement is mounting!

…

You’ll find this world’s a great place to begin,

but it could use some help-

which is where you come in.

So now, As my voice burble-urps in your ear-

with a bump-thumpy sound that is not very clear-

the words I am saying you hear in your heart,

and know that I wish you the very best start.

It’s a scrumptulous world and it’s ready to greet you,

And as for myself…

well…

I can’t wait to meet you!

-Dr. Suess

9 weeks- facing up with head at bottom and feet upward

2 pictures above from today. measuring 11 wk 6 days

That’s right. We are expecting! I am just a couple days shy of 12 weeks. It has been a rather eventful 12 weeks with the discovery that my placenta was pulling away from the uterus and then my time in the hospital that we mentioned on our previous post. I have been on “taking it easy” status per doctors orders to avoid bed rest (by the way this isn’t possible with an almost 2 year old!). We went back today to make sure things were improving and for our 12 week appt. I still have the places of concern but the doctor thinks they have improved. I am still on restricted activity but I am not having to go on bedrest which was the next step if there was no improvement.  He looked to see if he could tell if it was a boy or girl but it wasn’t clear enough with the legs crossed so we will try to see next time!

We shared with some of you in November that we had miscarried. We decided it would be best to save our news this time until a bit further along. I think until people experience miscarriage themselves it is hard to know how difficult it is. In the future I might take more time to reflect on miscarriage but for now we are simply rejoicing that this baby is continuing to grow and thrive! Pray with us that the hematomas will resolve completely and that the doctor will reassure us that we are finally out of the woods!

We expect the baby to debut around Christmas! So, another DC baby.  The timing has worked out well in that we can still do homeleave and then we get to be settled and in a home by the time the baby comes. We will then get to be close to family and friends until the baby is about 6 months old. We are looking forward so much to this new season!

Seth and Jackson took me out to a nice breakfast before church for Mother’s Day. Jackson wasn’t too excited about it and gave us a hard time but overall we still had a nice time. I got to sleep in which was a huge treat!!! And Jackson gave me a book about Mommies!

May 1 in many countries is called May Day.  It is celebrated for a variety of reasons, but it is almost always a day of celebration.

For our family, May 1 will always be a day of celebration as well.  Because one year ago today, May 1, 2008, Jackson went in for surgery.  And when he came out, we were expecting to find out if he had the REALLY BAD kind of cancer or only the BAD kind of cancer.  If his leg muscles were going to be severely disfigured or if he was going to be able to walk just fine.  If we were going to be starting chemo and radiation immediately or if it could wait a week or two.

But when the doctor came out and told us it wasn’t cancer at all and only a vascular malformation, you can only imagine our relief and our excitement.  After the doctor told us, we told her to tell our parents, who were waiting with us.  There was more celebration.

Which is why May 1 will always be the Kolb’s personal holiday.  Always be a day of celebration.  Always be a day of giving thanks to our Great God, the Great Physician, who protected our baby.

I won’t speak for Kristen, but I’m pretty convinced, after reflecting for the last year, that God changed the mass in his leg from a malignant mass to something benign.  When a Colombian radiologist (at Colombia’s best hospital), a Colombian orthopedic surgeon (one of Colombia’s best), an MD Anderson radiologist (who had been reading scans for the last 25 years and works at the #1 cancer hospital in the US, if not the world), an MDA pediatric oncologist, an MDA pediatric surgeon, and an MDA pediatric orthopedic surgeon all agree that it’s cancer, it’s hard to imagine that it’s not cancer.  But praise God, literally, that they were wrong.

If you want to re-read our post from last year, here it is.