Anyone who has visited my neighborhood knows that it is full of big, beautiful trees. It is one of the leading reasons why I fell in love with the neighborhood. My backyard was like my own private sanctuary, surrounded by big, huge oaks, many of the prettiest in my back neighbors' yards. During Ike, the winds ripped two of the biggest oaks from the ground, taking a much smaller Dogwood with them. As I surveyed the damage, I was perplexed why two big healthy looking oaks would be lost and the dead oak in my neighbors yard would remain standing. It just didn't make sense.
Now, two months after Ike, in November I might add, my backyard has somewhat of a spring time feel about it. The dead oak has sprouted light green, spring-like leaves. I guess something good has come out of Ike.
After my water broke, a little after noon on January 22nd, the on-call doctor told us to go ahead and come to the hospital and she would "check things out." We decided to do a couple of things around the house including taking this picture before we headed to the hospital. The doctor actually called us when we were exiting the freeway asking where we were and wanting to know why we weren't at the hospital yet. 
She's here! Madeline Anne was born at 9:42 p.m. on January 22nd. She weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. We waited to find out if we were having a boy or girl, but were greeted in our labor and delivery room by the doctor announcing "so we are having a little girl!" Paul and I played it off and Paul still announced to me that Baby K was a girl when she was born.
