Update on Things

Well, it's been quite awhile since my last blog post.  Natalie, our daughter who was born January 5th (6 weeks early), will be 7 months old on Wednesday.  She's still on the small side, but she is doing really well.  She has gone from 2 lbs, 15 oz and 15.5 inches at birth to 11 lbs, 10 oz and 23.5 inches at 6.5 months.  She is a very happy baby (except for car rides) and so far she has met all her motor milestones, which are sometimes delayed in premature babies.  Our son Cameron turned 4 years old in March and will be beginning a pre-K program next week.  We just finished our first season of kickball, which was a lot of fun, and somehow I ended up coaching his team.  Time really does go by quickly.  As far as things go at Mississippi State, we are starting our kinesiology doctoral program this Fall, and we obtained some space in our building and started a neuromechanics lab this past spring (with Dr. Chander).  This new lab space and the presence of doctoral students will allow us to conduct some exciting research in the future.  I was also promoted to associate professor and granted tenure, which would not have been possible without the help and support of so many people, especially my wife Amy.  The future looks bright here.

On another note, I wanted to take a little bit of time to brag about my uncle, Steve Knight.  He has been the head basketball coach at William Carey University for the past 33 years.  I used to be a ball boy for him back when I was younger.  This weekend, he was inducted in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, which is such an incredible honor.  He has won 610 games during his tenure (making him the all time leader in wins among Mississippi college basketball coaches)  and several league and tournament championships.  It was a really special night for him and our family, and it was also cool to see him sitting up on the stage next to Brett Favre, who was my favorite football player growing up.  We are really proud of Steve and the legacy that he has set.  I was never a great basketball player, but he helped me a lot growing up with my game and gave me the chance to be around a college basketball team, and for that I am grateful.

The newest little Knight!

Well, it's the first week of February and this is my first blog post of 2015.  But, there is a good reason for that.

The pictures above are of our daughter, Natalie Elizabeth Knight.  Her due date was on Valentine's Day, but due to some complications, she was born on January 5th via an emergency C section.  She was (and still is) very small.  She only weighed 2 lbs., 15 oz. when she was born, and was 15.5 inches long.  One of the reasons for the emergency C section was because she was not growing much at all in the womb.  Even though she was 6 weeks early and very small, she has not had any complications. She was born here in Starkville at Oktibbeha County Hospital, and she did not have to be transferred to a NICU.  The nursery staff at OCH is just phenomenal and took such wonderful care of us.

When Natalie was born, they told us that she would have to weigh 4 pounds before we could take her home, which could take a month or more.  She has steadily been gaining weight since her birth, and on Tuesday, we got to take her home even though she was just shy of 4 pounds because she has been doing so well.  We went back yesterday for a weight check and she now weighs 4 lbs., 2.4 oz.  She is truly a miracle baby and we are so excited to have her at home so we do not have to keep making trips up to the hospital.  I will post updates every now and then about her progress, and I hope to be able to do some more kinesiology/biomechanics posts here in the near future as things settle down.