Sick Day...

This is what you wear on a sick day if you are 9 weeks old.

Pitiful isn't it?

This is how you play on a sick day if you are 9 weeks old!

Even more pitiful!

Yesterday I was about ready to have a mental breakdown...with a sick baby and a dog that just had two teeth pulled and lays around whining all day...it was almost more than I could take! But today things are much better... at least for the boy... the dog is still playing the sympathy card!

Just another hurdle...

So this weekend was full of firsts for my little family.

The 1st first was that we took an overnight trip. AND not just one night...TWO FULL nights away from home! You see, I have been way too chicken to attempt this before. I would imagine the little guy screaming all night long... and keeping everyone awake... and us being kicked out... and asked to never return (regardless of where we were). But finally since Caden has done such a wonderful job of sleeping through the night... I decided to chance it.

You would have thought that we were leaving on a 3 month vacation. I think we (and by that I mean me) packed up every baby item we owned. All except the thermometer and baby Tylenol.

This is where the 2nd first comes in...

So we got to Grandma & Pawcaw's just in time for Caden to catch his first COLD!! Yea!! So, basically my nightmare came true. Well, except for the being kicked out and asked never to return... that of course didn't happen.

We took him to the doctor today (which thankfully was an appointment that we already had scheduled...that worked out well). We found out that he now weighs 13 lbs (that explains a lot... I am not as weak as I thought). And he got 5 vaccinations (which really thrilled him... I have never seen a human turn that shade of red... and I tried really hard not to cry). So today he is congested... coughing... sore from shots... and pretty much all around miserable. Just another hurdle I guess.

My new perfume...

So the other night the boy and I were going to run to the store to pick up more of the many baby accessories that you have to have on a regular basis (and which I assume are what makes babies so darn expensive). I only have these small windows of time where I know he won't be hungry...and it was the last bit of time I had before he was down for the night. So I quickly grabbed him up, loaded him in his car seat, gathered the diaper bag (in case of unforeseen blowouts)...but as I headed to the door a little voice in my head reminded me that maybe I should look to see if I was decent enough to venture out of the house.

So I ran to the bathroom for a quick peek and decided I would do. But as I turned to leave I noticed something in the mirror...I backed up and looked again...yep...there it was...all over my black shirt...white caked on spit-up all down my back.

My new fragrance...Eau de Curdled Milk...it's really sexy!

Did I change shirts you ask? Pssh, I don't have time for such luxuries. I just wiped it with a damp rag to really bring out the smell!

HOOORAY!!!!!

And just for laughs...

Target Dollar Spot...7 weeks

I just couldn't help myself!!!!

The dad is not too thrilled!

Copeland

Sweet little Copeland passed away tonight...but please continue to pray for her family.

Pray for Copeland

I found this blog from another blog that I enjoy reading. They were asking for prayer for this family who was about to deliver a sweet baby girl. This sweet baby girl has Trisomy 18 (which, if you recall, is the disease that we thought Caden could possibly have). Copeland has lived, amazingly, for an entire week and has been free of all "tubes" throughout most of that time (feeding tube, oxygen, etc). Her parents are hanging in there, but of course this is not an easy time.

I have been completely engrossed in their story and I can't seem to get them off of my mind or out of my heart. I fall apart every time I read their updates and I pray and pray for them (although I hardly know what to pray). I am continually thankful that God has blessed us immensely with a healthy boy. The reality of this disease is so horrible, I can't imagine how they make it through each day. I also know how fragile a new mother's emotions are those first few weeks, so I have a huge respect for how this mother is holding it together. They seem to be an amazing family with tremendous faith in God's will for them.

If you are a praying person, please pray for this little family.

Are you kidding me...week 6

Serioulsy...how hard is it to get a picture of a smile??

Serious talk with dad.

Caden's opinion of "tummy time"!!

Snug as bug in a rug!

One Month...

Caden turned a month old on Saturday! We celebrated by sitting around the house and doing nothing (except laundry). It was great...I guess.

Here are some highlights of this week:

This week Caden has started smiling (which is really good because he has also decided to stop napping which doesn't make for the happiest baby or mommy - but when he smiles all the frustration is quickly forgotten). Getting a picture of it, however, is like getting a picture of Bigfoot! Here is a semi-smile.

First bath without crying!

Here he was attempting to look completely interested in dinner conversation with Grandma and Pawcaw - but he fell asleep.

Objects in picture appear larger than they really are. I swear he is not this huge, it was just a bad angle!

Hanging out in his fave chair...again!

You may notice that there is always a laundry basket in the background of his pictures. There are 2 reasons for this.

1) I am too lazy/busy/tired to Photoshop them out of EVERY photo.

2) It has become an ever-present fixture on my living room floor because nobody told me that we would have a load of baby laundry to do EVERY SINGLE DAY! I did NOT know these things pooped, peed and spit-up quite so much! And when you only have so many outfits that fit said baby at the time...you either have a naked baby or laundry every day!

Week Three...

Some highlights of week three...

He lost his cord...he is now a big baby!

(the raisin looking thing on his hip is the cord)

First real bath (since he lost his cord).

I think I might like this!

No. No I don't like this at all!

Eating is hard work!

Chillin' in the the bouncy seat.

Can I get an Amen?

That chin...

So we still haven't discovered where the chin came from...but at least it has a purpose! You can store your milk in it and save it for later when you need a snack!

By the way...we went to the doctor yesterday and he has gained back up to 7 lbs 9oz (he lost down to 6 lbs 9 oz) so things are going well. He is also 1/4" longer.

He is having a growth spurt right now so the past few days have been pretty hectic and mostly filled with him crying so I don't really have any other cute pics for now! But I am sure there are more to come!

Week One...

I can't believe that it has already been a week. But then again I have no idea what day it is because all time seems to run together...so I guess that may be why. Here are some of the events of the little guy's first week...

Coming home...

Meeting Chia...

Mimi (the great-grandmother)...



The Cousins (on my side)...

First Bath...


A gift for Dad...

Introducing....

Caden Ford C.

August 8, 2007

3:16 am

7 lbs 4 oz

20 1/4 inches long

The Events...

I was sent straight over to Labor & Delivery after my regular appointment. It made me a little nervous!

Didn't have much pain for most of the labor.R helping me breathe. At least he keeps things light!

Fresh out of the oven.

Waiting for his first bath.
...and the adventure begins...

The Room

We are still waiting...and should know more on Tuesday (if not sooner). In the meantime I think I have finally finished his room. So here you go...

The quilt was made by my mom and Linda. It is really cute!! And I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time in that chair - that is why we went with the comfy leather.

This is the little man dresser from earlier, just with the mirror attached. Notice the super cute lamp that we found at Target! Man I love Target!


This, of course, is his bed. I made the letters for his name, but I couldn't get them to show up very well!

Just Waiting

Well, I went to the doctor today and we are making progress! Nothing to put me in the hospital just yet, but it could be any day now!! I think I must really be ready since I keep having these wonderful dreams that I can wear regular clothes again!

The Days of Our Lives

It has been a while...which has nothing to do with the possibility that things are dull around my house...because in fact they are so far from dull that I am pretty sure my head is going to explode by the end of every day. So here is the scoop:

Last Thursday: My sister and her two boys came to stay.

Friday: Cleaned house getting ready for the shower on Saturday.

Saturday: Last Baby Shower and hanging out with family.

Saturday Afternoon: Realize the AC on the bedroom side has stopped working.

Late Saturday night: All plumbing backed up - no toilets or baths.

Early Sunday: Company leaves because of lack of toilets and baths.

Sunday Afternoon: Plumber can't find clean out cap to fix plumbing.

Sunday Night: Stayed in Hilton for the use of toilets and showers.

Monday: Plumbing fixed temporarily until they replace the pipe on the next Monday. Find out AC has to be replaced. Hubby cleans bathrooms since my fat belly doesn't reach over the bathtub!

Tuesday: Childbirth class, watch birth videos, laugh at the guy next to me freaking out about placentas.

Wednesday: AC replacement begins. Slam dog's tail in the door...feel like the worst person in the world while cleaning up massive amounts of blood...get dirty looks from dog all evening.

Thursday: AC replacement continues. Continue to get dirty looks from dog.

Well, you get the point! We hope to have a relatively calm weekend and do as little as possible! But, hopefully I will get some updated pics of the nursery posted soon! Have a great weekend!

More Little Old Lady Adventures

The youth group is having a missions week here at the church. They will be traveling around the area performing "Acts of Random Kindness" in the community (this all comes from Evan Almighty and Ark Almighty in case you were wondering). Anyway, we have been trying to line up meals for the kids during that week so that we could keep the cost of the week way down. One of the other office ladies has been calling Bible Fellowship class leaders to see if their classes would take a night. One of the leaders was another of our Little Old Ladies (LOL) and she missed the original call, so our office lady left her a message stating who she was and what she wanted. This is the conversation when the LOL called back:

LOL: Somebody called me from there and I don't know who it was.

Me: Did they leave you a message?

LOL: Yes, but she didn't say who she was. Was it Doug?

Doug is a man...she heard the message and knew that it was from a woman...but here she is asking if it was a man that called her. Somebody forgot to take her pills!!

Last night I worked and worked to steam clean the carpet in our living room.

This morning I walked out to see how wonderful it looked.

My dog had puked all over it.

I hate Mondays.

Terrible Thing to say to a Pregnant Woman #678

Let me just start by saying that this week is VBS here at work and we all wear matching shirts...which I decided not to wear one day.

Lady with no tact: "The only shirts we have left for VBS are 3XL....I bet those would fit you."

Me (stunned): "Well, I could put one on but that certainly doesn't mean it will fit me."

Then I thought what I really should have said is "No, that is too big for me. My large fits just fine. But there are plenty for you if you need it.

Blessings...

On March 22nd of this year R and I set out for the hospital to have our big ultra sound. We were very excited to see our baby and very anxious to find out whether we should focus on girl names or boy names (of course, we already had our girl name picked out - so he was destined to be a boy from the beginning). And he is a boy.

The ultra sound lasted for an hour and a half because we live in a town with a teaching hospital and the first 45 minutes were spent with the resident trying to figure out where everything was...the last 45 minutes were with the doctor telling us what everything was and taking measurements. At the very end of the ultra sound he scanned through all the pictures - stopping at one of Caden's brain. We really didn't know what we were looking at, but the doctor soon filled us in. It seemed that they found a cyst on his brain. He went on to explain that it was possible this cyst was nothing at all, but it also could be a marker for a disease called Trisomy 18. All I knew about Trisomy 18 was that babies born with this disease don't live, at least not long. The doctor felt that we had a pretty small risk for having a baby with this disease, but this one marker increased our chances - Caden was 3 times more likely to have T18.

We had to quickly make a couple of decisions about what we wanted our next step to be and we decided to start with a follow-up ultra sound - nothing more invasive. We figured we would know enough at that point to make a better decision. And we knew that we would not terminate no matter what.

We were pretty dazed when we left the hospital that day. At least I know I was. I also knew that if I had to talk about it too much I would break down (hormones - they get you every time). So, then we had to make all the calls to our family and friends (who were anxiously waiting) to let them know we were having a boy...and we had to act happy and pretend that everything was great. We had not yet decided what we were going to tell everyone.

We talked about it a lot that night and decided that we were not going to share the news with everyone, just a few people that we knew would pray their hearts out for our baby. We didn't want things to get blown out of proportion or for people to over-react since we knew very little about what was going on at that point. We also did not want to be faced with constant questions.

So we waited. We have waited for 12 weeks to know if our baby is sick. In the meantime we worked on coming to terms with the good and the bad. We felt like God gave us this challenge for a reason and no matter what happened...whether he lived or died...this was our son. God really gave us peace during these long weeks.

And now we know. We know that his cyst has gone away...no trace of it to be found. We know that his body is the exact size that it should be (just with a slightly larger head...runs in the family), his organs have developed perfectly, and he has no markers of this disease at all. He even has a "beautiful" heart according to Dr. Alan. I hope it stays beautiful.

So to everyone who has been praying for our baby - whether you knew any of this or not - we just want to thank you. God has blessed us and we are grateful.

Oh, For Cryin' Outloud

Last weekend I woke up to the wonderful feeling of both arms being asleep. I shook them, I squeezed my hands into fists, I rubbed them...all in hopes of getting the blood flowing again. It didn't really work. So throughout the day I continued to try to get them to "wake up". Eventually my upper arms regained feeling and the majority of the time I could feel the lower arms, but the hands just wouldn't cooperate. Finally, after about 4 days of mostly numb hands, I thought I might should call the doctor. Thinking maybe Caden was cutting off some circulation with his ginormous self, I called my OB to see what I should do. Eventually I talked with the nurse and she said that it was carpal tunnel and that this was very common in pregnancy...unfortunately. She informed me that I should go directly to the pharmacy and purchase a brace for each arm...wear them for several days...then once they started feeling better I could just sleep in them...oh, and prop up my arms at night.

So imagine with me if you will...my nightly process of trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.
...I usually have really bad indigestion so I have to prop my head and chest up
...I sleep with a pillow between my knees to reduce back pain
...and some days when my feet swell some I have to prop them up
...I lay on my left side...mostly
...And NOW...I have to prop up my arms.
I still haven't figured out exactly how that is going to work. The husband says that if I have to prop up one more thing then I will be level again, just at a higher elevation than before. Pretty sure this little guy is going to need a spankin' when he is born for all this trouble. Okay, maybe not...maybe just a stern look.

The Belly These Days

Several people have been asking to see my growing belly lately - so against my better judgement I am posting a picture. I have had to cut out my head because I look very annoyed in all the pics - which I am not saying this is exactly why, but it may have something to do with the way my hubby takes pics. He tries to go for the spontaneous look (which he calls "natural") and so my expression varies quite a bit...mostly between annoyed and rolling my eyes. But I am NOT saying that was the problem.

And by the way...if you think I look huge just keep it to yourself...trust me, I feel huge...here is what I have to say about it:

- If I don't make it past 37 weeks I am so okay with that (however, I would like to at least make it to 37).

- I can't really do anything about how big the belly is getting. I try, but he grows when he grows.

- I am more than happy to have a very healthy sized baby! I would rather he not be 9 lbs or more, but if he is healthy...the daddy and I are happy! Well, if he is 9+ lbs it may be a while before I am really happy again, but you know what I mean!

Reasons I Love Being Pregnant #2

No more pesky zippers on your pants! Elastic-stretchy-band pants are not so bad after all!! Although, when I do start wearing real pants again - I wonder how many times I will forget to zip up! Oh, well - it is tons of fun for now.

Preparing the Nursery Part #2

Here it is!!!!

I finally convinced the husband to put the crib together last night.

This is the little man dresser...it is really cute and will be the perfect size for him as a little boy. It has a mirror too, but I think R had reached his maximum frustration level by the time the crib was finished.

This is just a look at the wall...

It is all very cute! He also now has a name to go with his fancy-pants new room, but we will let you know all that info soon enough!

Preparing the Nursery - Part #1

So here are some pics of the nursery at this point. Well, actually this was mostly from last week, and we have come MUCH further in the process. I hope to finish all the painting this weekend - but we are having company so I make no promises!!

Yes, well it doesn't look like much... and I didn't forget to paint the bottom. Randy has now finished hanging the bead board along the bottom. The hold-up is me trying to paint all the little nooks that come as part of the bead board package!

I had gotten in trouble - shortly before this picture was taken - for having the music WAY too loud and not properly ventilating the room (from the husband). Parenting skills are already kicking in for the dad-to-be! (love you honey)

Mother's Day

This is what I got for Mother's Day...

Several people asked on Monday if the husband got me anything. They all stated that they had considered calling him to make sure that he knew that even though I had not yet given birth...I was still a mother. But never fear guys - he did a very good job. This will be the boy's birthstone...unless he is born a bit early...then we are in trouble.

A Bit of Wisdom from the Husband...

Monday was a very action packed day of kicking for our little boy baby. He seemed to be moving constantly - most of the movements being pretty hard little kicks. But I was telling the husband that yesterday he was very calm (he must have worn himself out). He was calm until about 9:45 last night that is. At that point he started soccer practice again.

So the husband says "Well, does he usually move around much during the day?"

"Not as much as he does at night."

And (here is where the wisdom thing comes in) R says "Well, you need to get him on a schedule! Keep him up during the days so that he will sleep at night. And while you're at it - go ahead and start on the potty training too."

The Man with the Dirty Pants

This past weekend I did not want to stay at home and do the things I needed to do (like laundry, dishes, etc). So I decided to go to Lowe's to pick out some paint color samples for the baby's room. I really also wanted to pick out some pretty flowers and other fun plants to landscape my front yard with. BUT, since I have the world's worst allergies I knew I would pay (for the next 24hrs) for even 5 minutes in the garden department...so, I stuck to paint samples and other odds and ends for the nursery. My Lowe's adventure did not last me long enough though. I had looked at everything I could think to look at...but I wasn't ready to go back home...so I went next door to the mall.

After shopping for a birthday present for my niece...and of course looking at the incredibly cute baby things...and picking out a cute monkey outfit for the boy...and looking at men's clothes for the hubby...and purses for me...I finally made my way to the checkout. The only checkout I could find with a cashier.

There was a man standing in front of me returning a pair of sunglasses and it was taking FOREVER! So I waited patiently...with my back killing me...while thinking seriously about getting something very unhealthy to eat as a snack once I left the mall...maybe a milkshake...or a giant cookie...no a milkshake sounds better.

So while I am contemplating my unhealthy snack options I notice that the guy in front of me has something on his pants. They were dark pants...so I couldn't tell exactly what it was. I stared a little more intently...nope...still couldn't tell what it was. So I gave up and glanced at the cashier just in time to see that there was a mirror directly behind the cashier and the man with dirty pants was watching me stare at his rear.

I really, really wanted to tell him that I did not find his hind quarters attractive in any way and that in fact there was something on his pants...and that I was only looking so hard to try to figure out what it was...and wasn't it my business to know what was on his pants? But I finally decided - who cares - I am pregnant... my back was killing me... I wanted something to eat... so dirty-pants-man can just think what he wants. Maybe it boosted his ego a bit to have some pregnant woman intensely check out his rear. And hey, everyone needs a boost now and then.

Reasons I Love Being Pregnant #1

While on your way to pee in a cup (at the doctor's office), you run into a woman coming out of the restroom in front of you. With one hand she is opening the door and in the other hand she holds her cup 'o pee and a Hawaiian Punch...and all you can think is "Man that Hawaiian Punch looks good."

Don't try this at home...

Try not to say things like this to the pregnant women near you:

"Do you know what it is?" Hope it's a baby or my husband will be really mad!

"Oh, it's a boy...your husband must be so happy." I guess there is an unwritten rule that men only want boys. Oh and I guess women only like girls.

"I think you are starting to really be pregnant!" Hmmm...been pregnant for a while now...that might explain it.

"You look really tired...pregnancy will do that to you!" Well, you are really annoying...stupidity will do that to you.

You

You may recognize these words from my quote on the side - I just love NOOMA!