Caden's First Basketball Game



It was a little cold out this morning but he was so excited!

Today Caden had his first basketball game. His team is called The Leopards! We signed him up for a basketball league called Upward.  It's a Christian athletic group and they meet at chuches to play. This church is 5 minutes from our house so perfect distance for an 8:30am game. Caden has been wanting to play since last year but we thought 3 was a little young. He had a blast! His team also won. He's not able to make a basket yet but hopefully as the season goes on, he'll be able to. All of the 6 year olds on his team made a basket. 4 of his friends from church are on his team - Kaison, Carson, Jacob, and Ben. I'm so glad there are so many sweet boys (and girls) who go to church with us. It's been a hard adjustment from living in Germany and we were so sad not to attend where we went before we moved overseas.  There are 8 kids on his team which is a good number to have.



Caden did great for his first game. He showed compassion to his friend who ws having a hard time. He listened well to his coaches. And most importantly he had a great time.

 

Here are some pictures from the game. These were taken with my cell phone so sometimes the kids moved a little too fast for my camera.

Trying to shoot a basket

His team

Getting ready for the ball toss

His friend passes him the ball

 

Running back across the court

When we got home later this afternoon we saw our neighbors and their son out riding his bike. Caden wanted to ride too so we walked while the kids road their bikes. We found out his friend, Aiden, is 10 days younger than Caden. I didn't know they were so close in age. This summer will be fun when we're able to go to our neighborhood pool again. We have some really nice kids who live in our neighborhood and it's neat to have a place where they can meet and play.

38 weeks and I carry on!



38 weeks!

We are getting close to meeting our sweet baby.  I keep telling myself that anyway.  I'm not sure if Gracie will ever come. I'm in my 38th week, am 4 cm dilated, and 70% effaced.  I'm also having very regular contractions and have had to stop my blood thinners.  I'm exhausted, am having horrible heartburn and reflux, and am ready to meet my baby!  I know lots of women don't have their babies until 40 weeks or later.  That could be me!  I thought that would be what would happen when I was pregnant with Caden but he came naturally at 38 weeks.  The labor I'm experiencing is called prodromal labor. Every day, many times, multiple times a day, I have regular hard contractions.  Sadly these contractions lead to nothing.  At least I'm dilating, I wish it was more.  My doctor swept my membranes on Thursday and said she thought she'd probably see me in the hospital this weekend. Well, not sure if that will happen or not. 


Friday I was bleeding quite a bit and I called and the nurse told me to get checked out.  I really didn't want to go to the hospital but I went and sure enough nothing really was progressing.  After laying in bed for a while they checked my contractions and I had 2 strong ones in 15 minutes so I was able to leave.

 

Last week my OB said she could break my water on Monday if I wanted and hadn't had my baby yet. I don't think I'm going to do that. I'd rather he strip the membranes some more and see if something happens then. Since I need to be on blood thinners and can't, it's not good for me to go too many weeks not being on them. So maybe next Wednesday. I really don't want a lot of medical intervention but am also exhausted.

 

We finally saw her sweet face on Thursday. I think she looks like Caden did. She's been so low and hiding that we hadn't been able to see her. I think since we turned her some last Sunday she was at an angle we could see. Her poor face was smashed up against the inside of my belly but at least we saw her. Her nose and lips are not that big. When we saw her moving around and after she moved her hand away her features weren't so exaggerated. None the less, she is beautiful. It was so neat to see her blinking her eyes too. She measured a little smaller than on Monday at 7 lbs, 2 oz. Seems like a perfect size to me! :) 

 

As my daughter's birthday is coming nearer every day, I am reminded how precious life is and how truly blessed I am to be pregnant and carrying a baby again.  I know many women would give an arm or leg to have a baby of their own. I think about my past and how a year ago I sort of gave up the hope of having a child. Then I ended up getting pregnant and now here we are. I'm also trying to enjoy these last days with Caden who is so excited about having a sister. God has blessed us again. We are truly thankful to Him. And I want to hug and send my love to the women who are trying to conceive but haven't yet or who have lost a baby or more. I am sorry.

 

 

Long Labor and 10th Wedding Anniversary!

Gracie is still not here. I'm learning to have more compassion toward women who have long drawn out labors. It's truly exhausting! This is such a different experience than I had with Caden. We thought she might be coming on our anniversary and if I would have stayed at the hospital she would have! Friday night we thought my water broke. We headed to the hospital and the test came back positive. They had me lay in a bed and wanted to continuously monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions.  That was uncomfortable. Laying there they were a consistent 2 to 3 minutes apart. I was dilated at 2cm like Monday and about 85% effaced. However, I thought it was strange that more water wasn't coming out. I thought I'd be sitting in a puddle. I finally asked the nurse about it and she said they have gotten some false positives.  I asked if they could check again or open a new batch. She said it would be inconclusive if they had a positive and a negative. My doctor was away on family business and the doctor on-call agreed to do another kind of test like they used to. I told them that if my water hadn't broke I'd rather go home and labor there. The nurse wanted to keep me over night and induce me Saturday morning. When the old kind of test was done and came back negative I was told I could walk around a bit. I walked 30 minutes and came back my contractions were really strong at 1 to 2 minutes apart but I wasn't dilating anymore. I asked to go home. It was 1am. Finally about 1:30am they let me go and told me to come back in the morning. I was there 7 hours and nothing! It was nice to sleep in my own bed. There was no way I could sleep in the hospital bed with the monitors on my belly. My parents kept Caden for the first time at their house. It was really nice of them.



Our 10 anniversary! I'm so tired here!

Saturday was our 10th anniversary. We spent our 5th at a castle in Germany and our 10th at the hospital mostly at home. I was pregnant with Caden on our 5th and Gracie on our 10th. That's pretty neat. I should write a whole post about the last 10 years. They have been great! We exchanged gifts Friday night before going to the hospital. Collin gave me beautiful diamond stud earrings and a beautiful necklace with 1 Corinthians 13 on it. I gave him a Pebble watch and a Bento Box wrapped in foil. For modern gifts it's diamonds, for traditional gifts is aluminum and tin.  He went with modern and I went with traditional. Love him!! We woke up Saturday morning and got ready and picked Caden up from my parents and went to lunch at Outback. Contractions were still going on but it mainly feels like lots of pressure with some pain. Saturday night my dad got back and he was able to watch Caden so we could go to dinner. I wasn't very hungry so we ate at Boston Market. I'm so glad throughout our marriage we've eaten at so many nice restaurants. Originally we were planning on going to Del Friscos but since we weren't sure if the baby was going to come we needed to stay within about 10 minutes of the hospital and ate at Outback for lunch. We thought about going to Red Lobster that evening but I couldn't stomach it.

 

My parents were not able to keep Caden Saturday night.  Thankfully, our preacher and his wife took Caden Saturday night to their house. It was his first time to spend the night at a friend's house. They have 3 kids and he didn't want to go. I felt horrible making him go while he was crying and begging not to go. He knows them and their kids and has been to their house a number of times so I knew he'd be fine. They said he stopped crying shortly after he was in the car with them. The next day he told me he was scared but ended up having a lot of fun at their house. I was so glad! He wanted to go back over and play.

 

Meanwhile, Saturday night I was bleeding some. I decided to see if I bled a lot or my water broke before heading back to the hospital. I was still really tired from the night before and decided to just go to bed. Sunday morning I woke up with bad contractions and lots of back pain. I was hurting all over. We waited until 7am to go to the hospital since I didn't want to enter through the emergency entrance. I had a better experience Sunday morning. The head nurse was great and when I mentioned how bad my back hurt she said it sounded like the baby was sunny side up and if we could turn her the back pain should go away. She showed me how to do the runner's position and after about 15-20 minutes I felt her turn. When I sat up the pain went away. My contractions also slowed down. The nurse helping me Sunday morning was really nice. They wanted me to get a sonogram to check everything out. Gracie looked perfect and since I was dilated to 3cm she gave me the option of going home and staying. If I was at a 4 then I would have had to stay. I told her I wanted to go home.

 

We made it to the end of church service and got Caden. Then we went to lunch and I came home and rested all day. I took a shower and got in my pajamas. My back pain is mostly gone, the contractions are still going on but overall I'm feeling better.

 

Laying in a hospital bed will not help labor progress

This morning I had a doctor's appointment. My doctor said some women just have long labors. The baby seems like she'll come then will stop. She said since things moved fast with my son then I needed to be prepared to have her at home. She gave us cord clamps and a bulb syringe. She told my husband what to do if we got in that situation. She said she's right there and could come anytime. I asked about stripping the membranes. She said to come back Thursday if she's not born and she'll do it then since I'll be 38 weeks. That's a more natural way of helping move things along. The baby is measuring 7 lbs, 12 oz. By law she can't induce until 39 weeks unless one of my maternal fetal medicine doctors approve it. Which the older one in the group I go to most likely would. So if stripping the membranes didn't work she could break my water Monday and we'll have her then. However, I would rather have as little medical intervention as possible. So hopefully she'll either come before Monday or the stripping of the membranes will work. I also don't want to have a super big baby. Caden came at 38 weeks naturally so maybe she will too. Thankfully her head is engaged my body just has to release her.

 



We are ready for anything!

When I was getting my sonogram this morning the nurse said, "your baby is really moving around!" I looked down and she was. Since she's constantly moving and I'm having constant contractions I've learned to block them out more.

 

Please pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby and mama. When I was pregnant with Caden and thinking about delivering in Germany I would remind myself about how Mary gave birth to Jesus in a barn with Joseph and most likely no doctors and lots of animals around. Not the most clean or ideal situation. I live in a clean house and the hospital is 10 minutes away. I didn't have any drugs with Caden and I'm not planning on having any with this baby. If I'm induced I have heard that the pain increases greatly. I'm not opposed to pain medicine I just would rather not have any if I'm doing okay and the baby is. Now I'm going to go rest. I'm tired.

 

By the way, when we showed up at the hospital Friday night. There was a baby being wheeled into the nursery. Caden asked, "is that my baby sister?" I told him, "nope, she's still in my belly." Haha!

 

 

36.5 Weeks!



Caden took this picture. He chopped my head off
but the belly is really the main feature anyway. :)

This will be my last post of the year. I want to start off with that at the beginning of this year I never would have dreamed I would be pregnant and about to have a baby by the end of 2013. God has really blessed us and I am so thankful that He's given me a chance to carry a healthy baby again. Life is not without its challenges and I'm looking forward to the new year and seeing our newest addition in our family. I'm somewhat terrified actually but also overwhelmingly excited! I really am looking forward to meeting my daughter. I know God will give me the strength I need to be the best mom I can be. I have no idea what life will be like. I'm anticipating lots of sleepless but wonderful nights. Lots of love in our house. Making more family memories and enjoying two children. I'm trying not to fear the unknown but pray to God about it and lean on him and others. During these past few weeks as my family has dealt with illnesses I've seen God's family step in and help mine. I'm learning to ask for help when I need it, which is very hard and I still don't do a great job at it. But I know God will provide. 

I saw my OB yesterday and Gracie is still doing great. If I hadn't had 4 miscarriages before I was pregnant with her and found out I had two blood clotting disorders this would be a very normal pregnancy. Last weekend I switched to Heparin injections from Lovenox. I.HATE.THEM! I really do. I never enjoyed getting shots growing up and didn't enjoy the Lovenox either but now I have to give myself two shots a day instead of one. I also have to draw it from the little container. But all the pain will be worth it once she's here.

My appointment went well. She's measuring 6 lbs 9 oz. I'm dilated to 2cm and she's dropped. My doctor said she could come anytime and if we had to induce she could probably strip my membranes and she'd come pretty easily. That sounds kind of scary! I really would prefer not to be induced but that's the more natural way to do it. I've been having a lot more contractions and last weekend thought about trying to change to a home birth. However, since I'm on blood thinners it most likely wouldn't be safe. But it should would be easy. Getting to the hospital in time is my biggest concern. I tend to have a high pain tolerance and wasn't even fully sure I was in labor when we were about to leave for the hospital with Caden. I had had Braxton Hicks contractions for so long that I just thought I was having those. We showed up and he was born less than 2 hours later.

I've lost 2 lbs and now have only gained 38 lbs. Which is great. I think the last month I was pregnant with Caden I didn't gain anymore weight. I gained a total of 44 lbs with him. Thankfully I lost 20 lbs the first week he was born. I'm just getting uncomfortable. The other interesting thing is I'm starting to crave various foods again. For a while I just ate when I was hungry. Now I feel like I'm starving if I don't eat within a few hours from when I last ate. Last night for example, we had a Mexican casserole I made for dinner with a salad. Later I had some ice cream. Then before bed I wanted some roasted garlic humus. I've also been craving bagels and cream cheese. I had one for breakfast and want another one. Also lots of fruits and it's kind of cool, watermelon, strawberries, mangos, and melons are available at the store right now. Being the tired pregnant woman I am, I buy cartons of pre-cut fruit which is lovely.

 

We have finished Gracie's room. It's so cute! Pink was my favorite color growing up and I love her room. I hope she does too. We Incorporated light and dark pink, white, and black. I made her a rainbow sign with a James 1:17 on it. She's considered a rainbow baby because she came after a miscarriage. I'm hoping to make a mobile to go over her changing table using Caden's hands or feet but have been too exhausted to do it. Collin put together her swing glider last night. We tested the video monitor on Caden last night and decided to order a second camera for his room. I love the video camera. You can zoom, pan, take pictures, and talk to your baby. It works with just the little monitor it comes with and you can configure it to work with your phones, which we'll wait to do when we get a babysitter. Last night we were able to talk to him and see him when he wouldn't sleep. Poor guy woke up scared in the middle of the night and talked to us through the camera and we didn't answer - we had turned it off. That's why we're going to get one for his room too. Might as well be able to see both children. The video camera we got is called Lorex Baby. I did a lot of research on these and this seemed to have the most options, great ratings, and best price. Also Lorex is a well-known security company. You can add up to four cameras.

We are ready to have this baby. A sweet friend of mine is coming over later this week to help me get the rest of my house in order. The baby's room is done. I just need to finish the playroom, reorganize the guest room, and office. I could do this myself but it's so nice to have a friend come help.

Here are some pictures of Gracie's room. An artist friend of mine is painting another picture to hang on her wall. Once I get it I'll post pictures of it too. I'm also going to hang the picture frames once she's born and we have pictures of her to put in them. I can't wait to meet her!

I painted the letters for her name

Rainbow sign

Love the pink curtains!

The dreaded Heparin!

Caden is 4.5!

It's been a while since I've done an update on my sweet son. Caden turned 4.5 years old right before Christmas and I have been wanting to do a post about him.

 

God truly blessed our family when he gave us Caden. He is one of the sweetest and most selfless kids I know. He's very grateful, loving, and kind. I also think he's one of the most friendly kids. Everywhere we go, I mean everywhere, he's saying hi to people and waving and making friends. On the occasion we go to a restaurant with a playground he is quick to make friends with pretty much every kid in there. He doesn't seem to have a shy bone in his body. I love this about him, but honestly he wears me out. :) He is a true extrovert and has more energy in an hour than I do in a week. Of course I'm about 9 months pregnant so it's not hard to have more energy than me.



Talking to the pretend George because the "real" George is on TV

I've really enjoyed having him home this year and homeschooling him for pre-K. He's learning so much and has always been really smart. He tends to take after his dad in a lot of ways. :) I also just love having him home and watching him learn and getting to know his friends better. Several weeks ago he read his first stage one book. I was so proud of him! He started memorizing books at 2 and so it was hard to know when he was truly reading and I stopped really teaching him. Then I decided to let him play a few sight word games on my phone, then put the app on the Kindle and he loved the games. He picked up the words very quickly. I test him from time to time by writing a word on a piece of paper and having him read it to me. He's been able to sound out words for a while so I knew he can sound out most consonant vowel consonant words. He's also been asking what different words are and how to spell certain words for a few months. So the time came when I gave him a new book at night to read. I asked him if he wanted to read a book to me. He said yes and he got about 85% right. I was so proud! He was too! He read it a few nights in a row to me and got better every night. I never thought I'd have a child reading at 4 but he's doing super. He's always been a letters and words person. He goes back and forth counting in English, German, and Spanish. He also has his own made-up language he calls Chex. He memorized the first 10 numbers in his own language and will count in it sometimes. He also loves counting things and wrote the number 100 on a piece of paper the other day and showed us telling us that he wrote 100 on the page. The other thing he has been wanting to do lately is change his name's spelling to Kaden, instead of Caden. This morning at church he wrote his name on the attendence card and wrote "Kaden." He will argue when you tell him his name starts with a C not a K. I never knew a 4-year old to be so passionate about the spelling of his name. He's also starting to really like writing and drawing pictures. This is something I thought he'd never enjoy doing.

 

Here are some of Caden's favorites:

He didn't want to put the Christmas tree up
so he protested by getting in the box!

 

Color: Blue but he also loves green and brown



Food: Breakfast - Chocolate chip whole wheat pancakes with maple syrup; Lunch or Dinner - Cheeseburger (which he doesn't get often), and oddly he doesn't like french fries but he loves bubble gum (not really a food)

 

Friends: His best friend at the moment is Jacob, that's who he talks about the most. He goes to church with us and they went to preschool together last year. His other favorite friends are Jacob's siblings (Nicholas and Maya), Zachary, Andrew, Olivia, Neil, Gabbi, Shelby, and Kayman. Of course if you are around, you may quickly become his best friend. :)

 

Songs: He loves making up his own songs the most and making music. However, he does like church songs and Christmas songs a lot.

 

Books: Currently his favorite book is a Curious George book about making pancakes and Why Boys and Girls are Different. I think partly because he's about to get a sister.

 

TV Shows: Curious George and Calliou

 

Activities: Building, writing, painting, driving his car, riding his scooter, and playing with friends

 

Places: Church, he talks about wanting to go to church all the time. He also loves going to the park and playing with friends, having people over, and going to his grandparents' house.

 

Things/Shapes: His favorite shape is still a circle. After Halloween he took his Halloween bag and went around the house collecting anything he saw that was a circle. He kept his collection for a while and it was challenging to put away some of the Halloween decorations because he had so much fun with his bag of circles that stayed in his circle (pumpkin) bag.

 

Showing me a silly face!

Caden is truly a gift from God and again we are so blessed that God placed him in our family. While he's a work-out, for example, he would rather run than walk somewhere, and is very fast, he doesn't mean to hurt anything. He loves sports and is playing basketball starting in January, he's so excited. He loves to do things for himself and by himself. He likes helping me cook in the kitchen and loves learning new things. He also likes to help me clean! He can also cause quite the mess and quickly cause a mess if I'm not watching. He's such a great helper and has a wonderful sense of humor. The other day he came to sit on my lap, which is hard because of my growing belly. Once he sat down he said, "oh wait, I better not lean on your belly or your water will break." He promptly got down. How did he know about water breaking? I'm amazed with everything he knows and comes up with.

 

Tonight at dinner he wanted a boiled egg. He loves boiled eggs too. We asked him if he was going to eat it. He said, "no, this egg is my friend. I don't eat my friends." Then he told us his egg's name. He's cracks us up. Caden, we love being your parents! Love, Mom and Dad

Our 2013 Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year. Last year I was very depressed around this time. I had just had my fourth miscarriage and was just sad. What a year makes! Now I'm 36 weeks pregnant with a very active girl. The week before Christmas was hard. The three of us all got sick. I got bronchitis, Collin got strep throat and the flu, and Caden got the flu. How I didn't get the flu, I have no clue but I am glad I didn't. I felt like I had it, though. It was a tough week.

 

We spent Christmas at my parents' house, since I'm unable to travel this close to delivery. I really wish Collin's parents lived closer. It's hard having them live so far away and it would have been nice to have them join us. I honestly love spending Christmas morning at home. As a child some of my favorite memories were waking up Christmas morning and running to see what was under the Christmas tree. Since this was Caden's last year as an only child, he got some really great gifts! He was so sweet when we asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He wanted a bubble gumball machine and toys for his baby sister. He ended up getting more than that and was surprised and excited! His big gifts were a Leappad Ultra Tablet with some games and a Jeep he could drive. He has always liked my Kindle but broke the screen so I decided to get him his own kid-proof tablet that doesn't have direct access to the internet. He loves driving his friend, Olivia's jeep, and so that was another big surprise for him. He also got the gumball machine, and some smaller gifts and games.

During Christmas we remember Jesus' birth, like we do throughout the year and we think about our loved ones who are no longer with us.  This was my first Christmas that my maternal grandmother has not been on earth.  I made her famous praline cake and finally nailed it. She would have been so proud. She made this cake every year and it was one of our favorites. I also wish my mom was here to celebrate with us and meet her grandson and see her granddaughter who is about to be born. I wish Collin's parents lived closer and we could see them more. All that being said, we are truly blessed and loved seeing everyone we got to see and spending time with my family. I am so glad that my side of the family all lives within 20 minutes of us. It makes seeing my family on holidays really easy. Here are some pictures. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve he got to open a gift!

It was his Leappad Tablet

He was excited about the Magic School Bus game

My Christmas Eve gift

Collin's Christmas Eve gift

Christmas Eve dinner, we had steak, peas, carrots, and white asparagus

Cookies for Santa

Christmas morning. Stocking time!

Caden's first car!

He loves his blue jeep!

This is a fun game, it's a Scooby Doo game.

Our mantle

Opening presents at my parents. His aunts giving him their gifts.

He got a magnifying glass from my parents and loved it!

Sweet boy in front the Christmas tree

After he opened his gifts he wanted to go home and play with them all

Merry Christmas!

Picture with my dad



Big family picture with my siblings, their halves, parents, cousin, uncle, and grandmother

Grandmother Dot's Praline cake, one of the best cakes ever!

Caden got another big surprise on Christmas, he got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus!
They came to visit our friends, the Ekpo's.

We hope your family had a wonderful Christmas!