Such a Big Boy

Kaden is really starting to walking now, and we are so excited about it. It's so cute how he holds his arms up straight in the air to balance himself. We're so proud of him and the can't believe how much he's grown.

Birthday Party!

This afternoon we celebrated Kaden's birthday at Jimmie's Mom's house. It was very interesting to see him try to open his presents, and also stuff his face with cake. Here are some great pictures for your enjoyment.

Baby Becomes Toddler

Wow! I almost cannot believe that it has been a year since Kaden was born. It really does show you can quickly they grow up. For the past few days he has begun to take a few steps on his own and standing by himself with no support from furniture. I'm so proud of him. I'm also excited and nervous at the same time because now it is going to be even more challenging keeping up with him during this pregnancy.

A little side note on his well checks. For the past month and a half we have had to visit the pediatrician every week because of Kaden lack of weight gain. At his 9 month check up he actually decreased in weight instead of gaining or remaining the same. She was hoping he would be on the curve at that point. So, in an effort to figure out if it was an intake issue or a digestive problem, she put him on a specific nutrition bust diet with 24 oz of formula: 8 oz at every major meal time, and a minimum of two snacks. During these feedings, she wanted us to stay away from the traditional baby food jars, and give him "people" food. Basically, whatever we were eating he should be eating, with the exception of eggs, peanut butter, and milk. For the first couple of weeks we were seeing a steady growth in his weights. Then, one week his weight didn't change but an ounce. So, she had us keep a food log of everything he was eating so that she can see if there is any reason why he should be gaining the weight he needs to. This past Friday after looking over our food log for the week, the doctor still wanted to see him eating more then he actually was. this discouraged me a little because when I try to give him more than usually he has gotten to the point where he is either full, or just distracted and wants to play with everything. But I'm trying to give him as much as possible. At the beginning of all this he only weighed 15 lb 12 oz now he is at 17 lb 5 oz. I'm just hoping that he continues to gain the weight he needs.

Saturday, August 4 we will be celebrating Kaden's birthday at Jimmie's mother's house with the Fitz(Jimmie's Dad) and Strawbridge(Jimmie's Mom) side of the family. Then on the 11th will be celebrating his birthday with the Benton(Jimmie's biological Dad) side of the family. I will be posting pictures galore of the event probably the Sunday or Monday after.

New Baby

I may have forgotten to mention this, but we found out a couple of weeks ago that we are have a

BOY!!!!!

Walking Around the Coffee Table

Yesterday we went down to see Jimmie's family, only an hour away. After dinner, the boys we're playing with Kaden and making him "work" for want he wanted.



This is the only walking that he can do right now, I'm wondering how long it's going to be before his starts actually walking. :P

Beach Party!

This past weekend we took a trip down to St. Joseph, MI for some "vacation time". Saturday afternoon, Jimmie and I met up with one of Jimmie's high school buddies and went to the beach while Kaden stayed with Jimmie's grandmother. The weather was nice, a bit windy, but the water was freezing. While we were gone, Debra, Jimmie's mom, called and asked to take Kaden for the night. We agreed since this was kind of a little vacation for the two of us. On Sunday, Debra, Jim and Bobby along with Kaden came over to Jimmie's grandmother's house for Sunday dinner. It was nice time since we hadn't seen them for about four weeks or so. After lunch, Jimmie, Kaden, Jim, Bobby, and I went back to the beach. It was warmer than Saturday, but the water stayed the same, so me and Kaden stayed on the beach while the boys played in the water. After a while, the guys went for a walk to find Jimmie's cousin, so me and Kaden took a nap under our Ping golf umbrella. (I would show you pictures from the days, but Jimmie left the camera in a friend's car).
All in all it was a pretty nice weekend for us.

On another note, we are going to have an ultrasound this evening and be able to find out what the sex of the baby is. I'm so excited about I can hardly wait.

First Time Swimming!

Last night we took Kaden to the community, which has open swim every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30-8:30pm. He did surprisingly better than I thought he would do. It was and indoor pool, and even though they "said" the water was 82 degrees, it was cold. Jimmie got in first and held Kaden while I got in. He did pretty well considering his legs were the only part of him under water. When I was holding him, I tried bouncing a little then dipping him a little bit more so that his upper body could get wet as well, but he didn't like that. Hopefully he will do better this weekend when we take him to the grandparents' house, who have and outdoor, heated salt water pool.

Until next, happy swimming and summer fun time!

WOW!!!!!!!!!

Oh, my gosh I have almost forgot about this blog! And I apologize for that. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what is up. Well for starters, I am now about 19 weeks along with the pregnancy. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday and hopefully that same week we will have an ultrasound. Kaden is growing fast. He's really crawling now, not just the army scooting. He can also pull himself up and walk around the coffee table. We are also looking into getting a house, because the place we're in now is just a rental and we would rather see the money spent a better way. Our lease is up at the end of November, so we are getting a good start on hunting. We're not sure what we'll be able to get, but we are looking at every possibility and also into everything else that goes along with purchasing a house. We want this to our best decision, so we're being very cautious about everything. Well, I think that is all for now on the update. I'll try to do better this next time around to keep up with it.

FUNNY PICTURES!

Yesterday afternoon, Kaden went over to Jimmie's Father and step-mother's house for the evening. When we went to pick him up at 9pm he was awake, so we decided to play with him a bit. Jim, Jimmie's father, was laying on the floor with Kaden sitting on his neck and blowing Kaden's hair up as he looked down on Grandpa. He was making such funny faces that Jimmie was able to capture them. They are hilarious!

Oops!!!

Tuesday I forgot to post about Kaden's 6 month well check at the doctor's. He's grown sufficiently since the last time we saw her (aka January). He weighs 14 lbs. 2 oz, 26 3/4 in long, and a head circumference of 43 cm. He's still a little guy, but that's ok. head circumference and length were both on the percentile curves, however, his weight was still a little under the curve. She also heard a slight heart murmur, but assured us that it is very common for children his age to get them. Just to make sure that it isn't anything to worry about, we are seeing a cardiologist on Wednesday. Other than that he is still eating large amounts, 40 oz a day, with two feedings of fruits mixed with cereal. He is also getting very good at moving around and scooting. Not actually crawling just yet, but rocking on his hands and knees more. here are a few pictures and a video to give you an idea.

Big News!

For about two weeks now I have been afraid that I might be pregnant, because I haven't been on the pill since Kaden was 3 months old. Luckily I didn't get pregnant in January. However, During February I was getting a little nervous about the whole situation hoping by the end of the month that I won't be. Well, sure enough when I took a test this morning...

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!

Both of us are real excited about it. Kaden and his new sibling will be 15 months apart. We figured that it would be better this way than have them spread about. Now they can be really close, almost like twins. We have a girl's name already when we found out about Kaden, but now we're having some trouble figuring out another boy's name. Jimmie wants to use his late grandfather's name, Edmund, as the middle name but I'm still wanting one of my family's name to be used. Not sure which one yet. Maybe my father's middle name where I got my middle name from, Llewellyn(the italized part is my middle name). Now we're just stuck on the first name for the baby. So if anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Company's Coming!!

Today I was frantically cleaning the house because we have some friends from college coming to visit us tomorrow. I started in the upstairs this morning with the front room and the kitchen. Then after Kaden woke up from his nap and finished eating, I tidied up the downstairs, while running a couple of loads of laundry. Kaden has really been growing. He's now scooting himself across the floor to get to something he wants. I have a video here for you to see him in action.

Fun With the Baby

Thursday while we were at Jimmie's parents' house I was able to capture a few pictures of Kaden. Hope you

A Wonderful Valentine's

Well, I was so surprised at what Jimmie had planned for us Wednesday night. First, we went to dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse where they cook the food right in front of you on a flat grill. I had the Fillet Milgon and Jimmie had Steak and Chicken. He also ordered a Dragon Maki which is a sushi roll that he really enjoys. Here are some pictures.




Apparently he had also rented a hotel room for us that night because he had a reservation somewhere at 2am and didn't think we would want to drive all the way home afterwards. Well, come to find out the place that we were going to at 2am was called Oasis Hot Tub Gardens. They have these exclusive hot tub rooms some inside some outside that you can rent for an hour. And each room has a theme from different countries and cities around the world. We got the British Isles Room and is was outside. Man was it cold walking over to the tub, but it was wonderful and relaxing.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We finally got a crib for Kaden! For Christmas my mom got the bedding set for us but we couldn't set it up because we didn't have a crib yet. But Saturday I went to Babies R Us and found one that I liked, we put it together when I got home. And this is what it looks like.

Yesterday we took a drive down to Jimmie's mom because she had offered to take Kaden for a couple of night's so that me and Jimmie could have tonight to ourselves even though it is her anniversary. But Jim is usually out of town and the celebrate on the weekend. So Kaden won't be with us until tomorrow.

Plus I have no idea what Jimmie has planned for us tonight. I think it's the first Valentine's Day that we can actually do something. Last year we were still in college. So I'm very excited to see what happens tonight.

Super Bowl Sunday

Today after breakfast with Jimmie's maternal grandmother, when drove over to his paternal grandmother's plowed her driveway and had lunch. Then we went of to his parents house for the game. He spent almost an hour plowing their driveway and the other parking areas for their Olds and semi. Jimmie, his mom and I were rooting for the Bears, while his dad and brother were going for the Colts. Since the weather was suppose to get pretty bad tonight we left a little after halftime (didn't watch the halftime show though, really didn't want to see or hear Prince perform). We really didn't know a station that we could listen to for the rest of the game, so we didn't found out who won until we got home. Good for the Colts! We wanted the Bears to win but that's just how things go. Oh well. We had fun watching the first half, and I'm pretty sure the second half didn't go very well for the Bears, so it probably would not have been fun to watch anyway.

Blizzard of 2007

Yesterday and today we had a winter weather warning for the area and practically the whole time there was a strong lake wind effect that kept blowing across the roads creating what is known as white outs, which cause several big pile ups yesterday afternoon on the highways: 40, 50, and 70 car pile ups. One section of a highway was even shut down because of all the accidents that were happening. Jimmie had gone in to Grand Rapids which normally takes about 45 minutes to drive, but this time took almost two hours it was so bad. Plus, he saw about 6 other cars pass him and drive straight into the ditch after passing. Talk about people who don't know how to control their vehicle. Anyway, after he got back from running some errands, all three of us drove down to see his grandmother and spend the night. We borrowed a truck from work that he some times uses to plow the entry way and the parking area so that we could plow his grandmother's driveway. It was very interesting driving down there with all the gusts of wind.

Catching Up, Again!

Friday morning Kaden and I went to a Leche League Group meeting first the first time just to get some ideas about trying to get back to nursing and to also meet some new people in the area. There were quite a big group there. Mothers with at least two or three kids. It was loud with all the noises from the kids, but it was still an enjoyable time to spend with other mothers.

Saturday Jimmie mom and brother came over and spent the night. It was a little rough with all the snow we've been getting but it was fun time to spend together. Sunday morning they also went with us to try out a new church in town. It was a Reformed Church, and we weren't exactly sure what to expect. It was ok, a little questionable seemed too flowery and showy at times.

Monday night I was able to attend my first community band rehearsal! I was so excited about it. I was able to find the group through another organization that had already had their auditions for the concert season. But I was directed to this one where there were no auditions, you just showed up to play. So I did. I think I did pretty well considering I hadn't played in a big group like that in about four years. There were some tricky parts, but I'll manage. Now all I need to do is find some practice time at home. The nest performance is on the 19th, and we only have two more rehearsal before then.

Tuesday we took Kaden back to the doctor for his weight check. Yay!!! He gained a pound and a half, he now weighs 12 lbs. 12 oz. We were so excited to see that he had gained sufficient amount of weight in two weeks.

Yesterday, Mindy's mom watched Kaden for me because on Monday I started to develop a cold and I really didn't want Kaden to get it. Plus I needed the rest. Unfortunately, it was a little late. While he was over there, she said his nose was runny but it was clear. So maybe it was allergies. Then this morning I tried cleaning it out with the suction bulb and it looked a little green. So I'm not sure what he has right now. Hopefully he doesn't have my cold.

Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday we took Kaden for his 4-month check up. We're a little behind on that. The doctor said that developmentally he's right on target. However, his food intake is needing to be increased because he hasn't gained that much weight since the last time I took him in. He is currently below the third percentage for his age, which means he's a tiny little guy. But, we go back in two weeks for a weight check. Hopefully then he will have gained at least a few ounces if not a pound or two. Currently he stands at 11lbs. 4oz. Tiny, I know. So we're bumping up his formula from 4oz to 6oz a feeding along with cereal/applesauce.

Some new things with me as well. I am currently filling out job applications in the area for a part time job. So far the candidates are Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Family Christian Store, Old Navy, Target, and Best Buy. The only reason I want to get a job is so that we can have a little more cash in hand. We are making right now just on Jimmie's job, but I think that we would both feel better if we had just a little more to help. With that comes the part about what to do with the baby. Well, Jimmie's mom, Debra lives about an hour away from us and has agreed to watch him about once or twice a week. Jimmie's step-mother's mother Marilyn has also agreed to watch him whenever it is needed. And Jimmie can watch at night when he comes home from work. At this age we are still skeptical about putting him in a daycare center. You never know if you can trust those kind people.

I just pray everything works out already for everyone!

Catching Up

Wow, I am not really good at keeping up with this blog. But I promise I'll try to do better in the future.

The holidays were great. Kaden and I were able to spend a week in San Antonio to visit my family down there. It was so great to be around them. They were also excited to see him and how much he's grown.

It is so exciting that Kaden is now 5 months old. He seems to be showing signs of getting ready to crawl like this picture here.


He's been sleeping this way ever since he could turn himself over in his cradle. It's so cute!!!!



Tuesday, we are taking him to the doctor for his over due shots from last month and of course a regular check up. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the last time he got his shots and that Jimmie will be able to go with us.

I have also recently found a La Leche League group in the area that i hope with be helpful in getting to know some people and also with this decrease in milk supply issue that I've been having for about a month now. I am not willing to give up on it yet, even though I have had to supplement him everyday except morning and evening feedings. Hopefully this group will be able to give me some pointers and some support.