Pumpkins, Trips, Costumes ...

We've been busy since our last post and this is what we've been up to....

After Labor Day I went back to work part-time, 3 days a week. Grandma (Michael's Mom) is watching the kids on the days I'm at work. She watches them at our house, which is such a huge help! Work has been up and down, which is pretty typical for this time of year. We're in the midst of Open Enrollment and are down 2 staff members so I've been stretched pretty thin BUT thankfully I'm able to keep on everything so I can still be part-time.

Our friend Carolyn visited from Texas for a few days, while she was here we went to the Pumpkin Patch and it was such a perfect day!

My Mom watched the kids for a night when Carolyn was here so we could go out. It was a nice evening sans kids, we went to the mall and then the Cheesecake Factory and caught up on things.

I made a trip down to Central Oregon a couple weeks ago with both kids. Michael couldn't take any time off so I braved the trip by myself! And I have to say I'm very proud of myself and my kids, they both did awesome!!! 4.5 hours one way is a lot of time in the car and we only stopped 2 times each way to take a little break and feed Em. Caden talked almost the whole time we were in the car (surprise, surprise!) and Em cried just a few times. :) We got to stay with Nana, Papa and Uncle Andrew in LaPine...and we made a trip out to Christmas Valley and stayed with Great-Grandma and got to see Uncle Linn, Aunt Denise and meet new cousins! Caden loved seeing all the mighty machines on the farm.

Great Grandma with Emberly

4 Generations

Caden and Em with Uncle Linn

Caden hugging on Em in Great Grandma's yard

Caden being cute!

Emberly chilling in the tree

Caden being silly with Great Grandma

Cousin Savannah, Caden, and Emberly with Great Grandma in Christmas ValleyI don't have any "size" updates on Emberly yet because she doesn't have her next Dr. appt until the end of the month. Since I went part-time my insurance changed and we had to find a new Dr. for her so it took awhile :) Lately she's been rolling over and figuring out how her hands work. Before she would reach for things but it was only on accident when she grabbed something, now it's intentional and she knows how to do it. She's growing like crazy! And more recently she started sleeping through the night again....for about a month she was waking up around 3:00/4:00 every morning and wasn't able to go back to sleep on her own but now she might wake up, cry a few times and then go back to sleep on her own. Yay, I see more sleep in my future!!! :) She also must be getting teeth in because she's really slobbery and constantly putting something in her mouth to chew on, and she has the occasional red cheeks too. So far no teeth have broken through so we're just waiting....

Em at 4 months, sleeping with her thumb in her mouth

For Halloween, Caden dressed up as Super Man and Emberly was a lady bug. We went to the Harvest Jam at church for a little while and Caden played some carnival-type games...he got candy for playing each one but he really didn't care about that part, he just liked the games! :) After the Harvest Jam we went over to Andrew and Wren's to hangout for a little bit until it was bedtime for all the kids. Caden can't get enough of his friends!!!

Caden hugging on Emberly :) Sooo cute!!

"Superrrr Man!" So serious too, haha!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away!!! I'm still so amazed how fast time flies when you have kids. Busy, busy, busy! We're going to have Thanksgiving at our house this year and will be in LaPine for Christmas. Annie, AJ and Jacob are flying up for Christmas so that is going to be wonderful!! I'm really looking forward to both, I love Holidays! And I don't get to see my sister enough so I am very excited!!!

Emberly - 2 month checkup

Wow, time is flying by. It's hard to believe Em is already 2 months old and Caden is 28 months old. We took Emberly to her 2-month checkup today and here are her stats:

Height = 23" (74.73%)
Weight = 12 lb (80.05%)
Head = 15" (32.68%)

It's crazy to see her stats because she's so much smaller than Caden was because he topped the charts in all areas.

Miscellaneous Pics

And here are some pictures from the last few weeks...most of them have been altered using Instagram.

I love that app on my iPhone!!!

Our 2 little monkeys!Posing? :)

Sleeping beauty

Playing outsideCutie pie!
All smiles!
Playing at the park for Uncle Eli's birthday

Pictures from Michael's Bday

Here are some pictures from our adventures on Michael's birthday -

Walking to the streetcar from work
Riding on the streetcarYes, this is mostly what Emberly did the whole day :)Riding on the Max trainDinner with the family at Claim Jumper

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael had his golden birthday this year - 30 years old on July 30th. We went on an adventure to try and do 30 things...this was our day:

First we made breakfast at home, went to Dutch Bros for his free bday drink, drove to Con-way, walked to the streetcar, walked around Pioneer Square, rode the Max to the zoo, went to see the Elephants, rode the Max back downtown, walked along the streetcar line, stopped at Cupcake Jones for a cupcake, ate lunch at Hungry Planet and Hot Lips pizza, drove home, took naps, went to dinner at Claim Jumper with his parents, Heather and Eric, and then Michael had a free bday cupcake from the restaurant. Phew!!! Such a long but FUN day! Since that wasn't 30 things his bday celebration spilled over into Sunday. After church we made an impromptu, adventurous trip to the beach...where we: drove to Seaside, walked the pier, got taffy and jelly beans, went to Costco in Warrenton (random, I know) and ate hot dogs, drove to Battery Russell, went to the beach and took some BEAUTIFUL pictures, went to Dairy Queen, and then drove home on Hwy 30. Another long but FUN day!!! I'm not sure we made it to our goal of 30 things BUT we got pretty close.

Happy Birthday Michael!!! You are a wonderful Daddy and Husband. We love you and are excited for the many years to come!!!!! Thank you for being you and loving us!

4 Weeks Old (almost...)

Here is an update and some pictures from the last couple weeks.

The first 3 weeks my Mom and/or Michael were able to stay home with me and the kids, which was so nice to help me get adjusted to having 2 kids while figuring out nursing, sleeping, eating, etc. Michael ended up taking almost 2 weeks off and we were able to go on several outings as a family...shopping, zoo, walks, etc.

Here are some pictures we took at the zoo. My nephew, Joey, went on a short vacation with his Oma and Opa in Oregon so we got to have him stay w/ us at our house for a few days.

Caden LOVES his cousin, Joey, AND tractors!!!

Caden LOVES elephants too!

And here are some pictures of Caden and Emberly.

Family and Prayer

My family –

Caden is doing really well. He grew up overnight. It made me cry to see my little boy, who is no longer a baby! He's been a great helper and is having fun getting to know his little sister (playing with her feet, holding her hands, snuggling her face, talking to her...) Sooo precious!

Emberly is doing great. She's sleeping and eating well. I forgot how not fun engorgement was. Word to the wise: it will get better! So far she's adapting well and is a wonderful addition to our family. She's finally here!!! And not to mention the fact that she is absolutely beautiful!

Michael was sick once we got home from the hospital. Really sick! He had a high fever and other cold-like symptoms, so with a new baby at home he quarantined himself away from all of us for 4 days. It was not fun!!!

My Mom was able to stay with us and was a huge help with Caden, Em and the house!!! I would have gone crazy if she hadn't been here. Thank you!!!

My prayer –

Thank you God for my family. Thank you for a fast and safe delivery of my baby girl. Watch over my children as they grow, protect them from the evil one and draw them to you. Help Michael and I to be good parents, setting good examples for Caden and Em and showing them how to love. Give me patience (I know I need it) and help me to be selfless.

Labor and Delivery

Here is my "Labor and Delivery" story –

Tuesday, June 14^th: On the way home from work we decided to go to the store and pick up a few things for my "hospital bag". I had kept putting it off because I thought it could wait until Thursday since I wasn’t scheduled to go in for my c-section until 10:30am on Friday (June 17^th) morning. We went shopping at Walmart for a few last-minute things (toiletries, present for Emberly from Caden, trail mix and m&m's). While we were walking around I started having contractions, nothing too strong or abnormal. At 7:30pm my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. We grabbed dinner on the way home and then I watched some TV for awhile and Michael “packed” my bag once we got home.

Then around 8:30 the contractions started getting closer together, about 2 minutes apart. Michael asked me if we should go in and I told him I didn't know. When Caden was born I was induced 3 days after my due date and ended up having a c-section after pushing for 3 hours with no progress, so this was all new to me. Also, not to mention the fact that I had a scheduled c-section on the 17^th. Michael called my mom to get her opinion and then called Labor and Delivery at the hospital. They told us to come in if we felt like I was going into Labor. By this time, I started helping Michael pack everything into our bags because he was being too slow. Close to 8:45pm the contractions were still 2 minutes apart but much stronger (unable to talk, had to stop moving and work through the contraction, etc.) We decided we needed to go to the hospital and Michael called his mom to come watch Caden. That 15 minutes of waiting seemed liked forever!!! I was trying to finish packing and Michael was frantically getting stuff into the car (car seat, boppy, bags, etc.) all the while Caden was following me around copying what I was doing through each contraction. Most of the time it’s cute when he copies but this was NOT one of those times!!!

As soon as Sharon got there we jumped in the car and headed for the hospital. On our way we saw a cop turn around right in front of us on Hwy 30 before Cornelius Pass. Thank you Lord for looking out for us and that we didn’t get pulled over because Michael was driving F-A-S-T! My contractions were getting so strong by the time we headed into Hillsboro that I didn’t know if we were going to make it. I kept telling Michael to “hurry”.

We got to the hospital around 10pm and pulled up to the ER entrance. Michael ran in and said, "Someone needs to help me, my wife is having a baby." He came back with someone and a wheelchair and they wheeled me in and took me up to Labor and Delivery. They asked me questions as I worked through my contractions and took me into a triage room so they could check me. Once I got there they asked me to change into a gown and climb into bed. At that moment I didn’t know if I could get into the bed, it seemed like such a huge task. I remember telling the nurse, "I don't know if I can get into that bed". I decided that I HAD to do it so I forced myself to stand up and put the gown on and then while I was trying to muster up the strength to climb into the bed another strong contraction came and MY WATER BROKE!!! Michael ran out of the room and told them my water broke and the nurse came rushing in to "check me", sure enough the baby's head was down and I told her to “hurry” because there was so much pressure that I knew this baby was coming! The doctor's came in next and checked me and then wheeled me away into a delivery room. I remember one of the doctor’s saying, “you had a c-section the first time is it ok if you deliver vaginally?” and of course I said “yes!”

We got into the room and everyone was running around getting everything setup and waiting for my info to be put into the system. The doctors were getting me prepped to push while the nurses were trying to get my IV in. I wanted to yell at those nurses because it took them forever to get my IV taken care of. I had to keep yanking my hand back from them each time a contraction came. Buh! My hands were so hot and sweaty that they couldn’t get the tape to stick so they tried 3 different things until they finally got a mesh wrap to go over it.

Once I got into active labor, I pushed for a total of 24 minutes and then Miss Emberly Mae arrived at 10:54pm!

I. Cannot. Believe. It. A successful VBAC with no drugs!!!

This whole experience was so much different than last time. Here are a few differences:

• I was wheeled in through the ER and didn’t just walk in nonchalantly with my bag in tow.
• Emberly arrived much faster (3-4 hours instead of 20 hours) and in a very different way (naturally instead of surgically).
• NO MEDS instead of an epidural and whatever other meds they gave me during and after surgery.
• I was able to hold her right away and keep her once she was born instead of only seeing Caden for a brief moment before they whisked him away to get him cleaned up.
• I was able to eat right away instead of waiting until I was able to “pass gas”. The nurse brought me a ham sandwich while we were waiting to be taken to our room.
• The nurses left us alone and only came around to take our vitals or give me meds.
• Emberly passed her jaundice and hearing tests the first time.
• We were discharged from the hospital at 11:40am on Thursday morning (we hadn't even been there 48 hrs yet).
• The pain was sooo different and I didn’t have major surgery. *It was hard for me to stand up straight for several days because my back was so jacked.

Caden: List 1

Caden likes to:

• Play with cars, trucks, fire trucks, tractors, trains, airplanes, race cars and monster trucks
• Play with his trains and track
  
• Play with Legos
• Color in his Mickey Mouse, Thomas & Friends and Diego coloring books
• Read books (his current faves are several stories in a 5-in-1 Book of Berenstein Bears)
• Count to 15 (his favorite numbers are 14 and 5)
• Sing the "ABC's", "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
  
• Say, "Hi, I'm Caden. I'm 2", "Come back", "Oh man", "I coming", "Sticky", "Down, down" (which really means "Up, Up" :)
  
• Point out the moon and/or the sun, planes, birds, clouds, rainbows, rain, snow and anything else in the sky
  
• Watch "Umi Zoomi", "Dora the Explorer", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and his all-time favorite "Mighty Machines"
• Go to Church and see his friends
• Talk to people when we're at the store
• Talk your ear off (he's quite a good talker for just turning 2!)
• Eat: FRUIT (berries, mango, grapes, oranges, melon, bananas), Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, cheese (especially Laughing Cow wedges and cheddar), spaghetti, bagels, hot dogs, ice cream, pizza, popcorn, juice, milk, bunny (Nesquick) milk, waffles, yogurt, cereal, sausage, bacon, french fries, any green vegetable (broccoli, green beans, lettuce, peas)
• Take "naps" (day or night) with his blanky (any of his soft, fleece blankets)
• Have his feet tickled
• Be outside
• Go for rides in the car
• Boss the dogs around
• Play with his uncles
• Take showers
• Listen to music really loud and dance
• "Watch" football and the Blazers on TV w/ Daddy
• Throw stuff (which is NOT a good thing - we're working on it...)
• Play with balloons
  

Caden doesn't like:

• BUGS
• Time out
• Dirty diapers
• Being without a diaper
• Haircuts
• Sun shining in his eyes
• Having dirty hands
  

I thought it would be fun to make these lists so we can remember what he likes as a 2-year old 10, 20, 30 years from now....I know that seems like a long ways from now but the last 2 years have seemed like only a few months.

Photo Shoot

Michael and I had an impromptu photo shoot with Caden yesterday. :) Such a cutie!

Decorating and Rearranging

So, the nursery is almost finished. The walls are painted, the furniture is setup, the curtains are hung, sheets, clothes and blankets are bought, the letters for her name are painted and waiting to be hung.....now all we're waiting for is our little girl to arrive. Today is the 16th which means she is due 2 months from now - 8.5 weeks to be exact. Pregnancy seems so much slower this time around....mostly because I'm like, "been there, done that" and I just want her to be here! I know I will have many sleepless nights and will be pushed beyond my limits with a 2-year old and a newborn at the same time...but I'm ready. Crazy, I know?!?! Also, I'd like to add that I passed my glucose test this time around with flying colors....praise the Lord! I know this isn't very exciting to whoever is reading this but I feel the need to document it :)

Just a few pictures of the nursery:

Picture frames, storage boxes, lamp and a blanket.

This is the teal wall with the tree decal before we put it up.


And here's the tree with the butterflies.


The crib with a blanket one of my co-workers made.

Here is a picture of Caden's new room with his big boy bed and his Thomas and Friends bedding.

Our house is in the process of getting rearranged....we moved the computer area into our room and are transforming the computer area into a kids/guest room. There's not a ton of space so we're trying to be creative!!!