Caden's First Monthday!

Yesterday, Caden had his first monthday. This means he turned one month old already! He weighs 11 lbs and is 22 inches so he has gained 3lbs 9oz and 2 inches since birth! Our big, growing boy. :) Here are some pictures from his first month photo shoot!







I sent Billy out for diapers last night and he brought home those Huggies' Jeans diapers, lol. I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures because she looked so cute!





One of Avery's favorite things to do is feed Caden his bottle. She has gotten so good at it and is really gentle. She is such a sweetie.

Caden has started smiling at us!! I haven't caught it on camera yet, so there will be a whole post about that as soon as I do. Other than that, he pretty much sleeps, eats and poops all the time. Haha! He is such a joy and we are enjoying every second with him.






I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

No.

Disclaimer: No, I was not feeding my 19 month old pringles. She grabbed them out of the pantry and was shaking them, lol. Also, please excuse my messy, messy house. I haven't figured out how to keep it clean with 2 under 2 yet. I'm working on it, I promise! :)

Our Weekend

Friday night I noticed Avery felt really hot so I took her temperature and it was 100.5, not a very high fever but a fever nonetheless. By morning, her temp was 102.4. I called the pediatrician and they wanted to see her right away. Turns out, our poor girl has a virus with a sore throat. No wonder she had been so clingy and fussy! :( We had planned on going to Galveston Saturday, but obviously couldn't. We got Avery some toys, Popsicles and cuddles and I am happy to say she is feeling much better! She even took a dip in her new pool Sunday afternoon!




Caden has been having some trouble at night. He cries as soon as we put him in his bassinet. Billy has been sleeping with him in his arms and that seems to be working. Hopefully, he will start sleeping through the night early like his sister did. Hey, a girl can dream can't she?! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I'll leave you with some cute pictures of Caden. :)

Life With 2 Under 2....So Far

Today is my 7th day being by myself with both kids. Billy was able to take off 2 weeks from work when Caden was born and he was an amazing help. It has definitely been difficult trying to create some semblance of order. But, I love it. There are times when both kids are crying and very needy and I am ready to pull my hair out. Then, in the next 5 minutes I will have them both cuddling on my lap and my heart swells up. I am so lucky to have Billy, who works so hard to provide for us so I am able to stay home.

A typical day for us starts around 7am. The next 2 hours are full of diaper changes, bottles, yogurt and cereal for Avery and lots of cuddles. Avery is really cuddly in the mornings so we usually sit on the couch and watch one of her "shows" while Caden sleeps next to us in the boppy.




Caden is still at the stage where he sleeps most of the time. He is definitely a baby that likes to be held though, so when he is awake things can get a little hard. I get this face A LOT:



Avery is so sweet. Whenever Caden cries, she rushes over and tries to help. She'll put a blanket on him or give him a paci. She has such a sweet nature and I know she is going to be an amazing big sister.

She hasn't shown much jealousy, but she definitely has needed more attention. She mimics Caden's cry, steals his paci, gets in the infant swing and carseat, and lets me rock her and hold her like a baby (which, I must admit, I don't mind this at all!).

Yes, through-out the day there are definitely struggles but it is SO worth it. After all, have you seen the cuteness that I get to be around all day long? :)

My Little Mommy!

We thought it would be nice to get Avery her first baby doll around the time Caden was born. I bought her a sweet little doll that you can feed that came with a carseat, pack n play, high chair and carrier. We brought her home the same day we brought Caden home from the hospital. She hasn't shown much interest in her yet, but she does like to feed her every once in awhile! :)

Checking her out for the first time


Being a little mommy!

First Bath!

Caden Robert Alexander's Birth Story!

I'll try and make the story of my really loooong labor as short as possible. :)

We checked in to the hospital at 8pm, Monday night. Here is my last belly pic:



See, we were all smiles thinking we would have a baby the following morning. I figured the induction would go fast like Avery's did. No such luck, lol.



They started cervidil at 10pm. I started having contractions about 30 min later. They gave me an ambien, so I slept a little but was mostly awake dealing with the pain.

At 6am Tuesday, they took out the cervidil and immediately started the pitocin. The contractions started coming every 2-3 min and it HURT.

8:30am- My doctor came in to break my water. She checked me first and realized I was still 1cm thick. Would have been nice if they had checked me BEFORE they started the pitocin. They turned it off and said I needed another round of cervidil, this time for 12 hours.

10am- Started the second round of cervidil. I am still having contractions. They give me Staydol (sp?) which doesn't take the pain away at all but makes you sleepy and able to rest in between contractions.

So I am pretty much out of it and in pain the entire day. It was horrible.

6pm- My doctor comes in to check, I am finally dilated to a 1 so they take the cervidil out and start the pitocin. Again. They give me another sleeping pill but the contractions manage to keep me awake the entire night. I remember telling Billy that I couldn't do this anymore. :(

8:30am WEDNESDAY- Doctor comes in, checks and I am at 3. She okays the epidural.

9am- Anesthesiologist comes in and gives me the epi. They made Billy leave the room which sucked, and it freakin hurt. I don't remember it feeling like that or taking so long. I kept having shooting pains down my left leg so he had to readjust it a couple times. It really creeped me out.

The nurse then puts the catheter in, puts it in the wrong place at first and has to do another one. It was awful and really burned.

I finally start feeling no pain and get really sleepy. I am looking forward to finally getting some rest before I have to push. No such luck!

9:50isham- Nurse checks me, says I am at a 9 and while she is still checking says, "nope, you're ready to go!" I'm not going to lie, I was so tired I didn't know how I was going to push this baby out.

They tell me that my doctor is in a meeting so a male doctor from the same practice will be delivering me. He comes in right away, we get ready.

10:17am- I push through about 3 contractions and Caden is here!



Luckily, I didn't have any tears this time and didn't need any stitches. About, 30 min later my epidural kicks in and I can't feel my legs. Haha.











My parents and Ave were waiting for us in my recovery room when they wheeled me in. It was SO good to see her! She cuddled with me for awhile. :)



She was so cute, every time a nurse would come in the room Ave would yell, "my mama!" and come hold my hand. Like she was comforting me, my heart melted.



I'll leave you with our first family photo. <3

More belly pics, almost there!

7 more weeks until my due date! We get to meet you soon, little man!

She can WALK!

MARCH 1, 2010
Billy was running Avery's bath water and she was playing in our bedroom. He turned around and she was walking across the room! I was so excited that Billy was the first to see it, he is usually at work when she does her "firsts". :) Here is the first video we got of her walking, this was like the second time she did it. Already a pro!



She has been walking for a little over a month now and it's so awesome. She's so independent, and only lets me hold her hand when she needs help getting up a step or something. She is already climbing on everything too. I just hope she doesn't try to climb out of her crib just yet. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast!

Pregnancy So Far...

Here are all the belly pics I have taken so far. I feel HUGE this time. :)

7 Weeks

11 Weeks

14 Weeks

18 Weeks

18 weeks, and I can't see my feet!

I've Been a Bad Blogger- Catching Up!

I'm going to go ahead and blame it on my pregnancy, I have been so exhausted. My last post was in November so I need to catch you up on a TON. Let's see we'll start with Avery's birthday party! We did a Winter ONE-derland theme and it was so much fun! We had such a great time celebrating with our closest friends and family. I want to say thanks again to everyone who came!





Next came Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve at my Dad's house and Christmas morning was just me, Billy, Avery and my mom. It was so much fun. We had planned on leaving for OKC Christmas afternoon but had to leave at night because of a huge snow storm that came in. So, we had a steak dinner and left around 9pm. We stayed overnight in Dallas and then made our way to OKC the following morning. It was a short trip but we had so much fun seeing Popsie, Aunt Shelly, Uncle Don and Natalie! Avery got to see real snow for the first time too, you can tell from the picture how much she hated it, lol.




We had a pretty uneventful New Year's. I was so tired I didn't even make it until midnight!

On February 3 we found out that Avery is going to have a LITTLE BROTHER!!! We are so thrilled and feel very blessed to have one of each. He kicks and moves all the time, and I just can't wait to meet him. We are working on names. I will announce them once we have settled on something!

I think that's about it for now! I promise to try and keep up better with this. :)