Our Princess

Our first family portrait
Caleb LOVES holding his princess
Kaden and his princess
Matt giving his princess some "tummy to tummy" time. 
Matt laying "tummy to tummy" with his boys
She didn't enjoy her bath at all but did love being wrapped up in her towel. 
Caleb loved watching her get her bath.
How Kaden occupied himself during Kensie's bath. He is an expert lego builder. 
Getting to brush my princess' hair for the first time. 
Such a pretty princess after her bath :) I love how big Caleb's hand looks next to her. 

I decided it was time to add some pink to the blog and change the title! :)  The princess comes from what Kaden calls little girls.  He doesn't usually refer to little girls as daughters he says, "Oh, that's their princess!" So now we have our own little princess! :)

  Kensington is doing so great, thank you for all the prayers. At her check up yesterday she was up to 5 lbs. 14 oz.  I'm still enthralled with this "baby moon" phase and today has gone really well at home with all three of the kiddos.  I've decided as long as I don't have to ever go anywhere or accomplish anything this is going to be a breeze! :) 

Promise

I promised Matt I wouldn't stay up late and post pictures tonight, so I can't put any pictures up, but I just had to write real fast and just say Thank you Lord for the gift of our precious children. I just checked on three sleeping children, all safely tucked into their beds and it made my heart just burst. Granted one of those three will be up in about an hour ...and then again...and again...and probably one more time...but for the moment they are all sound asleep, the house is peaceful and I am content and feeling so undeservedly blessed. Check in with me again tomorrow as Matt has to drive 3 hours away to the closest Air Force Base for his annual check up (he'll be gone all day), so it'll be me and the kiddos for the first time by ourselves! :) Hopefully I'm feeling just as content  and blessed by the end of the day tomorrow! :) Ok, I'm off to sleep for an hour! :)

Surprise!

Saying hello to their new princess

The many faces of Kensington

God is good, all the time! Even when He works in very unexpected ways! Saturday morning I woke up to find that my water had broken sometime while I was sleeping! I was BEYOND shock. I have had to be induced with both of the boys and had set in my head that we would be having our baby on the 23rd when our c-section was scheduled! God had other plans. After a frantic call to my mom to confirm what I suspected, I woke Matt up (who also just stared at me in disbelief for a moment or two), and then we went to wake Oma up (Praise the Lord for His perfect timing in having her here!), called the doctor and the hospital, called Anna, panicked over not having the baby clothes washed yet...that was on my to do list for Tuesday!..., panicked over not having bags packed or anything at all remotely ready for going in to the hospital, threw a couple of things into a bag, kissed the boys goodbye, got them settled, and rushed to the hospital.

Once at the hospital we were quickly admited, undressed, gowned, monitered, and then ...we waited...and waited...for the doctor on call to show up. At this point I was beginning to panic thinking maybe I had just imagined my water breaking but then the contractions started :). Dr. Hansen arrived at the hospital and confirmed that I was not crazy, my water had broken, and I was 3 cm. dialted and 50% effaced! She also confirmed that our baby was still breech! :) I had to laugh at the irony of finally having the surprise labor, going into labor on my own, it was progressing flawlessly...and I was going in for a c-section. :) We got all scrubbed up and ready for the c-section when another patient went into the last stages of labor so we had to wait until Dr. Hansen delivered that baby before we could begin. At this point, my contractions were beginning to get stronger and closer together but nothing unbearable. Finally, it was our turn to go in to the OR. The procedure itself went really, really well and went just like all the books said...spairing you all the gruesom details...it really does feel like you're being unzipped, the baby is lifted out, and then there's a lot of pushing and pulling while they put you back together. :) Kensington Eleanor Rose came in weighing 6 lbs 3 oz and was about 19 1/2 ins. long although it was hard to get a good estimate since she kept pulling her feet up to her ears...makes sense since that's the position she had been in for the last 2 months.

One of the biggest blessings, was that they brough our beauitful new baby girl to me while I was in the recovery room so we could begin bonding and nursing right away. So amazing and so hard to comprehend how this beautiful vibrant life on the outside was just moments before kicking and moving on the inside...what a miracle. After that the next 2 days are pretty much a medicated blur!!! :) Highlights being, an amazing husband who stood by me and supported me, getting to watch Kaden and Caleb oooh and awww over their new sister, the blessing of an amazing nursing staff, and doctors who really took an interest in our situation and did their utmost to ensure the best care. Kensie was having a difficult time with breathing. After running a gammet of blood tests, x-rays and such, they concluded that she has a syndrome caused by being born some early and via c-section. She was kept under careful watch in the nursery for a couple days and we are just so thankful that she was able to be released to come home with us today. Matt's done a great job giving her lots of tummy to tummy time which has really helped her with her breathing. What a great dadddy! The nurses were also great at helping us get nursing started since she was having a hard time eating due to the breathing. I guess overall, we're just so impressed and so grateful for the way in which God provided.

And so here we are four days later, it's after midnight, I'm almost due for another pain pill, I haven't slept much in 5 days and I'm still trying to process everything through by writing it out on the blog! I just keep looking at her in awe and confusion. Not quite sure how she got here, how everything is going to ajust into a new "normal", thankful to be on this side of the c-section instead of still waiting for it to happen, and amazed at God's provision through it all.

So anyways, there's my rambling brief on the last couple of days...I'll update again soon with some family of five pictures and a new name for the blog...better come up with that when I've had more sleep. :) Jesus loves you!

Happenings

Actually, there aren't a lot of happenings around here this week, except that I am slowly getting to that "lose your mind at the end of pregnancy" feeling.  I've started to lose things (can't find my blue tooth thingy anywhere...so frustrating), misplacing things that I just had in my hands two seconds ago, slightly irrational mood swings :) , and very vivid baby dreams. Last night we had a sweet family over for dinner and really enjoyed out time with them. Before they left, I asked about their c-section experiences...she's had 5! One "normal" delivery and her 7th is due four days after ours! :) Anyways, she was so sweet to share everything with me, and just kind of give Matt and I a heads up on what to expect. However, I did have babymares all night about having c-sections, not being able to move, and waking up and not being able to find the baby...and then when I did find her she didn't look anything like us and weighed over 10 lbs! Crazy! :) Ahhh...the joys of pregnancy. 

  But before this chat begins to sound despairing, let me share what awesome things God is doing! I am so thankful to be blessed with a healthy pregnancy and baby and don't ever want to take for granted God's provision for a hospital and a safe delivery option for both of us. Also, just as I was typing this my neighbor came over and handed my blue tooth!!!! WooHoo! I can stop obsessing about that one! :) Praise the Lord. Also, my mommy bought tickets to come out and see me! Yippee! I'm so excited and can't wait to have my mommy here! Sure hope my kids still feel the same way about me someday! :) 

  Lets see other random happenings...oh, Oma comes tomorrow for the Easter weekend! Everyone is very excited at our house...and speaking of which I should probably go clean so that the house is ready! :) Hope everyone is having a blessed Holy Week and seeing God's hand over them in very specific ways . God has really been putting on my heart that He is God on His throne and yet He loves me...enough to die for me and care for me in every detail of my life. Thank you Lord. 

T-Ball at Last

Caleb and Daddy 
Kaden and Aiden...two buddies just waiting for practice to start. 


I just think he looks so tiny in these pictures!



Isn't he beautiful!

  I didn't put a lot of comments next to the pictures because I'm just not sure what to say. My heart is so full and I'm just so proud of my precious baby boy! I can't believe he's starting t-ball! He did such a great job listening to his coaches, hustling after the ball, hitting, catching and throwing...nothing extraordinary but amazing to his mama. I just marvel at this precious little man that God allows me to call mine. I'm so in love with him. If I'm this excited just after the first day of assessment, I can't imagine how I'll feel after he actually has his first game! :) We should hear back later today from the coaches to see which team he's on. I'm just so glad that he had a good time and did his best. I'm so so proud.  

  Not sure what the rest of the weekend will hold...we may still try to squeeze a swim in but will probably devote the rest of this weekend to letting Matt study. oh, I am looking for a good jogging stroller or just a really good stroller if anyone has any advice or recommendations on what to look for, that would be great!  Thanks. Jesus loves you.

3 weeks and counting...

So I really need to get the boys down for their nap, but don't even feel like I have enough energy to climb the stairs...so here I sit. It may be time to par down the walking in the mornings...my buns are so sore today  and  I'm SO tired...anyways....

  Our OB appointment was the best yet yesterday. Not because the baby flipped...she's still sitting pretty with her head up, but because the doctor was very giving and LISTENED! Very nice. We decided to go ahead and set a c-section date understanding that she will probably not flip though God can do anything even up until the last minute. He did assure me that he will do an ultrasound right before the c-section just to make sure there isn't any last minute turning...in fact, he shared one story about a lady he had a spinal in, draped, and prepped in the OR and he saw her stomach do a weird flip and sure enough the baby flipped at that moment! They just waited until the spinal wore off and then induced her! Crazy! I don't think that will be our story but we'll see. 

  The most amazing part of yesterday was before I went in Matt and I sat down and picked a day that would be our day of choice if given one. We figured Thursday the 23rd at about noon looked best for Matt's school schedule and for my mom coming within a week...so as the Dr.s walking out the office door he's mumbling something about the 16th for a date, I can't follow to talk to him cause I'm stripped from the waist down and hear something about he'll call me and let me know. Whatever. So I'm standing at the desk waiting to make an appointment for next week and he comes up behind me and says, "You know I don't usually do this, but I"m willing to let you go to your due date!" What!!!! I've been asking for that for weeks. I start thanking him profusely and I say, "Just to clarify that's the 27th?" He says, "No, I have the 23rd as your due date!" At this point, I'm like ok God you win I'll let you have control...so they called last night and we're scheduled for April 23 at 12 p.m.! 3 weeks from tomorrow! Thanks for the prayers. We'd still love to see her flip but I have much more peace knowing that God is in control and working out all the details...down to the date and time!

Toys R Us

Yesterday, Matt and I packed the boys up and headed into Salinas to get some baby shopping done. We finally have a car seat! WooHoo! One less thing I can check off the "to do before baby comes" list. We found what we needed at Toys R Us and also picked up a new changing table pad (those things are expensive! $22 for something you're going to change poop on, Really!!!) Anyways, as soon as we got home we found our old one...so I headed back into Salinas today to return the new one. Ok this is a really long explination to get to the point of the story. When I told Caleb where we were going today he said, "Yeah! Toys For Us! I love that store!" :) I just like that instead of Toys R Us he calls it Toys For Us. What a great marketing campaign.

  In other Caleb news, he TOLD me he had to go poppy today and did it! This is a huge break through!!! We've been scrubbing underwear for a week strait! Sorry, if that's to much info, but really this is huge for the Van Hook house this week. 

  Our doctor appointment is tomorrow as well. Dr. said he was going to do an ultrasound to check position for sure, and I"m thinking we'll get a c-section date set up just in case she's not turned. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the prayers. Keep them coming! Jesus loves you.

Swimming Results...

Basically I got really wet, my ear drums started to really hurt from diving to the bottom so many times...I guess from the pressure, and baby girl is still head up! :) Oh well, it was fun just to swim around for a while and hopefully next week everyone will be healthy so we can just go play around in the pool as a family. Maybe it's time to just let it go and let God! :) Have a blessed Sunday!

Friday Night

Not much to say tonight, just felt like popping in and saying hello. Hope everyone had a good end of the week and is looking forward to the weekend. We had a sick boy for the last two days...not quite the way Matt and I had hoped to spend his only two days off between semesters, but that's ok. Kaden seems to be fever free tonight, and I'm so grateful that all he seems to have had is a fever without the stomach bug or cough! Now we're praying that Caleb stays healthy! Praise the Lord for the healthy babies that we have!
I'm hoping to take our baby swimming in the morning. I've read and heard that standing in shoulder deep water and then diving down toward the bottom of the pool can help flip a baby. :) Seems like when you become weightless they do too and it's easy for them to turn around...I don't know we'll see what happens. I KNOW that this is ALL in God's hands and that no matter what His perfect will, will be done. Still it never hurts to go for a swim! :) Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll let you know how the swim goes. Jesus loves you.

Still Up

From everything we could tell at our appointment yesterday, Baby Girl is still head up and perfectly happy! :) Silly girl. Our doctor's still sticking to wanting to do a c-section at 39 weeks. Matt and I both feel we should probably trust his judgment on this, but are still praying that God will turn her in the next four weeks! Other then that I'm felling...big.  :) 

  On a more exciting baby note, I was able to pick up our diaper bag today! I'm so blessed that Matt let me have one made by a really sweet girl down the street! I got to pick out the fabric (although you can't see it in the picture there's little bits of like white pearl looking drops through out it...it's supposed to kind of look like it's under the sea), and custom design it on the inside. It's really special and it does get me excited about having a girl and getting to see her very soon! Now we just need to finish her room! We did get the crib up, but there's still a lot of rearranging and such to do...all in good time! 

  I was reminded today, yet again, to make sure that I'm praising the Lord each day for all things, not just when things are going "right". Understanding, that His will and His plan is perfect. I want my life to be lived out as a sacrifice or praise. Jesus loves you. 

Super Buddies

Spiderman, Robin, and ummm...I'm not sure what Caleb is supposed to be...a masked, no pants, backpack man :)
Our Defender of Truth and Justice

  The boys have become really good friends with our duplex neighbor Aiden. They love to dress up in costumes and defend the universe...or at least the house from invading pirates, robots, or villians...whomever is coming at the moment! I feel very safe with my superheros around. :)

  Hope everyone is having a good weekend. I love how I can make plans and then God can rearrange them and it turns out for the better. I'm most excited about getting a date with Matt...I can't even remember the last time we went out alone together. We're going for Chinese food and to the hospital! WooHoo..what a date! We've got to go to the hospital to have our pre-admission interview before the baby comes...I'm not sure what we're interviewing for, hope they find us worthy of having our baby at the hospital! :) Speaking of baby...As far as I can tell she is still head up. We'll find out for sure on Monday. I have been trying different things (thanks to everyone for their VERY sweet and helpful advice, I really appreciate it). I've done everything from laying upside down on an ironing board that's propped up against the couch and sitting with bags of frozen peas on my belly! The babies aren't supposed to like cold so they rotate away from the cold peas...I don't think she's fully rotated but she definitely does NOT like having frozen peas put on her head. :)

  On the big boy front...Caleb is doing really well with potty training! WooHoo! I'm so proud of him, and thrilled that we may very well be all done with diapers before the baby comes!

  Hope everyone has a good weekend. Jesus loves you. 

Baby Update

Well, we're half way through our eight month! Praise the Lord! :) We went to the doctor yesterday for our checkup and found out that our little girl (although the doctor refused to check and make sure that baby really is a girl...Said something like, "I've never been wrong." and "I checked once and it's a girl.") Hope he's right! Anyways, is sitting pretty....literally sitting, as in strait up and down with her head way up...not anywhere close to the correct position! :) While we do still have time for our breech baby to turn, the doctor is beginning to talk c-section, scheduled 5 weeks from yesterday! I was not at all ready for that time frame. Suppose we should get the crib up and a car seat bought! :) We go again next Monday to see if she has turned at all, and the doctor explained some "positions" I can get in to try and encourage her to move. Picture, a girl push-up with your hind in sticking up as high as you can get it and your head down. Weird. We are so so SO thankful for a healthy baby, so far, and we know that God has all things in His powerful hands. We would still covet your prayers though for a turned baby and a vaginal delivery! Thanks so much! Hope everyone is having  a happy Tuesday. 

Hereditary?

Kaden posing with his new pirate lego set, that he bought with his own money and built ALL by himself!
Is it possible for Lego fascination (kind way of saying obsession) to be hereditary? If so, Kaden definitly gets it from his daddy. We spend most of our afternoons playing legos at our house...big and little boys! :) Right now we're into the pirate lego sets. We even put on theme music (Pirates of the Carabiean) while we play, makes the experience that much more fun. I'm just glad that Matt and the boys have something that they really love doing together and can really get excited about...Wonder if our little girl will get into running so she and mommy can share the same fetish too? :)

Thursday Ramblings...

Matt snapped this picture of Kaden, Caleb, and their cousins staring down a hole near Papa Van's spa...I have no idea what they're looking at or what they're looking for, I just love how even a hole is fascinating when you're little!
Just checking in with everybody and hoping that the sun is shining just as brightly and warmly at your house as it is at mine. :) I love the ocean, have I said that before? *sigh* I'm counting my blessings, that we still have another year here before moving to a place with four seasons...and really it's only one season I'm not a big fan of! :)

 Kaden had his first official field trip today. Very fun, very noisy, but every child, as far as I could tell, was accounted for and without injury so that is a success! His preschool went to the children's museum downtown to play. It's not so much a museum as a cool play place to run around in. I love those kind of museums! You get to touch everything. Caleb is a bit obssessed with the play house, having tea, and the pretend cupcakes. I think he carried around the chocolate cupcake the entire hour and a half we were there and wasn't at all thrilled about passing it on to someone when we had to leave. :) The way to that boys heart is his tummy!

  Not much planned for this weekend. We may head into Salinas and get some baby shopping done and such so that's exciting. Monday is our next OB appointment so until then the days drag a bit. It cracks me up how I can wait for weeks to get to see the doctor and our appointments last about 10 min! Our doctor is so fast. I'm in and out before I have time to ask him questions. At least I never have to wait in the office! I'm hoping for an ultrasound to see if our little one is still breech but we'll see...that may take more then my 10 min. of alloted time! :) As long as he's good in the delivery room, I won't complain...much. :)

  Well, enough postponing the inevitable bathroom cleaning. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Jesus loves you.

Disneyland!!!

Reading the word "Disneyland" on the front gate and starting to realize why we are there!
A picture to prove that we were the first one's in line at the gate! It was fun but slightly anti-climatic as the boys were SO excited to be at Disneyland and then we had to wait 20 min. to get into the parking! :)

We met up with our precious friends the Aquinos and had a blast together. 
Kaden, Caleb, and Gracyn waiting in line to meet the Princesses! 
Princess Aurora! Very exciting...I loved that Gracyn adored sitting on her lap, I'm sure she felt just like a princess too!
Aurora took the kids over to Snow White to personally introduce them! 
I think Caleb's favorite part of the day was eating...lunch, ice cream, dinner, lollypops...etc. :)
Kaden is exactly 46 in. tall...just big enough to ride all the big rides...which have now affectionatlly been deemed "freak out rides!" :) I love this face cause you can tell he's just not sure how he's going to like "Indiana Jones"!
Posing with Tigger. We got the boys an autograph book and the boys got about 14 signatures. They had so much fun meeting all their favorite characters. 
Caleb finally got his own Mickey Mouse ears!
Jedrix and Matt taking the kiddos on the teacups! I love this picture cause both the daddies are pointing at the mommies telling the kids to smile :)
Caleb eating again! 
Both boys passed out while we waited for the Fantasmic show to start.
Sweet sleepy boys. 

  Thank you Lord for such a great weekend. We arrived safely at Disneyland Friday morning after driving all night! It was worth every moment to see the boys in the morning as they realized why we were there! All we had told the boys that morning when we woke them up to put them in the car is that we had to run some errands. What blessed Matt and I SO much is that they never questioned us or where or why we had to go. They were perfectly content to just be with us and know that we had a plan and would keep them safe. Oh, that we would trust God like that when we can't see His plan.

  We had a wonderful day with our friends Jedrix, Lisa, and Gracyn. They were so sweet to meet us there in the morning and spend the whole day with us! So fun. The park wasn't very busy at all so we got to see lots of Characters and ride more rides then we excpected ( I had a picture of the boys with Mickey Mouse up on the blog but somehow it got deleted and I can't figure out how to get it back up there...but just imagine Mickey and the boys smiling and you get the idea! :) Kaden LOVED getting his check book...I mean autograph book signed. ( He calls it his check book) and Caleb did SO much better with all the guys, he didn't cry one time! :)

  There's lots more stories to tell, but alas children, laundry, and schedule are calling, so for now hope you enjoy the pictures! :)

  

Shhhhh...

I'm letting everyone in on a little secret...we're leaving late tonight to take the boys on a surprise trip to Disney Land! WooHoo! We wanted to do one more big thing as a family of four before adding on our next blessing. :) It's going to be a BUSY weekend. We're driving down in the middle of the night tonight, to arrive at Disney just as the boys open their eyes in the morning. :) We plan to spend all day Friday at the park and crash that night at Dad and Shawn's. Saturday, there is a double family baby shower planned for Michelle and Michelle (yes, we have the same name. One Michelle is Matt's step-sister and one is me) and I get to give the other Michelle 3 tubs full of boy baby clothes! So excited to pass them on. Then on Sunday we'll spend breakfast with Matt's mom and then drive the 6-7 hours back home! We are so excited and so blessed that the Lord has worked all these plans out. Disney has a great military deal going right now so that has really helped. Hope everyone has a good weekend and I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back! Jesus loves you. 

God's Promise

Now I'm not complaining about the weather since I know that some of the country is experience massive snow storms...but still it HAS been raining on and off ALL day EVERY day for the last month. However one of the perks to said weather are the gorgeous rainbows! Today's rainbow was exceptionally big and just so vibrant. It really was breathtaking. Caleb was so excited he was jumping up and down! Every time the boys see one they call it, "God's Promise" and I'm reminded not only to be thankful for God's enduring love and promises but for tender hearts that love Him. 

Wedding Day

With this ring...
The ceremony was held at Mom and Dad's house. I love that Dad has married me and now Jeremy...only one more to go! :) 
This is my favorite picture
Bride and Groom (Tracy you're beautiful!..and J your not bad either!)
Chris, Mom, Tracy, Jeremy, and Dad
  I'm proudly posting some pictures from Jeremy and Tracy's wedding. It was increadibly painful not to be there...but if you look real closely in some of the pictures you'll see evidence of me...I'm the phone in the background. :) I at least got to listen as Jeremy and Tracy said their vows and as they were announced husband and wife. It is SO strange to think of Jeremy as married now...he's still the little boy I spent hours with trying to convince him to eat his peas...he still won't eat peas, but I am excited to have Tracy as a sister (finally :) and to see how God will lead them. Please pray for them, as the Lord lays them on your heart.