Caleb's Day

Straddle
Stretch it out
When he started he didn't know how to jump, now look at him go!

Hand stand
His favorite part of gymnastics, diving into the "pit"
Today it's Caleb's turn to get a post just about him! :) Poor middle child. :) Last week was viewing week at gymnastics so Matt was able to come and get some great pictures of him doing his thing. He has learned so much and it's just so fun to watch him jump and climb and tumble. Sweet baby boy he's getting so big and is so much fun. He has the BEST smile and has an awesome laid back personality, but have no fear he can hold his own wherever he is...he's also our little instigator. He knows just how to drive Kaden crazy and it brings him great pleasure. He's also quite the singer...if any of you have facebook you may have seen/heard him in action...in fact as I type this he's singing again. Caleb is full of joy, full of love, and is a GREAT big and little brother. 

One Month Old!

Sweet baby girl!

  I love how my friend Julie sends out her monthly updates on her little one so thought I'd borrow her idea! :)

I am one month old today!  

 

I Like:

 Taking a bath!

 Getting my hair brushed

 Watching my big brothers play while I sit in my bouncy

 Being Held!

 Sleeping on mommy in the middle of the night!

 Eating!!! (About every 2-3 hours)

I Don't Like:

 Being naked!

 Not being held.

 Being drug in and out of my car seat several times a day while running my brothers around!

 Being hungry!!

  

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Kensington with her eyes open! That doesn't happen very often! 
What a pretty baby!
Donna Kay, Michelle Renee, Kensington Eleanor Rose
Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to everyone. While my mom was here we were able to snap a few 3 generation pictures. Such a blessing. My heart is full today as I think about all the undeserved blessings in my life, and reminded as we sang today at church, "You give and take away, but Blessed be Your name!" 

So we've been busy...

Kensington's first "real" bath! Daddy does such a great job.
I love walking into the bathroom and finding Caleb entertaining himself on the potty! :)
Kaden and Caleb posing at Kaden's T-ball game...they played an entire game with only 4 players. Gotta love t-ball!
Kensington hanging out at brother's t-ball game

Family picture after church today
So...I thought I had the three kiddos thing figured out...and then God reminded me that He likes us humble! Whew...Good thing my mom flew in this week!!! It's an amazing thing, the more awake the baby is the less I get done, it takes a really really long time to get everyone dressed, fed, and loaded into the car...and then once we get to where we're going it takes a long time to get everyone out of the car, across the parking lot and into the building, and the less sleep I get the more tired I get! :) All things that I knew but am being reminded of again this week. However, I'm praising God every moment for the recovery I've had (three more weeks till I'm cleared! WooHOO!), the healthy beautiful children He's blessed us with, a wonderfully supportive husband who loves me when I'm grumpy, and the worlds BEST mom who flies across the country just to love on me.

  So since it's been a while since I've been awake enough at night to post I'd thought I'd post two! Bonus! Hope everyone has a great start to the week, and sees God's grace poured out on them at every turn. Jesus loves you.

Just to Compare...

Baby Kaden
Baby Caleb
Baby Kensington

Just thought it would be fun to post pictures of my three babies at about the same age! :) Unbelievable how fast they all grow.  Kensie's three weeks already, Caleb is a singing/talking machine, and I'm astounded by the thoughts that Kaden has...what an amazing thing children are! Thank you God for mine. 

Guess What!!!

Guess what I just did!?! I just registered for the Big Sur Half Marathon!!!! WooHOO!!! I am so so super excited! Granted the run isn't until November 15th, but that'll give me plenty of time to get back to running again...as it is I'm back to walking a mile or so and I'm so grateful for that! Oh, I'm just so so excited. Thank you, Lord, for this gift! :) Yes...I think running is a gift! :)

  In Kensington news, she had her hip ultrasound today and the doctor declared her "normal"! Thank you Jesus once again! We are just so humbled by this blessing and so grateful. Also, in the realm of exciting baby news...Kensie's cord fell off! Kind of makes me sad, cause it means she's getting bigger...and kind of creeps me out cause we can't find it! Weird! 

  Hope everyone else is having a good start to their week! 

  Only like 7 more months to the race! :)

Kiddos!

I just thought the boys were looking cute in their undies and t-shirts, but this it the best pose I could get. 
Sweet sleeping beauty
Such a peanut 

  Just thought I'd post a quick picture of the kiddos. So surreal to think that we "should" be going in for our c-section tomorrow! I'm so grateful to be on this side of things...even if we're only getting two or three hours of sleep in a row! 

  We went in to the  Dr. today to check on her breathing. She's still has a lot of rapid breathing, but feel like this is something she will continue to outgrow...having a bit of a cold doesn't help. It was exciting to see how much she's already growing. She's put on 10 oz. since last week! She's up to 6 lbs. 7 oz! They get big so fast! :)

  Hope everyone else is having a good week. Jesus loves you. Thanks for the prayers. 

Cubs!

My Little Cub
The Cubs!
Stretching out before the game
Caleb giving Kaden a pep talk before the game...actually he was really sad he couldn't be in the dug out! Papa Van and Grandma Shawn are watching in the background. 
Up to bat....go number 4 !!!
Taking a knee after the game
The best part of the game...a free hot dog!

  Saturday was Kaden's first official T-ball game! What a blast! There's nothing like watching a group of 5 and 6 year olds try to play baseball. T-ball is my absolute favorite because no one gets out, everyone gets to hit, and everyone gets to run all the bases, and at the end everyone wins! I am not competitive at all so this is how I would play every sport! Everyone goes home happy. Also, t-ball is just great entertainment. You have some kiddos with astounding natural talent, and others that stand out in the outfield yawning and playing with their glove.  The best is that all of the kids when it was their turn to bat, would swing, hit the ball, and then just stand there and see how far it would go, while all the parents are jumping up and down yelling, "RUN!!!" half the time the kids ran, sometimes they ran to third, other times they just kind of loped toward first, and then the kids in the outfield are just falling all over the ball....litteraly. Oh, it so fun! And as for Kaden....lets just say the fastest he ran the whole time was when he got his ticket for a free hot dog! :) 

  It was surreal to be sitting at a t-ball game a week after having a c-section! It seemed so natural to just be a family of five. Thank you, Lord for our smooth transition! We would have a picture of Kesington at her first base ball game but all it would be is a blanket and Grandma Shawn (Matt's dad and step-mom came up for the weekend) since she didn't see much of the game. Maybe we'll get one next Saturday. The Cubs have an 8 week season, so we get to look forward to Happy Saturdays for the next couple of months! :)

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!