The Busiest Thanksgiving Ever!

Our little family was blessed with FIVE delicious Thanksgiving meals!

(Completely random, yet completely adorable picture of our little man)

We started on the Sunday before Thanksgiving at our annual 1st Youth Thanksgiving Dinner. It is a pot-luck style meal so all of the students and their families are in charge of bringing a side dish or a dessert. It is always fun to taste different homemade recipes and we definitely tasted our fair share of food that night!

(Caden trying a pickle. He made funny faces, but he wanted more)

Tuesday night we had a "Friendsgiving Dinner" with several of our friends. We were each in charge of bringing something to contribute to the meal. We had so much fun and laughed so hard that I was in tears!

(Caden with his great uncle Scott)

We went to Blake's grandmother's house on Thursday. Caden was able to meet several family members for the first time that afternoon and the food was delicious!

(Caden with the girls)

On Friday, we went to my mom's house to enjoy another meal. My cousin, her husband, her adorable daughter, and her sweet niece were able to eat with us. It was the first time they were able to see Caden and I'm glad they were able to meet.

(Another random picture of Cado)

Finally, we drove to Kansas City to see my dad on Friday night. We spent the night there and had yet another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Caden was able to meet even more of his relatives. I accidentally left my camera at home so I am sad to say that I didn't get any pictures while we were there.

Caden's First Bites

Caden tried out his first solid food (if you can call rice cereal solid food) on November 13th. He didn't know what to think about it at first, but now he eats his rice cereal every day and loves it!

Family Pictures

I have been such a lazy blogger lately! We have been really busy this month. At the beginning of the month Blake's brother, Cole, took our first family pictures! He did such a great job that I have already replaced the majority of the pictures in our house! Here are just a few of our favorites:

Our Halloween Festivities

Caden dressed up as Rex from Toy Story for Halloween. Is he not the cutest little dinosaur you have ever seen? We went to our church's Halloween carnival last night. There wasn't much Caden could do, but he enjoyed all of the attention.
He put up with the costume a lot better than I expected, but he did get sick of the headpiece after awhile.
On Friday, Blake and I went to a Murder Mystery Party with some of our friends. It was a masquerade theme. I played a seasoned astronaut and Blake was the owner of a dry cleaners. We had so much fun and luckily I wasn't the one to die this year!

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone has a spooktacular day!

Caden Giggles!

I was able to get another video of Caden giggling. He has only laughed a few times so I am surprised that I have been able to capture it on film twice! Caden is so much fun right now. He is growing so fast and learning new things every day. I just want time to slow down so that I can soak all of him in!

So, I found out that I was pregnant...

...a year ago today! I cannot believe how much my life has changed in one year. From that moment on nothing has been the same, nor will it ever be again. I feel like the Grinch. My heart has grown at least three sizes. I love Caden unlike I have ever loved another human being. His smile can wipe away any stress, worries, or negative thoughts that I have in a split second. I never thought that I would fall in love with someone who was short, bald, and toothless, but I did! I have grown to love Blake even more than I ever thought possible. My love for him grows every time I see him interact with Caden. I could not have imagined a more perfect husband for me or a more incredible dad for Caden. I am truly blessed!

Caden's Birth Story - Part 2

A couple of friends of ours are about to welcome their first little one into the world today. This gave me the motivation to continue Caden's Birth Story. Enjoy!

We arrived at the hospital at about 2:30am. We checked into triage where I got to change into my lovely hospital gown. Before I could get my own room, they had to make sure that I was actually in labor. In this area of the hospital they have several beds separated by curtains. The nurse put me in a bed that was right next to another lady in labor. This lady was very obviously in a lot of pain. Every time she had a contraction (and maybe sometimes when she wasn't having a contraction) she would moan VERY loudly. I was having pretty painful contractions still, but they were not painful enough to make me vocalize my pain. I started to get a little freaked out. All I could think was maybe I'm not really in labor or that I just wasn't as far into labor as she was and that the pain was going to get a lot worse.

The nurse got me hooked up to the fetal monitor and the uterine contraction monitor. Hearing Caden's heartbeat made my anxiety go way down. It was now time for the nurse to check me. I was already dilated to 6cm and 70% effaced! I could not have been more relieved (especially after hearing that the lady next to me was only at 4cm). I knew that I was going to finally get to meet Caden!

We stayed in triage for a while longer so that a doctor could come talk to us. Meanwhile the lady next door just kept on moaning. I was sad for her, but she gave Blake and I a little bit of comic relief. We moved to our labor and delivery room at about 4am and got settled in. We decided that it was time to call our families and let them know that Caden was coming.

At about 4:30am the nurse came to our room to check me again. I was at 8cm and 90% effaced! The contractions were coming very fast and very hard. I had to keep telling myself that with each contraction, my body was preparing for the arrival of my sweet baby. I would not have been able to get through this part of my labor without Blake and my battery operated fan. Blake was wonderful. He fed me ice chips and helped me remember to breath. But oh that fan! That awesome fan!


I was able to sit it right in front of my face. It kept air blowing on me through each contraction. I'm not sure why but it made each contraction a lot more comfortable to get through.

My mom and sisters got to the hospital at about 4:45. I was worried about not having our camera or video camera in the room so my sweet sisters went to our car to get them for us. They ended up bringing all of our stuff to our room. The nurse came back to check me again a few minutes before 5. I was between a 9 and a 10 and 100% effaced.

I was starting to feel the urge to push (a very strange feeling that I can't really explain). The nurse told me to go ahead and try to push. I pushed for about 20 minutes before I REALLY started to feel the urge to push. It felt so good to push at this point. I can't quite explain this either. It felt like I was pushing the pain of each contraction out of my body. After about 30 minutes of pushing and not making very much progress, we started to try different methods of pushing until we found the most effective method.

The doctor came in at about 5:50. I will save the rest of Caden's Birth Story for Part 3!

Caden Goes to the Zoo!

Today Caden and I went to the Gentry Safari with several of our friends. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. While we were there we witnessed some turtles "wrestling." I got out my video camera so that I could show Blake later. Caden evidently thought it was just as funny as the rest of us!

(I apologize for my poor filming skills)

Go Hogs!!!

Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!

Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!

Woooooooo. Pig. Sooie!

Razorbacks!

I'm Going to be an Aunt!!!

Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law! They are expecting their first baby! I haven't been more excited about something since I found out that I was expecting! I am going to be an aunt and Caden is going to have a cousin! We love you Courtney and Paul and we can't wait to meet you Baby Bennett!

Caden's Birth Story - Part 1

Caden will be three months old on Thursday so I decided I'd better write down everything that I remember about his birth before I forgot. I thought that he might like to know someday and since I am terrible at scrapbooking I thought that this blog would be a good way to preserve our memories. So here it goes:

Every summer our church's youth group does an event called Local Mission Project. The students and adult volunteers go out into our community to help others in need. Blake and I helped out in the evenings this year. Tuesday night we had dinner with the students and then we went to the movie theater to watch Toy Story 3 which was the Special Event for the night. I started having pretty consistent and painful contractions while we were waiting for the movie to start. I started timing the contractions and timed them throughout the movie. I didn't really believe that I was in labor because I had been having consistent contractions a couple of nights a week for a few weeks, but these contractions didn't stop. I continued to time them through worship and free time. Blake and I were at the church until about 12:30am.

When we got home the contractions increased in intensity. I decided to take a bath to see if they would go away. They didn't. Blake and I decided to try to get some sleep just in case we had to go to the hospital later. As soon as the first contraction hit after we went to bed I knew that I would not be able to sleep. I was still hesitant to go to the hospital. My biggest fear was that we would get to the hospital and they would tell us to go back home because I wasn't actually in labor. Blake and I debated for about three minutes when the next contraction hit. We knew then that it was time to go.

We had to call Cole so that he could come take care of Mayzie and Toby while we were gone. He didn't hesitate even though it was about 1:30am. I was amazed at how fast he got to our house. Thank you Cole! We made him promise not to tell anyone because we wanted to get settled at the hospital before we told anyone else.

Blake was so excited and nervous. It was so sweet! He had to get everything together and loaded into the car because I could barely move during the contractions. We got loaded up and headed to the hospital at about 2am.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

A Smile to Brighten Your Day...

Caden started smiling at us about a week ago. I was finally able to get a decent picture of one this morning. :)

I'm Back!

Nobody ever told me that I would feel like I was on another planet for about three weeks after I had a baby. This planet was not always fun. In fact, it sucked most of the time. I rarely had the chance to just enjoy being a new momma with the stress of trying to successfully breastfeed, being sleep deprived, allowing my body to heal, and finding the time and energy to entertain people when they came to see us. I felt guilty for not being able to just enjoy my time with Caden. That guilt just added to the stress. I cried on a daily basis and Blake had to counsel me on a daily basis. I think I just expected everything to be a lot easier. I wasn't prepared for the amount of worrying I would do. I still visit this planet full of stress, worry, and guilt once in awhile, but for the most part I am back on Planet Earth enjoying my time with my wonderful husband and my beautiful baby boy!

Caden Tyler

Born June 23rd at 6:55am

7lbs 10oz

20 1/2 inches long

DIY Book Holders

I found this idea here and I loved the way the books were displayed. I have a little bit of an obsession with children's books and I wanted to be able to show off some of our collection. I made a few modifications, however. I wanted to see more of the front covers so I didn't cut the fabric as wide as the tutorial suggests. Our wall studs were in funny places so we used wall anchors. Also, my book displays are about 36 inches long instead of 48. I really love the way that they turned out and I cannot wait to start reading to Caden!

Another Project Finished!

I finally finished Caden's crib bedding! The bumper was definitely the most challenging, but I am very pleased with the outcome. Now if he would just make his debut so that we can actually use it!

Caden's Quilt

I am so fortunate to have a mother with a passion for quilting. This is the BEAUTIFUL quilt that she made for Caden. I cannot wait to snuggle up with him in it! Thank you Mom!

So Cool!

I went to one of my good friend's bachelorette party last night and when I came home this was on my wall!!! Cole had designed it for me on Thursday and I loved it. He and Joni worked on it the whole time I was gone and were just about finished by the time I got home. I had no idea that they were going to paint it last night, but I am so glad that they did. It looks AMAZING and the nursery is now a little closer to being finished!

Toby Loves His Uncle Cole!

So Sweet!