Thursday, January 31, 2013

Ceramic Ornament

Shutterfly Ceramic Ornament
Unique designs that are as unique as you. Shutterfly.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Announcing: Kaden Todd (finally)

Baby Chic Blue Birth Announcement
Shutterfly has cute birth announcements and cards for Easter.
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Kaden's Birth Story


  • Starting at 36 weeks I started being "checked" at my Dr appts.
    • 36 weeks- 3cm dilated, 70% effaced = super excited, start thinking labor could happen any time
    • 37 weeks- same/no change = boo :(
    • 38 weeks (Tues July 31st)- 4-5cm, 80% effaced, baby lower, and water bulging. Dr says "Schedule your appt for next week, but I'll see you before then" = YAY! Exactly what I wanted to hear!  I went home and started bouncing on an exercise ball, walked laps at the park, and even jumped on the trampoline a little :)
Thursday Aug 2nd- took a nap, woke up at 3:30. Felt damp and suspected I was leaking amnio fluid. I really, really wanted to go out to dinner at "Famous Daves", so I didn't tell anyone I might be leaking. (naughty, I know). Todd got home from work at 4:15 and we headed off to dinner. During dinner I finally confessed to Todd. As we were leaving I felt really wet and asked Todd if my pants looked wet. He couldn't tell, but we decided to go straight home instead of going to the store.  By 6:15 we determine, YES I am definitely leaking fluid! We grabbed our bags and headed off to the hospital.

7:05pm- arrived at the hospital, get checked in and brought into the triage room. The nurse takes a sample and sends it to the lab to determine if it's amnio fluid. I also warn her that I need the antibiotics for Group B Strep ASAP because if labor picks up there wont be enough time to have the meds in my system for the required 4 hours. She tells us she will have the antibiotics ready to start as soon as the lab verifies amnio fluid. We wait. Oh, also this whole time I can tell I'm having contractions but not having any pain. The nurse even asks- pain scale 0-10 and I answer "0" even though they are about 5 mins apart.

8:30- nurse checks dilation = 5cm
8:35- lab verifies amnio fluid
8:45- antibiotics started (baby can't be born until 12:45 or we will have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours for baby to be monitored)
9:30- My doctor arrives, checks (6cm), asks if my contractions are painful -"no"
9:35- He breaks my water the rest of the way and IMMEDIATELY things get painful! (thanks doc!) As Dr leaves he says, "be back in a little bit" with a wink ;) (He also says he thinks the baby will be 7lbs 10oz) My parents arrived as my Dr was leaving the room. As my contractions get more painful and closer together I start wanting drugs! I still didn't want an epidural, but I asked for something to take some of the pain away. I also decide I want to be in the bath tub for a little bit. The nurse had my drug by then, but says I can't have it if I want to sit in the tub. I decide to sit in the tub. The nurse tells me that if I feel the urge to push I have to get out immediately because "Doctor will be very mad at me if I let you have the baby in the tub." The hot water helps a lot, but after 3 contractions I feel like pushing (super bummed, I really didn't want to get out). My doctor is called back in to check me before they will allow the medicine (it could cause baby to go into distress) and if I'm too close to delivery I wont be allowed to have meds.
11:00- Dr checks and says I'm ready to push. (= No drugs) He starts to get all his garb on to deliver the baby, but everyone in the room pauses to watch Michael Phelps swim and win the Gold! Even I was distracted enough to make it through a contraction :)
11:07- I started pushing- 1st contraction = head out, dr says stop pushing!(not super easy to do!) 2nd contraction = shoulder 1 out. 3rd contraction =  Kaden born at 11:10pm!

 Stats: 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long (Doc was only off by 2 ounces!)
  

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Shocked, but not surprised

Is that even possible? Can you be shocked, but not surprised? Either way, thats kinda how I'm feeling. Let me explain- my aunt died. (Before I go on, I hope that any family members who read this do not get offended or hurt, these are just my thoughts and my way of dealing with the situation.) She is my mom's younger sister and was only 44 years old.

Shocked:
Today when I came home from a very fun outing with Lexi the very first thing my mom says to me is "Merlene died". First thing I said, "WHAT?!" It actually took me a few moments to process what she had said, also I was trying to take in her mood/expression/red eyes to see if this was a joke.  It turns out her boss had called my Grandma today because Merlene hadn't shown up to work in a couple days, which was very unlike her. Grandma went over to her house, saw her car was there but everything was locked up and knew something was wrong. She called the police, who came and broke into her house and found her in her bed. They think she died sometime Thur eve/Fri morn. They will be doing an autopsy to find out exactly when and why she died.

Not Surprised:
Now to the part about me not being super surprised. My aunt has many health problems- some self inflicted. She has severe asthma, allergic to cats (yet she has at least 4), drinks, smokes, and does drugs (pills). Wanna hear something really sad? Here's one of my most vivid memories of her: When I was about 10 my aunt had her 5 nieces (ranging in age from 13-8) over for a girls night/slumber party. We watched "Ghost" and we had apple juice, while she had her "special apple juice". Anyways, when our movie ended we realized we hadn't seen aunt Merlene in a while. We knocked on the bathroom door- no answer. We knew she was in there since it was a very tiny apartment. We kept knocking and trying to get a response. We finally peaked through the peak hole and saw her sitting on the toilet, but slumped over passed out. I don't remember if we prayed first or called first, but I remember we all got down on our knees and prayed- probably for comfort, her safety, and to know what to do. We also called my uncle and grandpa- who showed up with an axe. (still a funny memory to me, even amid the horror of that night). Grandpa and my uncle broke down the door. That's were my memory ends. I know we ended up going over to my cousins house to finish our slumber party.

Anyways, I am still sad and am sad for my mom, grandma, and other aunts and uncle. It's never an easy thing when someone you love dies, even if you don't approve of their activities of choice, you still love them and it's still sad when they are gone. My feelings: at least she is with Grandpa and now he can help her understand her choices and hopefully still be part of our eternal family.

Ok, anyways I just wanted to write out my thoughts and feelings.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

21 weeks

20 weeks
Tomorrow I will be 21 weeks, so I thought I should do a quick little update on our little baby :)

On the 23rd (exactly 20 wks) we had an ultrasound and found out we are having a BOY! We are super super excited to welcome Kaden Todd into our family this summer. Todd and I have had his name chosen since before we got married, and are very excited to finally get to use it!

Every day Lexi asks to hug, rub, and kiss my belly- she says "baby" very lovingly while she's doing it. We brought her to the ultrasound in hopes she would see the baby and get a better idea of whats going on (we think she might just think there's a doll in there), but she was too worried about mommy lying on the table/bed and the goo on my tummy to look at the monitor with the baby. But I know she will be a great big sister!

After our ultrasound we were told our little guy was so active, and had his hands by his face the whole time, that they weren't able to get a very clear shot of his pallet and that I would need to come back for another ultrasound (oh darn ;) THEN later that day I received a phone call saying that the Dr who reviews the ultrasound pictures wanted a better look at his heart and that I needed to go to him in Beaverton so he could do the scan. I was a little nervous, but they reassured me that he didn't see anything wrong, but just wanted to make sure.

Today, March 29th, I had that extra ultrasound- and everything looks perfect! :) We were even able to get a better picture of his manhood, since the first tech gave us a TERRIBLE picture! I mean, the whole time we kept seeing his little parts very clearly, then the pic she printed for us you couldn't see anything! So, I begged for a better picture today :)

Now, to post pictures of my poor little guy's junk all over the internet :)

11 week ultrasound

 20 week ultrasound
back and spine
face
profile
foot
It's a boy! (I promise)

 21 week ultrasound
"parts" a father can be proud of
feet (ankles crossed)
profile (w his hand by his face)
profile

Turning the big 2-6!

Writer's Note: I started this post on my birthday (March 7th) but didn't finish it until today (March 29th- which ironically is my sister's birthday) so I was able to get all my birthday stuff in 1 post :)

I know, not super exciting. Nothing "special" happens when you turn 26. And infact, we are actually celebrating my birthday on the 20th when we go see WICKED!! So, I didn't really care my birthday was coming up...until I remembered BIRTHDAY FREEBIES! I love Freebies- obviously- so I found some great blogs, where other people did all the work, and found lots of places you can get freebies on/or around your birthday.

Blogs:
http://thefrugalgirls.com/birthday-freebies
http://selacava.blogspot.com/2012/02/birthday-coupon-deals.html

So, here is how I celebrated my birthday :)

The day before my birthday I was able to get a free cream slushy (watermelon) at Sonic (It was good anytime during your birthday month). My first time ever getting one of these, and it was GOOD!

My actual birthday started at 6am (yes, thank you Alexis), but because we woke up so early, we got a jump start on our festivities!

Free* "Grand Slam Breakfast" at Denny's:
*beware, drinks are not free... found out afterwards, but oh well- It was amazing OJ :)


Then at lunch time we headed out to Chang's Mongolian Grill: Free main dish, Free sides, and free dessert! It was fantastic!! Only problem: Lexi was super tired from waking up so early... but once she got a hold of my ice cream, I was able to finish my food :)



Lexi fell asleep on the way home, so I was able to enjoy my free Blockbuster movie: Just Go With It (LOVED IT!!)

At 4 I had an Activity Days activity (I'm the 10-11yr old leader). After the activity I drove up into Woodburn to get my free Dutch Brother's drink (Peach Mango smoothy!)

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at home :)

March 20th- WICKED!! Todd and I went with our friends: Keenan and Heidi Buel, and Gary Strosser and Melissa Owens. First we went out to dinner at Red Robin where I got my free birthday burger meal and free dessert. The dessert was a surprise, they even sang to me- it was embarrassing :) Then we drove into Portland for the play! It was spectacular! Of course, I already knew it would be because I had already seen it once before- in New York City! I even bought a sweatshirt with some birthday money :)

Other Birthday Deals I cashed in throughout the month:
Buy 1 get 1 free @ Cold Stone (used on a date with Todd)
Free milkshake w purchase @ Arby's (used with Lexi, who pretty much drank the whole thing)
And a picture of the awesome bag my daddy gave me for my birthday :)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Lexi turned 2!

I feel like Lexi kind of got neglected on the blog because of the new baby, so here is a post about her 2nd birthday!

First we had a small family party with the Wilcox's for all the January birthdays. I even got to practice making the cake for her party with her friends :)



We celebrated on Sat the 28th with a ladybug party! We had 11 kids ranging from 1.5 to 7 years. Everyone dressed in red and by the end we had a house full of ladybugs! The kids made antennas as they arrived and earned spots throughout the party. Everyone had lots of fun!
Helping blow up balloons

Party food

Cake and cupcakes :)

song games

Cookie walk

Pin tail on monkey (my cute nephew Ezra)

Trying to blow out her candles


New ladybug chair!

My friend made her a ladybug apron-which she loves!

Grandma L helping her unwrap