It's A BOY!!!!

After what seemed to be longest nine months of my life, I gave birth to Kaedyn Lee on Thursday, September 22nd at 1:05am. I was induced at 5pm on the 21st so was in "active" labor for about 8 hours. I've had pre-term contractions from 26 weeks on, being monitored weekly with stress tests, spending a night in the hospital on two different occasions, plus had low amniotic fluid levels throughout my pregnancy. The night of the 20th I began having hard contractions that continued into the following day. I finally called the doctor and went in at 11am to find out that I was only 3cm but 85% effaced. I explained to the doctor that I had a feeling something wasn't right, I had thought my water had broke a week and a half prior or was leaking quite a bit. They finally listened to me, scraped my membranes and told me to go eat lunch before checking in at the hospital to be induced.

Kaedyn's labor was comparable to that with Ryan because I was given pitocin with both and my water was broke. However I had a lot more energy with Ryan because I hadn't had any pre-term labor only a few contractions leading up to his due date. Being that I was so worn out from chasing three kids and having endless true contractions for months I had little energy for this labor and delivery. I also stand by the fact that the pain of this labor was much more than any of my previous labors. All in all Kaedyn was safely delivered, I was able to deliver naturally without an epidural (which I desperately wanted this time) and he is healthy. He was stubborn through and through (from not wanting to turn from a breach position, to not wanting to completely engage his head, to waiting until his Yaya and Aunt Liana were in Midland to decide he was ready to be born) which leads me to wonder how/if at all this will display in his personality.

Once born he followed in his siblings footsteps by barely crying even once they suctioned him. Some other interesting characteristics/things about Kaedyn: He acted as if he'd been in the world for weeks when he was only minutes/hours old. He nursed right away and hasn't stopped since (or at least that is what is feels like to me, lol). He only cries when he is dirty or wants fed. He sleeps 4 to 5 hours at at time at night. He was circumcised at one week old because there was a huge miss-communication in the hospital. His siblings LOVE him so very much and hold him every chance they get! His face looks like Becca with Ryan's nose and ears. He has a ton of facial expressions just like Becca did/does. He is dark complected with brown eyes and brown hair just like Ryan had as a baby and still has (Becca was also dark complected and still is). He has the exact same toes as Dylan which are Jason's toes. His fingers look more like mine. He is perfect in every way!! =)

Here is a family picture of us all!

This announcement made with Smilebox

I'd like to send out a huge thanks to; my mom for flying in from NM for Kaedyn's birth and helping with the kids over the several days she was here!, My sister Liana for driving all this way from NM to help with the kids for an entire week!!, AND My local MOMS Club friends for five fabulous days of delicious meals plus help with our kids including keeping them overnight and transporting them to and from school AND for the diapers!!! It is so fabulous having so many wonderful people that care so deeply for our family that they'd give so much of themselves! We are truly blessed!

Schools Out!!

With school out the kids begged us to take advantage of all of the area activities going on. We went to the drive in to see the new movie Kung Fu Panda 2 plus the kids did a week at a local VBS and last but not least we took them to play in the splash park in Odessa. Check out this quick slide show here of their water fun:

This free digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

We were pleased to have Liana, Jeremy, Zackary, and Aaron visit over Memorial Day weekend. We had a ton of fun at a baseball game, shopping, playing at the park, eating yummy food, swimming, going on dates, and touring the local airplane museum. The kids were so thrilled to see their cousin Zacky and Uncle Aaron plus hanging out with Liana and Jeremy! We also had the pleasure of celebrating Liana's 21st birthday! Below is a slide show of just some of the fun we had!!

Another free photo slideshow by Smilebox

Spring Softball- Ryan & Dylan

The boys opted for playing softball for our local YMCA this year. They learned lots in several short weeks and truly enjoyed themselves the entire time. I can say that it looks like baseball is going to be much more Dylan's sport than football because he enjoys resting on the bench every other inning. He may prove me wrong though. ;-) Ryan enjoyed softball but he likes the action in the football game and that it keeps him very busy with very little down time. Maybe later this year they will choose to try to a totally different sport, guess only time will tell. In the meantime check out some of the highlights from their games...

Free digital collage created with Smilebox

Ryan's last few days of Kindergarten!

Ryan had his ups and downs this year in Kindergarten but mostly ups! He ended the year on a great note with his teacher! The last few weeks were packed with fun stuff including a program called "Bugz" where he had a speaking part and sang several songs with his classmates. His class also participated in a field day where each kid was able to compete in 5 activities. They won individual awards as well as an overall class award. Ryan got 2nd place in the individual relay race and his class won 2nd place overall and for tug of war (where Ryan was one of the anchors!). He had a blast!! Here is a glimpse of some of these fun activities...

A free digital collage by Smilebox