Life... a long "nutshell" of what's been going on.

Almost 7 weeks have passed since my precious youngest boy was born. My how time has flown! I have enjoyed every single snuggle, and made a point to remember them. He is growing so fast. In fact, last night, as far as I know, he slept through the night (10pm-5am)!!! If he didn't, I didn't know. He is growing like Kaden did.. FAST and furious! Can I just say I am in love with my little family? (Some would say 5 is not little. I feel it is little. Just sayin'.) Kaden and Kate have adjusted to Kamden so well. Never once have I seen even a hint of dislike, jealousy, or meanness. Kaden has loved to hold him from day 1. It can be so helpful if Kamden just wants held and I have something I need to do. I can usually buy about 5 minutes with Kaden holding him. Kate isn't as "into" holding him, but she loves him just as much. She adores rocking him in the swing and giving him kisses. She still refuses to try to say his name. He is "baby" to her. Kamden fits in so well. I would say for the most part he is an easy going baby (however, when hungry, he will not be pacified!). He likes to be held to sleep during the day (I blame company for the first 4 weeks of his life!) but sleeps well in the bassinet in the night. (As I type, however, he is sleeping well, in the daytime, in his bassinet...so I am hoping this is a good sign!) He has just in the last few days gone to, what I would call a real schedule. Eats around 7 or 8am, then at 10:30am, 1:30pm 4:30pm, 6:30pm and 9:30pm..and sometime in the night...lately, 4am-5am. I love it! His "grouchy" times are between 4:30 and 7pm when he usually goes "to bed"...it does make dinnertime a struggle, but as my third, I remember this is a phase. And I can handle it! Kamden started smiling at 6 weeks old! He definitely reserves them for special moments. The first one I caught on camera was him looking in the mirror where his changing table is. The next night I was holding him and I would say "Kamden, where's your daddy?" And Luke would say "Hi Kamden" and he'd arch his back and turn his head to see his daddy who was behind him, and grin. Melted Daddy's heart! He smiles 10x more for Luke than anyone else at this point! Kaden started "preschool" in the beginning of October. It is more of a co-op with 2 of my friends wiht boys Kaden's age. We rotate teaching/houses and have 2 1/2 hours of preschool on Tuesday and Friday mornings. We are working out the kinks, but have settled on focusing on learning letters/sounds (they all know the sounds fairly well already) and writing the capital letter. They are all at different levels...Kaden definitely needs to work on writing his letters, where one of the other boys is already very good at writing and controlling his pencil. It makes it a challenge to keep them all learning what THEY need to learn and working on the things they each need to work on. It has been SO good for my boy. He sees the other 2 working hard and wants to do the same (when I tried to teach him at home he just didn't want to, or got discouraged quickly). They have a bit of playtime during that time to (whatcha gonna do when we all have younger ones to tend to as we "teach") and overall it is just a blessing. This means that 2 out of every 3 preschools I get to drop Kaden off and run errands or do housework with just Kate and Kamden. Who knew that would be easier??? Also, to update on Kaden's arm (which he "broke" the day before kamden was born and was in a cast for 2 weeks.) He had his 2 week xray and they discovered it was not broken after all. (They did know this was a possibility, as the kind of break it appeared to be can only be diagnosed after healing occurs or doesn't occur, as was this case.) He had just sprained it good. So he is cast free for 4 weeks now... dare I say it??? Katelyn began limping sometime back in May-ish. It was just randomly, but by August had become almost constant. I finally took her to see the Family Doctor in mid-September and was referred to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon with concerns that one leg was shorter than the other. She also ended up with a referral to the ENT for her tonsils because she had a fever and big tonsils. We have gone to both surgeons. Her leg is fine, (PRAISE the Lord!) and we just have to watch it to see if she is ever in pain, etc... but wouldn't you know it, her limp dissapeared the day of the appointment. I could swear this kid does things by the "power of suggestion." But, at least our minds were at ease! Her tonsils are another story. She has had large (touching) tonsils since January. The ENT confirmed that although her tonsils are not "diseased" or unhealthy, she will never "grow into" them. They will eventually become a problem, either by causing sickness or sleeping/snoring/breathing problems. We elected to go ahead and have them removed now while she is young, before the problems come, and while our deductible is met. It helps to have been through this with Kaden (AFTER his caused many problems) and we know what to expect. Her surgery is this next Friday (Oct.26th). We are looking forward to I am praying htat all we have to face next year are "well child" checks! In other news, Kate is talking very, very well! We might be the only ones who can understand her, but we'll take it! She talks as if she can say every word she wants, and we understand a lot of it...unless she's lecturing, and then it's just a bunch of jibberish...until the "NO NO Deh-deh (Kaden)". She is very convincing with her lectures, even if we don't understand a word. We will try to video her talking here soon before her surgery so we can hear if her voice changes as drastically as Kaden's did! We have been helping her memorize a Bible verse with her Sunday School class. It is "God made me." When I first helped her with it, she must have thought that since I was the one saying it: "God made me" that she should say "God made Mommy." A-DOR-A-BLE. Now she says "God made MOMMY! and daddy, and Deh-deh (Kaden) and BABY!" One day I asked her to say her verse and she got a gleam in her eye: "Goooooo.... Maaaaaaae(she doesn't say the "d)......POOP!" she was so thrilled with herself for making such a funny joke. Oh.my. Her brother has rubbed off! Currently she is attempting to give up naps. As I type it is 3:15pm and she has not gone to sleep in the 2 hours she's been in there. This momma is NOT okay with this!!! Well that gets you up to date with the kiddos..so much goes on I can't keep up. In the last 5 months we have AVERAGED 2 dr appts (including xrays, well child, OB, etc) a week. A WEEK, people. Also, we will have checked into the hospital every month for 5 months after her surgery next week. If nothing else, we will remember this year! Here's to hoping for a splendid WELL Nov-Dec! As for me, I'm feeling GREAT. I had my 6 week OB check and checked out fine. I STILL have not wrapped my mind around the fact that Kamden is HERE and it was that easy. I was blessed with this delivery in so many ways. I started a diet one week ago today. I had lost all but about 3lbs of my pregnancy weight gain, and as of today have lost 4lbs. Hurray for being back to pre-pregnancy. Now, I am hoping to get to pre-pre-pre-pregancy (AKA before kids)... on step at a time. I have gone about my "diet" a different way this time, and I know I can be successful. I am NOT giving up my coffee. Not one ounce of it. And I am not giving up any of the stuff I like in my coffee. Although, today I bought a sugar/stevia blend to see if I liked it as much as sugar. I then *had* to have a 2nd cup of coffee to try it. So far, I loved it! I made the mistake of trying a different creamer on the same cup (which I also liked), it would have been smart to try one at a time. I also am trying to eat more like 5 times a day instead of just 3. I start out with my (horrendously good) coffee (horrendous in diet speak, and good in non-diet speak) and a yogurt. About half the time I miss the yogurt (such is life with 3, I suppose.) Then around 10am I have a snack. If i missed my yogurt I throw that in too. My snack is usually a fruit. Banana, or apple/peanut butter are my favorites. For lunch I try to have a salad or extremely healthy something. My salads always include a hard-boiled egg and either a slice of lunchmeat (ham or turkey) or chicken if I have leftovers. Then, of course, lots of veggies. I have a few lower-fat dressings or go sparingly on the good stuff (like ranch or honey mustard)! For my afternoon snack I have some pretzels and a cheese stick, or a thin bun with Laughing Cow cheese (um. yum.) or something more carbish (altho sometimes I switch those snacks around.) For dinner I just make a normal dinner for the family (last night was Hamburger Helper...maybe not normal, but you get the idea, definitely not "diet" food) and eat it sparingly. Maybe I shouldn't say sparingly..I just eat a healthy portion, and if I'm still hungry go for the veggies. After about 3 days of this routine (and feeling like my stomach was stuck to my ribs) I am no longer hungry at all. I often forget at least one snack, and feel very satisfied. If I get the evening munchies I'll eat my forgotten snack, or if I've eaten all day and still feel hungry I will eat air-popped popcorn with cheddar seasoning salt on it. That is filling! So far I feel so good and like I could eat like this forever. Some of my favorite diet discovery foods so far (as far as healthy, GOOD CHOICES) are: Tuna mixed with 1% cottage cheese and eaten as dip for pretzels Thin Bun toasted with a package of Laughing Cow cheese spread between as a sandwhich. Popcorn with seasoning salt Apples with peanut butter. Cottage cheese (1%) mixed with ranch dressing mix as a dressing for salad (cheese and ranch, yes!) I am avoiding buying things advertised as "low fat" as I see that many of them just have artificial flavoring which can't be any better than sugar (in my opinion). However, I have always done reduce fat sour cream, and 1 or 2% cottage cheese and skim milk. Some things just make sense! Luke's busy this month with his work project "wrapping up" (that usually takes 1-2 months, so i'm not sure that "wrapping up" is an honest term for hit.) It means they do a lot of paving, pouring, and other things that keep him on the job site longer, miss lunches and sometimes dinners (as was the case last night) and causes overtime. We have had a good summer though, with him only having to work a few Saturdays (as the case is tomorrow). He's tired, but doing well. Welp. That's it. I will try, try, try, to update more, for my own sake if nothing else!

Just for some perspective...

The first picture he's a few days old and about 6.5lbs. The second picture he is 6 weeks old and about 13lbs. (and it's as close to a smile as we've captured yet)