HappyMom

May went quickly.  The kids are growing so fast.  Cade is now able to sit in the door jumper.  All of our kids have loved that thing!  Carley is talking a lot these days.  She is hilarious.  Laney just graduated Pre-K, bitter sweet.  Brayden is like the energizer bunny, exhausting.  I only wish I had half the energy he does.  We are looking forward to a fun summer of playing in the backyard, swimming at the neighborhood pool, going to the beach, maybe a few trips to the lake, some playgroup fun, and relaxing.  Here are some pictures from May……

Cade hanging out in the jumper.

    Pre-K Graduation.

Laney’s last day of Pre-K.

Washington Farms

Carely is a very determined little girl.

Life with four kids is certainly crazy but fun.  There is not much time for blogging or atleast I haven’t figured out how to fit it in.  Cade is almost three months now.  He is a sweet, happy baby most of the time.  Here are some pictures I took over the past week.  He giggled for the first time today!

We had these done last Friday.

Cade David Walters    February 5th, 2009    1:20am     7lbs 9oz   20 inches

The kids come to meet their new little brother.  They all loved him!

The kids welcome Cade home.  Still love him!

The proud new big sisters and brother.

Our sweet new addition!

For anyone intersted here is the story of Cade’s arrival.

       
You would think the fourth time around we would have this labor thing down.  As I look back I would say my labor started last Sunday.  Contractions continued all night and became very intense.  We thought we were on the way to the hospital.  We packed our bag, called my mom, and got ready to leave.  I wanted to wait until the doctor’s office opened so that we could go into the office.  As soon as it opened my labor seemed to stop completely. 

We waited around on Monday thinking things would pick back up.  Tuesday came and my contractions continued but still sporadic.  Wednesday came and my contractions became more intense but still 30 minutes apart.  We put the kids to bed and watched some TV.  I had a doctor’s appointment Thursday morning which I was looking forward to.  I was curious what was going on. 

At about 11:00p.m. my contractions seem to be creeping closer together.  By 11:45 they were 5 minutes apart and very intense.  We called my mom and got things ready to leave.  We left the house at 12:25 a.m.  and my contractions were now 2 minutes apart.  We called the doctor to let him know we were on the way. 
The ride there seemed to take forever.  My contractions were now 1 minute apart.  We pulled into the hospital and my water broke.  This was concerning because in the past when my water breaks I am pushing.  David ran into the hospital and grabbed a wheelchair.  I didn’t think I could make it.  The rushed me back and I saw a nurse that I know.  I told her, “He is coming!” 

We got into the room and the nurse checked me.  I was 10, at plus 2 and ready to have the baby.  They looked at me and said, “Can you wait on your doctor?”  I thought they were crazy.  My doctor was just getting in his car and he lives in Grayson.  Somehow I managed to breathe through the next 10 minutes of contractions and Dr. Pohl arrived.  Cade was born 10 minutes after he got there and only 25 minutes after we got there.  Birthing is so exciting, exhausting, and amazing.  It has to be the most intense pain followed by immediate relief and the most amazing feeling of having a newborn placed on your chest.  What an amazing creator we have.  Our body knows exactly what it doing if we just let it. 

You can only imagine the challenge of capturing the perfect family photo with our crowd.  This year was no different.  Laney feel asleep on the way, Brayden does this cheesy smile every time he gets in front of the camera, and Carley would have been better off without the feather in her face.  None the less here is what we got.  We hope you all have a Merry Christmas.  

Laney 4, Brayden 3, Carley 16m, Liz 30 weeks pregnant.

During my first pregnancy we decided to have a 4D ultrasound.  We were so excited we went at 28 weeks.  The images come out a little alien like, as Laney was on the skinny side at 28 weeks.  It was still amazing to see her face before she was born.  Then we were pregnant with Brayden, and realized that since we did the "special" ultrasound with Laney it would only be fair to do it with the second child.  Now we are on child four, and yesterday we had a 4D ultrasound.  My OB is now offering this option in office, so that was nice.  I had my regular 32 week appointment and then we went into the next room to do the ultrasound.  It was just us and the kids which was plenty of commotion.  Here is a glimpse of what this baby, still no name, just might look like.

It looks like he has Laney’s little chin.  It is hard to tell if he loves his hand or his siblings have already given  him a headache?

Pretty amazing!

For the first twelve months of Carley’s life she pretty much went along with anything.  She didn’t cry much, slept like a champ, and put up with two older siblings.  Since her first birthday she has developed a strong opinion on things.  This is a good thing considering she has Laney and Brayden to boss her around.  It is good to see her standing up for herself.  She also gives me a little attitude.  Here is a cute example.  She now desires to feed herself no matter what the meal is.  I am all for independent eaters, but at 15 months I like to monitor what meal she is given control of.  The other morning she wouldn’t give up on feeding herself oatmeal.  I gave in and let her give it a try.  Here is how it ended up.  I am not sure how much she really ate                                        

Yesterday I had my first "Thanksgiving presentation" experience.  Laney has been talking about her upcoming show at school for some time now.  They have been learning fun songs and making cute outfits for the past few weeks.  At home she is quite the performer, but I never guessed she would be "that kid" in the presentation.  You know the one you can hear above everyone else.  As she belted out the songs at the top of her lungs the kids began to follow her lead.  This was fine but she was way ahead of the teacher.  So she began to lead the class in rounds.  The teacher gave the song three tries, but Laney won.  It was pretty funny.  It is good to know my girl is a confident leader.  All of the staff was so complementary of Laney’s sweet spirit and smile.  I have to say I was a proud mom.

Brayden has grown up quite a bit in the last few weeks.  He turned three a little over a week ago.  Just before his birthday his birthday he began wearing underwear.  This was a great thing for all of us.  He is so proud of himself, and so am I.  He get’s to be in Laney’s class at church with the big kids.  He loves it, and I think she does too.  We had his birthday party at the Jungle Jump.  He had a blast with his buddies.

So handsome!

The girls having fun.

 This year we made our second trip to the Washington Farms pumpkin patch.  We had a great time even though it was cold.  I did grab my camera, but the fully charged battery was on the counter at home.  I almost have it together.  So my obsession with photos of the kids leads me to a second pumpkin patch for a photo opportunity.  Here is what I got