In love...

...with the newest member of our family, Caden James! What a day it has been. I still can't believe he's really here.

I could not sleep last night for fear of not waking up to the alarm clock do finally I just got out of bed at 4am. Did a last load of towels, put some diapers and baby clothes away and then we headed out to be at the hospital at 5:30am. Hooked me up to the monitor and the baby started moving around like crazy- just like this whole last half of my pregnancy. I loved it.

Then there was a lot of waiting so I started getting a little nervous for the spinal block. Luckily the anesthetist came in and he was the same one who did Bryce's spinal, and if had gone beautifully so I was able to relax. Once we got in the room however, I started panicking a little. They were very patient with me but it took longer than it should have, so Jeff was waiting and starting to get nervous himself. Then he came in and it was go time!

About 10 minutes later I heard the beautiful sound of a screaming baby and I started to cry. Taft was MY baby. The one I have been longing for and praying for. They showed him to me for a second and then took him to clean him up. Jeff went with them to the other part of the room to cut the cord and clean him up. I waited, anxious to get closer.

Not too long later we were all in my room. We still hadn't weighed him, but I wanted the skin to skin contact and to feed him. It was incredible! I felt so close to him immediately. He looks a little different from my other kids with his chubby cheeks and my webbed toes. :-) ( hope he doesn't resent me for that one!) I knew he was bigger than my others so I was anxious to have him weighed. 7 lbs 11 oz- my biggest baby by over a pound! Nice and healthy so he can be loved on by his siblings!

We have had a great day. The medicine hasn't worn off yet, so no pain or nausea for me . Baby has been sleeping a lot (which makes me nervous for tonight) and Jeff and I have been reading, posting pics on Instagram and chatting.

My mom brought the kids by this evening and they were darling with him. He is definitely the missing part of our family. I can't wait to get to know him even better. Wish me luck tonight!

Experiment blogging from iPod

Hi all. Since I can't sleep, I thought I would practice blogging from my iPod touch. I heard my hospital has wifi so I hope to get up pics right away!

The first 2 pics are of my last day volunteering in Bryce's kinder class. They did an Easter egg hunt with their big buddies.

The last pic is of Emily and her piano teacher. Emily asked her if she would teach her how to make a banana cream pie for my birthday. It's my fave! So sweet.

Any of you guys on Instagram?

Sun, glorious sun

I am definitely a happier person when the sun is shining. I would like to say I have adapted over the 12 years I have lived in Oregon, but I don't think I can ever get used to the gray. On the other hand, us Oregonians truly appreciate the sunny days and take advantage!

On Monday, I had a burst of energy and I had bought flowers for planting at Costco, so it was a perfect day for bringing color to my yard. I also cleaned out my garden boxes as well as I could. We will see how well a garden happens this year. I still dream of eating a salad made from my own grown veggies!

Tuesday and Wednesday were very gray and rainy, so I was grateful I had spent most of Monday outside. The yucky weather gave me a chance to make some freezer meals to get ready for this baby.

On Thursday the kids had the day off school for conferences and I wanted to celebrate their hard work. So, we met up with friends for pizza for lunch and then headed to the park. It was AMAZING weather!

 The frisbee was stuck in the high branches of the tree and a nice city worker used his 18 foot pole to get it down! He was the hero for the kids!

 Playing football and frisbee. Look at the blue skies!! I love it!

 The switched to baseball after a while. 

 Emily is playing in the sand. She spent most of her time on the scooter. I love how she entertains herself!

 Here are some of the moms just chatting. (As you can see though, some of the moms are cold! It was still only 55 degrees. :-)

 Here I am, doing my favorite thing to do when pregnant- sit in the sun and watch the kids have fun!

My mistake was in not bringing water to the park. I forgot that drinking fountains are turned off in the winter. Luckily some friends had water to share, but I decided to surprise the kids and take them to Sonic because it was happy hour. 6 slushies- $3.62.   You can't beat that!

And on another happy note, the kids went right to bed because they were worn out from playing in the "sun" all day. Some even had the nerve to complain it was too "hot"! Sometimes I can't believe I am raising Oregonians. :-)

Only 18 more days. Woo hoo!