From Hats to Bows

It's been fun to be able to transition from all the fun hats we had with Eli to all the cute bows for Kamdyn. I have told myself I won't go overboard, and so far I haven't. I'm sure that my supply is going to increase in no time at all, but for now, Kamdyn has one headband that I can put bows on and one beanie I can put bows on. I loved all our fun hats for Eli, but I sure do love all the cute bows for Kamdyn. It's the best of both worlds!

Our little man when he was much more little in some of his fun hats. Brian always made fun of me for putting all of these fun hats on him, but hey, you gotta enjoy the fun stuff before they can protest right?

Kamdyn sporting her pink beanie with her flower bow. Brian liked the bow, but he kept telling me it was enormous. I tired to inform him he was wrong, I could go so much bigger. But.... I think bows that are bigger than my child's head are a little too big. This is the biggest bow that I believe she will ever wear.

Here is our beautiful little girl in her headbead and tiny bow.

First Bath

Well Kamdyn's first bath was actually over a week ago, but I'm just a little slow on getting it posted on here. So here you go! She didn't seem to totally hate it right away, but once she decided that she was a little cold, she wasn't a huge fan. She didn't seem to dislike it quite as much as Eli did for his first month of life, but she still got pretty ticked for a while. Eli was of course a big help. He was having a blast standing in the bathtub while daddy gave Kamdyn her bath. I don't think he was quite sure why he wasn't getting one too.

Brrrr.................it's cold in here!

This is the point that she decided that this whole bath thing wasn't quite as much fun as she originally thought.

Eli was checking the water temperature for his baby sister:)

Life doesn't get much better than this

As I've said before, naptime around our house has only gotten shorter and shorter. I usually get an hour where Eli is peacefully sleeping, and every once in a while Kamdyn might be sleeping then too. Well, the other day Eli woke up from his nap in his typical fashion; very very crabby. He's a very happy kiddo, and he's such a morning person. He almost always wakes up in a cheerful mood in the morning. But, there is just something about the afternoons that isn't so nice for him. He usually wakes up crying and takes a little while to calm himself down. So the other day Kamdyn and I were snoozing on the couch while Eli was sleeping. She was all warm and cozy, so I had Brian go get Eli from his room for me. He ususally likes to cuddle when he's in such a bad mood, but it was a little more complicated since Kamdyn was curled so peacefully in my arms. So, Brian just laid him down across my legs. I don't think this would be comfortable at all, but apparently it didn't phase Eli at all. He totally konked out laying across my legs. It was so sweet. He was just laying there rubbing his head and next thing we know, he's passed out. So, I had Kamdyn sleeping peacefully in my arms and Eli sleeping peacefully across my legs. One of the many rewards of being a mommy. Moments like this just melt my heart and it makes all of the other frustrating times so worth it. T

Thank you Lord for these two beautiful blessings in our lives. They make our lives so complete!

Brotherly, sisterly love

Okay, as promised, here are some more pictures of the "going-ons" around our house during Kamdyn's first week. Eli is so cute with his baby sister. He is always trying to love on her or pet her head. I'm not real sure she totally appreciates the petting, but she's too young to do anything about it. I try to not stop him too much, but Eli's gentle is entirely different than my idea of gentle on his new baby sister:). Still I'm thankful for a loving reaction to her as opposed to one where he can't stand her. Overall I think he's done an amazing job with a new member in the family. I think I'm having a harder time with it than him. Since he's our first, he's so used to getting all the attention. Needless to say, he definitely doesn't get it anymore. Especially since I nurse Kamdyn and our kiddos are slow eaters. I spend a good part of the day with a baby attached to me. But then I feel like a bad mommy for ignoring him. I'm thankful that Brian has been home to help us all adjust. Like I said, I think the adjustment is much harder on my end. But like all things, this stage will pass and before I know it or am ready for it, these two will be playing (hopefully not always fighting) with each other. But I have some new pictures for you all. We took our first family picture with the four of us, and I have some cute pictures of Eli holding Kamdyn for the first time. He was so proud. Very cute to see!
This is just about the goofiest picture of Eli. For obvious reasons, we had a hard time getting a truly good picture of the four of us where we were all looking at the camera. It will probably be nearly impossible to get a picture like that for years to come:) But I thought this one was pretty cute of Kamdyn. She actually looks like she's smiling ( I think she was actually getting ready to get ticked off, but looks can be deceiving). Our sweet little babies. Eli was so excited to hold his sister. When we put her on his lap he just got this huge grin on his face. Too cute! Gotta cherish these moments while they last and don't get on each other's nerves.

Eli loves giving hugs and kisses. Kamdyn doesn't look like she's enjoying this one too much, but she is pretty tolerant of Eli coming up to her and always touching her.

Petting his sister's head. For whatever reason, Eli really enjoys doing this too. He comes up to Kamdyn and pets her all the time.

Kamdyn had her first dr. appointment today. It went really well (other than the fact that we had to wait forever). Eli was slightly restless, but once I whipped out the goldfish he was a happy camper. I can only count on books keeping him occupied for so long, but as long as the goldfish supply doesn't run out we are golden:). At 6 days old Kamdyn is back up to her birth weight ( 6 lbs 15 oz.). She was 19 in long (at birth she was 19 1/2, so either she shrank or one of the readings was wrong:)), and he head has even grown a bit too. Dr. Morrow said she looks great and didn't see any problems with her. She is slightly tongue tied, but Dr. Morrow said she didn't think it would be a problem since she was latching on okay and obviously getting enough to eat and gain weight. She didn't seem to think we would have to clip it but we are going to keep an eye on it.

Well, that's all for now, my two hour feed free period is almost up. I'm gonna have to go wake daddy and daughter up to eat ( Brian only because he is holding her, otherwise he could keep on napping:)).

Kamdyn Grace

Welp.....I'm a few days late, and pretty much all of you already know, BUT.......our newest joy is here.

Kamdyn Grace Hutton
12:05 pm Wednesday January 13, 2010
6 lbs 15 oz
19 1/2 inches long.

It's so exciting and kind of surreal to finally have our little girl here. It's even more odd to think about it when I consider the fact that I technically could still be pregnant. My "official" due date is still two days away. But, I'm very thankful that she's here in my arms now and not still inside. Her delivery into this world went very well too. I think it was even easier than Eli's and I had a really good experience with him. In fact, I don't think I will ever be able to live down the fact that I was knitting while I waited. But, I knew I would just be sitting around so I figured I might as well be productive and do something I enjoyed to pass the time. Judging from the picture of Brian and I with her after she was born, I probably should have taken a nap, but I'm just going to claim that that's my epidural induced face.

Our day started pretty early. I was up and around by 4. We had to be checked into the hospital by 5:30. So, after Mary arrived to keep an eye on Eli we headed out. We got all checked out and they started the pitocin to induce labor around 6:15. By 7:30 I still hadn't felt any contractions so I was getting kind of worried that I might be in labor all day long. But much to my surprise when the nurse came in to check on me around then she told me I was contracting consistantly every 2-3 minutes. AWESOME! Contractions that you can't feel are the best yet. So I just kept on knitting:). I will spare you all the gory details, but time passed and I was progressing fairly consistantly. They broke my water at 9:00 and I got an epidural and hour or so later. I was checked again around 11:15 and was dialted to a 6. Whew! Only four more centimeters to go. I figured I had at least another hour and half to two hours left before we met her. Well, about 30 min later I all of a sudden started feeling some pretty crazy contractions and pressure. So....they called the resident dr. back to check on me and I found out that I was fully dialted. This baby was ready to go! She paged Dr. Feuille and they monitered Kamdyn closely. Her heartrate dropped pretty low all of sudden. But they told me not to worry, that a lot of times when you change very quickly the baby reacts that way. But I did get a very cool oxygen mask to wear until she was born. Gotta have fresh oxygen for the baby. Her heartrate returned to normal pretty quick and we just kind of waited for Dr. Feuille. Well, he did end up making it, but not until right before he was born. He just kind of stood back a little bit and let the resident dr. finish up the delivery. And next thing I knew, Kamdyn was here!

It's been a very fast, yet very slow, last four days. It's so amazing to look down at our daughter and see her here in my arms finally after all this time. But.... it's also so weird and an adjustment again. I'm so used to our life with a 1 year old, it's odd to transistion back to life with a newborn. Especially with a 1 year old running around. Eli has transitioned amazingly well and better than I could have ever hoped for. I think I struggle the most because I feel like I'm not giving him enough or any attention. He doesn't seem to mind or notice, so I think it is more me just worrying about our first born. He seems to love his little sister and is very curious. It melts me heart to see him give her little kisses and get so excited to see her. We will see how long this stage lasts:).

I never thought:
*That I'd have a little girl
*That I'd deliver a baby under 7 1/2 lbs (and I figured I would get lucky if I even got a baby that small)
*That I'd ever deliver a baby that had dark hair (she doesn't quite fit in with all the little toe heads running around in this family. But I sure love it and wouldn't change it for the world. We will see if she keeps her dark hair or they turn to golden locks like her brother).
*That I would ever have a baby that actually favored me (those Hutton genes seem to be pretty dominant). But, I actually think Kamdyn favors me! Eli looks just like daddy, and I finally got my little look alike.

Our first family picture. Just ignore how tired or drugged I look ( I got up at 4:))

Beautiful little Kamdyn Grace

Cuddling with Daddy. A favorite time for both of them I think.

Getting her first bath. She didn't seem to mind it too much, but wasn't a total fan. I think she really just liked the heating lamps on the table. Maybe we just need some of those randomly placed throughout the house.
Daddy and Kamdyn for the first time. She's going to have her daddy wrapped around her little finger:)

Well that's all for now. I promise I have many more pictures, but my time is running out. Whoever decided that an hour or hour and half is enough time for naptime was wrong. Oh Eli, what happened to your 2 1/2- 3 hour naps? Mommy loved them so much more! Besides, I want you all waiting in anticipation for more to come:). So stay tuned!!

Clean Floors

Well..... I can officially have this baby; the house and floors are clean. I know that sounds totally ridiculous, but let me just explain myself. I've been so anxious to have this baby, and was always sort of hoping that I would just into labor on my own. I did with Eli, so I don't really know any other way yet. And I was just trying to be patient and accept God's timing. But......when Dr. Feuille talked about inducing me last week, I figured, what the heck, let's get this baby out of there. So, with my induction date set for Wednesday I kind of just got to where I was hoping that I would make it to that date. Like I said before, Eli was born on a Wednesday and on the 13th, so I thought that would be cool. And I thought about how nice it would be to just know that you were going to go in to have a baby. I could get up and get showered, make sure I had everything I needed, ect. Then I got to thinking about all the things I could still manage to get done. True to my OCD cleanliness I got to thinking about how nice it would be to have the house clean for the week and everything ready for me to be gone for a few days. So..... I went from hoping I'd go into labor on my own, to hoping I could just hold out 6 more days. I made it through the weekend (and B's test where I was under no circumstances allowed to go into labor) and through Monday. I got my usual cleaning done on Monday and even considered doing it all. But, I was too lazy and just decided to clean the floors like usual on Tuesday morning (hoping all the while that I didn't go into labor that night). It kind of got to be a joke around here. Brian was making fun of me and telling me that I would be having the baby in the middle of the night because it would tick me off so much to have to leave the house with dirty floors. He's right, it would have ticked me off. And, had I actually gone into labor, and it weren't for the fact that Eli would be sleeping, I probably would seriously consider cleaning them before we left for the hospital. Maybe it would have made the labor process go faster. Well, luckily for everyone, I didn't go into labor. Therefore I was able to finish getting the house cleaned up this morning. I feel much better about our floors and can now confidently leave them for a few days:). Again, I know that this is totally ridiculous, but I hate messes and dirt. It doesn't bother Brian much, so I would have come home from the hospital to an extremely messy house (or floors at least, the rest of the house was cleaned Monday). He would have spent his time at home playing/caring for Eli (which is the way it should be, floors don't really matter), but me, I'm a multi-tasker:) (it also helps that I get to play with Eli 7 days a week).

So.... now that we have a clean house, the bags are packed, the carseat/tub/and vibrating chair are finally out of the basement, I can have this baby.

I'm not real sure what to expect tomorrow. I'm hoping for a fairly fast delivery and that there are no complications. All that really matters is a healty baby. I can't wait to finally hold her in my arms (my back is going to appreciate the change very much so too!) and to have Eli meet his sister for the first time. I think one of the things I'm dreading most is being away from Eli. I'm just so used to being with him all the time and at least getting to see him for a little bit everyday. It's going to be very hard to leave the house in the morning. I know he's in great hands, but I'm going to miss that little man for the few days I'm in the hospital. It's definitely weird and surreal to think that in 24 hours we will have two kids (at least I really hope she is here by then). Eli will no longer be the only child or the baby and we are going to become a family of 4. I'm very excited and can't wait to experience the ups and downs of raising another baby. I just ask for prayers for a safe delivery for both of us and for a healthy baby. I pray that Eli adjusts well, as does the rest of the family. So for now, that's all. Wish me luck, and we will keep you posted!

Beautiful Wood Blinds

Well, we officially have our new wood blinds in. Joe from BayBay Home furnishings came over Thursday night to install them. He did a fantastic job and was very speedy about it. I don't know how long I thought it would take him to put them up, but he said it would only be an hour or an hour and a half. Pretty impressive. It would definitely take me way longer to do something like that. Of course, I'm pretty short so I would probably need a step stool to even reach half of the tops of the windows easily. Not to mention that I have no expertise in that area so they would probably look horrible anyways. Anyways.....we love the end result. They look amazing in the house and they are so nice to open up in the mornings. No more cord thrown over the top of the blinds. They still kind of throw me off sometimes. I'm so used to seeing the white blinds we used to have where it was all the way up or all the way down that it's weird to see something over the windows even when there is light streaming in.

Before:

After:

And here's an added bonus picture. I always think it is so cute when Eli sits or stands next to Brian to watch t.v. Brian was watching the championship college football game (no idea what that bowl is called: can't ever keep all of them straight) and Eli wanted to get in on the action. He loves to watch football. And of course, what's a good game without a good beverage (this was only water, but he still loves it). It's even better when he can be halfway undressed. Life doesn't get much better than this:)

6 more days...and some other random updates

Well, I had a very good dr. appointment this morning. To start with, I had just about the shortest wait my entire pregnancy! Always a plus. I don't really mind waiting too much, but sitting the waiting room gets very old very fast. Especially when I'm there every week (like I am right now) and when I'm only back there for a total of 3-5 minutes. Sometimes I wish you could just do call ahead dr. visits. I would obviously already have the appointment set up, but 30 before I'm due to be in, just call in and see how backed up they are. If he's already and hour behind at 9 in the morning (they open at 8:30, and trust me this has happened several times to me this time around) then I can just hang out at home for a bit; or at least go run some errands. Anways..... didn't have to wait long at all which was such a nice change. THEN, I found out that this baby is actually making some progress on her own. After pretty much no change the last two weeks, I didn't really know what to expect. I can't really say I blame her for wanting to hang out in me for as long as possible (it's unbearably cold outside!), but I'm kind of tired of carrying her around in there. It's not even that I'm miserable or totally uncomfortable, I'm just kind of tired of this belly around my middle. I'm ready for non-maternity clothes, for Eli to be able to actually sit on my lap again, shave my legs "easily", to be able to bend down without squatting or sticking my butt out as far as humanly possible, the list could go on:). Besides, I've decided that her "free rent" runs out on the 19th. So, needless to say, I was really hoping for some progress and big numbers at my drs. appointment. Well, I wouldn't say I had BIG numbers, but I did have numbers. The last 2 weeks I wasn't dialated at all, this week I was at a 2. WooHoo! We are getting somewhere. BUT......even more exciting is that if I don't have her by Wednesday they are going to induce me bright and early. So, if nothing else, Wednesday January 13th will be our lucky day. Now that I have an induction date set, I'm really hoping I can just hold out these final 6 days (and I'm really praying that she can hold out until after Saturday for her daddy's sake. Brian doesn't need one more thing to worry about other than getting his test taken). Eli was born on a Wednesday and on the 13th of the month. Plus, my mom's birthday falls on a 13th. So I'm thinking that it just might be a lucky number for my family and think it would be very cool to have her then (plus, Erin would win the day guess since she told me (before my appt) that that was her guess). Besides, it would be very nice to actually have Dr. Feuille deliver our kids. He is the one I see all the time and pay for afterall. All of the other drs. in the practice are great (Christman delivered Eli), but I'm just most comfortable with Dr. Feuille. So, we will see. Either way, we will have a new Hutton in no more than 6 days. I'm very very excited to finally meet her and hold her in my arms. And we are super excited to share her name with you all. It will be a little weird having two instead of just one, but I can't wait. The only thing I'm truly not looking forward to is not being able to see Eli for 2 days. He's such a part of my day to day life, it's going to be odd to not have his hugs and love whenever he's willing while I'm in the hospital. Good thing we have amazing family that he adores to watch over him while we are away.

Anyhoo.....onto other random bits. Eli is doing well. He has recently gotten 4 new teeth, all molars of course. So, after almost 17 months of life, the kiddo finally has more than 6 teeth! I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get any new ones. Now that these new teeth have broken through I'm hoping he gets a little less picky with the eating (so far it hasn't really done the trick, but I'm still holding onto hope). I've had to get kid of strict with him about certain things. I don't let him drink anything besides water an hour and a half or more before lunch or dinner. Otherwise he's too full of juice or milk to eat anything. I also have gotten to where I don't give him stuff he "wants" if he doesn't eat what I've given him for dinner. If he doesn't eat, he doesn't eat. I'm still pretty accomadating to his "likes" (this means he still gets chicken nuggets for just about every lunch and dinner). I also have been trying to get better about putting at least a little bit of what we are eating on his plate to try. So far, he's never given anything I put on there a try, but hey, at least I'm trying:). So, I'm hoping that we will start to make some progress with him and eating soon. If not, at least I know he's still getting enough, he definitely doesn't look like he's missing any meals.

On the subject of Eli's eating, I just have to share something kind of funny. At 17 months, he is already brand specific. He will only eat certain brands of things. He will only eat the Banquet brand of chicken nuggets (with the exception of McDonald's), he really only likes the great value brand of cereal bars, and he really only eats Pizza Hut pizza. Seriously? How did we get a kiddo that is that picky, especially when his daddy will eat almost anything (this would probably be my fault, I'm definitely the more picky of the two of us). Oh well, I just think it's kind of funny. So, if you ever open the freezer and wonder why we are stocked up on banquet chicken nuggets and not much else, you know why:)

Okay, last random thought (at least for now, I'm always thinking of things out of the blue). We are getting wood blinds tonight. So excited! We have been wanting them since we moved in, but just got around to getting someone out here for an estimate a week ago. Well, I got the call today that they are in and ready to be put up. So, he's going to come over and put them up this evening. Stay tuned for before and after pictures of that. I am looking forward to having actual blinds that I can easily open. The ones we have now work great for keeping any peeping toms from looking in (or geese for that matter where we live), but it's kind of annoying to open them up every morning. They have to go all the way up and then I have to put the cord above them so Eli doesn't strangle himself (this has been getting more difficult as my belly grows and limits my reach). Plus, I'm hoping they might keep out the heat and cold just a little bit better than our paper ones. We will see I suppose. Either way, I'm sure they are going to look fabulous!

The Best Part About Snow

Two posts in one day! Pretty impressive. Just don't come to expect it:). I just gotta start the new year off right.

I think that snow is absolutely beautiful. However, I hate driving in it, and it doesn't even stay pretty for long because of all the cars on the road. It just turns into nasty, dirty, slushy mess after a little while. I've always said if there were a way to have it snow but just get it on the grass and off the roads, driveways, sidewalks, ect. it would be perfect, and beautiful to look at all the time. But I do have to admit, there is an added bonus of snow this year; Eli loves to play in it. I know we didn't get too much snow last night, but there was definitely enough to cover our driveway. And fortunately Eli is way to young to know the difference right now. So, we went out and bought a sled, or a saucer I guess I should say, this morning so we could have him try out sledding. He was too little to do anything like this last year, so it's been so fun to try new things with him this year. I wasn't sure how he would like it. Eli is an outdoor kid, but it was pretty cold this morning and I wasn't sure if he'd like that part. He loved it! He had a blast on the sled and would laugh the whole way down the driveway. It was very cute for sure. I especially love that when we were done sledding he decided that he should probably go mow the lawn. We don't want to grass to be neglected during the winter after all. Call it a little grass fluffing:). His grandpa Baker would be so proud. The best part about snow is watching Eli truly enjoy himself as he discovers it for the first time.

On another note, it is a new year. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions mostly because I know that like most other people I won't keep them. But...... there are several things I would like to work on for 2010. I just think I will call them "self improvements" instead of New year's resolutions. Maybe this way I will be more likely to stick to them and truly "work" on the things I need to work on.

Ticking Time Bomb

With only 2 weeks left until my actual due date, I've offical entered the "time bomb" zone. In other words, I feel sort of like a time bomb. I could go off at any time. I'm now entering that stage where I can no longer text people at random times, or call someone that I just don't normally call. Otherwise I will get the frantic "are you having the baby?!" And of course, I'm close enough now that I'm going to start getting the text messages from all of my loving friends asking if I've popped yet. No, not yet, and I can assure you all, you will definitely know when we have this kiddo:). I'm pretty confident that I still have at least a week or so before we get to meet our new one, but who knows, I could be wrong. And let the record state now that I would love to be proven wrong on this one. I didn't have any signs of going into labor with Eli until I was actually in active labor. So maybe this one is going to be the same way. The holidays are over and I'm getting bored with the normal hum-drum life. We are just so on the go during the Christmas season that it takes a little while to adjust to "normal" life again. So.... I'd say it's about time to shake things up with a newborn:). Not to mention the fact that I'm just very ready to hold and carry our little girl in my arms instead of inside me. I'm not gonna lie, as much as I truly love being pregnant, the lack of kicks to the inside of me and bladder are going to be a welcome feeling. So for now, we are still waiting and trusting in God's perfect timing (and praying that his timing might be somewhat close to my idea of perfect timing:)). So until then, you all will just have to wait around as anxiously as us for this "time bomb" to go off.