Christmas Cheer

Holiday Goodies

Our life group decided to enjoy holiday goodies rather than our regular dinner meal. Everything was yummy. I made this Blueberry Snack Cake and used blueberries from the freezer that we picked last summer. Taco Cheesecake. Someone called it a savory cheesecake versus a sweet cheesecake. Anyway, this recipe was from Taste of Home and was pretty good spread on crackers. It had cream cheese, green chiles, salsa, taco seasoning, pepper jack cheese. I was also inspired by Abbi to make my own crackers. They were actually pretty easy and paired well with this spread. I could post the recipe if someone's interested.

Lately...

Levi had his first haircut. I'll be doing them from now on but I wanted to see a professional do the first one. He wasn't too sure about it, but it looks so cute now. His look is more "little boy" and not so much "baby." He's growing up....sad and sweet and good - all at the same time. He loves the camera...because seconds later he can look at the picture himself!

Kade...today. He's over 6 weeks old. He still seems like a newborn in many ways though. I feel blessed to enjoy his "smallness" so much longer than normal.

My three boys. Of course, Kade didn't realize it was time to wake up. Oh well.

Thanksgiving dinner with some good friends. The girls had fun setting the table. What a fun day!

Kade's home!

He's home and growing well! The doctor said she didn't need to see him back until his 2 month appt. unless I had reason for concern. We thank God for this blessing!! He's 3 weeks old in the picture below (or 39 weeks if I was still pregnant!)

Wake up!

His crib.

No more wires or tubes!!

Love him!

We thought Kade would be coming home today but they want to keep him at least another 24 hours. He's a sleepy fellow and is barely taking his minimum feeding of 1 whole ounce! I'm glad the hospital staff makes this call. I want him home but am thankful that they are keeping him until they feel like he can do well at home. Unfortunately, they've mentioned using a feeding tube again if he has another day like this one.

In the meantime, a wave of "nesting" (or is it panic) has hit me. There are winter coats to unpack, summer clothes to remove from drawers, library books to renew, food co-op orders to make, baby clothes to unpack, diapers to buy, and the list goes on. I did fit in a nice nap today and am ever thankful for the meals provided by sisters here in the church. Levi doesn't understand why I won't pick him up, but hopefully I'm making up for that by spending more time sitting on the couch reading books and singing to him. Please pray that our sleepy Kade will grow into a vigorous eater very soon!

More...

He's a day old here and hooked up to all sorts of stuff.
My first time to hold him, Friday night.
When he cries he sounds like a little puppy.
Daddy gets to hold him too. We are blessed! DJ LOVED pushing me in the wheelchair. He was so grown-up and acted like he needed to take care of me. It's his daddy's great example!

Grandma Carol came to help for a few days and the girls have been nothing but especially wonderful! They stepped in and took care of all sorts of things.

Introducing Kade Aaron

Kade Aaron arrived Wednesday, October 15th, at 7:14 a.m. On Tuesday, I noticed I hadn't been feeling him move, but it didn't worry me too much. Babies get bigger and sleep a lot towards the end. But by the evening, I started wondering. At bedtime I tried to stay awake long enough to relieve my worries and get jabbed by a foot. But again, nothing. I woke at 3:30 a.m. to help DJ and decided I wasn't going back to sleep until the little guy moved. By 4:15, I was truly needing some reassurance so Kent said to call the midwife. She told us to come in and just have him monitored.
We arrived at the hospital at 5 a.m. and they put us in a hospital room with a fetal monitor. I told Kent I wasn't about to actually get in the bed because this was just a quick check! When we heard the heartbeat, we were immediately relieved and thought everything was probably okay. The nurse didn't seem too alarmed. However, when I had a practice contraction, we heard the heart rate drop considerably low. Seconds later, the nurses came in with oxygen and then I knew something might be wrong. The midwife arrived and sat down, telling us that our baby needed to be born immediately. The heart rate over the last hour and a half showed that he was in distress. His heart wasn't functioning the way a healthy baby's normally would be. The surgeon agreed and I was immediately wheeled into surgery. When I asked if I could be awake, they said there wasn't time. I had to have an emergency c-section and I was put completely under. Kade was born exactly nine minutes after I arrived in the surgery room.
We were told right away that the cord had been wrapped around his neck twice and that it was fairly tight. But later, we learned that the main reason he was having problems was because his hemo-globin(I don't know how to spell that yet) was very low, at a 3. A healthy newborn has a count usually around 12. They believe that there was maternal/fetal bleeding and that caused the low count.
They took Kade to Children's Hospital in St. Paul almost immediately. He is now in the NICU and has improved dramatically. He just needed to be born. He's had blood transfusions and platelets. He was on 80% oxygen and now he's breathing on his own. As of Sunday, 5 days old, his main milestone we want to reach is to have him feeding on his own. Right now he's on a feeding tube and has just started taking a bottle. I've also been able to try nursing him.
We are so thankful to God for little Kade's safe arrival. The midwife and doctor told us if we'd waited one more day, the outcome would have been very different. So for now, we're making lots of trips to Children's and hope to bring home a hungry little boy very soon! Thank you for your prayers and calls!
This was on Saturday, October 11th. 35 weeks pregnant...four days before Kade's birth. Little did we know!
This picture was taken within an hour or two of his birth...just before being transferred to Children's.
The little guy weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz. Not too bad!
We got to see him for a couple minutes just before they transferred him, but we couldn't hold him.
Kent brought DJ and Levi to the hospital for a visit the next day. DJ enjoyed playing with the bed controls!

Rhythm - pretty cute!

This was our second home school band practice and Levi really got into it. Unfortunately, it slipped my mind that a video needs to be recorded right side up instead of sideways. Oops.

Civics Fest

In conjunction with the Republican National Convention, a Civics Fest was held in our convention center. I read that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it certainly was. We saw bald eagles, flag displays, first lady gowns, a life-size replica of the Oval Office, a swearing in ceremony for the kids to reinact, Air Force One, actual cars used by the presidents, and more!

The very best part was the 20 by 60 feet replica of the White House. We were absolutely amazed to learn that they update everything...from when the new residents take over and change paint or wallpaper, to a piece of furniture moved while the present man is in office. It was like seeing it in real life...only it was small! Wow. Kent said he learned that it took eight trucks to move it. Each piece had to be wrapped up as if you were moving.

Wild Fruit

Levi enjoyed the picking the plums and savoring the sweet juice. He even figured out he needed to hand me the pit and the skin. What a sweet, sticky mess he was when we finished.

This summer was an eye-opener for me. This area is brimming with wild fruit for the picking! Alyssa had always been scouting out places to pick berries or crab apples. But this summer I actually got into it. We found lots of apples and made applesauce, wild plums...made plum jam, and wild grapes...made grape jelly. Also, one night I found Kent in the kitchen canning a jar of grape juice from these wild grapes. Now isn't that impressive! He said he remembered his mom doing it and thought he could give it a try.

College Road Trip

Kent, Levi, Alyssa, and I made the trip down to Harding University last month. The rest of our family found themselves quite happy to be with good friends and missing a very long road trip (although we were all sad/but glad for Alyssa to see her go). It was hot and humid, but the campus was beautiful..green, green, lots of trees! We helped her settle in her room, made a trip to Walmart (all college students make a trip to Walmart it seems!), visited with family nearby, and after a yummy buffet lunch, we hugged her good-bye. I'm so excited for her to be able to experience the friendships, the learning, and the growing in Christ. We miss her.

Fort Snelling

This was one place we've been wanting to visit for quite some time. If you live in the Twin Cities, it's a worthwhile "field trip." We used our museum passes from the library and got in for free along with some friends of ours. It was a great day of learning...visiting the store and talking to a clerk, washing laundry, seeing a military drill, learning about their medical practices, hearing a cannon fire, and taking lots of pictures of our children!

DJ enjoyed playing the part of a forelorn prisoner! The teenage boys with us walked him through the front gate all tied up right to the jail. As I passed by the "soldiers" I heard one of them remark, "Now I've never seen that done here before!"