Newborn Pictures

Our wonderful friend Cheryl Mears took pictures for us again!  God has really blessed her not only with a talent, but patience as well :)

She came to our house and spent 3 hours with Kloe and I.  Kloe did great!  She only pooped once and it was on one of my shirts!!  The only time she was fussy was when she got hungry.  

There are so many great shots, but these are some of my favorites!

Kloe's Arrival!

Our precious baby girl is here!  She had somewhat of a rough start, but she is a strong little girl and is doing great now!

The morning of we made it to the hospital in plenty of time to register, drink coffee (John did, I was only food and beverage restrictions), and watch some news.  

I had some sweet nurses, but unfortunately one of them couldn't get my IV started so they had to poke me a few times.  I HATE this part!!!  I had to close my eyes and breath through it.  My hand is very sore!

After all the "torture" Stephanie Taylor was able to come and pray with John and I.  This really relaxed me and then I was wheeled back where I got the epidural.  It was freezing in the operating room!  It was so hard to stay still.  After they got me situated John came in and they were started.  It all went very fast actually.

The anesthesiologist was hilarious!  I had him last time for Ethan's c-section and he was great, so I was glad to have him again!  

John is really weird about having a camera in the operating room, so when the anesthesiologist found out he whipped out his iPhone and started snapping shots.  I am so thankful for him!

I was able to see Miss Kloe for a few seconds after delivering her and thought something wasn't right.  Her cry just didn't sound as strong as the boys.  John stayed with her while they fixed me back up.

When I got to the room I found out that Kloe had some fluid in her lungs and they had her in NICU.  Everyone just kept telling me it was no big deal and I never saw her again until they took her off the tubes.

After seeing the pictures of her I was glad that I was "in the dark" because I was having a harder time coming off the drugs then before and the sight of my precious baby girl with all the tubes would have made me even worse!

Around 5:00 pm they took off the tubes and let her come down for her first feeding!  I was so glad because every time I would try to pump I would physically get sick.  It's like my body knew it wasn't her!  After I fed her I felt so much better!!

Shortly after her feeding they had to take her back until she was cleared by the doctors.  Around 11:00 pm she was released to come and stay in the room with me!  I was so happy and relieved.  The doctors kept telling me how strong she was and how quickly she recovered.

God had blessed us with a very happy and healthy baby girl!

Daddy's Back...Again!

John had to go back to basic training this time...yep you heard me right!  He changed from the Air Force Reserves to Army National Guard, so since he changed branches he had to go through Army basic.  He is going to go from enlisted to an officer.

We felt like the timing was horrible with Kloe's arrival date so close to his return date, but we have prayed about this life change for years so we knew God had a plan for us!

This time it went fast, but was very tiring.  I mean being in my last trimester of pregnancy and having 2 rambunctious boys had a lot to do with it.  I must say the boys were really good and big helpers while daddy was gone!  As it became harder for me to do things they really picked up the slack.

I also can't go on without giving props to all of my co-workers and friends!  They all checked on me daily, helped with tons of things both around the house and with the kids.  We are blessed to be surrounded by so many caring and loving people!

While John was gone this time Caiden was able to make cards and write in them all by  himself!  He loved sending daddy stuff.  Ethan also made a few to send as well.  

Daddy would record videos with his phone and email them to the boys to watch.  The boys LOVED watching them.  They would watch them over and over and over again.  I mean I had to physically take the computer/iPad/phone away rom them and close the video out.

Luckily this time when we picked daddy up there was no flash flooding :)  

Family Fun Night!

If your parent you know all about this one...Family Fun Night.  This is how the individual schools raise money.  Well we went and boy was it an adventure!

The boys got their faces painted.  Ethan got a snake and spider...he is really into bugs and animals these days.  Caiden got OU and OSU...not sure where the OSU came from, guess my neighbors have been rubbing off on him.  Note to self take care of that :)

Then it was onto balloon animals.  Caiden got a motorcycle and Ethan picked a dinosaur.  Now this is not your ordinary clown that makes animal balloons, no sir-e bob.  This one made you think about dental questions.  You should have seen their faces.

Next it was bingo and eating.  Now this is where the story gets crazy.  So here I am trying to help 2 kids (Caiden and his friend Avery) play bingo.  Now they know some numbers but by no means could they keep up.  Ethan was hungry and I kept telling him to hold on and I would get him something to eat.

Well I look up and and I see him in the line for a hot dog.  I am trying to yell across the cafeteria, but of course he can't hear me.  Then I see one of the teachers carrying him out looking for his mommy...ME!  So my prego self goes chasing them down and try to explain myself so I don't look like some horrible mother who lost her kid.

She asked me if I need any help after my long pleading explanation. I said you know what I could can you get us some food.  Handed her our tickets and went back to help the other 2 kids play bingo again. I was feeling overwhelmed and God put Mrs. Ogletree there at just the right time!  THANK YOU :)

After that we headed over to get their pictures taken on the motorcycle they had and to the moon bounce area where I plopped myself on the floor while the kids bounced and ran around the gym.  Now just like every other mother I told the kids DO NOT TAKE YOUR SOCKS OFF.  What does Caiden do?  Yep he took his socks off and then to make it all even grosser, someone took his dirty socks!  So he went home sock-less!

Over all we survived the night and most important I didn't go into labor!

LOVE THESE KIDS!

Final Game for the Tornadoes

The Tornadoes season has sadly come to an end today!  It was a great little run.  The kids enjoyed themselves and so did the parents!  

Caiden has really taken a love for the game.  He wants to watch it on TV all the time, he always wants to shoot baskets on his new/used basketball hoop, and you will catch him dribbling in the house almost constantly!

Thanks to our wonderful friends the Reid's and the Marchino's for getting these photos.  I am at a women's conference so they captured these moments for me!

The final score was 10-1.  Caiden scored 3 baskets and was so excited!  He really has gotten stronger from shooting all the time at home.  He is so proud of himself and tells everyone we see (and for those of you that know us that is no exaggeration!) that he has a basketball hoop and he is a basketball player :)

Oh and a random side note...I finally got him to wear some athletic shorts instead of his plaid shorts!  It took some convincing, but it worked.

Proud little guy!

 Team Tornadoes!