He's Here!

Our Chunky Monkey is finally here! William Caden Evans made is big debut on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. We have waited 9 long months for this day! Here's his story...

Caden was due on April 9, but for about three weeks before his due date the doctor told me that he could come at any minute. We have been ready and waiting since the doctor told us that, but our little boy was a little stubborn and decided he wanted to wait. I was scheduled to have an induction on April 4. We had to be at the hospital at 6:45 in the morning. This is the very last picture of me pregnant.

We got to the hospital and they started me on pitocin to get the contractions started. Everything was going really well and I had the epidural at 10 ish, which made me feel extra good.

Things were going good until the epidural started to make me a little sick. Tyler and the nurse left to let me get some rest. Tyler went to get him something to eat at noon and the nurse came back to check me. It only took a half hour and I was ready to start pushing. The nurse went to call the doctor and I had to hurry and call Tyler to tell him to come quick. It took about 15 minutes for Dr. Burgette to arrive and then I started pushing. Remember with Makayla I had to push for two hours? Not with this little fella... 3 pushes later and he was out.

I know is sounds so cheesy, but the moment you see you baby is amazing. I was so overwhelmed with love for our little guy! They put him on my chest to clean him off and Tyler got to cut the umbilical cord.

William Caden Evans was born at 12:53 p.m. weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. His name is pretty special because Caden is the 6th generation of William Evans in the family. He has some pretty big shoes to fill!

The first thing I noticed about him was how chubby he was and all the dark hair he had!

He looks so chunky! I had a feeling that he was going to be big. On February 16 we had an ultrasound because I was measuring big and they estimated him at 4 pounds then, so I thought for sure we would have a bigger baby.

They took Caden to get cleaned up then brought him back to me.

And here's the proud dad holding his Little Mister! Tyler is the cutest with Caden. He talks to Caden and snuggles with him when I'm not hogging him. I think Tyler is pretty excited to have a little boy so that he can teach him all the boyish things to do.

Our first family picture with our little guy

Isn't he the cutest little guy ever? I love how he just stretches out.

A few hours later big sister Makayla came to see Caden. At first she didn't really know what to think about him, but soon she warmed up to him. She pointed at him and squealed and kept wanting to touch him. 

We're still working on touching "soft"... poor Caden is going to have to get used to all the poking. I have a feeling in a few years it will all change... Caden will be big enough he can torture Makayla.

Sometimes I think it's weird to think that I have kids... plural. I absolutely love my little family!

Caden and Makayla got each other presents. Caden got Makayla her own little baby since she will be a little mommy, too and Kayla got Caden a blankie with satin edges just like hers!

This was a special moment for me... the first time my family was all together. We feel so blessed to have a little girl and boy, happy and healthy!

Makayla used to seem so little, but next to Caden, she looks so big! I love my kiddos!

Tyler and I both said how great it is having two kids because we each get one now... we don't have to fight over who gets to hold the kids.

Caden has a great family. We had so many visitors at the hospital. Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Terry, and Grandpa Craig were there as soon as Caden was born. In the craziness of it all, we forgot to get pictures of them holding Caden, but they will be coming soon.
Some of the other people who came to see Caden included Aunt Meg

Tracy, Jeremy, Carson, Colton, Great Grandpa Doug, and Gayle

Tammy and Bruce, Rico and Karly, and Ryan

Great Grandpa and Grandma Evans. Grandpa Evans is pretty proud to be holding Caden. His nickname for him is #6 because he is the 6th William Evans in the family.

Great Aunt Karen and Anne also stopped by.

Grandpa Craig holding Caden...

Auntie Emily stopped by too!

 By Friday, we were ready to go home. Our little Sport was ready too.

 Doesn't he look so little in his car seat?

 We had to pick up Makayla from Grandma Kathy's and then we were on our way home. It still seems weird to see two car seats in the car... good thing we got a bigger car since the mustang just won't work for us anymore.

 We got home and gave Caden a tour of the house. He got to see his room for the first time and Kayla was excited to show Caden her room too.

I think Makayla is going to be the best sister to her little brother. Just today I was feeding Caden and Kayla came over to bring me his blankie... of course she took it away a few seconds later, but it was the thought that counts.

How I got so lucky, I'll never know. I have the most amazing husband who is so good to me and the kids, I have the sweetest little girl, and the handsomest little man who is here happy and healthy.  Life is good!

All About Makayla

Since this might be the last post before baby brother arrives, I thought I would do a little post all about Makayla and the fun things she has been up to in March.

Makayla is pretty regimented, which is nice. It is pretty easy to figure out what she needs or wants based on the time of day. I love that she is on a schedule and sticks to it.

Makayla started climbing out of her pack-n-play at daycare, so now she doesn't get a nap in the morning. She gets to play with the big kids all day now. When I pick her up at 1, she goes down for a good two hour nap (sometimes I go down for a nap with her... pregnancy can sure wear you out!)

At 14 months, Makayla still loves her blankie. We have about 5 of them that she rotates among. Some of the corners are pretty gross, but she sure loves her blankie!

Her hair is getting longer, so I tried putting it in side piggies. I thought she looked pretty cute, but she took them out about an hour after they were in. I love having a little girl that I can style her hair.

We have been loving the nice spring weather lately. Makayla has had so much fun in our backyard playing in the grass. We've gone for walks down our street and back, which she loves. Sometimes she gets distracted by rocks on the ground, but it is so cute. And last week we were at the trap shoot and Makayla had so much fun playing in the rocks and dirt.

 Ignore her peacock looking hair. Kayla's hair was in piggies, but she took them out.

 I think my phrase of the day is, "Not in your mouth, Kayla". I don't know why mulch is so appealing to her.

 We have a small hill in our backyard and Kayla was trying so hard to walk up it. She was pretty proud of herself when she made it to the top.

Some other fun things about Makayla at 14 months:

She is a good eater. Some of her favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, pasta pick ups, peanut butter sandwiches, and oreos.

Makayla loves to crawl up and down stairs. If you try to go down stairs without her she gets pretty upset.

Makayla tries to run away from us and make us chase her. She starts laughing so hard when we play this game with her.

She likes to watch Sesame Street in the morning before we leave. She especially loves Elmo. But nothing gets her excited like watching Baby Einstein. She squeals and claps her hands when it comes on.

She is still the sweetest, best little girl we could ask for!

I said this post was all about Makayla, but we have to give a little shout out to Makayla's cousin Colton. He turned three this month and we went to a really fun birthday party for him. Happy Birthday Cub!

Is this our last picture as a family of three?

How's our little man?

It's 37 weeks... that point in the pregnancy when most people can't wait to be done being pregnant. Not me... not that I love being pregnant, because I'm like everyone else, I don't enjoy it. I can't wait for the day when I can sleep on my stomach, and people stop rubbing my belly, and telling me how big I'm getting. But I'm not quite ready for our little man to be here. Baby boy is due on April 9th and I can only take 6 weeks off of work, so that would put me going back to work with two weeks left in the school year. That would work out perfect, right? Well baby boy has other plans for us. I went into the doctor last Friday and after checking, he said that he would be surprised if I made it to next Friday. THREE WEEKS EARLY? Needless to say I went into a bit of a panic. I had all my stuff ready for my sub... in April, but I ran to the school and tried to catch up on things so that my students would have stuff to do for the next few weeks. Then poor Tyler had to deal with the roller coaster that has been me the last few days. I may have had a few breakdowns about the house not being clean, and the laundry not being done, and a list of numbers that we needed not being written down. Good news... thanks to Tyler, our house is spotless, the laundry is all done, and the important phone numbers have been written down (okay, that one was thanks to me). I feel a whole lot better now and I am ready for our little monkey to make his debut.

I thought for sure I would go into labor this weekend. I have everyone on stand by just waiting... yet here I am. Still prego and feeling like a ticking time bomb.  I can't wait to have him here. I just want to hold him in my arms. I can't wait to see what he looks like.

We somewhat finished his room. It still needs a little work and a lot of decorations, but here's his room so far.

His cute crib set

 Dresser and changing table

 And his closet with blankets and lots of cute clothes!

When I walk past the two rooms, right next to each other, I can't help thinking how weird it is that there are two cribs, two changing tables, and soon to be two cute little babies in our house!!

According to the weekly chart, our baby boy is now the length of Swiss chard and weighs about 7 pounds.  I sure hope he comes out looking cuter than this.

So now we keep our fingers crossed (in my case, I'll keep my legs crossed) and hope our little man gets here soon, happy and healthy!

She Keeps Us Laughing

She's 13 months! I think this age has been the hardest so far, but also the funnest. One minute I can get so frustrated cleaning up the same things over and over that Kayla gets out, and the next minute I'm laughing because she's done something new.

Here's a few highlights from February...

This is usually what happens now when we try to take pictures of Makayla. She runs away like it is a game.

 She's such a little stink bug, but she keeps us laughing everyday. She is starting to get such a little personality. Makayla is the sweetest little girl, but she is starting to learn how to throw temper tantrums. And she's starting to whine when she doesn't get what she wants. But, she is learning to give kisses, she has a fake laugh, and she likes to bite our toes to tease us. We just can't get enough of her... even if she won't let us take a picture.

There are those days when she will cooperate. She was posing for me when I was taking pictures... talk about a bad hair day!!

 I feel like she was saying cheese in this picture.

 I probably shouldn't mention that when I took these pictures it was 1:00 in the afternoon. Makayla was still in her jammies... and I obviously had not given her a bath or done her hair. Sometimes you need a lazy Saturday!

And this last picture is my favorite. I just think Tyler is the best dad. I don't know how I lucked out getting him.

 As for me, this is my 8 month prego picture... I know I look huge... everybody tells me that. :) We ended up having an ultrasound a few weeks ago because even the doctor was concerned with how big I was. Turns out everything is fine. Baby boy was about 4 pounds and looked as cute as could be!

I'm starting to realize how close we are to having two kids, and I'm getting a little nervous. But at the same time I can't wait to hold my baby boy in my arms. I am definitely ready to be done being pregnant. It is starting to get to the uncomfortable stage where I can't sleep or get up from the couch. I can't complain though; I have very easy pregnancies, and luckily I haven't had any signs of preeclampsia (yet). I just want my little man to be here happy and healthy. Only 5 more weeks!!