2 Lil' Cowboys & Loving Life!

Today marked the first official afternoon that I was alone with my two lil' cowboys.  My mom came home from the hospital with us last Thursday and stayed for a week.  It was great to have her around and I guarantee my laundry has never had such a quick turnaround.  Kallahan has seriously worn the same nightgown every night since he came home!  She helped me through all the emotions that I was feeling, mainly feeling overwhelmed with a new baby, working from home and with a three-year-old that is taking time to adjust to all the changes.  She helped me realize that I will need more help than I initially intended.  Thank heavens for Granny that has offered to take the boys as often as I need her to so that I can stay caught up on work. 

But even though we had a few rough patches today – mommy getting emotional when Grandma left & Keeler not eating dinner well to name a few – we did great!  I just love my little cowboys and know that I will get spoiled getting to spend so much time with them during my maternity leave.  I just want these next ten weeks to go by slow so that I can appreciate every minute.  I already love living at a slower pace and getting to do things that I normally miss out on.  I started editing some of the first week pics this evening.  Check out some of my favorites of my cowboys!    

“It’s not what we have in our life, but who we have in our life that counts." - J. M. Laurence

Kallahan Arrives!

Kallahan Troy Baker

Birthday:  09.19.11  /  Time: 8:00am

Weight: 6lbs 5.3oz.

Length: 19”

Head: 13.75”

Chest: 12”

Photo Collage by Sabra Turner Designs

Welcome to the family our newest little cowboy!  I have to start by reporting we are truly blessed with the most precious, perfect little cowboy named Kallahan Troy!  I feel  overwhelmingly privileged to be his mommy!!  So far, he really is like having a baby doll at home.  Such an easy baby, he wakes to eat every 3-4 hours and sleeps peacefully through all the chaos that surrounds him.  Our house has been quite busy with a lot visitors since we got home on Thursday.  We are so happy that everyone is getting to meet our precious addition.        

As most of you know, I experienced a pancreatic attack on Sunday which resulted in the doctor inducing delivery.  Kallahan was born at 8am on Monday @ 37 weeks.  This was so much better timing than with Keeler because with him I had to suffer through the pancreatitis for over a week until he was mature enough to induce.  With Kallahan at 37 weeks there was minimal concern for his well being.  So, in that case the pancreatitis has not been as bad.  My levels were high but not near as high as they were with Keeler.  For treatment, I was first put on a liquid diet after delivery but then my levels continued to increase.  So, they decided to completely rest my system and I was placed on IV fluids only.  With that treatment, my levels decreased overnight – praise the Lord!  After one more day of liquids and the completion on one solid meal my levels decreased enough that Kallahan & I got to come home on Thursday.   

Finally our little family of four was united.  Cowboy Keeler has done so well with welcoming Kallahan into our lives.  He had a nice vacation while we were in the hospital.  He stayed with Granny and loved all the attention.  He visited the hospital regularly and seemed to take to the idea of us possibly relocating there too well.  He actually called the waiting room his “living room”  - which was filled with books and toys that he and his grandparents enjoyed.  For his first show and tell at preschool he took a little wagon full of "It's a boy" suckers for his friends and proudly showed them pictures of his new baby brother.

It has been so nice to be back home.  I won’t lie, the last two days have been an emotional roller coaster.  Between the hormones, the pain medication and the surge of emotions I have been a basket case.  I just want to treasure every moment since they grow up so fast.  Luckily, we have the best support team to help us adjust.  We want to thank our family and friends for the prayer, support and concern throughout the entire ordeal.   I truly feel like the luckiest mommy in the world! 

 

 "Nothing is as precious or brings home so much love, as a brand new baby sent from above."

Getting closer...

Today we had our 36 week checkup and the first thing my doctor said was, “I can’t believe we have made it this far!”  We feel the same way.  We are so thankful that thus far we have not had any complications.  We will continue to pray that this little cowboy finishes up the final stages of development without any issues.  It is such a relief to know that within a couple weeks’ time he will officially be considered fully developed.  I gained a pound between the two weeks (good news considering I have been indulging in nachos probably a few times too many) and the baby is measuring right on track.  Our next appointment is next Monday.  Our doctor reported that he will be out of the town for the weekend so we hope we have an uneventful weekend, but he assured us that the on-call doctor is great.  He also reported that at our next appointment we will discuss the induction, if baby does not come on his on.  I have been having more Braxton Hicks contractions and feeling the baby dropping more and more.  My average for nighttime bathroom breaks is probably 5+.  I can’t believe that we are getting this close!!

Life at our house has been pretty mundane the
past few days but I'll share some moments…

Cowboy thought he was big stuff watching his DVD player in "his room." 

Little did he know this was our way of NOT watching Nick Jr for a while.

I hated that I missed out on celebrating both my sister and sister-in-law's birthdays this past weekend.  It was nice to visit with them over the phone and we plan on celebrating with Kallahan once he arrives. 

Happy Birthday Samantha & Tiffany!!

1st Day of Preschool

 The school years have begun.  I have tried not to get too emotional about my little cowboy going to preschool because I know in retrospect it is just 3-year-old preschool.  This morning we all got ready and everyone was “emotionally stable” regarding the adventure.  School does not start until 9:30a so I went ahead and went to work and Tyler took Keeler to Granny’s to work on bookwork while we waited to take him.  I picked up the three of them at about 9:15a and we headed to school. 

On the way, Keeler was so excited and we talked about what to expect. 

When we got to school, he was excited to go and see everyone.  When we walked in he put his backpack away and asked if he could show Granny the toys.  Obviously us adults had discussed our game plan beforehand and we all knew that we needed to drop him off and make our exit as quickly as possible.  I looked at Granny to see if she thought her looking at the toys was a good or bad idea but uh oh, her eyes were swelling up with tears.  I knew that she was thinking what I was trying to avoid thinking about:  how quickly our little cowboy is growing up, about how grown up he appeared in a school setting, how proud we are of him, etc… So then of course I started to tear up.  I looked away because I didn’t want Keeler to see me but he was looking right up at me with fear in those huge blue eyes.  I looked over to Tyler to get some strength but I could tell he was kind of getting emotional too.  We all knew at that moment that we had to leave.  The aid luckily walked over to Keeler and asked him to go play as we left. 
The next two hours were torture for me.  I went back to work and tried to concentrate and hold back the tears.  However, it was hard and I had this fear that he was wailing and bawling and must be feeling abandoned.  I am sure that I drove my coworkers crazy, i.e., mostly males.  But they were very supportive by telling me that he was doing fine.  FINALLY, Tyler and I met up to head to school.  We went to the director’s office first to pay his tuition.  It was music to my ears when she said that he did great!  She said that he cried for a little while at first but then did very well.  When we walked in to get him he was seated on the rug with his backpack and was grinning from ear to ear.  He was so proud of himself.  He yelled out goodbye to a few kids by name and be-bopped to the car.  He told us that they learned about the cross and God.  He talked about his snack time and some of the kids. 

Prior to picking him up I arranged to take the afternoon off to help him emotionally because I just knew he would be scarred, but evidently we all took it harder than he did.  Oh well, I decided to stay home anyway, perhaps more for myself.  We have painted and played this afternoon and now he is napping.  I don’t regret taking the day off, I know my one on one time with this little cowboy is limited.   

"I'll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

Jacey's visit!

We have officially started the 30 day countdown to Kallahan’s arrival - 26 more days! This also means another weekend at home since we can't travel more than an hour of the hospital.  Luckily, my mom came up to see us again.  She is being so supportive by entertaining us and this weekend my sister was nice enough to let her bring along my favorite little girl to visit.  My mom and Jacey arrived on Friday evening and the kiddos have been playing since they got here.  Little cowboy loves Jacey and she is so great with him. 

Dove hunting has opened up, so in addition to his regular farm/ranch duties Tyler has pretty much been MIA since Thursday.  He is having a blast with his friends/family.  On opening night everyone shot their limit within 3 hours.  So obviously, it was nice to have the girls here to visit. 
We've had a lot of fun! 

Christmas in September 

Christmas movie, hot chocolate & marshmallows

 Playtime:  You name it, they played it! 

 puppies, birds, fish, snakes... a trip to the pet store

We took little cowboy to the movies - he is still not a movie goer. 
It was a darling movie for what we could see between 
3 bathroom breaks and multiple other escape attempts.

 Playing at the Noah's Arc Park

 "Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream..."
Don't you just LOVE this picture!

Thanks for a great visit Grandma Kathy & Jacey!



"Of all my favorite happy times so special to recall, the times we’ve spent together are my most cherished of all."  Author: Unknown









Meet & Greet

Monday evening was meet and greet at little cowboy’s preschool.  He will officially start school on September 7^th.  We worked hard to build up the event and explained that Mommy and Daddy would be there the entire time.  When we arrived at his school all the 4-5 year olds were leaving plus the two classes of 3 year olds were arriving.  To say it was overwhelming is an understatement.  We quickly introduced our little family to his teacher and then she suggested that we walk around the room to check things out.  It is a darling classroom.  We had fun looking for Keeler's name on the birthday calendar, at his assigned seat and his little locker space.  We were also excited to see that we know a few of the children and their parents that will be in his class. 

Little cowboy was really excited to see all the toys and wanted to play with everything.  However, he was uneasy about playing with the other children and insisted that I find out the name to each child that he interacted with.  He did great exploring the room for about 20 minutes. 
Tyler was talking with one of the other fathers when Keeler asked for a hug.  I looked over and saw that he was crying while Tyler was holding him.  We asked what was the matter and he asked us, “Why is my teacher not teaching me anything?”  It was so sweet and it was hard not to laugh.  We tried to explain that we were just meeting her but he continued to be emotional and at that point we felt that it was best to make our exit.  He proceeded to be upset on the way home.  He said that he was sad because he didn’t get to meet ALL the kids.  He is such a sweet and emotional little guy.  We will continue to pray that he does well with the new adventure.  In the meantime we plan on reading him his books about going to school and build up the experience as much as possible.   

“My silly cowboy…” 
My co-worker / dear friend, Maria was so sweet and brought over a huge bag of precious baby clothes for Kallahan.  I started washing some of the clothes – let the nesting begin!  When Keeler saw the little clothes he started asking 100 questions.  I think he was confused that the baby actually had laundry and he was insisting that they were his clothes.  I told him they are too small for him BUT he wanted to try this one on – so we did.  He found it pretty funny that he couldn’t even stand up!

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  

Psalms 118:24

All Boy!

My talented BFF, Sabra Turner and her hubby joined us on Saturday evening for a trip to the farm.  The guys wanted to practice shooting clay pigeons for next weekend’s opening of hunting season.  Us girls tagged along to support the guys and get some fresh air.  Sabra came with camera in hand to take some outdoor shots with her new camera.  As always, this lady amazes me with her wide realm of talents, from baking to design work and now pictures taking – she can do it all! 

Little cowboy had a blast being outside and Sabra captured his excitement about being around guns for the first time.  For a mommy, that is not too fond of the whole hunting sport, I was a little uneasy but have to admit it was pretty cute to see just how “all boy” he was once he got to fire his first gun.  However, the adventure was conducted with complete assistance and a lecture regarding gun safety.    

tired of taking pictures and walking

Mommy carried little cowboy back to the guys and their hunting spot

Cowboy was a little timid at first....

Now the fun begins! 

helping the big guys

Little cowboy's first shot

Safety First!

Waechter Farm & Ranch

Take your kids hunting and you won’t have to go hunting for your kids.