Turning 6!

Cayden turned 6 on October 1st.  He was so excited for his birthday this year and was counting down the days.  Jared was out of town and was sad that he had to miss it.  Cayden opened his presents in the morning before school with Jared on the phone so that he could be a part of it too.

I surprised him and met him for lunch at school.  I brought a happy meal and cookies for him to share with his class after recess.

Cayden chose the dinner that night and we enjoyed his cake for dessert.  He missed having his daddy there, but still had a fun birthday!

Here are six things about Cayden:

1. Cayden has a great imagination!
2. He is organized and like to have everything in it’s place.
3. Cayden is a problem solver.
4. He loves everything about school and is eager to learn to read.
5. He is a proud big brother.
6. Cayden is very affectionate and loves to cuddle and please others.

Blessed

We had Bryce blessed last week. We were going to do it on the 10th when we would be able to have family here, but Jared found out that he was being sent out of town on a work assignment. We had to change the date and there wasn’t enough notice for anyone to make it. If we didn’t bless him last week, Jared wouldn’t be able to bless him until December. Although I was sad to not have any of our families there, neither of us wanted to wait that long. It was still a special day and a special blessing for a special boy!

Back to School!

We all were excited for school to start this year. This will be the only year that Faith and Cayden will be in the same school together. Faith is in 5th grade and has the opportunity to be in orchestra this year and has picked the violin. I wanted to play the violin when I was in school, but ended up playing the trumpet instead. I’m excited for her to learn to play, but I’m not looking forward to how it will sound at first. The day we picked up her violin, she kept getting it out to just look at it and broke her first string by tightening it! She cried thinking that she already broke it and wanted to give up already. We replaced the string and she is anxious to get to learn to play. They had their first class yesterday and are learning the proper way to hold the interment and I don’t think that it is like this…

Cayden started kindergarten and this is the first year that our school district is doing full day/ everyday kindergarten. With having a new baby, I was pretty excited about it. With the “smart start” here, there was only six other kids from his class on his first day of school. He is really enjoying school and loves sharing what he is learning. After reading to him today, he took me on a “picture walk” through one of his books. His speech continues to improve, but he is having problems keeping his hands and feet to himself.

I’m participating in a preschool play group with some friends for Brenna and she is loving it! She has it twice a week for two hours and I get to host it every five weeks. They are learning letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. It has been nice for her and I’m loving it because it gives me some time each week to get stuff done. Grocery shopping is much easier now!

Party Time!

Some of my good friends threw me a baby shower about a week after Bryce was born.  It was a lot of fun to visit with all my friends and the food was delicious!

Bryce was the center of attention and was passed around until he decided he was ready to eat.  We got some great gifts and I’m looking forward to seeing him in all the adorable outfits!

    

Thanks everyone for making me and my little guy feel so loved!

Introducing...

Bryce LaMar Skinner

August 7, 2010

9lbs 10oz

It's been almost 7 weeks ( I can't believe it) since our little guy joined our family. Here's how it happened...

I decided to be induced because I really wanted to have an epidural with this baby. All my others have been natural. My doctor told me that induction was probably the only way to guarantee that I had an epidural and I should have it done before they start the induction because I have rapid labors. It was also the only way to make sure that Jared was there for the birth and my mom was here to watch the kids.

When the hospital called, we said goodbye to the kids. We were all eager to meet this little guy!

My good friend, Julie, was able to be there and made the waiting time a lot more fun! We ended up waiting 3 hours just for the doctor to come in and give the okay to get started. I got the epidural and then they started pitocin to bring the head a little bit lower before they broke my water. They were concerned about his heart rate and stopped the pitocin, gave me oxygen, and put fetal monitors on his head. They also told me that I couldn't even have ice chips in case they needed to do a c-section. Needless to say, I was a bit worried, but everything turned out fine. He was born at 8:25pm (2 1/2 hrs after they broke my water).

Our biggest surprise was how big he was! Even the delivery nurse was guessing he wouldn't be over 8lbs. Until now, Faith was my biggest baby at 7lbs 12oz. I'm sure glad that I had an epidural for this one!!!

9lbs 10oz!

After his bath

Thanks to my friend Lisa, my mom was able to be there for the birth too. She brought the kids by to visit the next morning.

We could barely get him in the newborn outfit that we brought to bring him home in!

He is doing well and growing fast. He is already 12 1/2lbs and started wearing 3/6 mo clothes at 4wks old.

Changes

There have been a few changes at our house since we found out we'll be having another little boy! A week after my ultrasound, we bought some bunk beds on Craigslist and switched the kids rooms around. Cayden moved into the girls room because it's the only room that the crib will fit in. He was excited to get Faith's loft bed.
I am still working on his room as we prepare for the baby. I want to paint, but don't know what color to do and Cayden has become fond of the yellow. I think I will have a better idea of what I want once I finish making the crib bedding.

Even though the girls are in a smaller room now, they are liking it better. I thought transitioning Brenna from the crib would be hard, but it wasn't that bad. The down side is that she no longer takes naps though. She also learned quickly not to climb up the sides of the bunk bed to see Faith. The beds were only up a week and Brenna fell and hit her head on the dresser, and had her first trip to the ER!

Jared traded his car for this colorful truck. His friend at work rebuilt it and since they had about the same value, they just traded. They will paint it one color this summer and it still needs a radio and rear bumper installed. It doesn't look that great, but the engine is better than the Saturn's was. I have to admit, it has been nice having the truck for some of the projects we've been doing...like our floors!

During Spring Break we started redoing our floors. It made Easter interesting! It took us longer than we thought to do the whole project, which also included new trim. The kids were eager to help in any way they could.

We did laminate in the dining room/kitchen, entry way, and hallway. It sure has made a huge difference and we are loving it. There is still some painting that needs to be done and we will be installing white bi-fold doors for our pantry this week. I wish we could have replaced our carpet this year too, but that will have to wait until next year.

We also started working on our backyard. We thought that it would be done by now, but the weather has not cooperated! Too much rain!!! This is how it looked last Spring:

It has been rocky, bumpy, and weedy! Trying to mow it has killed the blade on out lawn mower. Just before Mother's Day, we tilled the whole thing.

This weekend we rented a yard roller to level it out and finally laid the grass seed. Well, today the rains have returned and I'm guessing it might kill the seed. Maybe just where the puddles form. I guess we'll find out in about a week. We can't wait until we have some decent grass.

I usually have a hard time with change, but I'm so happy about what we have been working on. I'm looking forward to the changes still to come for our family...Like our baby coming in about 9 more weeks!

It's a...

We're excited for our little boy to join our family in August!