K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Last week we were at Braums with our good friends Jeff and Andrea and their adorable kids Zack, who is 8 like Caleb, and Ethan who is 4. The adults were sitting at one table and the kids at another. Caden and Ethan LOVE to be around each other. Andrea and I are always so amused at how cute they are with each other. Caden sometimes refers to Ethan as her boyfriend and other times he is her buddy. Andrea tells me that Ethan says "my Caden." I think one time we told them to hold hands as we were walking in a parking lot and now they do it ALL THE TIME!

We were all eating ice cream and then all of a sudden this starts happening. I just happened to have my camera with me. (We had planned on going bowling with them, but couldn't get a lane.) It was SO CUTE and FUNNY! We were all laughing so hard. One of the other pictures came out so blurry because the camera was shaking. This went on for several minutes. The photos almost make it look like a normal kiss. It wasn't just a normal sweet kiss, there was a lot of face grabbing. I have never seen this aggressive side of Ethan before. Caden wasn't resisting at all though. She thought it was pretty funny too!

TWINS

Over the past few weeks I have had a fear that I am having twins. I guess "fear" is not really the word. Although I know it would be SO HARD, I am sure more than double or triple the stress of just having one baby, I wouldn't really be scared because I know I would be able to handle it. God doesn't give you more than you can handle right??? I guess it would just be very overwhelming to have 4 kids when you only planned on having 2. As a good friend told me the other day "there's a big difference in unplanned and unwanted." Of course if I were to have twins I could have adorable pictures like this one.

No, I don't know these babies except that their names are Brett and Gabriel and they are 3 weeks old. Aren't they adorable!!

Anyway, so people might be wondering WHY I have a feeling I am having twins. There is really only 2 reasons. First of all I just feel that my stomach is too big for only being about 15 weeks pregnant. I am bigger with this one than I was with Caleb at over 20 weeks. The other reason is I have already felt the baby several times - no it is not just gas. I didn't feel Caleb until 20 weeks. Maybe if there are 2 in there I would be more likely to feel one move. Who knows. The likelihood of me having twins is so low. I looked it up on the Internet. We all know that everything you read on the Internet is 100% FACT. I only have a 3% chance of having twins. Natural twins are fairly rare. However there are other factors that make your chance higher.

• If you are over 45 your chances are 17%, over 50 there is a 1 in 9 chance - WOW
• You take fertility drugs or undergo other fertility treatments. - DUH
• You live in Massachusetts or Connecticut. These states were at least 25% higher than the national rate in the United States. how bizarre is that ??
• You, your mother, or her mother's mother is a fraternal twin. - nope, my mom's an only child
• You're Nigerian. This African country purportedly has the highest twinning rate in the world, estimated at 1 in 22. Some sources attribute it to their consumption of large quantities of yams. - I like yams.
• You're overweight or tall. A 2005 study reported a significant increase in fraternal twin births to mothers who had a BMI of 30 or higher, or who were in the top 25th percentile for height.

Some of those were interesting facts. Well I bet there is only one in there. I will find out for sure on July 23rd when I have my ultrasound.

Father Daughter Tea Party

A few weeks ago our church had a Father Daughter Tea Party. This was the first year that Caden was old enough to go. I signed her and Chris up immediatley and made sure Chris put it on his calendar. Caden was very excited to go. She wore her Easter dress again. She loves to twirl in it. When they got back home I was hoping they BOTH had a good time. Chris said even he enjoyed it too. They had some acitivities/stations and gave the girls a string of pearls and a pillow. Caden often sleeps with her pillow. Caden is normally such a momma's girl, so I am very happy when she gets to spend quality time like this with her Daddy.

In Memory of Martha "Evelyn" Diesen

My sweet grandma Diesen passed away on Monday June 18, 2007. She was born April 21, 1910 and lived to be 97 years old.

Up until the past few months she was VERY healthy. She only quit driving within the last year or two. Over the past few months my sweet grandmother endured a mild heart attack, a stroke and other health issues. We knew the end was near so last Monday, on June 11th, my mom, my sister and her girls, and I made a quick trip up to Minnesota to see her. We were able to tell her how much we loved and her and let her know we were there. Even though I think she still looked good for 97, I want to remember her how she was before - a very independent, spunky woman full of life. I wanted to share these cute pictures of how I will always remember her.

Here is one of my all time favorite pictures. Here she is back in 1999 with Caleb. He was only 4 months old and my grandma was 89. I LOVE this picture so much!!! I will cherish it forever. Since my daddy died when I was 17, my kids obviously didn't get to know him, so it always brought so much joy to see my kids with their grandma.

The next picture was taken in the fall of 2004 with my Aunt Eileen (my daddy's sister) and Grandma. Caden was only 14 months in this picture. My grandma looks really good for 94 doesn't she.

My dad's parents lived in Minnesota and we lived in Texas so we normally only got to see them once a year. They would come to our house for Thanksgiving and then stay about a week and then drive to Florida to stay the winter in their Florida home. When they came to visit my sister and I would have to share a room. The day my grandparents left we would sometimes find a note on our dresser with some money telling us thanks for the use of our room and for us having to share. She was always so sweet and generous. She always thought she had to make herself useful while she was visiting. She would make my sister and I silver dollar size pancakes for breakfast so we could go to school telling our friends we ate 50 pancakes. She also cooked a lot while she was there so we always had a ton of pies in our deep freezer to last us all year. My head and heart are filled with so many other memories of my wonderful grandmother. Thank you for taking the time to read about a few of them!

Fathers Day

Last week I took the kids to get their pictures taken for Fathers Day. I normally go to Portrait Innovations. They are usually very good. Although the girl taking their picture wasn't mean, she just wasn't the most friendly or patient. Caleb, of course, did everything she asked and hardly moved out of position. Caden was acting a little silly so we got a couple shots with her feet in the air or her making a silly face. However we still managed to get this adorable picture.

Pregnancy Update 13 weeks

Everything went great at my doctors appointment this morning. The baby's heartbeat was around 155-157 and I am measuring right where I should. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday July 16th. Hopefully I will be able to feel the baby move soon.

According to Baby Center Website, "your belly may soon be big enough to announce to the world that your expecting (DUH - way ahead of you there!!!), but the baby is still tiny. In fact, he's only about 3 inches long crown to rump — roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp — and weighs just about an ounce. (weird, last week, according to this site, the baby was the size of a lime - aren't limes bigger???) Despite the small proportions, there's a fully formed baby inside your womb now. Much more proportional than it was a few weeks ago, his head is now only about a third the size of his body. His tiny, unique fingerprints are already in place. His kidneys and urinary tract are functional, and he's starting to urinate out the amniotic fluid he's been swallowing. (GREAT - he/she is drinking their own pee - wonderful) As you start your second trimester, most of your baby's critical development will be completed, and your odds of miscarriage will drop considerably. (YEA!!!! that is good to know!!)

Now look what I did to myself!

OK, sorry for anyone who has a foot or toe aversion. For the rest of you, I had a freaky toe incident last night. We were at church and I was walking down a step and somehow - I still don't know how, my ledt big toe kicked the back of my right heel - HARD!!!! I immediately felt pain and looked down at my toe which was cracked halfway down ALL the way across. There is also another part at the top that is cracked on one side too. I had to sit down cause I couldn't stand for a min. Then I look at my heel on my other foot and there is blood running down into my sandals. Good thing I was wearing black flip flops, so it was an easy clean up. Anyway my heel was stinging and my toe was throbbing for hours. It still hurts to touch it. So I am not sure what the exact damage is. I better not loose the thing. I wear sandals everyday in the summer and I don't want to only have half the nail. I would look like a freak - and I try not to look like that as much as possible! Here is a picture of the toe.
The white part is where the crack is and then there is another crack at the top. Please no comment about me needing a pedicure. Ok, thanks for letting me whine a little bit. It REALLY hurt!!

The kids were being so funny about it last night. Caleb wanted to see it and asked if it bled. He wanted to see blood and wanted to know which hurt worse, the toe or the heel. Caden asked if I needed to go to the hospital. How cute is that. Then she said that I need to go home and put a bandage on it and it will be better in the morning. She has asked about it several times today already. She is so sweet.

AWE - Look what I let happen!!

Yesterday we went with some friends to our neighborhood pool for the first time this summer. I did really well with the sunscreen - except for this!! I made sure I got it really well on her face, chest and shoulders, but apparently I didn't go low enough on her back. Good thing she has my skin tones. I put aloe on it last night after her bath and it has almost already turned to tan. Well I didn't play favorites, Caleb wasn't spared either. I got his face, chest, shoulders, back, BUT I missed the upper part of his arms that were white from the farmers tan he already had.

Why is Chris missing?

Well I have had people ask me why Chris is missing from the family photo. Well we are having some issues - only joking. We apparently don't take too many of the entire family. The last one of all of us was our infamous Christmas card. As soon as I get one I will definitely put it up here.

In case you didn't already know we are having a surprise addition to our family in Decmeber. A friend of ours told us if it is a girl to name her Daisy as in oops a daisy. We are trying to get to the point where we can be excited. I know we will be eventually. Right now I am almost 12 weeks, but feel closer to 16. Looking back at pictures from when I was pregnant with Caden I am weeks ahead of myself. I don't know if it is because of the 3rd child or the fact that I haven't been to the gym much lately. I think it is both.

In case you didn't know our other news my sister Angie had a baby in April. Dakota is SO ADORABLE and I can't wait to see her again in a few weeks.
This is a picture of Dakota from a few weeks ago. Isn't she so cute!!!

Better late than never!!

Hello everyone!! This is my first attempt at blogging. I have had friends who have been doing it for years. This is such a great way to keep distant family and friends updated with our lives. Why didn't I think of it sooner????