Come what may...: November 2009

I cannot believe that you are 5. It truly seems like last week that we were bringing you home. what a long story! And now you ask me all of the time to tell you about when you were a baby and you “lived in a box”

We were so excited for you to join our family. Your big brother was a whopping 7 months old when we found out you were on your way!

Here we are at 7 months or so.

The week before you were born I was hanging out with halle and Parker “bed resting”

Grandma took parker to her house for a while and then called and said “I just feel like I need to come to your house tonight".” She got to our house that evening and the next morning you were on your way…5 weeks early. We called Daddy (who was at work) and Aunt Tammie and told them this show was on the road!

I will never forget that day. When I think back, all of these memories come to mind – mostly of the family dropping everything and driving (most of them 4.5 hours) to get to the hospital when they heard you were coming so early. And before we knew it, you were here.

I held you for about 2 seconds and then they took you away. You were not breathing very well and had to go down to the NICU. For being 5 weeks early you were a heavy weight at 6 lbs 1 oz!

you love this picture because if shows you wearing a “horse head” just like Daddy has!

Aunt Crystal held your little arms and legs so you would feel safe and snuggled.

Parker gave you a stuffed alligator and you were wrapped in your Grandma Barrett blanket. You were the most decked out kiddo in the NICU.

You spent two weeks there and I was there with you, holding you and feeding you every couple of hours, watching you sleep and wishing we could take you home.

Thank heavens for Grandma who stayed at our house with Parker and took care of everything so that I could zombie my way around and only have you to worry about. Grandma brought your big brother to meet you and he was so excited! He held your hand, but was so not going to share his paci!

We finally got to bring you home!

Right after we got you home and were getting used to doing your breathing treatments and getting settled, Daddy got pneumonia! Needless to say we were all REALLY tired!

At Christmas time you were 6 weeks old and still so tiny – you fit perfectly into the doll stroller and pack n play we got Halle for Christmas, and even into Moms stocking!

You were such a happy baby! Always so funny. Daddy would stick his tongue out at you and you would do it back!

You fit right in with the “guys”

The doctor was so happy when you chunked up so good, weighing in at 14 pounds at 4 months! Not bad for a preemie!

Grandma loved to talk to you because you would laugh and laugh!

You got your nickname Kookoo bird because of all of your funny faces and hilarious little personality.

You are such a good big brother and were always sweet to your new baby sister.

Now you are 5, and you love dressing up in superhero costumes. Everyday its something new and you still have us laughing. You are the sweetest, smartest, craziest, most talkative and funny little guy in the world and we love you so much. We are so glad that you came to our family Kaden. Happy Birthday KooKoo Bird!

These are your “power shooters” also known as Brinlee’s beauty and the beast high heels.

So much has happened in the last couple of months – I don’t even think I could play catch-up! So here are a few of last months highlights.

First there was this:

Which started with a “goofing around on the top bunk while we were supposed to be sleeping” scenario. Entailed an entire night of sleeping with mom and crying and Tylenol – a morning visit to the doctor with xrays and the diagnosis of a fractured arm. They sent us home to wait for the swelling to go down before they put the cast on, but thank heavens when we went back in, they rechecked the xray and decided that it wasn’t a break, just a really badly bruised bone! Happiness all around!

Then there was this:

I totally gave in and did what I swore I would never do and got the boys those sick tight transformers costumes! They were beyond excited, and I created a costume for Brin – a little devil of course!