Thanksgiving

Dylan was asleep, so he missed out on the photos.

I have so, so much to be thankful for. I just can't thank God for everything, and I am not going to try to mentioned it all. Just a few...

I am so thankful for sweet Dylan. He arrived the perfect time! Stephaan was here to meet him; I could go to Wentzel's wedding; and McCade is just the right age for a new brother. I am so ashamed for doubting for how it all was going to work out.... God is in control and He definitely knows best.

I am also so thankful for a great husband. He has been helping me so much, and I am sad this long weekend is over. It was so nice to have him around. He works so hard for us, and NEVER complains about it.

I am so thankful for a wonderful family, and my mom/dad are here with me on the same continent. I am soooo thankful they have their green cards.

I am so thankful for wonderful friends. I am so blessed!

I am so thankful for my beautiful sons. They are just AWESOME! McCade has been such a good boy and makes me so happy!

I am so, so thankful for my wonderful in-laws. I have the PERFECT mother-in-law. She is jewel. I have so much appreciation for her, and will ALWAYS be thankful for the week she stayed w/ us.

I can go on and on, but will stop now.

Thank you Jesus for my great life!

So cute!

McCade loves his brother!

I told McCade to take the sippy cup out of his mouth so I can see his pretty lips, so he showed me how pretty it really is :)

Great Granma Collins

One week old!

We are doing so well. Dylan is 10 days old today, such a sweet baby. McCade just amazes me everyday. He is so patient with me; especially when I have to breastfeed, he just accepts that I can't help him at that moment and waits. He loves Dylan, and says "Dylan is so cute" probably about 10 times a day. When Dylan wakes up he says yeah, yeah, yeah. Here are some photos of the last week.

Dylan is here!

So it happened!! Our precious boy arrived Thursday Nov. 13Th at 8:20 pm. He is just perfect, and I just thank God for His mercy and love.

I lost my mucus plug on Wednesday... thought no big deal... had contractions all night, but it was irregular with not that much pain. Thursday morning around 10:45 I decided it was becoming more regular, so I called Andy and my parents. The whole way to the hospital I did not have a single contraction, and I just knew they are going to send me back. When they examined me, I was dilated 5cm, my Dr. decided I should stay to get my dosages of penicillin in (just what I wanted) At 6 I was still a 5, had my antibiotics in, so Dr. Harris broke my water. I dilated in an hour to 8 cm. Oh, my goodness and was that PAINFUL! I have never never experienced such discomfort, and hoping I will never again. It was JUST CRAZY to try without an epidural. So around 7pm I decided to ask for the anesthesiologist. He showed up 30 minutes later. He had to poke my spine twice! The first poke was successful, but the catheter had a defect, because of sterile field etc. I had to sit up strait on my bottom for another 20 minutes without any pain meds; the worst that I was not allowed to move, NOT even with a violent contraction. It was absolutely miserable. So needless to say, he got it in around 8, I was a "complete" and our baby's head was coming out. I only pushed 4 times. Thank goodness. I did get in that mean phase, and was not pleasant at all. I always wondered if I will be able to "hold my pose" but no, I didn't. :)



All that matters, we have a healthy baby, he weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. His head and chest was 13 1/2 inches. He looks just like McCade, except he has really dark hair. I always thought it will be either blond or red.



McCade is doing so, so well. He is such a GREAT big brother. He is very excited about his brother, and wants to help and care for him so bad. He said today when Dylan woke up, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. He asks about him and pet his head real gentle.

Our Family together after 7 1/2 years!

What a blessing! Stephaan, my brother who lives in South Africa finally got approved for a visa; and he is here with us for a whole month! It is so wonderful to have him with us. He finally got to meet McCade; he will be here for Wentzel's wedding, and the arrival of our baby Dylan. How wonderful is that!! God is so good! We tried to take family pics today, since I have no idea if I will be able to be at the wedding in Houston (which is in 2 weeks). It was really hard to get the perfect photo... especially with Mr. McCade to look at the camera. We had fun though! Oh, and by the way... I am 38 weeks today.

Andy's birthday

It was Andy's 34th birthday today! McCade and I baked him a cake, McCade was soooo excited about helping and just LOVED putting the candles in it. He couldn't wait for Andy to get home to show him. He of course wanted to blow the candles over and over, and kept saying again, again, so needless to say, we spend about 20 minutes just blowing out candles... daddy didn't blow any! We also had Andy's favorite thing... cookie cake... As you might notice in the photos, Andy didn't feel to great on his birthday. I pray that we all will be healthy before our baby arrives!


He also helped putting on the icing... and probably ate more than he helped.

Two weeks ago

McCade and Hailey... what is he doing???

Ella and McCade, Maylee was outside with us too, but too busy to pose for a photo :)

McCade and I went to Dallas Oct. 18th. It was Ella's 2nd birthday party; McCade got to meet his new cousin Hadley; we got to visit with family; and Hailey... our friend that is like family. It was a lot of fun! The picture with McCade and Hailey is the best one I have... believe me!

A week ago

Last week I decided to take McCade for a haircut. As most of you all know, I like his hair long (Andy actually does too), but he could barely see, so I decided it is time to make the world a little brighter for him. I took him to snip-its, so the lady who usually cuts his hair (which is maybe twice a year) wasn't there. The lady who was there was new and her hair style was shorter than Andy's. Why I didn't see that as a sign... I really don't know... She started cutting and cutting, McCade's beautiful hair was just falling and falling. I kept telling her in a nice way we like the long boy cut look... but she didn't get my nice way.... so after about 20 minutes maybe 25, she was done. I am so proud of McCade he was more patient than I was! I was sweating and hyperventilating, and kept telling myself it is okay... we don't have to come back in a very, very long time. She did us a favor. I was a little sad...must be my pregnancy hormones. But no matter what hair style my sweet boy has.... he will always be the cutest thing to me!!

Halloween

We had a lot of fun! Nonnie and Pops were here for Halloween, so we got to do trick and treating with them in our neighborhood. McCade just loved knocking on the doors and receiving candy. We had to make many stops for candy bites. His outfit was precious and he loved it. Afterwards we went to eat at Outback.... which is always a risk w/ Mr. Man, but he did really well. Thank goodness!

I finally made the decision!

Well, I have been enjoying reading my friends blogs so much, and thought I really need to start one too. So, here it is! Nov. 1st, 2008 is a good day for it :) I might be a little crazy to start it just before our new addition to the family arrives... but I will give it a try and see how it goes. It might just motivate me to take more photos and think about things to do with Mr. McCade!