Our Tiny Wonder

Speedy Delivery!

After 9 months of anticipation, the wait is finally over! Amelia Jordyn made her debut into the world yesterday, January 10, at 1:25am. She is absolutely beautiful, weighing in at 7lb, 9oz and measuring 19 inches long.

The story is definately one worth telling, as her speedy entrance into the world took us all by surprise! And sorry for those of you who may not want the details, but I promise I will not get too graphic. We had a scheduled induction for the Monday morning following my due date (today!). My due date came and went and I figured I'd just have to wait for the induction, as with the last two kids. Amelia had other plans. As I was falling asleep around midnight on Saturday, I felt a big kick in the front of my belly and heard a "snap!". I knew almost immediately that Amelia had broken my water. We called Jason's parents and they came over so we could head to the hospital. We were in no rush (or so we thought) as my last labors had taken several hours to really get contractions going and things moving along. About 20 minutes after my water broke, I started having contractions. After the 10 minute drive to the hospital, they were noticeably stronger and coming every 5 minutes. By the time I was checked through the ER (about 15 minutes later), the contractions were bad enough to want an epidural (which I never got!) and I was taken strait to a delivery room. The short story is, within a half hour of arriving in the delivery room Amelia entered the world! I only had about 20 contractions from the time my water broke, and they barely even had an IV started by the time she was out! From the time I was laying in bed to her arrival was a total of 1 1/2 hours. I guess it's a good thing we got to the hospital quickly.

Seriously...

I have been such a blog slacker! The last few months have just seemed to be wild and crazy, and maybe I can blame a little bit of it on being pregnant and chasing after two little ones. But regardless, here is an update of the last couple months...We had a great Halloween, Caleb was a dragon and Natalie was a flower. This was the first year Caleb was really into going up to the door and saying "Trick or Treat!". We still have most of his candy bucket left, he isn't much of a candy guy. Thanksgiving was wonderful, we had all of the close relatives over to our house, I think it totalled 13 people. Jason and I tag teamed a 24lb turkey on the Traeger and it turned out amazing!! We had NO turkey leftovers. Natalie started walking at the beginning of December, she seemed to catch on really quick and is able to really move fast now. On December 8, Caleb turned 3! We had a combined family party for him and Jason's dad, whose birthday is a couple of days later.


As for the new baby, we are 3 weeks away from the due date of January 6, and she was breech until the day we went in to vert her (externally rotate her to head down!). I think she may have even turned as I sat and waited for the doctor to come in at the hospital...lots of prayer helped with that one! She is a very active child inside, we'll see how that translates into her personality later. And as is the story with all of my pregnancies, my doctor decided to go on vacation (out of the country!) right as I am coming up on my due date. At least this time she will be back before my due date, as long as baby holds out for her until after the 29th.


Well, we are all excited for Christmas and I pray you are too! Let us thank the Lord this season for the most amazing gift of his Son who has given us all life! I am really enjoying teaching Caleb about the Christmas story this year. I would encourage you to look at the "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity set to do with your children if you want a neat way to celebrate the true reason for the season. It is a seven day interactive set (or you could go through the whole thing on Christmas morning) that that tells the Christmas story in a way kids of all ages can understand.

And for some pictures...

Natalie twirling in her Christmas dress.

My handsome man is 3!!

The first steps...

Superman, Birthday and other such...

I am loving these beautiful fall days, we could not have ordered better weather! My belly continues to grow, and we are down to the three month mark! I am getting more excited to hold this little girl kicking around inside.
Natalie turned 1 on October 2, it is such a joy to watch her grow each day! She now says, "dada", "this", "yes". and the occasional "papa". But I am still waiting for "mama"... She has ventured to take a couple steps at a time away from the table and into my arms (or grandma's) but hasn't gotten up the confidence to keep going. She loves to eat most everything, although doesn't seem to like olives or plain cheese.
Caleb is really seeming to be more of a big boy every day! About three weeks ago he decided he was ready to be potty trained and it only took one day with just two accidents. For the most part, he does very well all day long, even during nap, and only needs a diaper at night. It has been so nice to have just one in diapers, even if for just a few months. :) He has started to ask the "why" question and often asks "what this?". I am amazed by what he is able to remember and all of the sentences he puts together. Right now we are working on saying "I" in place of "me". He has really started to form opinions and assert his preferences too. One day he told Jason and me that he does not want another sister and said "sister go bye-bye, have a brother." Fits are also a regular occurance these days if we tell him "no". I have a feeling that three may be a little more challenging than two because of this!

Here is a picture of Nattie on her birthday, she has been cutting her molars and I think they were really bothering her the night of her party. She cried all the way through everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

She was a little happier when we put a cupcake in front of her!

Caleb got some new shades from a trip to get his flu shot at the doctor's office, and his second cousin, Alex, gave him a sweet superman cape. He wore both around for two days strait! Here he is enjoying a beautiful fall afternoon in the backyard.

Photography Fun

So I am excited that I have another wedding booked for December. What a photography adventure I am on...I am having a blast! I was able to participate in a wonderful group with other local photographers this week, and we had the opportunity to photograph some beautiful models in wedding dresses for practice. We started after dark and walked the streets of downtown Portland looking for interesting backdrops. It sure gave me some great ideas and a longer wish list for equipment. Here are a few of the fun shots I got!

Car Wash

Caleb enjoyed helping daddy wash his car today..what a cutie!

Cornbread

I have been loving this cool weather! I am such a fall and winter girl, I am ready for it to be here now!!! Well, the cool weather inspired me to make chili. I embarked on the journey of making my own chili powder, but it turned out much too spicy (too many arbol chiles!) so I will have to wait until I prefect the recipe to post it. But I was able to figure out some good cornbread. Jason asked me to find or create a cornbread that was not dry. So I did some searching on the internet and found a basic recipe that had some good reviews for being moist. I thought for a bit about how to make sure it remained moist, and read a review about someone adding fresh corn to the batter. I decided instead of fresh corn, to add half a can of creamed corn. It is nice and sweet and would add a bit more moisture along with the kernals of corn. Yum! It worked beautifully and I have found that it almost doesn't need the butter and honey, it is so moist and sweet. So here is the recipe. Give it a try if you like, I think it is definately better than the boxed mix! By the way, if you don't have buttermilk on hand, substitute 1 cup milk (skim works best, but whatever you have on hand is fine) mixed with a tablespoon of lemon juice (mix them together and let it sit for 10 minuted or so before using). If it turns out sweeter than you like, you can cut the amount of sugar in half.

Moist Buttermilk Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 can creamed corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8 inch square pan (or double the recipe and use a 9x11 pan).

Place butter in a large skillet and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in skillet. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Gently mix in creamed corn just until incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting.

Top with butter and honey if desired, say blessing and enjoy!!