Wrestling

I'm pretty sure I've missed important posts inbetween this one and my last but I will do my best to go through pictures and get anything I've missed up!!  With that said, I had to get this post up because we are just so proud of our boy!  Kaleb joined the Moscow Wrestling Club two months ago and we just started having matches/meets.  It has been so awesome to watch him wrestle the other kids.  He is doing so awesome!  He has learned so many techniques and it is SO awesome to watch him wrestle and know when to use each move!  He got hurt on the last meet but finished wrestling his last three matches like a tough guy!  Won one match with his right eye closed dang near the whole time!  I just can't say enough good things about Kaleb and how proud we are of his dedication to this sport and all the fun he is having doing it.  We are having a blast too!  Last match (in Lewiston) our whole family was geared up in red and black, even Sam, it was awesome!!  We love you Kaleb! (He's in the red!)

Potlatch 10/20/12

Lewiston 10/27/12

The first 9 weeks...

It has been 9 weeks since Sam was born.  We have been happily adjusting to our new little family!  Sam sleeps incredibly good at night, he wakes up once to eat and thats it!!  I've gone back to work and school but its going alright and I'm not too overwhelmed YET!  I take Sam to work with me and so far that is going great.  He is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen and just coo's and smiles all day!  He loves his siblings!  Now that he is giggling and talking, if Cameron or Kaleb start talking to him he just watches them and smiles like crazy!  Kaleb is so helpful, he is constantly getting me things (like diapers, wipes, binky, etc) and it has made my life so much easier - that boy is the best thing that ever happened to me!  All three are.  I love them so much and have really enjoyed getting the camera out and taking pictures of these three bundles of joy.  Cameron helps a lot too, she helps me pick out clothes and loves shopping for baby clothes with me!  Joe is helping me out around the house so much.  It makes me so happy because I am so busy with work, school, and baby - I think housework might do me in!  Joe has completely taken over the laundry and dishes, leaving simple sweeping, dusting, and mopping!!  So some milestones of the last 9 weeks are:

1. Kaleb started school!!  A big, bad first grader!  One of his best friends is in his class and he is loving it!  I just got some of his spellings tests back and he is getting 90-100% on all of them!  He gets that from me!

2. Kaleb started wrestling!  He is a bantam weight wrestler and his coaches say he is a natural.  He practices for 1.5 hours twice a week and is learning how hard sports can be.  He doesn't complain a bit, even when he comes home exhausted, he is so excited to be a wrestler.  Tournaments start October 20th, I'll report then and talk about how he's doing in his meets! 

3. Sam started smiling and cooing!  Its the cutest thing in the whole world!  Sam is 11 pounds now and 23.5 inches long.  He's growing like a weed and loves to eat!!  He is starting to get those cute chubby thighs!! 

4. And Cameron is just awesome as always!  She got 4 shots the other day and it was a rough experience on her.  So she got some princess treatment, we took her to Baskin Robins and let her pick out some pink ice cream.  Then we took her to McDonalds for dinner.  She screamed and cried while getting her shots (me and a nurse had to hold her down) but as we were walking out the door she stops, puts her hand on her hip and says "see mom, I told you it wouldn't be that bad!"  Right Cam!

Here are some pics of the last 9 weeks:

We also went to the fair (me, mom, Katie, and the kids) a couple weeks ago - I will get photos of that up soon!!  I'm sure I'm forgetting some other even I should be mentioning, I'll have to scope things out and see what I'm missing - until then!

Samuel Douglas Whitney

Introducing Samuel Douglas Whitney!!  Born August 6th, 2012 at 9:04 pm.  He was a healthy 8 pounds 5.6 ounces and 21 inches long.  He is the most content and happy little baby ever!  We are so excited for the new addition to our family and look forward to the many many good times we will have with him!

About his birth - We had a scheduled induction and went into the hospital at 6 am on Monday, August 6th to get induced.  We got set up in our room and they had me on a pitocin drip by 8 am.  I went in dilated to a two and only 50-60% effaced.  It was a slow process but I had lots of company to keep me entertained!  Me, Joe, my mom, Aunt Cindy, Alicia, Donna and Doug (Joe's parents) were all there waiting with me while I began laboring.  Around 10:00 am they put in the epideral but did not hook it up to medicine, it's called an "early placement" - meaning they put it into your back but you don't actually get the medicine until you ask for it to begin.  I had mine in around 10:00 am and by 5:00 pm or so I started getting the medicine.  It takes about 20-40 minutes to kick in once it starts and I was really glad I got it when I did because by the time the medicine kicked in my contractions were full force and I was in a lot of pain! 

Once the medicine kicked in I was able to laugh and joke with my family and friends and visit a while longer.  Around 7:00 I got really tired and fell asleep.  I woke up at 8:00 for a few minutes and they checked me, I was now dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced.  Woo hoo that was progress!!  I was still tired so I fell back asleep.  I woke up around 8:45 pm with a great pressure and asked to be checked again.  When the nurse went to check me she took one look at me and said "I can see his head!"  She left mentioning that she was going to call the doctor and get him in and see if he wanted her to do any pushing with me.  She came back in a few moments later saying the doctor would be right in and she was told "do not have her push" and I explained to her that I push quickly!  All of my kids took 12 minutes or less to push and no more than 6 pushes!!  I'm a baby making machine!

The doctor came in and got set up while I waited to be told to start pushing.  FINALLY it was time to push!  As the first contraction came I got two good pushes in, the next contraction came and I got two more good pushes in - well REALLY good pushed because with that my sweet little baby boy was here!  4 pushes and he was in my arms!  He was perfect and beautiful.  I had flashbacks of both Kaleb and Cameron being placed in my arms for the first time as well - it was an amazing experience and I couldn't help but to look at him and cry with joy as I clutched to him and Joe.  After a moment I passed him off to Joe who then after a bit let everyone who was still at the hospital hold him.  I texted my dad and sister right away and they got my kids up and brought them to the hospital to meet their new little brother.  They loved him!

It has been nine weeks since he was born and he is still perfect and sweet as can be.  The kids love him to death and they are such big helpers.  They are constantly helping me with Sam!  We all love him so much and are so excited to have him be apart of our little family!