Meet Brock Henry Schnackenberg!

Alright, I'm finally getting to it! We've just been busy since we've been home. We got home last night about 6:30pm, had a great night and woke up this morning with Nigel feeling horrible. He's got some kind of bug and so I was working through the day learning how to take care of 2 boys! It went really well, they are both great boys! Anyway - here's the story of Brock . . .

Wednesday, April 22nd - I knew I was going to be induced the next day, so I cleaned this house like a mad woman! Then, Nigel, Caden and I went for a 2-mile walk. After Caden went to bed, Nigel and I stayed up just watching tv, relaxing. We went to bed about 11:15pm . . .

Thursday, April 23rd - 12:15am we're asleep and I wake up to something warm and wet. It takes me a second, but I realize that my water just broke! Wow, we're scheduled to go to the hospital at 7am to be induced, but we're not waiting at home for that anymore. So, we head off to the hospital. The contractions start, but aren't too strong or consistent. I work on the labor ball, standing up, etc . . . to try to get things started. 5:20am rolls around and I am feeling super tired - after all, I only got an hour of sleep. I decide to lay down and rest, and at the same time, the contractions slow down. The nurses let me sleep for a while, but around 7am, they come in and let me know that my doctor wants to start pitocin since my contractions slowed down. The wonderful nurses said, "We're not going to start it right now, we want you to try it on your own a little longer. Maybe you should walk . . ." I thought that was a great idea, so Nigel and I got up and walked. Literally, 6 steps out of the room, I had a MAJOR contraction, and it never stopped after that. After about an hour and a half or more, they were coming really strong and really fast. I decided to go for the epidural, I was having a really hard time recovering from the contractions. So, the epidural goes in, they check, and I've progressed to 6cm! Kind of took a while, though. I was thinking we were going to be laboring all day. A couple hours later, after I had slept and gotten some much needed rest after the epidural, they checked again and I was 8-9cm! Finally, at about 11:45, they checked and I was complete and ready to go! We started pushing at about noon and Brock Henry made his appearance at 12:16pm. It was amazing and fast, and exactly how I wanted it to go! I'm so happy that I didn't have to be induced. It makes me so thrilled that my body started on it's own! So, here are pictures of my sweet baby boy. I'm more than madly in love with him already :)

Brock, just a few minutes after he was born. He came out pretty blue, so these pictures, he still looks a little purple. I labored in my own clothes the whole time, which is why I'm wearing my t-shirt. 8lbs, 11oz, can you believe it??


Caden, the big brother :) He's so sweet to Brock. He always wants to hold him :) It melts my heart.

On our way home! Finally!

Mommy and Brock :)

Nigel and his boys! He's so excited to have another son!


Daddy and Brock

Caden has a .....

BABY BROTHER!!!

Brock Henry Schnackenberg joined our family today at 12:16 pm.

He weighs in at a healthy 8lb 11oz.

He is 21.5 inches long.

LOTS of hair.

Both Mommy and Baby are doing well.

Come back tomorrow to see a picture of this lovely boy!

Caden's pizza party!

For Caden's birthday, we just decided to keep it simple, small, and easy, since I didn't want to have to do too much with my due date being only 2 days from his party :) So, we went to Wall Street Pizza in Gresham - one of my FAVORITES - and had pizza, cupcakes and presents. It was wonderful. The food was delicious and the company was great. Thank you to everyone who came out! We had a great time, and so did Caden.

Here's Caden opening presents. Trillium and Jude were right there to help :)


Ok, my mom went all out and made delicious chocolate cupcakes, but then chose 5 different frostings to make and made for a delicious dessert! There was strawberry, chocolate, german chocolate, mocha, and peanut butter. Oh my, so yummy! Caden decided to blow out the birthday candles before we finished singing Happy Birthday, so no pictures of that :)

Here's Caden - licking the strawberry frosting off of his cupcake. And, I'm pretty sure that all he really ate of the cupcake was the frosting :)

Finally - in baby news . . . today, I am officially "over-due" by one day. Fantastic :) I'm pretty uncomfortable, but the worst part is all the false labor that I've had. Yesterday was by far the worst of it and I was so sure that I was going to have a baby that we went to the hospital, bags in tow. Nope, turned out to just be another cruel joke. So, I'm HOPING that I go into labor on my own tonight or tomorrow, but, seeing as how it hasn't happened for me yet, I'm not going to hold my breath. However, Thursday is the big day for induction, so there is an end in sight. I'm really hoping to not have to be induced, just hoping that somehow, my body kicks in on it's own for me. But, we'll see. I'm almost at 4cm now and about 75% effaced, so my body's pretty ready. It's just this silly baby that doesn't want to leave the comfort of mommy's belly. Keep checking - VERY soon we'll have pictures of the new baby Schnackenberg. We can't wait to meet our new little one and start this adventure all over again :)

Oh, Caden!

Our Caden is just hilarious. He cracks me up! This is Caden's mean face - it's more like, come here, I want to kiss you. But, he thinks he looks pretty scary, so we'll let him think so :) He's acquired, not one, not two, but THREE Nerf guns for his birthday. He LOVES them and thinks that shooting darts is the greatest. So, here he is with Nerf #1. The other two are not used nearly as much as #1. It's been a lot of fun and craziness around our house. He loves to shoot at the sliding glass door because the darts stick to it. It's a great time to be had!


Here is Caden wearing Nigel's uniform shirt and hat, again with his mean face. So funny. He's just such a silly boy!

How did it happen so fast? Caden is 3!!!!!

Today is Caden's 3rd birthday! What?!? How is that possible? He's still a baby, right? Wow, the time has flown by and I can't believe that he's 3 and we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of his brother or sister any day now. This is just crazy. His 3 years with us have flown by and it has been amazing. I just never knew that I would have a little boy like Caden. He's hilarious, silly, so much fun, so challenging, so thoughtful, so curious. We're so blessed to have a son like Caden and I couldn't ask for anything more from him. Nigel and I love this boy more and more everyday and everyday he brings a smile to our faces and so much joy to our hearts. If 3 years have flown by this fast, before we know it, he's going to be a teenager! We better enjoy this side of him while we can. I never realized how true it is that once you have kids, the time goes faster. Can't they just stay little forever?

Well, for now, anyway, we will cherish the moments that we have, enjoy all the cuddles and kisses and the unprompted, "I love you mommy and daddy" moments that we get everyday. Caden, you're 3 and I'm amazed at what you do and what you know! We love you Caden! Happy Birthday!




P.S. - In baby news - there is no news. I'm still pregnant, still 3cm and 60%! Today is the only day that I DON'T want to have the baby, but after today, any day is great :) We'll keep you posted!

New Baby update!

Ok, today marks week 38. I just got home from my doctor's appointment and I am now 3cm dilated and still 60% effaced. So, it's gotta happen soon! Right? Or not, we'll see. Last week, I was having A LOT of contractions and there were a couple days when I thought that for sure, that day, I was going to have a baby. Not yet :) Whenever baby's ready, so are we! Hopefully sooner than later, but only because I'm so excited to find out what it is!

So, keep checking, you never know when it might really happen :)