My "BABY" is 1!

A year ago on Christmas Eve - this is how Kayson decided to join our family:

Christmas Eve -- Mike, JeanAnn, Ryan and I hung out at the townhome for a while - 'thinking' we would be celebrating Chrsitmas the next day at the townhome with Blair & Martina. We attended Christmas Eve service at our church in Waukee. Nice service, but I was extremely uncomfortable the entire time. I couldn't sit still - I was antsy!! We got home and Mike & JeanAnn took off for their hotel. I was exhausted, so I headed to bed (I think around 11 pm). Ryan came to bed around 1 am. I woke up at 1:05 am with some back pain. I went to the bathroom and walked a little... and the back pains kept coming on. I thought to myself - "Crap, this baby is coming on Christmas Day!!" I woke Ryan up at 1:14 am. (He was tired!) He didn't know what I meant by having 'back labor' - we looked in the book (just to make sure...) and sure enough, that's what I was experiencing. We started timing the contractions... me walking around, sitting (if I could) and slowly getting my things together. We timed the contractions til about 2:15 am. They were nearly 2 or 3 minutes apart, lasting about a minute each. Ryan did so well with me and writing everything down! We headed out to the hospital around 2:30 am. We got the hospital and all settled in my labor/deliver room. I recieved my epidural around 4:30 am and I was in heaven! Pain free. :) Now - we just wait. I have to say that was the hardest thing to do... but Ryan & I did well - we talked and laughed, and tried to close our eyes (which was impossible)... then around 10:30 am, I was told it was time to push. I pushed - nothing... and pushed - nothing... I was then told that I needed to 'labor down' - which simply meant to let the epidural do more work and let Kayson move more down into the canal some more. I was extremely disappointed and frustrated - thinking I wasn't going to be able to do this... but after about 35 minutes of that, it was time to push again. Kayson arrived at 1:16 pm on Christmas Day - weighing 7 lbs 11 oz.


So this Christmas Day was a blessing for us. We can't believe our 'baby' is 1 now. I have to admit, I was emotional - I cried a little (in private) and laughed and smiled at my baby.


Our Kayson does so much now - each day is something new.

This weekend when we were at my parents - they have two small steps that go from their living room to the dining room - Aunt Tricia showed him how to crawl up them... and right after she did, he did it. It was CRAZY! He lifted his little leg and just pulled himself up like it was no big deal! Of course, all Ryan & I could think was "UH OH!" We have our hands full!


He's now eating big people food - I'm still using up some of the baby food I have, but we are really trying to get him out of that and into the more calorie stuff. He's a growing boy and needs more food! We go for our 1 year appointment in the morning, so I'm assuming we'll start him on whole milk this week. BIG STEPS for Buster!


He's doing more and more signing... we just keep working with him.


He snuggles just a touch more. Not a lot, but there's times when he will rest his head on your shoulder for a little bit. Oh, what a sweet feeling.


He plays rough - typical boy! You would think that he plays rougher with Ryan, but he actually plays hard with me. He pounces on me quite a bit and just laughs. It's so funny.

All in all, looking back over these past 12 months has been a breath of relief - we did it. We raised a baby and survived! We lived past the late night and early morning feedings. We figured out that breast feeding just didn't work for me and Kayson. We love watching Kayson learn new things every day - and soak in so much! We can't wait to see what the next 12 months bring.