Bryson Van Werven

Bryson Van Werven born May 6th at 7:25pm. Weighing 8 pounds 13 ounces and 22 inches long. He was exactly a pound smaller then Kohen. This little guy made a quick entrance into the world. I pushed for 10 minutes and out he came. He is a very content baby. He doesn't spit-un- lick his big brother who would soak a burp clothe-still not sure what to do with all my burp clothes. He is a little gassy and at the moment is going through a growth spurt b/c hes only having 2 or 3 poopy diapers a day. We're working on his sleep/wake cycle but seeing as how he is only awake for about an hour a day, were not making fast progress. We have not had any CIO periods, as of yet. I think hes going to be a pretty good baby. He also already almost weighs 10 pounds and hes not even 2 weeks old. =) Since day one he has been on a schedule and he doing very well with it (eats at 6,9,12,3,6,9)- the only exception is the fact that he going through a growth spurt so he wants to eat longer and a little more often. He will go back to the three hours as soon as it passes. Heres a few pics of the little/big guy!

Kohen meeting Bryson for the first time

Dad and his boys

New Happenings around the house

New Chevron Pillows in the living room

Painted the plexi glass to look like water

Still a work in progress-there will be a saying below the pic and 2-8 X 10 on either side of the canvas

New self my brother made for the front entry

A little color to brighten up my house here and there

Baby time

Lets just say things are progressing as of my dct apt yesterday morning. I have five freezer meals in the freezer and a double batch of freezer cookies. All my flowers are planted as well as strawberries in the garden. Mothers Day gifts are made and ready. My house is totally clean including bathrooms and laundry is done. Bag is packed and car seat is in the car. Yep, I think Im ready to have this baby! Just is the baby ready to come out?! We will have to wait and see. Im okay with it staying in a little longer but not too much longer!

2 year update

Okay, Kohen really isn't 2 till June 5, but with the baby coming I figure I have more time now. Kohen is growing up like crazy. He's in 3T everything and I will even buy 4T jackets and shirts (I like them a little bigger on him). He still has some 2T jeans but they fit him right now but not for long. He can say 3-4 words together and amazes me more and more everyday at how much he understands. He knows Red, Green and Blue colors and can count to 3. We are still working on his ABC's but he sings Twinkle, Twinkle and does Patty cake by himself. He got his 2nd and 3rd two year molar this week. He was a little fussy but nothing to complain about. He still eats like crazy and loves to do it. He tells me to change his diaper, when he poos and shows me where and how he pees-he even makes the noise....so funny. He is totally ready to be potty trained but I will not do it till the baby is 3 months old. Then we will dive in and diapers for the little boy will be no more. I still don't really like him to watch a lot of TV but if I need a little break he watches Elmo's world or Boz. He LOVES both. Kohen is totally an outside boy and will take any chance to be outside with dad or papa. He loves helping them shovel and dig in the dirt with the tractor. He has certainly become more independent in the last few weeks. Only he can zip his jacket, put his his shoes on or put his shirt on. I have to ask if I can help and most the time he says "No." With a little smart attitude! =) Kohen's sleeping is going great. Kohen schedule for the day at 2 years.

7-wake, breakfast

Bath

Independent play, outside time, play dates or run errands with mom

11:30-Lunch

12:30-nap

3-wake

walk outside, learning activity or help mom with chores

5-dinner

Playtime with dad

Books

7-In bed and lights out

Playground is DONE!

The playground is totally finished. We also finished the campfire area. It will be so nice to have both this summer. Kohen is loving climbing the ladder-by himself-and sliding down the slide-by himself.

Now Im onto the garden. I weeded it last weekend and am hoping to plant everything before the baby gets here but will see. Here is a list of veggies/fruit Im going to be growing. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them....

• Potatoes
• Rhubarb
• Strawberries
• Sweet Peas
• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Pumpkins
• Squash-for baby food
• Sweet Potatoes-for baby food
• carrots
• zucchini

That sums it up. I will post picks of the garden once everything is planted and growing good!

Naughty spot

My parents had a stool that they had gotten recently and didn't find a need for it. I was browsing blogs and found a great idea to do with it.

The stool before I painted it with some left over teal paint from a previous project. I took steal wool to some of the edges for a distressed look and found a cute vinyl saying off Etsy.com to go on top.

The end result and a grand total of $13.00 dollars. We have yet to use it but Im sure it will get plenty of use in the future!

Hospital visit

Well, we had our first stay at the hospital with a sick kid. Such a scary experience for a first time mom. Im very glad we went and it wasn't that scary with it all said and done. Heres the story.....

Kohen woke up Thursday morning about 1 am throwing up. I then laid a towel down and brought him to my bed. He threw up a few more times before finally falling a sleep for about an hour an a half. I luckily had my 36 week check up apt in the morning and decided just to bring Kohen with me. The dct said to watch him and see if it got worse or if he started getting a fever then to call him. He fell asleep on the way home and came home and slept for about and hour and a half in his crib. He woke up and threw up again (we luckily had no throw up in the dct office but I was totally prepared). And then the diarrhea started and let me tell you it was horrible. I'm not going to describe it in detail but it was horrible. Around one o'clock in the afternoon he started getting a fever. He would fall asleep in my arms with his blanket for a few minutes and wake up and throw up. I then decided to call the dct to see if I could give him Tylenol with nothing in his stomach. He asked when his last wet diaper was and I said about 6 that morning. He told me that he would call me back. When he called back about a 1/2 hour later he proceeded to tell me that he was having a room prepped at the hospital, that I need to bring him to admitting in the east tower, and that he will most likely spend the night with an IV in. My heart dropped.....I have to be honest I did not want to take him in. I am so glad I did though. He was VERY lethargic and didn't even really make a peep when the put the IV in. (I had daddy go with him b/c I would have had a major breakdown) He didn't have a wet diaper until 11:30 that night and it was only a very small amount. He lost 3 pounds in the hospital and it turns out he had a bad case of the Rotavirus. So needless to say Kohen was VERY dehydrated. Kohen did and slept so well in the hospital. I slept with him in his bed. He was all cuddled up next to me ...as close as he could get with this belly. I loved all the snuggles and cuddles but I also wanted him to be better. By about 2 in the afternoon on Friday Kohen was ready to go home. He was getting a little restless and didn't want to watch cartoons anymore. I was right there with him. =) I think mickey mouse clubhouse is the most annoying show ever and if I have to hear the 'hot dog song' one more time I was going to shoot the TV. So we were discharged at 5 on Friday. Kohen is taking 4 hour naps and is still not his normal self but he is SOOOO much better and we praise God for that. It is also a huge blessing this all happened before the baby came and not after. Here's a few pics....

A very tired boy

Dad came to visit us before he went to work. Kohen was very happy about that and kept saying, "Dada stay there!" Meaning stay here.

Just woken up from a nap

Is that hospital gown not the cutest!?

Going home and getting his IV out!

Playground

Current pictures of the playground. Totally secured into the ground with re-bar and leveled. Waiting for a dry day to put in the gravel and move the fence. The space to the right in the pic is our new campfire area!

baby blankets

My Auntie Jennie made me these awesome baby blankets. I'm so happy with how they turned out. If anyone is needing receiving blankets to buy. She has a lot already made up and would love to sell them to you!

One more month...give or take a little!

I have one month left. We took a few belly pics when I was at this stage with Kohen, as well. We compared the two pics and I am much smaller with this baby. Im was also measuring 30 weeks at my 34 week apt. The dct is not worried b/c Kohen was so healthy and Im not at any risk of having a preemie. Not posting these on facebook so you're the lucky viewers!

36 weeks

Nursery

The nursery is totally finished!! Here is the chair that my amazing in-laws bought for the baby. I absolutely love it and its SOOO incredibly comfy!! Thank you MIL!!

Throw blanket

I've been getting a serious itch to make a throw blanket to brighten up our couch and living room area. Well, today I went to Joann's (with my 40 percent off coupon, of course) and picked out some material. Pretty happy with my selection. I also have plenty of craft projects I've been working on-I will post all of them soon.

Playground

This past weekend we got a lot done around our place. Transplanted plants, planted trees, made a new flowerbed, trimmed up some evergreen trees we have along our house, took down an old split rail fence, put a border around our new playground/campfire area and put in Kohen's new playground. It feels so good to be productive and I'm looking forward to another weekend like the past in the near future. Weather permitting of course. Here's some pics of us putting in the new playground..

the sidekicks

Chicken Chow Mein

Made this last night. It was amazing, everyone liked it and its healthy. What could be better!? ( I didn't use mushrooms. Instead I put in cut up zuchinni and carrots for color) Enjoy

2 T olive oil
2 onions
2-3 C celery
2-3 C bean sprouts
1 8 oz package mushrooms
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper

3 C water
3 Chicken bullion cubes
2 T soy sauce
1/2 t sugar
3 T cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 C water

Hot rice
Chinese Noodles

1. In a large skillet heat 1 T olive oil. Cut up the chicken breasts with a pair of cooking scissors. Add them to the pan and sprinkle with salt and cracked pepper. Cook over medium heat until the pieces are golden brown. See how pretty they are? This beautiful golden brown color is going to add some screaming delicious flavor to your chow mien.
2. While the chicken is getting itself beautifully browned you are going to be chopping up your veggies. The long noodlie like things pictured at the far left are bean sprouts. You can find them at any grocery store, though I don't recommend buying them at Walmart. They sale them in a prepackaged bag, and are very rarely fresh. Smiths (or Kroger) has the best quality I have found. I always make this the same day I purchase the bean sprouts....they do not keep very well.
3. When your chicken is browned, set it aside. Add 1 T olive oil to the same skillet you cooked the chicken in. Add your veggies and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the veggies are crisp tender.
4. While your veggies are cooking put the water, bullion, soy sauce, and sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat until boiling, and add the cornstarch/water mixture. Stir it in thoroughly. The sauce should thicken quickly. Set aside.
5. When your veggies are done, add the chicken and the sauce back into the skillet with the veggies. Heat through and serve with rice and Chinese noodles.

More baby stuff

My parents got us an awesome new infant swing for baby #2. I decided to put it together today because I want Kohen to get use to all the new stuff and I can discipline him not to touch it before the baby comes. We also hung some new wall art in the nursery. Its from children inspiration and is wall cards numbering one to ten. The nursery is almost done. We only have the new rocking chair left, that should be in anyday, from Jordans parents and then we're all set. Im starting to get really excited to meet this little one.

Decorating the nursery!

So I'm putting some final touches on the nursery and thought I would share. We're also letting you in on a secret. Both our girl and boy names that we picked out start with the letter 'B'. We're not worried anyone is going to guess it b/c they're both unique and you don't hear them very often.... if at all...kind of like the name, Kohen. So now you know! =)

Weekend projects!

This weekend we decided to take full advantage of the sunny weather. I have sold numerous things on craig list the past week. We finally were able to clean out our entire play room and loft in the shop. I had a desk, couch, etc in there from when I was younger. I decided to purge and sell them on craigs list-plus a little extra cash is always nice. We also brought a truck load to an adoption garage sale that will be happening March 5th.

We decided to start digging out where Kohens playground/campfire will be. Put up a new basketball backboard for me and Kohen in the future, and finally took down a nasty monkey tree in the front of our house. It was all a huge success, and Im so happy we're getting it all done before baby number 2 comes along. Here a few pictures to highlight....

The play room

The loft in the shop

The monkey tree

Kohen's new playground site

New basketball backboard

2 1/2 months

I only have 2 1/2 months till this baby is here. With that said I have started studying my babywise book. I'm a huge advocate on babywise. Its not for all people, but its defiantly for me. I feel much more at ease having my baby on a schedule.

Why I loved babywise-

I love Babywise because it helped me feel like I had a little control in my life during a time when I truly felt so many things were so much out of my control! I started following Babywise from day one with Kohen and really liked how it helped me to plan my day. The structure it provided helped me to feel more prepared and more confident as a first time mom. I felt like I actually had a plan that I could follow and could also be flexible when the need arose, such as a growth spurt or traveling, etc. I was able to stick to Babywise and troubleshoot the 45-minute intruder, middle of the night wakings, and dropping naps. It was HARD but I did it!
Because of my consistent devotion to Babywise, Kohen started sleeping through the night at 7-9 weeks and started sleeping 12-13 hours a night at 5-6 months. A little later than an "Angel Baby" but I will take it! Once he learned to self-soothe around 3 months of age, it was like our whole world opened up and I felt like myself again!When people are amazed at how well Kohen sleeps, I just tell them that he is a Babywise baby.
When other people tell me, "Oh you are so lucky your son is a good sleeper!" I say: "I am not lucky. I worked my butt off to train him to be a good sleeper and I am extremely proud of that!" Babywise is hard work but it is SO worth it in the end!

This is my story and like I said babywise is not for everyone!

Newborn hat

Slo day design (sarah ortiz) made me this crochet newborn hat. I love it. If its a girl I can attach the pink flower to one of the bottons, if not then I just take it off. Is that not so smart. I thought I would post some pics of it b/c I love it so much!

NEW CARPET

I LOVE the new carpet that we just got installed into the babies room. A friend of Jordans put the carpet in today and it turned out amazing. So much nicer then the poop brown that was in there before! Still need to put the trim back around the bottom....