Welcome to Our Blog!

This blog follows our families adventures; featuring Me (Kacie), my husband Adam, our crazy son, Caden, and our little girl due to arrive this October. My goal is to share as many stories and photos of our little family as I can. I’ve found that as Caden gets older I have no shortage of material.  Please check back often, and leave comments!!! I’d love to hear back from all of you so I don’t feel like I’m sending these posts off into a black hole

Happy Halloween Waaayyy Late!

I was looking through photos to print for the house and I ran across our Halloween photos!  There was a breakdown in my flagging system and they just slipped right through the cracks.  I blame sleep deprivation since Kennedy was only 4 weeks old  Caden was a super hero for Halloween.  I think he looks pretty cute considering I threw his costume together last minute with a very colicky newborn. We borrowed the cape and mask and I made him a super Caden shirt.  Kennedy was a ballerina but she didn’t care to participate, only scream the entire evening.

Being a superhero is serious business!

I LOVE this one

Caden and his cousin, Aaron.  They were too cute!

See Kennedy was present…

We went trick or treating in the col-de-sac.  Caden most definitely got the concept.  In fact months later after his candy ran out he told me he wanted to go trick or treating.  Oh and all the candy was called trick or treat  The only problem we had was he kept trying to let himself into people’s houses and most of the neighbors doors weren’t locked.  This made for an interesting introduction…Hi we are the new neighbors across the street, sorry my son just let himself into your house

New Year Resolutions

So I generally hate the term New Year Resolution but I do believe in setting goals and writing them down so that you actually make progress in life  So here are my goals for 2012…

1.  Have a daily quiet time with the Lord

2.  Get up most mornings (atleast 4/week) before the kids and walk (or eventually run)

3.  Get healthy.  My doctor recommends that I lose about 15 lbs to be at an ideal weight to try to fend off future blood pressure problems.

4.  Be intentional in my marriage.

5.  Learn to relax.

6.  Laugh more.

7.  Get organized.  Figure out a family schedule and get systems in place to run our household efficiently.  For some reason I am still surprised when we run out of groceries and clean clothes

8.  Take time to really enjoy the kids in the middle of the craziness.

9.  Grow something. Hopefully vegetables but I don’t have even the tiniest bit of sun in my yard so we’ll see what makes it.

10.  Get a hobby.  Actually do some of my DIY projects in Pinterest!

11.  Live on a budget that we update monthly in our family meeting.  A little renewed focus on our Dave Ramsey ways

12.  Work hard but still have plenty of time to play as a family.

There you have it!  I’m really looking forward to this year.  It is the first year since we’ve been married that we don’t have any enormous disruptive things planned  No moves, or risky business ventures, or new children.  We can get on with the business of just plain living and enjoying the many ways we have been blessed and I can’t wait!

No post is complete without a picture!  My mom took this one of Kennedy and I today on the bumpy train at Hermann Park.  Way to go Mom and program mode of the D700!!!

Christmas through New Years Eve

I have to start off this post by saying that I really dropped the ball this Christmas.  I got a stomach bug the Tuesday before and didn’t really feel better until Christmas morning.  Then Caden got the stomach bug on Wednesday and a sinus and ear infection on Friday.  Kennedy had thrush and a cold and fever on Christmas Eve and Adam got the stomach bug Christmas morning.  The kids and I didn’t even make it to church because we were sick and/or exhausted.  It was not our finest year health-wise.  In fact it was pretty terrible.  When you don’t feel good it is hard to be excited.  Despite not feeling well we did Christmas Eve morning with Adam’s family, Christmas Eve evening with my Dad’s side of the family, Christmas morning at home and Christmas evening with my Mom’s side of the family.  It was an action packed two days.

Honestly this year was stressful and disappointing to me as a mom.  Caden is old enough now to start some of our own family traditions.  I had great intentions for this year but we merely survived.  Did I mention that a transformer blew and we ended up with no power Christmas morning? I have resolved that next year will be better and different.  Next year I plan to be more intentional about both holiday and spiritual traditions for our little family and about figuring out a way to make it less stressful and exhausting for everyone.  We were so busy that we raced right over the real reason we were celebrating which is the birth of our savior.  Next year I want to make sure that Christ is in the center of it all.  I’m open to ideas  But despite the craziness we still enjoyed spending time with all our family and Caden LOVED Christmas.  We truly are blessed to be so close to our families.  They are so precious to us.

My favorite part of the holidays was that Adam took the whole week off between Christmas and New Years so we had a lot of time to play with the kids and spend time together as a family. Adam had a busy fall especially after having to take so much time off in September when I was on bed rest.  It was wonderful to have him home for so long!  We relaxed (well as much as is possible with little ones) and got some house projects done which feels great.  Our house is starting to look like we live in it!  I couldn’t be happier to be in a house that we own!  I had to spend several days reorganizing the playroom to accommodate all of Caden’s new loot.  We may have to start putting restrictions on the number and size of toys that can be purchased by the grandparents at Christmas

The kids and I finished out the year (well until 8pm) at a New Years party with extended family while Adam shot a wedding.  2011 was a year of much change and the stresses that go along with it.  I’m so looking forward to settling into our new house, our new church, and life as a family of four in 2012.  Happy belated New Year!

Here are the few photos I took…I know its embarrassing

Some close friends of ours were giving away this little kitchen!  We cleaned it up a little and Adam (I mean Santa) was up late Christmas Eve re-painting the doors but I think it came out great!

Caden was actually less than enthusiastic about Santa coming.  At this point he had already opened presents at two of the grandparents houses and brought home tons of toys he hadn’t had time to even open.  In fact when he woke up it took me 45 minutes to convince him to come downstairs and see what Santa brought.  Not quite the reaction I was hoping for.

Then he was only mildly interested in opening the gifts Adam and I bought…

He did get excited about the knife!  Yea for age appropriate cutting

After a little while he warmed up and got into cooking for us and Adam’s family who stopped by. He is the only person allowed to touch his oven because it is hot and we might get burned.  I guess maybe I’ve told him that just a few times when I am cooking  His kitchen his rules!

Sadly this is the only picture we got of Kennedy.  She slept through Christmas morning because we were out so late the night before.  Since she was sick I didn’t want to wake her up.  She was a little young to appreciate it this year anyway.  But she looks cute in her Christmas dress!

Kennedy Update

I can’t believe our little sweet pea was 3 months on Christmas!  Time has somehow flown despite the days and sleepless nights just blurring together  As many of you know we have had a really rough road with Kennedy.  At 2 weeks she started crying/screaming for hours on end.  This felt all to familiar since Caden was a difficult baby too and everyone promised me my second would be easy.  I wish!  She was more difficult than Caden was and this time around I had a two year old also.  We tried everything to try to get Kennedy some relief from her discomfort.  The closest we got was when I completely eliminated all diary from my diet.  This reduced the hours of screaming a day but she still was in pain.  So a few weeks ago I did an experiment where I put her on Nutramigen formula which is predigested, lactose-free, and supposedly really good for colicky babies.  Kennedy was a trooper and after refusing two feedings decided that the bottle wasn’t too bad.  Within 3 days she was a new baby!!!  Her little face is relaxed instead of grimaced all the time.  When she is awake now she is looking all over and giving us the most precious smiles I’ve ever seen.  She is also starting to talk to us and grabbing for toys and sitting in our bumbo seat like a big girl.  I feel like a much happier chapter has begun.

Here are some pictures of our little sweetie….

Kennedy in her Christmas dress.  She was really surprised by her new owl hat

These are from November, but still sweet  Look how much she has grown!

Doesn’t she look like a little angel?

Her Thanksgiving party dress…I couldn’t find her tights or shoes…oops…

All bundled up to look at Christmas lights

Check back soon for a smiling picture!!!  Surely the photographer can catch his daughter smiling right?

Santa!

On Saturday we went to Santa in the Park at the park right near our house.  Caden is really into Christmas this year!  HE has been jabbering on all about Santa and reindeer and the North Pole.  He was really excited about seeing Santa until we got there.  We already tried once the weekend after Thanksgiving when we saw Santa at a walk of lights in Marble Falls.  Both experiences ended the same with Caden hanging onto Adam with all four limbs for dear life!  There was no way to peel him off of Adam to sit on Santa’s lap so we all ended up in the photo  The entire time when we asked Caden what he wanted for Christmas instead of saying his usual motorcycle all he would say was he wanted to go home.  Maybe next year

Attempt one…

Attempt two…

Dickinson Walk of Lights

Our group of friends got together and took the kids down to the Dickinson Walk of Lights last night.  It was a perfect night for it.  Chilly enough to bundle the kids up but not so cold as to be uncomfortable.  The lights were beautiful and the kids were great.  We decided against seeing Santa.  Everyone had already done that already and in our case it was a traumatizing experience (photos coming soon…)  We did decorate Christmas cookies and play on the playground which I think the kids preferred to looking at the lights  It was a fun night!

I LOVE this pic of all the kids!!!

Oh oh…Caden regularly tells me he loves Ainsley

Hard at work decorating cookies

Caden’s partner in crime. Kaley

The Barden Family

And us!

Check back soon for the unhappiest Santa picture ever!

Life with Two Kids

Oh boy!!! It has been an insane six weeks. The transition to life with two kids has been a challenge. That is why there have been few pictures and posts. It is a rare moment when I can sit down and type or edit photos without neglecting a child or falling asleep on my keyboard. Adam shoot 5 weddings in October on top of our personal chaos. Yes the Nyholt household has shifted to survival mode. So here is an update on what we’ve been doing. It is long, mostly because this blog is a documentary of our family and I know I will forget if it isn’t recorded. Which may be a good thing

Mostly we’ve been sick! In general we are very healthy people but not this month! Caden has his fair share of the kiddo stuff, but Adam and I are rarely sick. Of course Kennedy was delivered because of my severe pre-eclampsia and I was pretty sick most of my last trimester. So I started out the month dealing with high blood pressure and oh yeah, a 6+ inch abdominal incision. Thankfully my blood pressure has all but returned to normal. Just this week I am stopping my blood pressure medicine altogether which is amazing. My doctor thought it would take until March! I have lost 35 lbs since delivering by a combination of a low carb diet, breastfeeding, and becoming unswollen (thats 10 lbs lighter than I was pre-pregnancy!). Recovering from surgery this time around has been much more difficult. After having Caden I started running again at 6 weeks. This time around at 6 weeks just grocery shopping leaves me sore for days. Taking care of Caden has made it impossible to take it easy and follow the “pick up nothing heavier than the baby” rule.

Our first week home Caden got a stomach bug that lasted about 4 days and then diarrhea hung on for an extra two weeks (TMI ). He really rarely gets GI stuff, this is the first time since our whole family got the stomach bug on vacation last summer. But of course it happened with a brand stinkin’ new baby in the house. Despite our best efforts to keep Kennedy away from it she still got a mild GI thing although I didn’t really figure it out until it was over. She was so new we hadn’t established a normal with her yet. She had about 15 poopy diapers a day for 4-5 days in a row which I now know was diarrhea. In the middle of that Adam got an upper respiratory thing which he then gave to me which I then gave to Caden. Before we were all well from that Kennedy and I got thrush. That took 3+ weeks to treat. Last week Adam got another upper respiratory thing which he passed to Caden and I. Kennedy has had mild congestion and a sporadic cough all month. Caden now has an ear infection that isn’t responding to antibiotics and Adam is getting a root canal tomorrow. Kennedy has been uncontrollably crying hours a day for weeks so we have started medicine for acid-reflux and I am on a dairy free diet. This is all just insane! So everyone is thrown off, Caden missed Mothers Day Out half the month, and Kennedy has no routine or schedule to speak of. Like I said survival.

It hasn’t been all bad though. Kennedy is growing like a weed. She grew almost 2 lbs in her first 3 weeks which is awesome! She weighs 9 lbs 7 oz now and is starting to outgrow her newborn clothes lengthwise. My due date was just 2 weeks ago. I do have to mention that Kennedy is now almost as big as Adam was at birth She is thriving, much more so than Caden did, but girls are just supposed to be tougher in that way. The thing I am most amazed by is how alert Kennedy is! Even in the NICU she was staring at us with these gigantic eyes. She just stares as if she is taking the whole world in. Some days she will have several hours at a time of being alert. She wants to be held in an almost sitting position and then wants to change her view often. She also has already started tracking me which I don’t remember Caden doing until he was several months old. She has amazing head control and from two weeks on has been picking her head up probably 4 inches or so when doing tummy time. She has also started reaching for things already. I swear I’m not making it up I have multiple witnesses from several occasions! She acts like a much older baby than one month in activity and she most definitely doesn’t act like a preemie. Lets hope this doesn’t mean she will be trying to break Caden’s record for early walking We feel so blessed that she is doing so well. So many people were praying that she would be ready to enter the world when the time came and God most definitely answered our prayers. As for her temperament, it is hard to tell since she has been sick. As of now she is not the easy baby we were hoping for. Hopefully this is a short lived stage. At least I know how to cope with a baby that cries a lot after Caden. It doesn’t make it any easier though and it upsets Caden when she crys. So much for everyone promising me that no one has two babies that don’t sleep and cry all the time Luckily I have Caden who appears to be perfectly normal and well adjusted despite a very difficult first year. So as my mother tells me everyday, “This too shall pass…”

Caden has become very interested in Kennedy. He is always asking to hold the baby. Although he doesn’t appreciate our rules about sitting on the couch next to one of us. He is always pushing our hands away when we try to help him hold her. He often wants to go wake up the baby when we are playing so she can join in whatever we are doing. He also is very quick to tell us when she is crying. He tries to sooth her by saying “Don’t cry baby, don’t cry.” In the car he wants to hold her little hand. The other day her hand was inside her sleeve and I had to stop the car and pull her hand out because Caden was so insistent about holding it. So sweet! He also likes to tell us all her body parts and help burp her. He told both his MDO teachers and his Sunday school teachers all about his baby sister with no prompting. He says he “loves baby.” He just has a lot of interest in everything she does. We were sitting at the table the other morning and I was nursing her while we ate breakfast. He told us that “Mama, Daddy, and Caden eat eggs.” I asked him what baby ate and said “baby eats mama” which I thought was cute. He has shown some jealousy particularly when the grandparents hold Kennedy. I think he is unprepared to be only one of the grandchildren since he is used to being the center of their universe I’m not too concerned since Caden is pretty hard to ignore. This morning he wanted me to go get baby so she could watch Wall-E with us. He also likes to lay down next to her on the play gym, help her swing high in her swing (eek), and give her lots of kisses (more sharing of germs). I think as long as he doesn’t injure her accidentally he will be a good big brother.

Keeping Caden safe and under control while taking care of Kennedy has proven to be my biggest challenge. He is too smart and cunning. He knows when I am nursing her (which as I mentioned is often!), I am not able to watch him as well. He regularly uses this time to go find trouble. I have been posting some of his adventures on Facebook as they happen so watch my status updates if you need a good laugh at our expense I plan on doing a whole post on Caden and the crazy things he is doing and saying soon. His verbal improvement is amazing. He is now speaking in full sentences (although they are not always grammatically correct). This has made communication so much easier and has allowed us greater insight into his little psyche which is fascinating.

I think that is enough words for now. Lets get on to some photos…