August 3rd, 2010

This is the day that we finally got to meet our sweet baby girl, Kadisyn Rae Sandsness!!!

Goodness, she sure did give her Momma a run for her money. After 2 months on bedrest I could not wait for this little girl to arrive. She did end up arriving early at 38 weeks (not too early). I went in at 9:00 am Monday morning to have my membranes stripped, went to Kohl's to return some clothes my Mom had purchased, she got us Mom and Daughter key necklaces then we drove to Cottonwood to pick Kohl up from Dustin's shop. I was already experiencing labor at this time. I went home and decided to rest to see if things would progress any or fizzle out. They progressed! At 2:50 pm we pulled out of our driveway and headed back to Prescott Valley to check-in at the hospital. I stayed at the hospital for a couple hours and was sent home at 4cm having contractions every 3-4 minutes, but had stopped dialating :( My Dad and Lori drove to Prescott Valley to get Kohl and took him to Phoenix to stay with them because we knew little Kadisyn would be coming within the next 24 hours. We got back home around 7:00pm and I layed on the couch to rest because I knew I'd be back at that hospital in due time.

My Mom and Dustin headed to bed around 10:00 pm and I was in so much pain, but I was bound and determined to stick it out until at least 5:00 am so that I could drive to the hospital and my doctor would be on her shift within the hour and keep me to have the baby! Well, at 2:00 am I could take the pain any longer!!! I had taken 2 baths, tried to sleep and was to the point that I was holding on to the bathroom counter, bending over and breathing through the contractions. I tried getting Dustin up and he went back to sleep ;) so I waited until 2:30 am and woke up my Mom who got Dustin's butt out of bed. We were on the road to Prescott Valley by 2:50 am and I honestly thought I was going to have Kadisyn in the truck!!!

I crawled into Labor & Delivery at 3:15 am, they hooked me up to the monitors, checked me and I was 6cm and contracting everything 1-2 mins. They immediately moved me to my room and by the time they got me there I was 9cm!!! I was told I wouldn't have time for the epi as the anestiologist (sp) was 45 mins away and the baby was coming! I freaked out then prepared myself as best as I could. I think I willed myself to quit progressing because I was able to get my epi! That slowed things down BIG TIME...Kadisyn was born 6 hours later!!! I was told she would be born by 6:00 am. Labor was so intense and I swore I would never have another baby.

Kadisyn Rae Sandsness

August 3rd, 2010

11:35 am

6 lbs, 9 oz

19 inches

Catching Up

Wow, I haven't been able to blog since February!!! I would say that I am a little behind as a lot has happened to us since February!

In May we moved into our new home :( Yes, we lost our house to the nasty devil of Foreclosure. However, the foreclosure has been the best thing for our family. We were so strapped in our payment that we were not able to enjoy doing things or even by groceries. We currently live in a rental house in Camp Verde and I DO NOT like this house one bit. There seems to be a sign hanging on our house that says "creatures welcome". I think we find a dead or alive scorpion on a weekly basis and have even found a snake in my closet!!! AHHH!!! It is a bigger home though and that has been nice. It sits on 3 acres of bare land so all the lovely Arizona dirt gets tracked into the house and I can't seem to keep this place clean. Oh well, there are more important things in life than having a clean house for the kiddos to mess up 1 hour later!

At the end of May I was put on bedrest because our sweet little girl wanted her birthday to be in May and that was MUCH too early!!! I had to stay on the couch or in bed for 2 months and it was agonizing! My Mom, Dustin and Tim moved us into the new house and my Mom pretty much unpacked the whole house for us. We took Kohl out of daycare because I was going on unpaid leave and he stayed home with me for the whole summer.

Dustin took up working a second job...he scraps steel! It is keeping us afloat and making up for my loss in pay. I am now a full-time stay-at-home-Mom and it was the best decision for us! There are hard days, but the good outweigh the stressful ones and I get to experience all of Kadisyn's firsts for myself!

Please keep reading for more updates!

First look at the growing baby

February 2nd, 2010 I went in for a Nuchal Translucency screening. I couldn't wait for the screening because I knew it was going to give me the opportunity to finally see the baby. Unfortunately, the screening had to be done in Scottsdale so Dustin and Kohl weren't able to be a part of the ultrasound. Our tests results came back normal and we have very little, to no chance of problems occurring.

The baby is measuring 12 weeks and 4 days, which is only 2 days ahead of my EDD. That bumps us up to August 11th for our due date, but we're still going with August 13th.

Names are picked out and will be shared once we have found out if we are expecting a little boy or a little girl. We are anxious to find out the sex of the baby and have just over 1 month until that big day!

Here is our growing little baby...

A Special Christmas

This year we did Christmas all by ourselves at home. It was the first time in 4 years that everyone wasn't at our house for the holiday. I made rolled tacos and spanish rice for our Christmas Eve dinner and we enjoyed the evening with just the 3 of us. Christmas morning we woke up bright and early so that Kohl could see what Santa left for him and start opening all of his presents! We went small this year, but it still seemed like it took him a long time to get everything opened. He also had all of his presents from Grandma Leslie and Grandpa Eldon to open as they mailed him all of his gifts.

After presents were opened we loaded up the truck and headed off to Kingman at 7:30 in the morning. We went straight to Justin's to open presents with all of my family. My Dad and Lori seem to go all out when it comes to Christmas so it took the kiddos a while to get everything opened up.

After all the kids' presents were opened Justin and I gave our parents our Christmas presents to them. Boy, were our parents surprised! Dustin and I gave them a new Grandbaby that will be born in August and Justin and Ashley gave them a new Grandson (Tatum Rudy Garcia) that will be born in May!

We all headed up to my Mom's house for a yummy Christmas dinner!

I love it that my whole entire family can come together for Christmas year-after-year!

Red Rock Christmas Fantasy

The weekend before Christmas we decided to go to Sedona for a Red Rock Christmas Fantasy at Los Abrigados Resort. All around the resort they decorate with various themes so that you can walk through the resort enjoying the beautiful Christmas lights! You can enjoy hot cocoa, apple cider and churros as you look at all of the light displays. It was very chilly this night and Kohl's zipper on his jacket was broken, which we didn't know about until we were already at the resort. We still had alot of fun!

Kohl's Christmas Program

Kohl had his very first school program on Tuesday night, which also marked the end of school for him until January! The program didn't go so well for Kohl as he cried through most of it. We still aren't sure what happened. He came out with a huge smile on his face then when they started to sing their first song...he started crying and eventually walked off the stage. Once he calmed down he joined his class back up on the stage and finished the program. Afterwards we had cookie and milk with his classmates and their parents! It was a memorable time for us.

And his head goes down...

Participating in their prayer, which he ocassionally makes us do at meal time!

Time to decorate the tree

This is one of my favorite times of the holiday season!

It is a great time to drink hot chocolate and enjoy decorating our beautiful tree as a family.

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love Christmas and it is not for the reason that most people love Christmas. I love the family time, the giving, the love and all of the decorations! Most of all I love seeing the look in my child's eyes on Christmas morning when his beliefs of Santa Claus come true!

We shared this wonderful holiday tradition with Grandma Leslie this year as she traveled from Winnemucca, NV to visit Kohl over the Thanksgiving weekend.