The Fiedlers Rock!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving... I know we sure did. I must say, this has been a great last couple of weeks for me and my family- and I feel so incredibly blessed this time of year. We have a beautiful healthy son Travis that we prayed and waited for so long, he is just perfect in every way. We have 2 beautiful daughters- Kaylie and Emily- who continue to make us laugh and love like we never thought we could... we have amazing family who have been such a huge help to us over the last few weeks (I must say, a HUGE thank you to my mother in law Lisa who has helped me out more than she knows- and my mom for all that she has done as well). We have amazing friends, friendships with people that we can't imagine not having them to share everything with.
So we are thankful for all of that and more! We are thankful for all of YOU!
God Bless you and your sweet families.

I saw on a blog that I follow this cute "Name Frame". You can put your child's name, birthdate and stats, a bible verse, whatever you want on there! So I decided to order one for Travis. I emailed the girl- her name is Emily- and she was super awesome to work with! I sent her pictures of Travis's room and told her exactly what I was looking for and I got the frame in the mail today! Let me just say- I ABSOLUTELY love it!! It is exactly what I was wanting- the colors, the fonts, the frame, everything about it was perfect! I have to recommend her to everyone- her blog is called Chocolate Blue... here is the address-
http://www.emilyschocolateblue.blogspot.com/
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check her out! The frames range from $40-$46 and they are so personalized, I just love ours! Her email address and contact info are on the blog. If you do place an order, let her know that I sent you!!! I really think she deserves a million shout outs, I love supporting people who are great to work with and who care about what they do. When I opened the package, she had written me a note thanking me for my order- you can't get more personal than that!
Here are pictures of Travis's!!

Travis had the distinct pleasure of meeting his buddy Sydney Valentine yesterday... she was sooo sweet with him! She kept pointing at him and saying "Baby" and would smile and try and give him pretzels! It was too cute. I think Leslie will be A-ok with her second baby that is on its way (we find out next week if it will be a boy for Travis to run around with or a girl that he can marry :)).
Here are some pics!

My bestie Leslie holding Travis...

I love Sydney's smile!!! So sweet! :)

Travis is one week old! I can't believe its already been a full week since he was born! We are really enjoying him- even if its hard on our sleep pattern. Here are a few things we've learned about him in this first week:
*The boy LOVES to eat... we are already at 3, sometimes 3 1/2 ounces for each feeding.
*He finally latched on and we are able to breastfeed!!! YYYIIIPPPEEEE! Huge for me, because I struggled with it with Kaylie and really wanted to try it with him and its working! I was so relieved.
*He is extremely mellow- when he is awake, he's very alert and loves to stare at your face- maybe its the silly songs I sing to him but he's very mellow.
*He loves to be kissed all over- in fact, he really tries to kiss back. Steven, Kaylie and me will take turns kissing his mouth and he opens his mouth really big and moves his head from side to side like he's kissing us back. So sweet!
*Its so sweet to see Steven interact with him- and for all those that heard Steven say he was going to be tough on his baby boy- YEAH RIGHT- he loves on Travis and kisses him allover and talks baby talk to him- makes me fall in love with Steven all over again, he's such a good hands- on Daddy with all of his kids.
*We went to the doctor and he has lost weight- he's down to 9lbs, 14 ounces!!! Funny huh! We go back next week for another check up so we'll see if he's gained it back. My bet is YES- he eats so much!
*He is already getting on a schedule- his night feedings are around 10:30pm, 1:30am, and 5am. Which is nice- my body is also getting used to waking up at these times to feed him!
*He likes to sleep with his hands behind his head (just like Steven and Kaylie) and he likes to cross his feet- just like Kaylie!
*I'm in baby heaven right now... I forgot how sweet it is to have a newborn around and I've already cried a ton just thinking about me going back to work and having to leave him in January. The thought of missing anything makes me so sad.
Here are a few pictures from his first week!

Tried to get the pic of him cracking a smile- just looks like he passed gas! But it was an adorable smile!

Me and Travis- I was extremely tired in this pic- we both passed out shortly after.

Kaylie loving on Travis- she comes home from school, changes clothes, washes her hands and BEGS to hold Travis, which we let her do. She just loves him so much. When he sneezes, which he does alot, Kaylie will copy what I say- and say, Oh My Goodness Travis, OH my goodness! She's so cute with him.

Daddy dressed him in a Texans onsie and gave him a mohawk after a wash down! Can't fully bathe him yet because his umbilical cord hasn't come off yet.

Kaylie gets to feed him in the mornings before school sometimes... this was one of those mornings.

We are so excited to announce that Travis Cade arrived a week ago, November 5th at 1:09pm- weighing in at 10 pounds 8 ounces, 21.5 inches long!!! Did you read that right? YES- I didn't write it backwards, he was REALLY that big! I had a scheduled C-section- here is a picture of me before the surgery...

I was a ball of nerves before the surgery. Once they started, I felt a TON of pressure- I kept telling Steven, Oh my God, they are going to break my ribs! They had to get another doctor in there to help get Travis out! When they pulled him out, all I heard was giggling and then OH MY GOD (but in a good way). Dr. S said, Jen, you have a huge baby! He's at least 10 pounds!!! At this point, I seriously thought I was having an out of body experience. Did she really just say 10 pounds? I'm 5ft 3 on a good day- how in the hell did a 10 pound baby fit inside of me? Oh thats right- he was in my ribs and sitting on my bladder! He took over my stomach!!! I didn't hear him crying at first and I started getting worried- and then all of a sudden, I hear this roar of a cry!!! I was like- thats a newborn? He sounded so deep and loud! I cried so hard- I can't believe my baby had FINALLY made his arrival. My angel that we had both prayed for and dreamed about. They brought him to me and I could barely hold him on my chest- but he was adorable. He instantly reminded me of Kaylie- the lips, the brow, his small faint strawberry on his forehead. He was perfect (and HEAVY).

I cannot believe that its finally here... I've been waiting all this time for this very special day and its almost here. It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm having a baby- I know, that doesn't make sense when I've got this huge stomach, heartburn that could really kill someone, I go to the restroom every hour, and more ailments I don't need to share at this point! Its just hard to believe that I'm finally going to have that baby in my arms I've been wanting and waiting for over the past 2 years!
C section is scheduled for Thursday at 1pm... please keep Travis and myself in your prayers that everything goes smoothly, that we are both healthy and happy. Also pray for my wonderful Dr. Schroeder and her staff as she performs my surgery and they care for both Travis and myself.
Thats all for now folks... next time you hear from me, I'll be posting about my precious baby boy. I just can't wait to hold him and kiss him and tell him how I've been waiting to meet him my whole life. :)