Happy Birthday Kaden!!

It's hard for me to believe that one year ago today I was headed to the hospital and scared to death to have to bring a baby home. I was pretty sure I should hire one of the nurses to live with us because they all did such a great job while we were at the hospital. Well, Kaden had his one year old doctor's appt. today and here are his stats (for those of you who are interested): he is 30 inches long, which is the 60%...he weighs 20 lbs 8 oz, the 15%...and his head is 18 inches around, the 24%. So, he is still long and lean. :) If he would ever sit still long enough to eat a ton like he should, maybe he would gain more weight. He's come a long way since his original 6 lbs. 9 oz and 19 inches long, eh? :) Since it's my baby's 1st birthday today AND I am pregnant...again...no one can blame me for being a bit teary eyed all day today. I have been thinking about my labor and delivery and can't help loving Kaden even more for being such an easy kid. We didn't have a blog back then, so if you haven't heard my labor story, here it is! If you have, or don't care, skip on ahead to the fun pictures. :) I had just gotten off of work at 1:30 pm and came into my apartment to try and find something decent to eat (meaning chocolate...). We didn't have anything, so I skipped eating for a while and went to play on the computer until I got hungry enough to eat something that we did have (most likely PB & J). Around 2:00, the weirdest thing happened. I heard two "bubble, bubble" sounds (I don't know any other way to describe it) and at the same time, without realizing it, I stood up VERY fast. My water broke the second I stood up (it was like my body reacted before my brain knew what was happening...) and I was shocked. I hadn't been having any contractions (that I knew of) so I called the hospital and asked, "Um, my water just broke, but I'm not having any contractions. Should I wait to come in until I feel pain or just come now?" The poor nurse, "You're WATER just BROKE?!" Me: "Well, yes." Her,"Get in here NOW!" So, I called Shane and told him it was "time." Shane thought I was kidding at first and then was shocked and panicked when he realized I wasn't. lol He started to head home, but got stuck in traffic, so he called me (panicked, still, thinking I would have the kid on the bed at home) and told me to have someone pick me up and he will meet me at the hospital. I said ok and went into the office (it's connected to my apartment-for those of you who don't know) and Kenzie was in there working. I said, "Uh-Kenz, could you drive me to the hospital? My water just broke." She, of course, was SO excited and starting freaking out. While she grabbed her almost one year old son, I went and changed my clothes so I wasn't all wet. Well, what NOBODY told me was that EVERY time you have a contraction after your water breaks, MORE water keeps coming! I felt like freakin' Niagara Falls! I think I changed 3 or 4 times before realizing it was pointless and just grabbed a towel to wrap around my waist. Kenzie drove me to the hospital and it was on the way that the contractions kicked in. Let me just say....OUCH! The whole way there I wanted drugs and I kept telling Kenzie she is amazing for having done it without any drugs. Anyway, I got checked in and 3 freaking hours later, I finally got the wonderful, glorious epidural. It would have been sooner, but there was a lady delivering her baby in the parking lot who demanded more attention than I did. lol The man who did the epidural looked like Hitler (I'm not kidding at all) so I was scared (being German like I am) when he first came in, but about 5 minutes later, the drugs kicked in and I was in HEAVEN! Shane liked me a lot better after I got the drugs. :) haha Anyway, 3 hours after I got the epidural, Kaden Shane Porter was born. I went through a total of 6 hours of labor and about 7 minutes of pushing...and everyone I know wants to kill me that it was so "easy" for me. Hopefully this next one is like that, too (except that I get the drugs a TON sooner and they are not administered by Hitler...). This first year has been fun and Kaden just keeps getting cuter! Here are yet more pictures of the last year. Kaden's big birthday party is on Saturday, so more fun pics after that. :) For those of you who did, thanks for sticking with me through the long story.

Tired (and HUNGRY) mama


Daddy and Kaden..the best of buds

LOL This was Kaden's typical camera face (because of the flash) until he was about 4 months old and got used to the flash. haha

My cheesy baby at the height of his chubby cheekness. He had food in his mouth, but as soon as he saw the camera...SMILE! He is such a ham. :)