Lights!Camera!Action!

Jonah was in his first school play this past Friday. He played Ant #2 in the production of Spiderella. He had a total of two lines. David and I were so proud! All the kids were really cute and did a fantastic job.

Can you see Jonah? I learned that I should arrive much earlier to get a good seat for taking pictures, especially with a baby in a stroller. He's at the bottom of the second window, next to the kid with the yellow hat on.
There he is! Here's Jonah with his best buddy Michael C.

Way to go Jonah!

I Think He's a Natural! (2 new posts!!!)

Our friend Phil stopped by for a visit. Maybe a baby could be in Phil's future?

Shhhhhhh!

Never wake a sleeping baby! That's my motto. They are like precious little angels.


Well, she's pretty precious when she's awake too.

Go Dodgers!

Spring is here, and Jonah had his first baseball game of the season. Unfortunately, I missed his game. We felt the weather was a bit chilly to take out one week old Caroline. David told me however that Jonah played fantastic. His team, the Dodgers, won 8-5. We're looking forward to an exciting season.


Here's Jonah scoring a run.
Jonah wanted to try playing catcher this year.

Okay! Okay! ...and here is another cute photo of Caroline after a bath.

New Arrival!

Well, she's finally here! Caroline Mae was born on Friday, April 6 at 2:45 pm weighing 7 lbs 2 ozs and 18 3/4 ins long. I didn't get any sleep last night but we're excited to share our news. Thursday night at midnight I started having contractions about 3-5 minutes apart for over an hour. The doctor told us to head for the hospital. Once we were at the hospital however, my contractions slowed way down. The nurse told us we could go home or wait for the doctor to arrive later to be induced. Well we figured since we were already there, I might as well get induced. They started the pitocin at 11. The dr broke my water at 12, after which David and my dr watched the news conference on tv announcing the new UK basketball coach. (I knew UK basketball would somehow be involved with my child's birth.) A little after 2 I told David to get the nurse so I could get an epidural. The contractions were getting extremely painful. The nurse told me I was only 3-4 cms dilated but that she would order the epidural. The contractions kept getting worse and soon I felt the urge to push. David frantically called the nurse who frantically got the dr. Next thing we know, Caroline was born. It all happened in a matter of minutes. The nurses and dr were all very surprised. I'm still waiting for the epidural.

Here's a few photos we have so far...

Good News and Bad News

Good news-
I had my 40 week doctor appointment this morning. I am officially overdue since my due date was Tuesday. They did a fetal non-stress test. The baby is well. I am having contractions, and I found out I'm 2 centimeters dilated. Yay progress! The doctor scheduled me to be induced on Tuesday at 5am (what?!), but he really thinks I might go into labor before then (Easter baby?). We'll keep you posted.

Bad news-
This morning Jonah was complaining of a sore throat. He didn't have a fever, so I told him to hurry his booty up and get ready to go. He's on spring break this week and has been attending a YMCA day camp. Well as soon as I got to work after my doctor appointment, the Y called saying they were very concerned because Jonah hadn't been acting like himself and wouldn't eat. Oh geez. I'm starting to feel guilty. So I pick him up at the Y and take him to the doctor. The poor thing slept on the examining table while we waited for the doctor. I'm feeling really bad. Doctor checks him out, and it's strep throat. I feel like complete dirt. He's on antibiotics now and will be fine.

I'm starting to get a sense of the hecticness that will begin as a mother of two.

Caroline, We're Waiting!

At my 39 week dr appointment yesterday, I was 0 centimeters dilated. Zero. Nada. Nothing is happening. My actual due date is Tuesday, April 3. At my next appointment on Thursday, April 5, the dr will schedule me to be induced the following week if nothing happens. I was induced with Jonah at 42 weeks. I am so hoping that I go into labor on my own this time. Sigh. We'll see. Waiting for a baby is worse than waiting for Christmas, a vacation, and graduation all combined. At this point, I've done everything I can do.

The nursery is ready.
The bassinet is ready beside our bed for those many sleepless nights.
My bag is packed, as well as one for the baby.

The car seat is ready and waiting.

Come on Caroline!!!!

Happy B-Day JB!!!!

I don't know which is more unbelievable that Jonah has turned 8 or that I'm the mother of an 8 year old. His actual birthday was Saturday. (Yes! He won first place on his birthday.) We wanted to make this birthday a little extra special with the baby coming, so we had a bowling party for him on Sunday (so it wouldn't interefere with the pinecar derby). Jonah came home very upset after the invitations had been passed out saying that no one would be able to come because the party was on Sunday. Then I got very worried. You don't want your child's birthday party to bomb! Never fear however, we eventually had 13 girls and boys call and RSVP. David and I were extremely nervous. At this age, parents drop their kids off and leave. At first it was extremely hectic, greeting everyone, getting their shoes, and getting them into the bowling lane computer. After that however, things went pretty smoothly, and I think all the kids had a pretty good time.

Time for pizza! (The boys in the front don't look very happy for some reason.)

Then cake. Mmmmmmmm!
The whole crazy gang. (I was so glad I made them all wear name tags!)
I think this will be a birthday Jonah will never forget!

Annual Pinecar Derby

Perhaps you have heard of the cub scouts' annual pinecar derby race. It's a pretty big deal to all the boys. Actually, it's a pretty big deal to all the boys and the dads. Especially David. I haven't seen him get so excited about something since fantasy football. Last year was Jonah's first year participating. He and David built a car together but didn't really know what they were doing. Poor Jonah's car came in dead last. It was a year of learning. This year, however, David was on a mission.
...and here it is! Isn't she a beauty?
Jonah with his car.
Jonah's car about to race. Jonah won all three of his races!!!
And the winner is.....
That's right! Jonah's (and David's) car came in first place!!!!! I don't know who was more excited. Now Jonah's car gets to race in the district championship. I'll keep you updated.

Special thanks to Rob and Olly for their help!

Big Brother

Sunday Jonah attended big brother class at Central Baptist Hospital where the baby will be born. When I first mentioned it to him, he didn't want to go. Then after a couple of weeks he asked me out of the blue when he would get to go to big brother school. I guess he's getting more excited. He was the oldest kid there, but I think he enjoyed that and kind of felt like an expert compared to the other little kids, answering most of the questions.

The kids all had to bring a doll or stuffed animal to take to the class. Jonah chose his duck Jack Jack.

Learning how to become a sibling sounds pretty easy!


They all learned to put on a diaper. I had to help him out a little bit. Jonah has been pretty adamant that he will not be changing any diapers. That's okay. That's what Dad is for!

What the...?
Oh I see! (Are you watching David?)

Done!

Trying on the free stuff. Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Dr. Schanding.

"C" is for Caroline

As a Valentine's Day gift, David got me a 3D ultrasound. Wasn't that so sweet? The 3D ultrasound people recommend getting a 3D ultrasound before 26 weeks because the baby has a lot more rooom to move around and you can see more. I'm now 33 weeks. The tech told us she is very squished in there. I believe it. Her movements are getting painful. The tech also told us that she has chubby cheeks, a dimple in her chin and elbows, and a lot of hair. Just like regular ultrasounds, it was very difficult for us to make anything out unless the tech pointed it out and told us what was what. Also, Caroline kept her hands in front of her face the whole time.

In this photo, she makes the letter "C" with her finger and thumb. This is my favorite photo. You can see her chubby cheeks too.
This is a photo of her hands and feet. David made the tech count her fingers and toes. There's 20 all together. You can see how twisted up she is in there. Here's how she stayed pretty much the whole time. With her hand covering her eyes, like it was too sunny in there.
The tech also said she thinks Caroline will weigh more than Jonah did, who was 8lbs 1oz. My doctor said the same thing. I thought girl babies were smaller!

They're Gone!They're Gone!They're Really Gone!

I think just about everyone we know has heard about or even directly experienced the horrible, horrible people that lived next door. They hadn't had water or electricity in months, even years maybe, so they would steal ours. They didn't mow their lawn. New and suspicious people were always coming and going. They would come over and ask to borrow our phones, sometimes at 2 am. Or try and sell us their junk. The police made monthly visits, usually hauling one of the inhabitants away. Anyway, I could go on and on about just how horrible they were. You can't begin to imagine our happiness, our pure delight when we found out that they were gone. For good. David and I began screaming and laughing, hugging one another, and dancing for joy. Hallelujah!!! The scum of the earth is gone!!!!! (Am I being too harsh? Naaaaaaaaaaaa!)

One of the regular visits by Lexington's finest.

A sample of how their house usually appeared. I don't know if they were trying to keep out flies or what.


Goodbye nasty ol' Ed!!!! (Yes, this is a photo of him from jail.)

More Home Improvement

After finding out I was pg, the first thing David and I decided to do was remodel the kitchen (aren't we weird?). Nothing major like tearing everything out and starting from scratch. We just wanted to make some improvements like paint the existing cabinets, new hardware, and tile the counters, backsplash, and floor. We figured it was either now (before the baby) or never.

Here's David hard at work...


Flash approves...


The new counter and backsplash...


A special thank you to our friend Rob and to Don and Paula Schanding. Our new kitchen would never have been possible without their help.

Announcing.....

Jonah Benjamin Schanding!!!!!

That's right! The adoption was final Thursday, July 27. Here are all us Schandings in front of the court house in downtown Lexington.
We met with the judge for about 15 minutes. He asked us all some questions, including Jonah. The judge asked him what his favorite subject in school is to which Jonah replied recess. The judge signed the papers, and the adoption was final!

Here's a photo of Jonah with his attorney. Thank goodness he approved of David and I as parents even though Jonah told him of all the dog bites he's had to endure from Chase and Flash, whithin the first five minutes of meeting him no less.
Jonah's been practicing writing his new name before school starts.

NEW PHOTOS!

I finally got the photos developed from the waterproof disposable camera that we had in Colorado. Yes, from January. It's the camera we used when we visited the natural hot springs while we were there. The water was amazingly warm in the pool. Then they had a smaller pool that had hotter water like a hot tub. It was amazing to be swimming with piles of snow all around us.
There was even an enclosed water slide you can sort of see in the background. We would get out of the pool and then run as fast as we could dripping wet in our swim suits to the top of the slide in the freezing cold.

Jonah had a ball.

Have you ever seen a lifeguard in a winter coat?
Really cute photo of Jonah that was in the mix.