Most of you already know, but considering the previous post, I realize I should make sure that all are aware....We had a miscarriage a week after announcing the pregnancy.
As miscarriages go, it was merciful. Not an event I would like to repeat, but it could have been much worse. I have received many encouraging words from people regarding having babies after miscarriages, so we know that our desire to have one more child is not over...just delayed.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
News.....
The next Paredes' baby will join us around April 24th, 2010...The kids are all thrilled (as are Jason and me!!!). When we told them that I was pregnant, Abby looked at me and said, "Are you telling me the truth? Are you kidding????" It was adorable. She comes up to me all day, rubbing my tummy and kissing it for extended amounts of time. So sweet. We are so happy and can't wait for next year!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Madeline is 3!!!
Happy Birthday Madeline!! I cannot believe that my little baby turned 3 today. It blows my mind that she is so big! When I woke her up this morning and told her happy birthday, the first thing she said was, "Where is my birthday cake?" She is such a hoot.
Here are some pictures, giving a glimpse of Madeline over the past 3 years.
Here are some pictures, giving a glimpse of Madeline over the past 3 years.
Her first laugh-and she still looks like that when she laughs!
She was such a chubby baby!
The ever present thumb-sucking.....
Turning 1.
Such a typical Madeline face!
Turning 2.
Happy Birthday Baby!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Playing Catchup
I never anticipated that it would be June before I sat down to blog again, but that is life. I will attempt to share some of the most important highlights from the past 6 months. Lots has happened!
We had a fantastic Christmas. Max absolutely loved everything about it! We finally got all of our decorations up and made it to a Christmas Tree Farm as well.
We try to go every other year to pick and cut down our tree. Max got his first hayride and loved being outdoors again after being cooped up in our sick house for such a long time. He loved helping Daddy to cut down the tree. We then got to drag it back to the tractor to be carried to the barn where we paid for it. It is a wonderful experience and I highly recommend everyone try it at some point in their life!
All 3 kids loved being there, and I imagine it will be a continued tradition in our family.
Christmas was extremely special, being that it was Max's first with our family. He loved the Christmas lights on our house, the extreme Christmas movie watching our family does, hot cider, hot cocoa, adding ornaments to our Advent calendar each day, seeing Santa Claus, and of course, Christmas morning! He LOVED opening presents. It was so fun to see the joy in his face when he realized that it was his turn to open a gift. His smile and laugh were contagious! We spent the day here, with Jason's parents, his brother Adrian, sister-in-law Jessica, and our new nephew Alex. We had a fun filled day with just a few cooking mishaps! It was a memorable day.
A few weeks after Christmas, Max had his surgery on his right leg. It was done in order to better stabilize his leg in his prosthesis. Two bones were shaved and fused together. He did well in the hospital,
actually being released the day after his surgery because he was doing so well. He had a hard time after he came out of surgery, crying hysterically. It was heartbreaking to see him like that. He kept crying for the cast to be taken off-finally I asked if I could hold him. He eventually calmed down, after getting into my arms. It made me cry that he trusted me enough to calm down in my arms. It was a moment I think I will never forget. I even carried him up to his room because neither of us wanted to be parted when it was time for him to be moved from post-op. Jason and I alternated spending the night with him at the hospital. The girls were able to come up and visit the afternoon that he was released. They enjoyed pulling him through the hallway in his special wagon. They both really loved the wheelchair that we were able to borrow during his recovery time! It was the best toy in the house for them!
He was in a cast for the next 10 weeks. After it was removed, it was another 6-8 weeks before he had his prosthesis. He finally has it full time now and is quickly readjusting to be
back on his feet. I am so relived to have him walking again. I am sure that he was tired of being so dependent on me for so many things. It did give us a good opportunity to baby him, which in turn, encouraged more bonding.
As for the bonding, we are so pleased with how well Max is doing now. About a month ago, we sat down as a family and watched our home videos from the adoption trip to China. It was remarkable to see the differences between then and now. It was as if Max was just this little boy, hanging out with our family for the day, whereas now, he is our son, our brother, our family. He has really responded well to the boundaries we set early on. We have absolutely no doubt that Max knows without a doubt that we are his family. He recognizes the differences between our immediate and our extended family. He understands that we care for our friends, but we love our family. He has vastly improved in keeping personal space between himself and others. He still loves to perform and is still a ham-but we have come to understand that is part of his personality...
In February, Max celebrated his fourth birthday. As he was still in his cast, and unable to do much, we decided to do a small family party, just the five of us plus Jason's parents. Being brilliant parents, we decided we would have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday afternoon. Let me just forewarn you, NEVER enter a Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday afternoon unless you want to be surrounded by hordes of screaming children, frustrated parents, all shoved together in a hot environment. These elements don't bode well. We had a great time, nonetheless! Max picked Elmo for party theme, so I made him an Elmo birthday cake. I had some issues with the frosting-so Elmo looks like he has a sunburn-but Max loved him despite that! I am seriously loving makes for the kids, and am getting a little bit better with each one-but I have a ways to go.
Max opening his gift from Abby.
He got some great presents-once again he loved opening them. He would open one, toss it aside and reach for the next one. It was funny to watch. He really enjoyed the party and didn't stop talking about it for weeks. Abby did the cutest thing the day before the party. She picked a toy from the toy box and wrapped it up with spare wrapping paper that was leftover from me wrapping up his presents. They both got such a kick out of him opening it. Just another example of the cuteness I live with!!!
Abby's birthday was one week later. Two February birthdays, a week apart!!! Overwhelming!
She wanted to go bowling for her birthday, so Jason's parents went with us to bowl. She was inspired to do this because she is such a talented bowler on the Wii. She quickly found out that bowling in real life is much harder. Her score wasn't quite as high. We then headed back to the house to have homemade personal pizzas for dinner, followed by an ice cream cake. She loved her presents, especially her Hannah Montana dress up stuff from Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw.
She fell asleep on the way to the bowling alley, unbeknownst to us! At first, I didn't even know she was asleep, we thought she was playing a trick on us. But when her head fell forward, we knew she was seriously asleep. It was confirmed seconds later by the snoring we heard coming from the backseat.
She loved watching her ball go! Even if it took minutes to make it to the pin.
Abby Montana!!!
Yummy cake!!!
We had a fantastic Christmas. Max absolutely loved everything about it! We finally got all of our decorations up and made it to a Christmas Tree Farm as well.
We try to go every other year to pick and cut down our tree. Max got his first hayride and loved being outdoors again after being cooped up in our sick house for such a long time. He loved helping Daddy to cut down the tree. We then got to drag it back to the tractor to be carried to the barn where we paid for it. It is a wonderful experience and I highly recommend everyone try it at some point in their life!
All 3 kids loved being there, and I imagine it will be a continued tradition in our family.
Christmas was extremely special, being that it was Max's first with our family. He loved the Christmas lights on our house, the extreme Christmas movie watching our family does, hot cider, hot cocoa, adding ornaments to our Advent calendar each day, seeing Santa Claus, and of course, Christmas morning! He LOVED opening presents. It was so fun to see the joy in his face when he realized that it was his turn to open a gift. His smile and laugh were contagious! We spent the day here, with Jason's parents, his brother Adrian, sister-in-law Jessica, and our new nephew Alex. We had a fun filled day with just a few cooking mishaps! It was a memorable day.
A few weeks after Christmas, Max had his surgery on his right leg. It was done in order to better stabilize his leg in his prosthesis. Two bones were shaved and fused together. He did well in the hospital,
actually being released the day after his surgery because he was doing so well. He had a hard time after he came out of surgery, crying hysterically. It was heartbreaking to see him like that. He kept crying for the cast to be taken off-finally I asked if I could hold him. He eventually calmed down, after getting into my arms. It made me cry that he trusted me enough to calm down in my arms. It was a moment I think I will never forget. I even carried him up to his room because neither of us wanted to be parted when it was time for him to be moved from post-op. Jason and I alternated spending the night with him at the hospital. The girls were able to come up and visit the afternoon that he was released. They enjoyed pulling him through the hallway in his special wagon. They both really loved the wheelchair that we were able to borrow during his recovery time! It was the best toy in the house for them!He was in a cast for the next 10 weeks. After it was removed, it was another 6-8 weeks before he had his prosthesis. He finally has it full time now and is quickly readjusting to be
back on his feet. I am so relived to have him walking again. I am sure that he was tired of being so dependent on me for so many things. It did give us a good opportunity to baby him, which in turn, encouraged more bonding.As for the bonding, we are so pleased with how well Max is doing now. About a month ago, we sat down as a family and watched our home videos from the adoption trip to China. It was remarkable to see the differences between then and now. It was as if Max was just this little boy, hanging out with our family for the day, whereas now, he is our son, our brother, our family. He has really responded well to the boundaries we set early on. We have absolutely no doubt that Max knows without a doubt that we are his family. He recognizes the differences between our immediate and our extended family. He understands that we care for our friends, but we love our family. He has vastly improved in keeping personal space between himself and others. He still loves to perform and is still a ham-but we have come to understand that is part of his personality...
In February, Max celebrated his fourth birthday. As he was still in his cast, and unable to do much, we decided to do a small family party, just the five of us plus Jason's parents. Being brilliant parents, we decided we would have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday afternoon. Let me just forewarn you, NEVER enter a Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday afternoon unless you want to be surrounded by hordes of screaming children, frustrated parents, all shoved together in a hot environment. These elements don't bode well. We had a great time, nonetheless! Max picked Elmo for party theme, so I made him an Elmo birthday cake. I had some issues with the frosting-so Elmo looks like he has a sunburn-but Max loved him despite that! I am seriously loving makes for the kids, and am getting a little bit better with each one-but I have a ways to go.
Max opening his gift from Abby.
He got some great presents-once again he loved opening them. He would open one, toss it aside and reach for the next one. It was funny to watch. He really enjoyed the party and didn't stop talking about it for weeks. Abby did the cutest thing the day before the party. She picked a toy from the toy box and wrapped it up with spare wrapping paper that was leftover from me wrapping up his presents. They both got such a kick out of him opening it. Just another example of the cuteness I live with!!!
Abby's birthday was one week later. Two February birthdays, a week apart!!! Overwhelming!
She wanted to go bowling for her birthday, so Jason's parents went with us to bowl. She was inspired to do this because she is such a talented bowler on the Wii. She quickly found out that bowling in real life is much harder. Her score wasn't quite as high. We then headed back to the house to have homemade personal pizzas for dinner, followed by an ice cream cake. She loved her presents, especially her Hannah Montana dress up stuff from Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw.
She fell asleep on the way to the bowling alley, unbeknownst to us! At first, I didn't even know she was asleep, we thought she was playing a trick on us. But when her head fell forward, we knew she was seriously asleep. It was confirmed seconds later by the snoring we heard coming from the backseat.
She loved watching her ball go! Even if it took minutes to make it to the pin.
Abby Montana!!!
Yummy cake!!!Life quieted down after February was over. We slowly got into a routine, working around Max's cast, but continuing to do as much as possible. We went to the zoo, went to playgroup at our church, and went to fun programs at Abby's preschool. Max and Madeline will both be in preschool in the fall, they are thrilled about that! So is Mommy!!!!!!!
We are excited about the summer and have already been blessed by going on vacation for a week. I will post about that next time with pictures from our trip. It was a fantastic week and we couldn't have had a better time.
We are excited about the summer and have already been blessed by going on vacation for a week. I will post about that next time with pictures from our trip. It was a fantastic week and we couldn't have had a better time.
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