Emily is Here!

Emily Jen-Man Chang surprised us all a little bit early and is here! She was born on October 26, 2009, at 8:35 pm, weighing in at 7 pounds 2 ounces, 20 inches long.

On Monday, October 26th, I went to work like any other day. I had contractions all weekend, but nothing progressed although something felt different than the braxton hicks contractions I'd been having they never turned into anything. I left work at lunch time, stopped by the mall to exchange some clothes and pick up some gifts for Kaden's teachers. Then I went to Kaden's school to pick him up and go to the pediatrician since he had been pulling on his ears all weekend. I was still having contractions and started to look at the clock to see if they developed into a pattern. I took Kaden to the pediatrician and the contractions started to pick up. As we left the doctor's office, I called Rob and he said to go ahead and come home. I got just a bit further down the road when I pulled over to call him back and tell him to meet me at the hospital.

I went to the OB's office and they verified that I was indeed in labor almost 2 weeks early and sent me up to labor & delivery. This whole time I'd been taking care of things and carting Kaden around with me while I WAS IN LABOR! Those of you who have held Kaden know how solid, heavy and strong he his and I am fairly amazed that I made it! It's pretty amazing what mothers are able to do when it comes to taking care of their kids. Once we got sent upstairs to labor & delivery, Rob called my friend Jen to ask if she could come get Kaden for a sleepover. She was a blessing who saved us that night since my mom was planning on getting here for the scheduled c-section! My mom immediatley took off and drove through the night to arrive the next morning.

Since Emily was breech and we needed a c-section, I thought I would go straight into surgery and not have to go through all the labor pains anymore. However, it took FOREVER! Nobody could get an IV started on me and I ended up with 15 needle sticks before it was all said and done. The anesthesiologist actually ended up being the only person who could get me hooked up. Since it was after hours, there was just 1 anesthesiologist on call and he was busy with an emergency and kept calling in to say 20 more minutes till he could come in for my surgery. I was getting slightly frustrated by the end of it and by the time he got there I could have pushed if Emily had not been breech. I ended up doing all the labor except for pushing before I could get any drugs and get the surgery! Thankfully I was able to stay awake for the surgery and could tell when the pulled Emily out- hearing her cry for the first time was so amazing and such a relief after such a difficult pregnancy! She was just perfect!

My mom stayed with us for 2 weeks and was an enormous help to me and Kaden's buddy. She was able to take him to the Halloween events at his school. They really bonded during this time and I am so glad they had that time!

C-sections are NOT fun and I would have definitely preferred to be able to deliver her myself. Thankfully, after 3 weeks I am starting to feel like a human again and have somehow lost all the weight I gained with the second pregnancy- probably thanks to being able to nurse this time. Everything with getting pregnant, the pregnancy, the delivery, and nursing has been completely different this time than it was the first time! Somehow I have been able to experience infertility, a surprise pregnancy, delivering a vaginally and via c-section, not being able to nurse and having no trouble nursing all over the course of the past few years. As different as these experiences are, they left me with a son and a daughter that I am completely in love with and will cherish every moment with them. I am truly blessed and immensly grateful!

My beautiful baby girl!




















Meeting Gramma for the first time.
















Both my babies!















Kaden kind of likes his baby sister :-)
















My favorite pic of Baba and his girl so far

Kaden's 1st Year Choice

While looking for a specific post I did a while back, I found this post that I never actually posted! In Taiwan, when I baby turns 1 you lay out several items and let the baby choose one. This gives some insight into what he will be like as he grows up. We laid out a musical maraca, a cell phone, a book, a Dunkin Donuts munchkin, and a remote control.

Kaden's first choice was the cell phone, followed VERY closely by the donut! He then checked out the book, and briefly checked out the remote control and the musical toy. But he was DEFINITELY most interested in the cell phone and donut. I like to think it means that he will be a social little guy who knows how to enjoy the sweeter side of life!

Pooplosion!

Someday Kaden will hate me for posting a story like this, but after it was all over it was hilarious! Kaden was playing with his toys while Baba & Mama were in the kitchen. I kept thinking I smelled something and that Kaden must have a poopy diaper. He had just finished eating and was about 5 minutes away from going upstairs to get ready for bed. Baba went over to take him upstairs and said "Oh no! There's poop everywhere!!" This really isn't what anybody wants to ever hear, whether it involves babies, dogs, ANYTHING. He carried Kaden about a foot in front of him upstairs to get an emergency bath while I cautiously entered the stink zone to survey the damage. Apparently, Kaden had a bit of a diaper wedgie (it can happen!) and was sitting on his little lazy boy type of chair. Poop got on the chair and on the floor right in front of the chair...which he then stepped in...and then walked halfway across the room to his car leaving a trail of poop-prints...and then sat in his car, where more poop squished out. We had to clean the chair, the carpet, and disinfected the car, too. Thankfully, all the poop-prints came out of the carpet and you can't even tell anything happened.

After it was all said and done, I laugh everytime I think about it. We made it almost 14 months before we had our first pooplosion!

Fun at Dinner Time

Kaden is really learning to be independent now, and doesn't like to have us feed him anymore. Spoons are still a bit hard to figure out, but he tries!

After he finished eathing, he headed straight for one of his favorite toys- his car! Just this week he discovered that he can make the car move...just backwards for now, but he can go! (I had trouble getting the video of that to upload, but I promise I'll try again soon.)

This last one is just because he is so stinking cute sometimes!

Going Private

Just a heads up that I will be taking the blog private on October 1st, so readers will need to log in to see what's going on. I've started to get weird comments, including from corporate job search sites and it is getting ridiculous. For safety and privacy, we will no longer be available for just anybody. It is very sad and unfortunate that we will no longer be able to share our journey and our joys, but we have to consider the safety and privacy of our children first and foremost. Any readers who want to continue reading, please do send me a message to get connected- I don't want to cut out real people!

LeLeDee

Kaden calls Lady Belle (our little shih-tzu poodle mix) "LeLeDee." He only says a few things, like "hi!" and "Tede" (for his stuffed Tigger), but I am very impressed by how often and how well he says LeLeDee.

Last week we were getting into the car and a neighbor walked by with her dog, a large golden retriever (who obviously doesn't look like Lady Belle). Kaden started squealing and pointing to the dog, saying "LeLeDee" over and over again! It was so cute that he made the connection between Lady Belle and the golden retriever! I pointed with him and said "dog" before we waived bye bye to the dog.

Last night Kaden got a birthday card from my Aunt and Uncle with a Snoopy cartoon on the front. I read the card to him after dinner and showed him the picture of Snoopy on the front- which caused Kaden to get excited and reach for the card. He held it and kept saying "LeLeDee" over and over again (then he opened it and "talked" like he was reading and studying the card, which was also so cute!) I was SUPER impressed that he made the connection between the Snoopy cartoon on the front and Lady Belle both being dogs. Man, I have a smart kid!

Then we get to this morning, when Kaden was drinking a sippy of milk while we were getting ready for work. The news was on tv and they had a segment with some sheep (I have NO idea why, but there were sheep). Kaden smiled at the sheep, pointed and said "LeLeDee!" I couldn't help it- I busted up laughing at the intolerable cuteness!

So either all animals are LeLeDee or just all four-legged hairy animals...not sure which...either way, he only calls animals LeLeDee so I am still impressed by the brain power of my little boy!

Kaden's First Birthday!!!

A year ago today, my life changed in ways I could never have imagined. Being a mother is every bit as hard and wonderful as I imagined, and I am completely, 100% head over heels in love with my little man!

We celebrated his first birthday with a Phillies game! It was a great game and we all had so much fun, despite the heat.

Yeah! Home run!

My new most favorite pic EVER!

Belly shot at 29 weeks- the WHOLE family!

But this is my favorite family pic just because of how sweet little man looks.

He even had a little celebration at school. I brought in cookies and got to hang out during a cookie feeding frenzy!

Then Baba brought a cake home for the birthday boy.

Some of the strawberries apparently were a bit sour, but not too sour to eat.

Mmmmmm, cake!

My little prince Sharing with Lady Belle

And we finished the day with a bath.

It has been an amazing year and I am so looking forward to all the experiences that Kaden will have over the years. I am truly blessed and forever grateful for the privilege of being his Mama!

Ribbons and Bows

I've been doing some very girly crocheting for Baby Girl Chang lately. I guess between chasing around an almost-one-year old boy, being very pregnant, working full time and moving I just don't have enough to do (I'm saying this with sarcasm in case you couldn't tell!) This time around I am really making use of ribbons, bows, and girly colors that I didn't use with Kaden. It's hard to believe that soon a little girl who is small enough to fit these is going to be here!

Tiny little hat

Tiny little mitts with a ruffle to go with the bow

Tiny little booties, again with a ruffle to go with the bow- I had fun with the ruffles!

Hot pink- very cool

A baby blanket- actually more like a crib size blanket...

...of course with a ruffle around the edge! My first border on a blanket- I was very excited!

And because no post is complete without a picture or two of Kaden, here is Kaden and his Baba being silly at dinner time.

Silly games, silly boys!

Lazy Summer Weekends

We had a wonderfully lazy summer weekend. Mama got some knitting done for Baby Girl and Kaden wanted to help out. He's such a good little helper! He helped me unravel the yarn just in case I didn't need it to stay untangled and organized.

He looked so cute while being such a big helper, too!

Then we went to the beach. When we got there and Kaden saw the ocean, he started squealing and waving his arms. He recognized the ocean and got so excited! I really wished I had my camera out and ready to catch that!

This time Kaden decided he would check out how the sand tasted. He seemed to like it, even though Mama & Baba kept trying to keep him from doing it.

But then after such a nice weekend, Kaden woke up with a high fever on Monday. It went down during the day, but was right back up there overnight. Tuesday morning he fell asleep with a bottle and hugging his Tigger. Baba had a cool washcloth on his forehead, too. Isn't that just about pitiful?!?
Hopefully the fever goes down again today and stays there so my baby can get back to important things, like playing and reading and cuddling with his Mama!

Who's on First?

Take a look at these profiles from ultrasounds...are they the same baby? Is one Baby Chang #1 and the other Baby Chang #2? I know you can't base exactly what the baby will look like on how the ultrasound pics look, but I think Kaden and his baby sister have almost identical profiles! Just had to point out the similarities that are already there!

The Verdict is In and...

IT'S A GIRL!!! Kaden is going to have a little sister! We are so excited- I always wanted to have a boy and a girl and this one really looks like a girl. We had the doctor verify a couple of times and according to her it is definitely a girl. Now it's time to buy 'pinky' stuff- I think we're going to be in trouble!

Sweet little profile- looks a lot like Kaden's did at his 20 week ultrasound...I'm just sayin, maybe they look alike already!

She had her feet tucked in together when we were taking pictures. She is a wiggle worm who liked to move her hands all around her head, so we didn't get a good picture of them.

It's a girl!

Boy or Girl??? What do YOU think?

Friday is the big day for Junior (I didn't like the sound of Baby Chang #2!) We have our big ultrasound and hopefully will find out whether little Junior is a boy or a girl. Check out our poll over there on the right and get your vote in on what YOU think Junior is!

No post is complete without pictures, so here are some of my favorites that we took on our trip to Savannah to visit Kaden's Aunt Kara (I'll have pics of the trip up soon, too!)