Photo Shoot at 3 weeks

Thanks to my very good friend, Carla, I was able to get some shots of Joshua here recently!  So here are some shots of him during his 3rd week of life!! Enjoy!!

And now there are 4

August 1, 2010 Joshua David Landis made his way into this world at 3:29pm.  Weighing in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and measuring 20" long. 

We arrived at the hospital about 5:30am on Sunday the 1st; hard labor didn't really start until about 10am, by 1:30pm I was ready to start pushing.  It took us a little longer to push him out because Joshua's heart rate kept dropping, he wasn't handling the pushing very well, so I was only able to push every 4th contraction until about the last 30 mins, then I was able to push every other.  After two hours of pushing he arrived!  The cord had been wrapped around his neck- so God had already showed himself strong in this little boys life! 

My wonderful husband, my mom and my sister were with me in the labor and delivery room.  My sister probably worked the hardest, besides me of course :-) She was my massage therapist!  She went above and beyond by even standing in the whirlpool tub to put counter pressure on my back!! It was so nice to have them all there with me, supporting me and cheering me on!

My nurse for the day was wonderful and really knows her stuff!! She has been working OB for 30 years!  On top of that a strong christian woman and she attends my church! Thanks Ann for all the support, she always knew exactly what to say and do during my contractions to get me through them.  She even made sure we had the largest labor room, as I had a few extra people!  After Joshua arrived we must of had 10 people in the room plus the hospital staff!  What a treat.

Kaitlyn was able to come and see her baby brother within the hour of his birth!  Below are some pictures of her greeting and meeting him, I think they speak for themselves!  She loves her babies!  She loves holding him and kissing him.

We feel so blessed and honored to have been given this son to raise up in the ways of the Lord.  He is melting our hearts and making his place within our little family of 4.  The moments I have him all to myself and he is lying on my chest, I marvel at his tiny and precious features.  The way his left ear has a 'nick' out of it, where his right ear is smooth.  The way his fingers and toes appear to be so long right now.  The way the fuzz on his face feels against my cheek and the smell of his little body brings such warm and loving feelings to me.  The way his dark blue eyes are searching all the time as they respond to his mommy's voice.  The way his belly will rise and fall as he is sleeping in my arms.  All of it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g and over whelming at times, such precious moments we are in right now. 

I have to note that when we left the hospital he weighed 6lbs 13 oz; and on day 5 he weighed 6lbs 12 oz.  He also has a tint of red in his hair, we'll have to wait a while and see how that turns out!

Thank you Jesus for such a precious life!

Kaitlyn 2 yr Pictures ++

Because it is too overwhelming to pick out which one of these I like the best, I've just put them all into a slide show for now! ENJOY
These are pictures taken with the daughter of very good friends of ours, her name is Addison.  She is about a week shy of being 1 year old.  Kaitlyn in 26 months in these pictures.  

Wednesday???

So this morning Kaitlyn was telling me that Baby "Wash-ua" was coming soon. 

So I asked her, "Really? When?"  and to this she replied...

"Oh, I don't know..... Wednesday?"

Then when Daddy came in the room she proceeded to tell him that Baby Joshua was coming on Wednesday!

I guess we'll see if it is this Wednesday or another one or some other day! 

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Freeze Recipe

A YUMMY recipe I wanted to share with you! If you're a chocolate and peanut butter fan like my family is, this is a great treat anytime of year, but especially the summertime.

What You Need

45 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)

1/2 cup  PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, finely chopped

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup  crunchy peanut butter, divided

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 can  (11 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

1/4 cup  chocolate syrup

Make It

MIX wafer crumbs, nuts, butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter. Reserve 1/4 cup; press remaining onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan.
BEAT cream cheese and remaining peanut butter in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Gradually beat in condensed milk. Stir in COOL WHIP; pour over crust.
DRIZZLE with chocolate syrup; swirl gently with knife. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Freeze 2 hours or until firm. Remove dessert from freezer 15 min. before serving; let stand at room temperature to soften slightly.

peanut butter-chocolate freeze recipe at kraftfoods.com

Quick Update

Just wanted to post a quick update on the pregnancy!   I know family has been checking in. 
This week we are 37 weeks (on Thursday).  So far, so good. However, I am really just exhausted and have no energy to get the final touches ready for this little guy! :)

Hopefully, my Mom and Sister will be coming this week to help me get all the infant items tracked down, unpacked, cleaned up, and put where I know they are!  Including the car seat- I figure that is one important piece of equipment I MUST have....

In the meantime we've been dealing with Kaitlyn being sick for the past 4 days, on day 5 now- but things are looking up so far this morning! PTL! I hope we are on the mend there, because that just adds to the exhaustion; having a sick child to care for- I am so thankful it was over a long weekend and Matt was around so much to help out.

We continue to try and prepare K for this new arrival of her baby brother Joshua... however, I don't think she will fully understand until he is here to stay.  Last night when I put her to bed she said "Baby Joshua's crib"- so that was encouraging that she is seeing his crib right beside her bed and knows that it belongs to Joshua!  They will be sharing a room for a while; Lord willing!

The summer is flying by as we spend time with family, friends, swimming, playdates, work (blah), and Matt's golfing has pretty much wrapped up for the summer as he is preparing for our second child.

We'll keep you posted as to when we go to the NEW HOSPITAL!!! It looks very roomy and spacious; hope it is comfortable for Matt and my coaches (Mom and Michele)... we will see SOON!

30 Weeks... well almost

I haven't posted much about this pregnancy of ours... and here we are approaching the 30 week mark on Thursday!  There are moments when I think wow there is only 10 weeks left, that is alot... or that is nothing!  Depending on what I'm focused on.  Knowing that I am really not prepared in my home for this second baby yet, 10 weeks doesn't sound like all that much time to try and get everything accomplished I feel like I need to before the big arrival!

Kaitlyn seems interested and somewhat excited, although I am certain she will not fully grasp what is in this big belly of mine until she realized that this baby is coming home for good!  She is aware and calls my belly "Baby Wash-u-a"  or as we would say- Baby Joshua!  She likes to rub my belly and say night-night baby wash-u-a.  She loves babies and loves to take care of them, so we pray this will be true with our real baby boy!

Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures over the weeks of the pregnancy.  Our next one is June 4th to double check on a couple of issues before delivery.  We are praying the placenta has moved away from the cervix and there will be no issues with natural delivery, so please believe with us for this to be so.

Just about 7 weeks here!- It is amazing that you can already see some form in this picture.

19 Weeks- what a  big difference

22 Weeks, even more changes from just 3 weeks prior.

We would get these 'high-tech' ultrasound pictures everytime, but they just never seem to come out very well, this is probably the best one we have so far.... Baby Joshua David with his hand up by his face all scunched up... 

I'm looking forward to the next ultrasound in 2 weeks to see what he looks like now!