Some of Cael's Firsts

Cael's 1st Trip To Church

First Time In The Swing - He didn't really care for it!

First Day To Really Be Alert For Longer Than A Few Minutes

Cael has been such an easy baby so far. He basically eats and sleeps as most babies do. He typically only wakes up once throughout the night unless he's got a dirty diaper. He doesn't really care for his baths as of yet, but we'll keep working to develop his love of water (like his big bro - Gavin). Today was the first day he really stayed awake. He has started grasping onto our fingers and I think he's starting to recognize us. He's already had his first bottle (Matt and I attended our friends' bachelorette and bachelor's parties on Friday night so Nana got to babysit). He was a pro! We are excited for Cael to celebrate his first Christmas with all of our family in a few days. He will get to meet his Uncle Curt, Aunt Amanda, Cousin Jackson, Uncle Doug, Aunt Wendy, and cousins Lucas, Bailey, Micah, and Ruth Ann for the first time. We are so excited! Pictures to follow :)

Have A Very Merry Christmas!

Cael's Birthday

I know several of you have been waiting for the details of Cael’s birth, so here it goes. I awoke on Tuesday night to take my nightly 3:00 am bath. For the last several weeks, I’ve been waking up at night because my back has been hurting so I soak in the bath and then head back to bed. Just like every night prior, I took a bath, but the back pains would not go away. I walked around the basement for 10 minutes, hoping that the back pains were just Braxton Hicks contractions and that they would go away. No such luck, I headed back to bed, turned the heat pad on high and tossed and turned for the next few hours. I got up at 5:30, knowing that my mom was getting ready to leave for work, and went and took a bath in her Jacuzzi tub. I thought maybe the jets would take away the pains in my back, they didn’t. I went back to bed and turned on a back massager and laid there until it was time to get up for work. I headed into work, calling my mom almost in tears from the pain, and decided when I got to work I would call Dr. Litherland to see if I could come in and get checked out. When I got to school, I called the doctor’s office and the nurse blew me off – until I told her that the back pains had made me sick that morning. She said she would talk to the doctor and give me a call back. She called back within a few minutes and said that Dr. Litherland wanted me to head on to the hospital. I met Matt at St. John’s around 9:30 and got checked into triage where they do several assessments to see if you’re in labor. When they checked me, I was having contractions, dilated at a 3 to 4, and 100% effaced. Needless, to say I was not getting to go home from the hospital. We had to wait in triage for a few hours because there were so many women who were in labor already and all the rooms were full. I finally got in to a room around 1 and got going on the IV. It took the nurses 5 attempts to get an IV in my arm. After the IV was in, I was quickly given an epidural and they broke my water. All this was done by 4 pm. I waited around, watched TLC, and ate popsicles until my heart’s content. Around 7:30, my nurse kicked everyone out and we did some practice pushes. After 2 sets of pushes, I had to stop and wait for the doctor. I also had to put an oxygen mask on because Cael’s heart rate was going down a little. At 8:00, Dr. Litherland arrived and I started pushing. By 8:06, Cael was born. He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 21 ½ inches long. He had long, thick black hair and was very cute. Unfortunately, Cael came out with his hand up by his face and I had to have several stitches. But I am healing quite nicely and we’re all doing great.

My School Shower

I was incredibly blessed to get to have a shower at school. Cael got a lot of clothes and lots of other cute things too! I can't wait until he's here and we get to use it all!

Cael Steven Wallace - A few weeks out

At this ultrasound he weighed 5 lbs, 8 oz. They are predicting him to be an 8 lb baby!

Stocking Up For Cael's Room

Cael won't have a room until we get into our new house, but here are some things that will go in it!


And here are a couple of pictures of our shower invitations:

I'm alive

Well it's been over two months since my last post. Those of you who know me well expected this - partly because I told you to expect me to be a terrible blogger. I'm officially in month 8 of my pregnancy, only 8 weeks to go. In the last two months, we've moved in with my parents and bought a partly done house.

This was my belly at approximately 30 weeks :). At the beginning of my pregnancy I bought The Belly Book so that I could take a picture of my belly each week, but with the move - I'm missing several pictures. I'm sorry to say that I've given up on The Belly Book.

We carved pumpkins this month. Gavin chose to carve a face that looked like an Iron Man mask, after carving most of Gavin's pumpkin myself, I chose a much easier design.

And finally.....

OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!

Back To School

I officially have to go back to work tomorrow. It seems like summer has just flown by. I've been up at school for the last few days preparing for our first day back. Here's the fruit of my labor.

Registering for Cael

I got back from Camp Ethyl on Friday and on Saturday Matt and I went and registered at Toys 'R' Us and Target. After registering, we went and looked at baby furniture at a store in Nixa. Matt and I found a crib and bedding that we loved. I found pictures of them both below...

Bedding
http://www.bellacor.com/fullsize.cfm?Sku=980101504&ItemID=314162

Furniture
http://www.babysdream.com/Products/Ocean/Default.htm

Our Very Busy Week

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for the Wallace family. We started off Friday taking pictures of the Wallace grandchildren with Mema and Pappy for the annual Christmas card. You're probably wondering why we are taking a Christmas picture at the beginning of August, but it's the only time we will have everyone together again until Christmas. This year's theme was cowboys and cowgirls. Everyone wore white shirts, jeans, cowboy hats, and cowboy boots. The pictures turned out really cute. Here are a few that I captured on my own....

Friday was also Gavin's birthday, so that night Matt and I took Gavin to Chuck E. Cheese. Grandma Cozy, Grandpa Steve, Curt, Amanda, and Jackson joined us for fine dining and games!

After Chuck E. Cheese we headed back to Grandma Cozy and Grandpa Steve's house for cookie cake and ice cream.

This is Jackson doing one of his many "Watch This" faces!

Friday night ended with us at home watching Gavin open up his presents from us. He got a Wii and some Wii accessories, as well as a toypedo for the pool. He was pretty excited to have his very own Wii!

And so it begins...

On Saturday morning we celebrated Donna and Gary's 40th wedding anniversary with all of our family at Springfield Brewing Company. I never thought I'd have an immediate family so big that we took up the whole room!

Finally on Saturday afternoon, we had Gavin's family birthday party at Linny and Roy's house. They have a very nice pool and they were gracious enough to host all of us at their house. Thanks again, guys!

Saturday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Dixon's house to celebrate Linny, Matt, and Gavin's birthday since they all have birthdays in August. We played Wii and dominoes. It was a wonderful weekend but very exhausting. Happy 7th Birthday, Gavin and Happy 40th Anniversary, Donna and Gary!

Weeks 19, 20, and 21

Week 19


Week 20

Week 21

Weeks 17 & 18

Week 17

Week 18

I'm definitely starting to fill out. I went through my closet the other day and tried on all my regular clothes again. Most of them had to go into storage for the remainder of the pregnancy, I'm looking forward to getting into clothes that actually make me feel cute again. I've got a fresh shipment of Gap and Old Navy maternity capris that should be landing on my doorstep any day. I can't wait!!!

It's a.......BOY!!!!