A place to call his own

Well, Caid officially has a place to call his own!

He spent his first night in his crib and did awesome!  I even managed to make it through the night without worrying about him the whole time!  Granted, we did stay up much later than usual to make sure he was settled in okay, and I made Jon go check on him one last time, and then one last time, and then for real one last time :)

He also must have gotten his dose of wheaties this morning because look how big and strong he is this afternoon!! This is a recent development in that it's the longest/highest we've seen him hold his head up!

Tough Day at the Office

Well, it's hard to say whether Caid has settled in to his new environment!  

You take a look and decide for yourself!

I think he is definitely cozy in his new home away from home!  I sure love having him with me all day long, and he is getting lots of love from my coworkers!  It's so fun having two new babies in the office and they've already brightened the mood!  The other baby, a little girl, is 4 weeks younger than Caid, and is super cute as well! I'm one blessed momma to get to see my guy all day even if it does create more work or stress at times!

Here is Caid and his Papa on their first day to work - Monday, August 20.   

Love these handsome fellas!

Camping with Caid!

This weekend, we decided at the last minute to join my mom/John at Lake Wilson.  We'd thought about heading down there Friday evening, but with cooler nighttime temps and a good chance of rain Friday evening and all day Saturday at Wilson, we decided that would not be ideal weather for Caid!

However, Saturday came, and the weather was beautiful in Stockton.  After a morning of birding, Jon got home and immediately said, "call your mom and ask what the weather is doing!"  Turns out, after a raining morning at the lake, it had turned into a gorgeous day there as well.  So Jon and I packed up our gear and headed out!

Mom and I had decided that 4 adults, a 2 month old and 4 dogs were just too many beings for a camper, so Jon and I, without hesitation, decided to tent! It was going to be awesome!

So, remember I said we were just SURE it was going to be awesome to tent with a 2 month old??? well.... that was before I remembered how WINDY it usually is in Kansas, and before I realized how COOL it was going to be at night!  BUT, despite the wind trying its best to keep Caid awake, our family prevailed!  We lulled Kincaid to sleep in his car seat after he decided 10pm was a good time to be wide awake :) and, not only did he happily fall asleep around 11, he also slept until 6:45am!

Kincaid - well rested and ready to go at 6:45am!

 A peek inside our cozy quarters: 

Here's to many more camping adventures for this VK family!

Here's to Week 2!

Exercise.... not something I've done much of consistently since high school.  I've been fortunate that I've been able to fairly easily manage a healthy body without devoting a lot of time to exercising.  I've had phases in the past 10 years where I've found the motivation and dedication to exercise, but it's continued to be for only short periods of time!  

When we moved to KS, I decided that I'd like to run a 5K, and that I'd start jogging/getting into shape.....next week, and then the next week, and then the NEXT week, and so on.  THEN I got pregnant; THEN it was winter; THEN it was spring and beautiful but I was too pregnant; THEN it was getting HOT and I was due any day.  You get the picture!  I am great at putting it off and coming up with REALLY good reasons NOT to exercise :)

Well, not long after I had Kincaid, I decided I really DID want to start exercising and working towards running a 5K.  7 weeks after having Caid, I returned to work, and when a customer asked if I was still pregnant, I decided I needed to get my booty in gear! :) So, I'll be running in a TurkeyTrot this fall, and I recruited my mom (already a runner) to keep me accountable and to run with me!  I downloaded Couch-to-5K onto my Ipod, and with my mom's help, made it through day one last Saturday when she visited!  

Since she doesn't exactly live around the corner, I recruited my awesome neighbor Shellie (sorry if you don't like your name spelled this way :) hehe) to help me stay on track and run with me!  Today we started week 2 of the 9 week 5K training and it felt great!  I was ready to back out this morning even though it is a beautiful, cool, perfect day to run!  You know, there is cleaning, laundry, baby snuggling, and that sort of thing to do :) BUT we loaded all the kiddos into the car, and headed to the track! 

It was a great 30 minutes and all was made possible because of these too beautiful and sweet girls who took care of Caid while Shellie and I jogged!  Kincaid adores them and smiled/talked to them on the drive home!! 

Jenna, Kincaid & McKenzie

Thanks girls!!! 

Greats & Grands

One of the many many many things we are grateful for is that Kincaid has these folks in his life:

Grandpa Mark

My dad is a big kid at heart, and he adores kiddos!  He had the honor of being the first grandparent to hold Caid! We don't have to twist his arm to make a visit to see his grandson!  Just this week he HAD to bring up a carrot cake from grandma...... :) He can't wait to take Kincaid for a cruise on his Harley or 4-wheeler (but he WILL be waiting a LONG time!!)!

Grandma Kerri

You can clearly see the happiness on her face!  My mom's been an awesome support since having Caid, coming to stay with us right away, and making day trips!  Kincaid definitely knows his Grandma Kerri and is enamored by her when she talks to him!  She is one active grandma who is sure to have many adventures with Caid!

Grand-Dude John

That's right, Caid has a rad Grand Dude who adores him!  John might have a tough exterior, but he's a big softy on the inside!  Pretty sure he couldn't be happier to have two new grandbabies (mostly so he can squeeze their cheeks!) While he thinks I'm awful silly about many things, he still respectfully washes his hands before squeezing Caid's sweet and oh so squeezable cheeks!

Grandma Wanda

Kincaid is so blessed to have Grandma Wanda!  He will definitely benefit from her gentle ways!  Wanda has such a servants heart, and helped in so many ways during their TWO visits to KS and our visit to MI!  She was always willing to babysit, feed, snuggle, diaper, etc!  Caid spent many hours gently rocking in this chair with his grandma!

Grandpa Bill

It took just a short while for Grandpa Bill to warm up to this new, fragile being!  Definitely love from day one, but maybe greater excitement for a slightly older, more active/interactive Caid :) But after a few nights of Kincaid falling to sleep on his chest on our trip to MI, he was done for!  Grandpa Bill has many, many fishing trips and outdoor adventures planned for the two of them down the road!

Great Grandparents:

Brett & Sharon

 Wilma

Roger & Wilma

Kincaid is 2 1/2 Months old, and he's still spent more of his days with one+ of these awesome people than he has without.  How awesome is that?!?

Jon and I both have so many fun memories with our own grandparents!  For me, some of my very favorite childhood memories involve my grandpas and grandmas!  Love that Kincaid gets to build some of those memories with these amazing people! 

We also lovingly remember our grandparents that are no longer with us.  We know that, while Kincaid doesn't have the privilege of meeting them, he is influenced by them through Jon and I, his grandparents and great-grandparents who did know, live with and love them: 

John Lorraine

William

Theresa

Happy Chatter

Caid is growing too quickly, but we sure do love his happy chatter!! He's especially smiley and talkative first thing in the morning and later in the evening!  He adds so much joy to our lives!! Just look at that cheeky smile!!  It's the most amazing gift he gives me as I leave for work each morning and one of the things I look forward to most about getting home at night!! I love this video because it also is a reflection of Jon and Caid's love/connection!  It's been so amazing that Jon's been able to spend so much time with Kincaid these last few weeks while I went back to work!

He's Awesome!

This picture pretty much says it all!

Today is a new day!

I don't even know what to title this post, so I'm just going to write and come back to it! I'm so frustrated, overwhelmed, tired and stressed.  I can tell because little things are bothering me and I'm letting everybody know it :) not one of my finer qualities!  As I've gone through these last few weeks, things seem to just be building in a "when it rains it pours" kind of way.  Definitely not in a terrible way, but just in a stressful way for me.  I'm trying to hand these worries over to the Lord, but then the worry creeps back in filling my thoughts and influencing my actions.  

I want to trust God with these things, but I get in my own way!  I struggle with finding a middle ground when these situations come up.  My natural response is to take all the weight upon myself in an effort to spare others and also in an attempt to control the situation (though I hate to admit it).  Over time, I've tried to share this weight with Jon as my partner, but it is a struggle.  I need him as my teammate, but I don't want to overwhelm him.  I want to trust Jon/God to do their part, but I know I can handle things on my own.  I want to trust that, even when it is hard, Jon and I are both putting God first and then our family ahead of other activities.  We're not meant to, nor do I want to, handle things on our own in marriage or life.  All of these thoughts, and others, have left me conflicted in times like this.  I'm temporarily patient, attempting to give some of the responsibility to Jon and/or taking it to the Lord in prayer.  But then, weeks, days (or minutes!!) pass, and the effort that I've put into trusting, being strong, not worrying, holding my tongue, staying positive, etc., catches up to me, and I, frustrated, impatient or afraid, snatch the worry/task back.

Not only does this lead to others tip-toeing around me, but it also leaves me feeling disappointed in myself.  I recognize my pride, my lack of discipline and trust.  Why is it so tricky?  Time and time again, Jon and God have demonstrated their immense love for me and that they are trustworthy and faithful!   Even in typing this, I feel embarrassed that I struggle so much in this way!

So, I guess I just needed to be honest about how real this struggle is for me at this point in life.  Maybe this is another attempt to give this imperfection to God by being honest with myself and with others in my life!  Remember this song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDkVQvhZx04? At least in part, it's a good theme for this post. Here's to getting up once again and being thankful that today is a new day to try again!

If you think about it, please pray for any of the following:

-thanksgiving for Caid, his health, sweet spirit and all around awesome addition to our lives!
-for me in any of the areas I highlighted above
-for Jon as he transitions back into work in a week
-for both of us as we continue to adjust to parenthood and work to find balance in work, life, parenthood and marriage
-for situations going on with our house in Grand Rapids
-for situations with the house we rent in KS.

Our Superman!

I started this post for Father's Day and never finished...so what's the saying, "better now than never?"  The upside of being late is that I have so many more fun pictures!! Here's a shout out to my main man, the most amazing husband and incredible father!  Jon has been more and more incredible as each week with Caid passes.  From pitching in more and more around the house, becoming a temporary stay-at-home papa, running errands, being super dad and just an all around awesome guy.  Here are just a few moments that I've been able to capture over these last two months that illustrate just how blessed I am to have J as my partner and Caid is to have him as his Papa!

From nap time....

  

There are so many because napping is one of their favorites!!

to having fun....

  

to getting outdoors.....

to diaper duty.....

 to feeding& burping....

 

 

to bath time & reading.....

We have one proud papa and one amazing man in our lives!  Love ya, J!

  

Most amazing two months!

It is so hard to believe that just two short months ago, I was wrapping my mind around the fact that I was now a mom as my arms were wrapped around our new little boy!  There are times that it seems cruel how quickly time passes, and this would definitely be one of them!  Every day we have the pleasure of waking up to the sound of this little guy's chatter (okay - his grunting, gentle fussing, hungry snorting)!  

Look how big!! He can sit quite easily in the rocker on his own!  He's also becoming a master bubble blower, enjoys bath time, will grasp objects briefly, loves to study the lion/monkey on his baby bouncer, does a great job tracking people and toys, travels great in the car, and always wants to be facing out so he can see what is going on in the world!

and....of course, he has the most precious, amazing smile that instantly fills us with joy!! My favorite part of the morning is seeing this!