The Caldwell's

Alexi Voki #1

2011-03-01T12:53:00.002-06:00

braydon Voki #1

2011-02-28T12:40:00.002-06:00

Writing

2011-02-28T10:35:00.003-06:00

Well, I am encouraging my kiddos to enjoy creative writing, so i am incorporating "Voki" and seeing how well it works! I will try and use this blog to post their "stories"...so, enjoy! ;)

I Love My Kids!

2009-03-13T15:44:00.003-05:00

I just love when they entertain themselves!It is so cute :)

Happy Spring Break!

Innocence is Bliss

2009-01-29T08:14:00.002-06:00

Well, two weeks ago, Lexi's class was learning about Dr.Martin Luther King. Apparently, this really impacted lexi. For days she would talk about how she just couldn't believe someone could be arrested for not giving up their seat to a white person,etc... She just really took it very seriously. She would comment how wonderful Dr. King is and how thankful she is for him,etc...On the actual MLK day, I asked lexi if she knew why she was out of school then proceeded to tell her."He gets his own DAY!?!?!?" she asked in utter disbelief."wow he really was amazing" she said shaking her head as if still not believing it. "you know mom, if it hadn't been for Dr king, we wouldn't be able to have Bailey(our black lab). I am so thankful for him." and just like that she turned to go outside and appreciate bailey, for without Dr. King we wouldn't be able to have her.

Cleaning house...

2009-01-26T15:26:00.005-06:00

Watching your kids learn to clean can be such a fun roller coaster ride of emotions. From being encouraging, to frustrated, to being so proud you could just burst cause they actually did it themselves! (above picture)

Then, in all your excitement, you round the corner of the bedroom to find this...(picture below) and once again the rollercoaster we call life comes racing back down to reality...

I love my kids and their hard work.

Toys!

2009-01-15T14:22:00.003-06:00

We have discovered that this is Dylan's favorite toy. Btw, at 12wks he is over 17lbs!

Wigs and free time....

2009-01-15T14:16:00.002-06:00

Need I say more....

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-18T09:17:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's finally here, but merrry christmas!!!!

Oh, we also got our 100% inspection on our house ths week!

A Pic!!!

2008-11-08T16:12:00.002-06:00

Slow but finally here...2 of my babies!
We are all doing great. Dylan is such an easy baby. AND we may be back in the house this week!

Dylan Matthew

2008-10-23T22:08:00.002-05:00

He is finally here! Coming in at 9lbs 3oz!!!!
What a wonderful easy baby he is as well! I cannot hold him enough, i am even having trouble sharing...lol

Believe it or not, i did start having contractions on my own 3 hrs before my scheduled induction. We did not have to have a very high dose of pitocin since i was contracting on my own. They started the drip about 615am and broke my water at 9am and we had a baby by 11.44am! Not a bad couple of hours. I am very thankful for epidurals, i only felt the early cramping and of course "pressure". I am glad that i didn't attempt a non epidural delivery for dylan since he was so big.
Well, i will get pics on here eventually, we have lots of them! More later...

Almost here!

2008-10-19T22:25:00.002-05:00

Well, it appears i am going to make it to my induction date! I am really not believing it! I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. Pray for me, cause i prob won't be able to sleep tomorrow night from all the nerves. Hopefully, this process will be quick with no complications and sometime around noon on tuesday we will have a baby!
I will update when he is here!!!!!!

the end is in sight

2008-10-15T11:04:00.003-05:00

Well, still no baby yet and very little change at my last appointment.She decided to yet again strip my membranes and see if anything would happen,but i am not holding my breath.
We have an induction date set for tuesday the 21st at 5am. I will be 41wks so it will be a medical induction and cannot be canceled as opposed to an elective induction (before 41wks). Basically, that is what i am waiting on. Anything earlier and i will be surprised and very excited, but i am certainly not counting on it! This is definitely new territory for me as i have never had to be induced but there is a first for everything. I still feel generally well, but this is getting old fast.Passing your due date definitely plays with your head. It is funny though, a few weeks ago i felt like i could barely hold this baby in, and now i don't even feel anywhere near due or close to going into labor. AND NOW I'M LATE! Life is Funny.

In other news, the adjuster did finally come out on monday. We really liked him and feel like he is doing right. we haven't seen any numbers yet but we should have an approval and initial check on saturday or monday. SOOOOO, WORK CAN BEGIN!!!!!!!! We are making our final decisions on contractors and hope to have the roof started sometime next week, then the interior can begin after that! We should be able to move home after the sheetrock is replaced and that should happen after the roof is finished. Yea!

Will update more later!

Against all expectations

2008-10-10T12:16:00.003-05:00

I am still preggers! No one can believe it. In fact my 39wk check had no changes or progress from the week before! I even had my membranes stripped, took castor oil, walked, vacuumed, but to no avail. I made the decision to be happy with being preggers and now am very curious to see how this will play out. I am not depressed, just very surprised and interested to see this pregnancy to the end. God is clearly showing me he is in control and that i need to be patient with his perfect timing. The dr is guessing he is right at 8lbs or just over, so the goal now is to have this butterball sometime before thanksgiving!!! :) :) Happy weekend!

38 wk check up

2008-10-03T16:37:00.002-05:00

well, only 10 days left...I have progressed to 4cm and 50% effaced, so we are moving right along. I took a pic, but not sure how to get it on here yet (on someone else's computer)

An insurance adjuster is going to be at my house sometime next week, so then we can get the whole project moving. I can't believe it takes 3.5 wks to get an adjuster to just come out and look at the house.

Hopefully, my next post will be saying I am on my way to the hospital :):):) but we'll just have to wait and see.

what a week.

2008-09-19T07:01:00.002-05:00

It is so funny how much can change in a week.
Last week 30 days seemed so long and far away, and now 23 days is just not enough time! I went to the dr. yesterday for my 36wk check up; I am fully engaged and dialated to a 3. Still only 30% effaced, but that can change quickly. Pretty much the dr. said all we're waiting on is more organized contractions. Last week I would have been jumping up and down. This week I am kinda wanting to wait it out. So you ask, why the mellow mood. 2 words...Hurricane Ike.
My house took a treetrop to one corner causing enough damage that it is non livable until it can be remodeled on that end. Thankfully i have the most wonderful family and inlaws with an empty upstairs. My kids think this is kinda cool, and we have been spoiled non stop. but there is still nothing like home. I think Caylie has decided that Mimi is her new mom, she's always been partial to her anyways, and now she demands mimi's help and not mine most of the time. I am thankful we were not in the house when the damage occurred and no one i know has been hurt. We are going to be able to replace some much needed things inside the house, so this is a blessing in disguise i am sure; and one more way for us to have faith that God's timing is always the best timing even if we don't see it or understand. Cause, i know i have been nesting lately, but remodeling a 3rd of my house in the last 25 days of being preggers was not on my list! :):)

34wk appt.

2008-09-09T08:15:00.003-05:00

I forgot to post my 34 wk appt stats from last week....We are moving right along at 2cm and 30% effaced. That is progress from my 32wk appt where i was .5 cm dialated and 20% effaced. I wonder if i will slowly progress all the way to the end or if I will go early....time will tell.

Happy Labor Day!

2008-09-01T09:50:00.004-05:00

We successfully made it through our first week of school with no major problems or complaints. Alexi cheerfully went to school everyday and with the exception of still no playground for recess (apparently that is determined by air quality and ours hasn't been good???!!!!) she had a very good week. She got an art award, which made her week and another "green ticket" for being good in P.E. I asked her what she drew to get the award and she said"myself...I am really hard to draw!" They asked the kids to do a portrait of themselves, and I guess it was something she had never considered doing before. I can't wait to see it. On Friday, we celebrated the end of the school week with ice cream and staying up late, probably a new tradition we will continue through the year.

Today marks 34 weeks for me! Only 42 days left. I have had alot of people say I appear to be "dropping" so thats some progress..ya'll can judge...

"Boring,boring, boring..."

2008-08-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

"and not very much fun" was how my angel summed up her first day of school. I asked her what she did and in her dry reply she nonchalantly said "talk, talk, talk, read. talk, talk, talk, read. eat. no playing. no playground.and wait a long time for you to pick me up." Then she proceeded to tell me she had a headache...laid on the couch, watched a movie, and finally returned to her normal cheery self around 6.30pm. WOW. not quite what i was expecting.... Did I mention she let me know over and over that it took me too long to pick her up. She has no understanding for car line yet. Poor thing waited 50minutes outside for me to get to the front of carline. You know carline is bad when your sitting in front of a school zone speed limit sign and it has EXPIRED and you are still not even in the school parking lot. Everyone said it will be better today. I hope. Daddy assured her school is supposed to be boring at first, and that it will definitely get better. Hopefully, they play outside today. I am going to go to sonic and get slushies today and hopefully be alot closer to the front of the line. Oh did i mention, she did not see her special candy in her luch bag nor did she see the napkin i wrote her message on...:( Today will be better!

1'st...

2008-08-25T09:43:00.002-05:00

Today is Lexi's first day of school *tear* and I managed not to cry. She was so excited there was no opportunity for tears. All of us took her this morning and walked her to class. It was fun.

Out of all the chaos going on around us...she managed to find this monkey pic on the wall and wanted a pic with it...she is soo funny!

In baby news, i have been taking it really easy and have not had any more incidents. I am 33wks in this pic...(I let Braydon take it)

13 days and counting...

2008-08-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it. Alexi and I counted and there is only 13 days til school starts. She is sooo excited about it. She asked me "Mom why can't it start tomorrow"? I am relieved she is ready and not depending on me to make her want to go.
In other news, we finally got rain! it makes such a difference on the pool's temp. It cooled the pool down so it's enjoyable again. no more swimming in lukewarm bathwater!
As far as the bump watch goes, all is well. I am doing really good on weight gain (or lack there of). At my 30 wk appt. i have only gained 14lbs (yeah) yet somehow i measure 4WKS ahead in the belly measurements. How crazy is that! They said it's prob cuz this is #4. So I guess it is safe to say I am all Belly!!!LOL I have already had 2 separate incidents with contractions. Thankfully they only lasted a couple hours, so no hospital visits yet. It is way to early for these incidents so they need to slow down. I don't mind the braxton hicks, it's the other contractions that get me worried. I've taken the muscle relaxers they use to stop contractions and it is not pleasant.
Ohhh, We got Caylie to wear arm floaties in the pool and she loved them! She is free to swim and jump in whenever she wants and can still put her head under and swim like the other kids. It is so nice i can just sit and watch. She loves the freedom! She even went off my mom's diving board (with me right there of course). Such a brave soul!

Now or Never

2008-08-01T14:26:00.002-05:00

So, in the last year i have discovered how much fun blogging is. I have yet to post anything (obviously) but that doesn't mean I haven't been lurking! I have so enjoyed all of your faithful posting that i decided maybe I should give it a shot.

So, you ask, where am I in my life right now.... I am living my dream as a stay at home mom. I am currently 29 weeks preggo with caldwell #4 (sorry not ready for any belly pics yet) who is supposed to grace us with HIS presence sometime around October 13!
As far as the other kiddos go...

Alexi (my angel) is 6 and starting 1st grade in 4weeks (yes, i just felt my blood pressure raise) She is very excited and will do wonderfully, it's mom that may have a few hard weeks of transition:) She is an incredible helper around the house and with her other siblings. I will miss her help when she starts school. She has an incredible sense of humor that keeps us laughing and sometimes wondering where their young minds come up with stuff. She is an eternal animal LOVER. God has definitely given her a soft spot for any and all animals including frogs, worms, and bugs. There is not much she won't catch, touch, and enjoy. What a special girl.

Braydon is 4 (going on 7) and very mature for his age. We have to remind ourselves sometimes what his age really is because he acts so much older. He is our manly boy and loves cars, guns, tools, yardwork, sports of all kind, wrestling with dad, eating, eating, and did i mention EATING. Since moments after his delivery, he has had a insatiable appetite. This child can pack down more food than me and 5 minutes later be hungry. Yes, I know, wait til he's a teenager; I have already started a savings account just for that cause :) Braydon has a amazingly sweet spirit and is very loving to his family and especially mom :) He is very intelligent and will excel in school.

Caylie is 21 months and quite the diva. Her personality is hysterical and quite different than the other 2. She is VERY dramatic in everything and requires alot of personal attention ( which we all voluntarily give her) She is quite spoiled by us all and none of us can get enough of her antics. Yes, most of her vocabulary is laced with "no mommy" "please stop", etc she is very fluent in speaking and letting us know her needs. She has mastered the art of potty training in the last few weeks and mommy is very happy! She has also discovered swimming this summer and believes she belongs in the water with no floaties of any kind and tries to swim under the water like the other kids do. Yes it is a little nerve racking (sp?) but she is surprisingly good. If summer was another month longer, she would prob be retrieving diving toys from the shallow if i let her.

So, now you've been updated...you may get lucky and see some pics one day!

It could happen....

2007-08-01T17:26:00.000-05:00

At some point, I might actually start posting updates! For now, I want to be able to keep up with my friends.