HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy! Can you believe it's been a whole year! The past 365 days have been some of the best in my life! I never thought I could love a tiny little guy this much but he has stolen my heart!

If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought he would have grown this much I would probaby have said..."yes! my God is that good!"
I can still remember the moment he was born. The doctor joked and said..."Whoa! He's huge!" Then she told me he had a cleft lip. I had no idea what she was talking about but she wasn't freaking out and neither was Tony. So, I knew everything would be ok! Then came time for the surgery. What a big disappointment we had only to find out that God had bigger plans.
Our first surgery was canceled because of his age. We were so disappointed because we were being moved to another hospital and our doctor couldn't go there. So he referred us to a friend of his and WOW! Dr. Wallace was sent from God! Within a week we were scheduled for surgery and it went amazing. You can see from the pictures above that he did an awesome job! The best part of that whole experience is that we all became closer as a family and we definantly got closer to God.

The next major event...our friends the Isbell's moved to Brazil. As a matter of fact...they left just 4 days after the surgery! Man, God always has a plan doesn't he? The next few months just fly by...Halloween...Thanksgiving...Christmas...Even the New Year comes and goes. Any still my baby boy continues to Grow! And now...I sit here on the eve of his first birthday and think to myself...Wow...I am the most blessed mother on earth! I have an Awesome God...a wonderful husband...and the two most beautiful boys that anyone could ever want. So Happy Birthday my Sweet Prince! I love you more than you'll ever know. I hope the next year holds as much excitement and joy that you have given me.

4/5/07

Ok...so much for the "Countdown to Kaden's birthday!" I know...I stink at this. But in my defense...I've been pretty busy and I was sick the past week. So get off my back. I'll add some pics tonight.

Here's our sweet baby at two months!

I still can't get over how different he looks these days. I'm going to post a couple of pics from this past weekend at his birthday party. Kaden celebrated with his friend Hayden. They are six days apart and we decided to have a party at the water park in Tunica. Hayden was a little scared but Kaden loved it! He wouldn't stay out of the water. Every chance he got...he would dump himself under and laugh!

Kaden just loved the water and the ladies!

He was also a big fan of the cup cake!

3/27/07

As my baby gets older...one of my friends is getting ready to welcome her new baby into the world. Tomorrow morning Joshua Clark Taylor will be on his way! Please Keep the Taylor family in your prayers! I'll keep you posted.

Now to the photoblog!!!
There's just something about babies that makes my heart melt! Just this weekend we had these two little boys together to play and it seems like just yesterday that they were this small! Kaden and his buddy Hayden. Well...I say buddy but they don't really care about each other yet! They like to hit each other and that's about it!

Though you're not supposed to feed babies until around 4-6 months...Kaden seemed to always be hungry and nursed all the time. So I decided to try feeding him ceral. He hated it! This was the one and only time I tried to get him to eat food before the surgery! And looking at him now...who would have thought that Kaden the human garbage disposal didn't want food! Tonight he actually devoured chicken nuggets and corn. He's so cute!

3/25/07

"The Lord is my Shepard." Psalm 23:1
That is the scripture that Brady wrote on the foundation of the new building at church. I know we all say our kids are genusis...but hello! He's 4! Look at this awesome handwriting!
Our church is building an addition to help the overflow of youth we have at our church. Right now the Junior High and High school kids meet off campus every Wednesday. This time next year we will all meet on the same campus.

Today we were asked to write scripture on the foundation of the new building. Of course we couldn't miss this opportunity. While I was writing my scripture Brady asked if he could write one too. This is one of the scripture's he's learned in Cubbies. He says it all the time.

His friends Mackenzie and Graycen watched as he showed them how to write! It was so amazing watching how much of a grown up he tries to be! He couldn't spell all the words but with a little help he did a great job.


As for the rest of the weekend...let's see. A Super Hero birthday party on Saturday and then a play date with a friend from school. Sunday morning...church...then lunch and working in the yard. Then tonight we had small group and off to bed. That pretty much sums it up. We have about 3 more busy weekends ahead. Baby brother is is turning 1 as you know. I've been posting old pics....so I won't keep you from seeing more tonight. We have Kaden at 1 month old. Kaden and Brady. Kaden at Sea World and Kaden at the beach in Texas. Man was he little!

3/24/07

It's less than one week and our little man turns 1! I'm looking back and I still can't believe how fast a year goes by! Here we see a sweet baby boy after eating. I remember the day he was born he had a little bit of trouble that first time I tried to nurse him. I was so disappointed that he didn't just latch on like Brady did. I was scared that I would have to bottle feed him and I wouldn't get to give him the same advantage that Brady had. I know now that you don't have to breast feed a baby and they turn out ok. But of course with everything else that was going on...I was stressed.


The weekend Kaden was born was Easter weekend. We came home from the hospital on Saturday. Of course I didn't want to miss the Easter Bunny visiting our house. So we came home on Saturday. On Sunday, Tony and Brady went to church and Mom and I stayed home with the baby. After church we went to see Aunt Judi. Here kaden is with his Gamma. He loves her so much!



I was so excited to have another boy because I knew I could reuse Brady's clothes. Here Kaden is wearing one of the Gap outfits that Brady wore. I love this picture because I have the exact picture of Brady like this. They look identical. Well, Brady's hair was a lot darker and he had more. And Brady didn't have a cleft lip. But they look just a like!

3/21/07

Wow! I just spent the past 3o minutes reading about this time last year. It's so funny to see that everyday I posted something that would say, "maybe today!" I wanted to have Kaden so bad I couldn't stand it! Now he's almost 1 and I want to go back to this time last year! I loved the anticipation of the unknown of a newborn! Not that I want to do it again...trust me! I'm good on the baby thing. I just wish he didn't grow up so fast. I'm posting a couple of pics from that first couple of days and then it's off to bed! I'll blog more later when it's not so late!
This is our going home pic!
Hello! Cute baby!
I just love baby feet!
The proud big brother!

Daddy's boys!

3/20/07

I know that I have been going on and on about this...but do you realize that my baby boy is about to turn 1? Well, I've decided that for the next couple of weeks I am going to post pictures and thoughts from the past year.

I love to look back at this picture. It reminds me of how truly Great God is! If you will recall, I was so disappointed when we had this picture taken. I wanted to see his beautiful face and this was the best picture we could get of Kaden. Little did we know that when he was born...God would have such a surprise waiting for us.

For those of you who are new to the Pillstrom Baby Blog, Kaden was born with a cleft lip. Basically his lip did not connect. It's a birth defect that is repairable with plastic surgery. Here he is..day one! What a sweet little angel and a perfect gift from God.
I still remember that day! I had a C-Section. He weighed 10 lbs! I remember Dr. Harper saying..."he's got a big head!" Hello! I knew that! After he was born he was with the nurses for about 30 minutes. Apparently, he had trouble swallowing. That's pretty normal with C-section babies. Of course the nurses checked him out and he was fine! I finally got to see him and he was beautiful!
My favorite part of the day was when Brady arrived to meet his little brother.

Brady was so extremely proud to meet Kaden! Gamma took him to Build-A-Bear and Brady made him the sweetest monkey named Peanut. He couldn't wait to come in and give him his new present!
Before Kaden was born I couldn't imagine loving another creature as much as I loved Brady. But, Wow! God is so good! Now I couldn't imagine my life without him. He's the most loveable little thing I've ever met! His smile makes me melt. I love to hear him laugh at his big brother! And it's awesome when he reaches for me and says "Mama."

3/16/07

I so have to tell you about the strangest day ever! So, I get up this morning with a little bit of a cold. Probably my fault because we've been sleeping with the windows open the past week. So I get ready and get out the door. I make a quick stop at Weight Watchers like every Friday! I've lost another pound and a half!!! Wahoo! That's a total of 11!!!!!!
Next I go to an appointment and then I stop to get gas. I'm heading to the office after the pit stop and all of a sudden....Major Pain! Not the movie...but in my abdomen! I finally make it home...(Thanks Sharon for the prayer on the phone!) and lay down! After about 30 minutes my friend April shows up to take me to the ER! You know it's bad if I'm planning to spend $75 on a trip to the ER! To make a long story short....4 hours later I'm told I have a ruptured cist on my right overy. Ouch! That really hurts. So here I am on a Friday night laying on the couch on bed rest!
So the best part of the story is that I have the most awesome friends! Everyone was praying for me and calling to see if they could do something for us! I love those people and you know who you are! Please pray that I will feel better this weekend. Tony has to work tomorrow night and I'll be home alone with the boys!

3/13/07

Just look at my little boy! He's so big! Today, Kaden turned 11 months. It's a sad day for me because my little baby isn't so much of a baby anymore! He's trying to walk, he's crawling all over the place and he's acutally saying a few words. Of course he says "mama" he also calls Brady, "baba", and if you ask "Where's the dog?" He'll bark! Oh yeah...sometimes he will say "dada" but not often. He will pick up the phone and say "bye bye" and he'll also say that when you leave!






I'm just realizing that I've been blogging for more than a year! How cool is that!










Of course I've already told you about our awesome weekend. Well, here's few pictures of the past few days. Kaden experienced the grass this weekend. I loved it because I sat him in the yard and he wouldn't move. He didn't care much for the feel of the grass I guess. What he did like was the taste! He kept eating little pieces of grass while I was trying to take his picture.





Tonight, I was attempting to get a good 11 month picture of him and of course he wouldn't cooperiate. I thought this one was pretty cute though. I have a scrapbook page that says "Watch me Grow" and I have a pic of him from every month. It's amazing to see how much he's grown in the past year. I think on his birthday I will post a look how much I've grown blog! I just love this little boy so much! He's been such a pleasure in our lives! I don't even remember what it was like before he was born! I'm so greatful that God picked this little boy to bless us with! His big brother is totally in love with him and so are we!

3/11/07

Wow! What a weekend! We started it off by spending the day at the Zoo on Friday! I took a much needed vacation day and decided to spend the day with the boys. As you can see Brady got a new pair of sunglasses. Kaden has a matching pair but he doesn't care too much for them! So back to our day. We packed a picnic lunch and picked Brady up from school. Then we headed to the zoo for a picnic and some fun! Brady played on the playground while we ate. Kaden had his first sandwich. It was cheese and bread. He actually loved it! He also loved that there was an endless supply of goldfish packed for his enjoyment. We're working on learning to drink from a cup so here he is trying to enjoy some

water. Kaden loved the fact that he got to ride in the stroller all day. He just talked and talked to all of the animals. We saw the new baby giraffe, the polar bears and the pandas. We bought a membership last year and it's awesome! A family of four can go twice and it pays for itself. So needless to say, we take trips to the zoo when ever possible. I love it because we don't have to feel like we need to get it all in at once. So we can take our time and if we don't see it all...guess what? We can see it next time! I want to include a couple of cute pics of the boys before I finish the weekend.

Brady poses with the new baby giraffe. He's trying to look like he's petting its head! Look how proud he is!

Kaden on his way to see the polar bear. We acutally got to see her during feeding time! It was really cool to watch her jump in the water after the fish. Kaden just wanted to walk around the big room. He wasn't really concerned about the bear eating lunch!

The boys love to see the pandas! I think it's because they can get so close without getting hurt! Of course Brady had to point out that the panda had poop in the middle of his food! Don't you just love boys!

So our weekend just kept getting better! We had dinner with Tony Friday night and boy were we hungry and tired! I was happy to realize that I didn't eat more points then I'm allowed in Weight Watchers. Oh yeah...I lost a pound and a half last week!
On Saturday, we just hung out at home and cleaned out closets! The the boys and I had another picnic. This time in the tree house and Kaden didn't care so much for the cheese sandwich this time. We played and played and then went to a going away party for a friend who is moving to Brussels. It was awesome! Then today, church...two hour nap!!!! And a bike ride!!!!! I took the boys out tonight and boy am I tired! We have a little trailer that hooks onto the back of our bike and together they are about 50 lbs. I was pretty beat by the time we got home! I guess I'll have to keep it up to get into shape! I'm going to try again tomorrow night!
I guess that's all for the weekend. I'm about to go to bed! I'll post more pics in a few days I'm sure!

3/8/07

"That's very instresting mommy!" This is the kind of converstaions that my 4 year old has with me on a daily basis. He's beginning to talk like a grown up more and more these days. Well, he's always talked like that but I guess it's just really cute because he tried to use big words in a conversation. Isn't that the coolest thing about when your babies grow up!
On the other hand, Kaden, I would rather him not grow up at all. Next Tuesday he will be 11 months old. Here he is with his best friend Hayden. They are 6 days apart and complete opposits when it comes to personalities. Kaden is so laid back while Hayden is very outgoing. The night we took this picture...Hayden kept trying to play with Kaden's hair and Kaden was just crying the whole time and giving him dirty looks. I promise every picture we have of them Hayden is smiling and Kaden looks mad! It's so funny to watch them! I can't believe my boys are growing up so fast.
Tomorrow, I'm taking them to the zoo. We have a pass and it's awesome becuase we can go for just a few hours and still get out money's worth! So, we're going. This will be Kaden's 4th time to the zoon since he was born and hopefully he will enjoy it a little more this time. Of course last year he was way too young to like it! I'm taking the double stroller so I won't have to listen to how tired everyone is. I'll post some pictures. I'll try to get some really cool ones if I can! It's not like all of my scrapbooks don't have a million zoo pics so I'll have to be creative!
I'm so excited because I'm taking the day off to go to the zoo. It's nice to have a day where I have no big plans and I'm not in a hurry! I always feel like I'm in a hurry! Well...it's night night time if I'm going to make it tomorrow!