More pics!

Breiden wasn't too sure at first...but he warmed up to little bro Kian

Introducing...

KIAN JULIUS STENDER
9lbs 5oz
23 in
born at 5:03pm

Return of the Jedi

Kian has made his arrival. He weighed in at 9 lbs and 5 oz. He is 23 in. short and has recently started shaving his goatee so you might not recognize him. He has also picked up making small wooden horses.

Nancy is doing well. She was a little saddened that she didn't give birth to a baby, but instead to a giant toddler. Her spirits are high.

I am weak. That's what the doctor said.

-w-

Chasing the Stroms

The water is broken. In man terms, that means that this baby is coming...fast. We're putting stick-em on the doctors hands...no illegal in hospital use...like high school football. Nancy is tipping back the epidural meds like they're candy. I am playing the role of Steve Kerr right now, the ball is in her court. We're hoping the baby pops out by 7:00 tonight so we can spend some precious moments time before the office comes on. Nancy's temp is solid and her bracelets are colorful (I know that a number of you reading this are women...trying to think of things you'd be interested in). Nancy is ticked that our room is cold. I told her to move over, but she's not really in the mood to cuddle right now. The coffee is terrible. If you're coming to visit please bring coffee...and Tim Tams... Remember that we're encouraged to visit those in prison...Just reminding you.

-w-

Here we go again...

Well, it's 9:15 am and I've been on the drip for about an hour and I don't feel much different. My doc checked me before the drip and I'm 2 cm dilated....yay! That was encouraging to hear. Hopefully we'll meet little Stender sooner than later. Wayne is snacking on some monster trailmix while I got a wonderful breakfast of chicken noodle soup...mmmm yummy!
Susanne will be here at noon.
More updates to come...

Update...

Baby #2 is on his way. ETA...sometime tomorrow (April 17th) ...hopefully! We go in at 7 am. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks. We'll keep you posted.

We took a little vacay!

We stayed in Breezy Point,MN in a timeshare for one week!

This is the living room in the condo! It was pretty small but super cozy...we had a great time.

Breiden mastered his walking skills while we were away!

Playing at the park in Brainerd

Family photo!

Pregs with 31 days to go!

Taking the first steps!

Finger painting with butterscotch pudding!

This idea came from a friend in Canada! Thanks Crystal. He loved it and he loved the tub tub right after!

it's about time, hey...

Breiden's first birthday pictures.....FINALLY!!!

We have a ONE year old!

Breiden turned one on Saturday! We had a very fun day together as a family and then had a party in the evening with our extended family. He had cake for the first time and he wasn't sure about it at first but soon dug right in and sucked on his fingers. Wayne and I can't believe where the time has gone. It feels like just yesterday we were waiting in the hospital for B to come out and now he's almost walking. Wow! What a blessing he is to us. We are so thankful for him and the wonderful personality that he has. He is our joy! (Pictures to come!)

THANK YOU!!

Christmas in Canada

I thought I better fill ya'll in on our fun trip to Canada. We decided to take an 18 hour drive up to Canada to surprise my family for Christmas. It was a great surprise too! No one even had a clue. We drove up to my parents house and we were going to put Breiden on the front step and ring the door bell but my mom was in the kitchen window and she saw us coming. There was screaming and crying and my dad thought that she had cut her finger. They were SOOOOO happy that we were there. They just couldn't quite figure it out! What fun! That evening some good family friends were hosting the annual gingerbread house party and so we showed up there. (The hostess was the only one that knew we were coming.) My sister and her family came a little later and we shocked them good...Heather kept saying, "Wait...what...how...?". The next day was Sunday and we decided to go to my best friend Erin's church to surprise her. There were tears and hugging and it was just so fun! She couldn't believe it. We had one more surprise visit to make and that was to my grandma. We waited until Christmas Eve when my mom and dad were planning on taking some lunch up to her home. We walked in a few minutes after them and she couldn't quite understand who this little baby was that my dad was holding! She told us that it was the best Christmas present ever!
All in all it was a well-worth-the-18-hour-drive-there-and-back trip! I'll be posting some pictures later!
Happy New Year!

Setting up the tree

He wasn't sure what to think of this green thing!

I've had enough, Daddy.

Fluffing the branches with Mommy

Thanksgiving/Christmas in Nebraska

He loved the wrapping paper

Getting closer...what's inside, Breiden?

Oh yay, Winnie the Pooh!

I love my Pooh Bear!

For Thanksgiving this year, we loaded a couple of cars and took an 8 hour drive to Seward, Nebraska to visit Wayne's great-aunt Lorry. It was a wonderful time playing games and relaxing and eating really good food! Aunt Lorry was such a lovely host and we just had a lot of fun. While we were there, she got each of us a few little Christmas gifts. This was Breiden's first gift. He loved ripping off the paper and it was so fun to watch him when he got to Winnie. He started eating Pooh bear's nose! He's learned how to give kisses so I'd say he was giving Pooh bear kisses!

Feeling under the weather.

Poor little guy was not feeling good a few weeks ago. Telling by the pics, you can see how sad and miserable he was. Makes mama sad too.

So tired!

One night little B was sooooo tired, he couldn't even wait for me to make his bottle...he just fell fast asleep right on the floor.

How uncomfortable does that look?! Poor guy.

WAY over due.

Breiden was a giraffe for Halloween!

Here's our little family in NJ at Nick & Emily's wedding! What a beautiful day it was.

Well, this post is so overdue and I'm so sorry. It has been super hard for me to get my act together. I tried adding more photos and blogger is being stupid and coming up with an error. So this is all she wrote for tonight but I guess its something, right? I am about 16 weeks along with baby #2. We are really excited. He or she is due on April 23rd. I'm feeling really great. A little tired but overall great! Wayne is busy busy with work and school. Breiden continues to grow like a weed. He's 20 lbs and 30 inches of pure joy. We LOVE being parents and he is such a good baby. Very mellow and happy!
I will try to post more pictures. Thanks for checking and re-checking our blog!

Breiden has something to tell you...