7 Years ago...

7 years ago I was terrified.
7 years ago I thought I was going to die.
7 years ago was the scariest day of my life.
7 years ago was one of the best days of my life.
7 years ago my heart felt a new kind of LOVE.
7 years ago my BELIEF in God became more deep.
7 years ago I became a mom.
Happy Birthday Ryker. Your life changed mine more than you could ever imagine and I thank God everyday for you! Love you to the moon and back.

This Makes My Heart Smile...

I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard Ryker and Slade giggling like crazy. So I stopped what I was doing and grabbed the video camera. I peaked in first so they couldn't see me and I saw Ryker hiding on the floor and then popping up to make Slade laugh. I had to get closer to get the video and of course Slade saw me and was fixed on the light on the camera but soon Ryker got him giggling again. I just LOVE how they LOVE each other!!!!

Backdated: Some Things I Want to Remember Part 1...

September 8.

Ryker: "Mom, guess what, you know all those little houses down the road by all the berries, my bus stops there to pick up a little boy...he has kinda brownish, dark skin...what are those people called that have the brownish skin, are they frickin Canadians?" :)
So a lesson learned for me...I guess I better watch my mouth with my "frickin" talk and I better teach Ryker that not all Canadians are brown.


August 18.
If you know Ryker you know that he LoVeS anything camping, so today when he was playing at home with his camping toys I asked him why he had his silly putty hanging off of them...he looked at me as though I just asked the dumbest question and said "those are the pooper hose thingys" :) lol. I love his imagination!!!!

Slade...8 months

Slade is now 8 months old and I must say (in my opinion) he is the best baby ever (and he is pretty darn cute too). He smiles all the time, giggles constantly and eats and sleeps great. We feel so very BLESSED to have him in our lives. He is a very laid back and mellow kind of baby. If he feels like rolling over he will. If he feels like sitting he will. For the most part, he is very content just chilling on the floor playing with toys and watching our every move (or the fan on the ceiling). I LOVE this little guy to pieces. He is as crazy about us as we are about him and he is a HUGE fan of his big brother already! Every morning he looks for him first thing. And when he hears his voice from another room he immediately begins to kick his legs, flail his arms and get all excited to try to find him. I love watching them together...and Ryker is an AWESOME big brother! He pretty much eats anything I give him...not picky at all. Loves jelly sandwiches, applesauce and pudding. His new thing is copying us. He has this fascination with hats. As soon as Ben puts one on he gets so excited and tries so hard to get a hold of it. I love all the things he is doing now but I miss those newborn days...they go by way too fast! Here is a picture of our handsome little (big) guy!

Blogging...Take Two!

Seriously, where has time gone? It seems like I just had Slade and yet he is already 8 months old. Time goes too fast if you ask me...I just want to savor these days forever yet I know that is not possible! Well, I hope you are all sitting for what I am about to say next...ready, here it comes...I decided to start blogging again. I know you can hardly contain your excitement, huh! :) I am going to be doing lots of "catch up" so I will be making a few back dated post...there are many things I want to remember and pics I want to share but time just got away from me. However, there is nothing like cold and wet rainy nights to get caught up (on at least some stuff) so here we go, take 2.

Ryker's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Today marked alot of "1st" for Ryker. It was his 1st day of 1st grade and his 1st time attending school as a LYNDEN LION! Yep, we made the switch from LC to Lynden this year. It was a hard choice but we really feel we did the right thing. Here he is with his teacher this year...he doesn't look a bit nervous does he???

Who da Chubby Chubby Baby...

All I Want For Christmas Are My 2 Front Teeth...

Ryker lost his other front tooth today. I LoVe it when kids loose their front teeth around the same time...something so cute about the toothless smile.

KiNdErGaRtEn GRAD...

The picture says it all! Way to go Ryker. We are SO proud of YOU!!!!

Stuit, Old & Young...

I adore seeing the old(er) generations with the new generations. This picture of Slade and his great grandpa (Ray) Stuit is so precious.

Slade's Birth Announcement

This was the front of Slade's announcement and below is the back.

I loved the way these turned out. Monica Bedlington designed them and she did a great job.

Slade's Newborn Pictures

Time is zooming by faster than ever lately and I wish I could slow it down some. I feel like my days and nights just float together and I just want to "savor" each moment a little bit longer. Slade is already 6 weeks old so I thought I better post his pictures from his newborn photo shoot (which we did when he was just 6 days old on 1.29.2011). My friend, Jamie, took his pictures at our house and I was so happy with ALL of them. Here's a few (or a lot) that I wanted to share. I ended up making his announcements with some of my favorites...I will do that as another post.

You can tell I just fed him with that full belly of his.

So alert for being 6 days old.



Showing off the classic Stuit "bart lip"

Ryker is in absolute awe over his new baby brother.

These 2 boys of mine mean the WORLD to ME! My heart is full of nothing but LOVE for them!

Brotherly LOVE...

I am SO excited Ryker is finally a BIG brother. He would always ask "when can we have a baby" or "can we take so and so's baby home to live with us" and it broke my heart that having a baby just wasn't happening for us but it made me learn that our timing is not God's timing. HE planned January 23, 2011 would be the day that Ryker could officially say he was indeed a BIG brother...and what a good big brother he is!!!

He is always giving Slade kisses and "talking" to him in a funny little voice...I think he hears me talk "funny" so he does the same thing. He can't quite figure out the whole baby stage age though. He is constantly asking, "Is Slade still zero?" or "When will he get bigger?" and my all time favorite question is when he gets off the school bus, I always ask him how his day was and he now always ask me, "So what did you do today? What about Slade, did he walk or crawl yet?" He just wants him to "grow up" so bad so that he can have someone to play with (and fight with I am sure). Playing with mom and dad I guess is getting old to him. ;) I just explain that babies are little for quite some time but mommy thinks time goes way too fast so before he knows it Slade will be big enough to play with him. I know these 2 boys will have their share of fights along the way, but I hope they grow up to become the best of friends!

It's A Boy!!!!

My baby BOY is here....5 weeks early but healthy, Praise the Lord! Slade Verlyn Stuit arrived on 1.23 at 11:41 am and weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces. He was 19 inches long. Here is a bit of how his even earlier arrival came about...On Friday (1.21), my blood pressure went back up even though I was staying completely off me feet and taking it easy just as the Dr. had ordered. I called Dr. Cook and he upped my meds to see if that would do anything. On Saturday morning, Dr. Cook called me to check in and see if the increased meds helped my blood pressure and I told him it did but I also noticed that I was not feeling the baby move as much anymore since I increased the meds. He obviously didn't like what he heard and wanted me to go to the hospital for a stress test as soon as I could. Ben and I went to the hospital and the baby was fine although they were not seeing the heart accelerations that they wanted to see so I had to go down to ultrasound to "double check" that all was fine. Dr. Cook came to tell me that all was fine with the baby and my ultrasound looked good although he said it looked like my placenta was "done working", the hypertension had got to it and my baby would probably not grow much more. Then he said the words..."So, how does tomorrow morning sound for having your baby?" I suddenly had a mixture of emotions overcome me. I was nervous, anxious, scared, happy...you name it, I was feeling it! We had to be to labor and delivery at 7:30 Sunday morning (1.23). My mom and dad, sisters, brother and his wife, as well as Ben's parents came to the hospital to sit in the waiting room and wait for the big news. My friends, Lesha, Amy, Kara, Jamie and Mel were also there waiting. Ryker went with Ben's sisters as he would get bored just sitting there waiting (they later brought him to the hospital). After getting checked in and all prepped for sugury we sat there in our room and waited for them to wheel me back to the OR. I was so nervous and scared. I was so in and out of it when I had my c-section with Ryker and I truly didn't think I would even live through it as it was a "life threatening" ordeal, so now to be having a c-section again, even though the circumstances were a bit different, I was just so freaked out...but all was fine and at 11:41am I heard the crys of a new baby and I heard Ben say the words, "It's a BOY" and I was immediately filled with LOVE for my new baby!

The waiting room was full of family and friends waiting to hear the news of "It's a BOY" or "It's a GIRL" I was so glad each of them were there that day!

My first look at my baby. Tears were flowing...I had waited for this day (of having another baby) for SO long and I was overjoyed and filled with LOVE for my new little man.

Ben giving a "glance" to all our family and friends in the waiting room and saying "It's a BOY"

Telling Ryker about his new baby brother.

Walking back to go meet Slade.

Brothers bonding...Ryker holding Slade for the first time!

We got another thumb sucker! Slade found his thumb soon after he was born.

I just love this picture...it looks like Slade is ready to say a little prayer with his hands folded.

It's Looking Like Baby Will Be Here Soon...

I am reminded of how quickly things can change for me when being pregnant. On Tuesday, January 4, I went to Dr. Cook for my weekly appointment and everything was PERFECT. My blood pressure was totally normal. On Wednesday night when I took it (I have to take it at home because I got preeclampsia with Ryker and I just really have to watch it this time around) it was TERRIBLE! I immediately began crying and thought this can not be happening again. I was thankful I was further along this time than I was with Ryker but I still was not ready for this baby to come. My scheduled c-section was to be on January 28 which is already early so for this to be going on on January 5 was not good. I called Dr. Cook who told me to lay down, take my meds and if the bottom number did not come down to below 100 then to go into labor and delivery. If it did come down, I could go to bed and he would see me in the morning. Thankfully, it came down so I was able to stay home for the night. On Thursday I went to see him at the hospital because he had a patient in labor and he had warned me that I would more than likely need to stay for 24 hour observation. I am so glad he watches me like a hawk. Having pregnancy induced hypertension is not fun and is very stressful and I was really hoping to avoid it this time around but I guess I am not that lucky. In the hospital it would go up and down and they would adjust my medicine to try and keep it down. I was hooked up to a heart monitor for the baby which was reassuring to hear the heart beat all the time so I knew everything was okay with my baby. I was released Friday night and told to stay off my feet as much as possible...which if you know me this is hard for me to do but I am doing it for the sake of my baby! I have to go back to the hospital on Monday night for a stress test and then back to Dr. Cook on Tuesday. We will decide then what to do. He said on Friday before I left that hospital that he thinks I can make it another week or 2 so we will see what happens. It looks like I am far enough along to deliver in Bellingham this time around so that is good and it looks like baby is a good size too so ready or not....baby is coming soon.

"Stupid Dentist"

Not normally would I choose a title with "stupid" in it but this is what Ryker kept on saying after his appointment today. It was a not so fun experience and I actually felt really bad for him. I felt like he was not even my kid for the next 6 to 8 hours afterwards as he was very angry and acting like a completely different person. We were told this could happen when kids get oral sedation and then come out of it. He had to get a tooth pulled, a root canal and a filling all in the same day. They were hoping to put a "spacer" in for the tooth that was removed but that will have to be another appointment (which I am dreading already). Unfortunately, Ryker does not have the strongest teeth. We are told because he was a preemie he has very week enamel and we do our best to stay on top of brushing (I am quite anal when it comes to teeth) but somethings just can't be helped and I always say if poor teeth are the worst of what he has from being early then I'll take it. Anyway, he kept on mumbling through his gauze filled mouth "stupid dentist" and I could totally make out what he was saying. Thankfully, his dentist is not stupid and Ryker really does like it there (or at least he did). I hope this appointment didn't ruin him for future ones.

This is the MONTH for baby # 2...

Well this is the year and the month I have been waiting for and it is here. Baby #2 should be making his or her debut on January 28. That is the nice thing about having c-sections, you get to set the date. That is still 3.5 weeks early but because of the way my "cut" was done with my c-section with Ryker (they did an up and down cut) they don't want me to go past 36 or 37 weeks. Dr. Cook will do an amnio on Wednesday, January 26 to see if the baby is okay to be taken out. I am really nervous for that amnio but I am told "not to worry" so that is what I am trying to do. So far things are still going good. I have to go to Dr. Cook every week and then I also have to go to the hospital for a "stress test" every 5 days. Although my blood pressure has been PERFECT this pregnancy there is some cause for concern with the placenta and blood vessels going to it so as they put it at the hospital, "Dr. Cook is really keeping an eagle eye on you" and I am perfectly fine with that...this baby is SO desired into our family and I have always said from the beginning I would do whatever I had to do to have another baby...even it meant bed rest or hanging upside down I would've done it. So these back and forth trips to Bellingham are nothing. I can't wait to see what I have...I'm getting really excited for this baby to come and I am SO happy I held out for the "SURPRISE" again of not knowing. I was so tempted a few times to just find out since I have had so many ultrasounds but I would've been SO mad at myself if I didn't wait until he or she was born and for the Dr. to announce "It's a BOY" or "It's a GIRL"...I think that may be one of the greatest things to wait for.