Update on Kaden

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! We are almost done with Kaden's infusions. Monday morning will be our last trip to the hospital. It's been the longest week of my life!

Kaden thinks his IV pole is a great toy. He likes to push it up and down the hallway. As long as we keep his IV line from getting kinked, it's a great way to keep him occupied and happy during the 45 to 90 minute infusion.

Here's a video clip. You can see more videos and pictures at DropShots. The video ends a bit abruptly because Kaden started to pull on his IV!


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In other news, I have entered a contest to be on a Creative Team. For you non-digital scrapbookers, being on a Creative Team, better known as a CT, is a great accomplishment. It means that digital scrapbook designers think your layouts are so good they will help promote their products. I figure that even if my layouts don't sell products, Kaden's cute face should! So, I have entered a contest to be on the Weeds & Wildflowers CT. Their products are my all-time favorites and it would be so much fun to work for them. Here's the layout I'm entering in the contest. I made it with their "Going West" kit. I also used stitching by Dani Mogsted and a corner template by Karah Fredricks. Wish me luck!


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Update & Hanbok Pictures

We are almost halfway there! This morning was Kaden's 8th infusion. I'll be happy when we get to #10 so I know we're heading toward the finish line.

This morning was really rough. Kaden's IV site would no longer flush, so they had to find a new vein and insert a new IV port. It took 5 different people and at least 8 or 9 tries before they finally found a vein and got the port in. Poor Kaden had to endure being poked and prodded for almost 2 hours. It was heartbreaking! Please pray that this one will last for the remaining 12 infusions.

On a happier note, here are the pictures from Kaden's photo session on Saturday. He looks so cute in his hanbok! We will be going back to the studio in May to have more pictures taken including a family portrait. Mom and Dad are hosting an exchange student from South Korea next school year. She and her mom are so sweet. They bought Ryan & I our very own hanboks! I can't wait to try mine on. It will be so neat to have a family picture of all of us in our traditional Korean clothing.


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Life Just Got Complicated

I don't remember if I posted about this earlier or not, but Kaden has had an infection since mid-March. They thought it was just a staph infection at first and gave him a round of antibiotics. The big sore he had on his chest was looking a lot better, so we figured it was gone. But, about a week ago, another big sore popped up on his back. I took him to the doctor Monday and he was prescribed another round of antibiotic and the doctor did a culture.

The results of the culture came back today and it was not good. His infection is more than just a simple staph infection; it is psuedomana. This type is resistent to oral antibiotics. So, we are now taking him to the hospital two times a day for the next ten days for an intravaneous infusion on medication. We leave the house at 6:30 a.m. The process takes about an hour and a half each time and we have to keep Kaden's arm straight. Do you know how difficult it is to keep our active 11-month-old son still for 90 minutes!!!!????? Please pray for us as this is going to be a rough 10 days.

Not feeling well today

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. Hopefully I will have some pictures or video clips to post later this week. The only chance I get to be on the computer is during Kaden's naps, and lately I've been napping with him. We're both running temperatures today and are both a bit cranky! We'd appreciate your prayers for restored health soon.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a great day of celebration yesterday! Kaden had lots of fun with his Easter basket full of plastic eggs and he looked so handsome in his suit. Here's a picture of him with his basket just before he tipped it over!


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Happy Easter!

Hi! I hope everyone has a very happy Easter this weekend. You can view lots of pictures of our little Easter Bunny by going to DropShots. We'll be sure to get lots of him in his Easter suit as well.

In the meantime, here is a card to wish you all a joyous celebration of our Savior's resurrection!


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My Achy, Breaky Back

I've discovered that there is a definite occupational hazard to mothering a 23 pound 10 month-old. My back has been hurting very, very badly since Thursday. I leaned over the crib to pick up Kaden after his nap, and on the way up something "snapped". It's been hurting ever since.

Luckily, I have a wonderful hubby who has been helping take care of Kaden and giving me back massages. I normally pride myself on a very clean home, but our house is nothing short of scary right now. It's kind of hard to put away laundry, do dishes, etc., when you can barely stand up and sit down without assistance. So, if anyone happens to drop by, just be warned that it's a "enter at your own risk" situation!

Kaden is getting better and better each day at standing on his own. He can even get from a sitting position to a standing position without the use of a prop. He stands for about a minute, gets excited at his accomplishment, starts clapping, and then falls on his rear! It's very cute. I finally got a picture of him free-standing, but I haven't gotten it upload yet. I'll try to do that soon. He's also starting to get a few more steps in before "lunging" toward us when he practices walking. It won't be long now!

Kaden's other new "tricks" include sharing and name identification. Yesterday, he unzipped my purse and handed me all of the contents, one by one. He makes this cute little face as he extends his hand out to "share" something with you. After he has given you everything, he wants it back so he can start all over again. Sometimes it takes us 10 minutes or more to get him out of his crib in the morning because he "shares" his teddy bear, pillow, blankie, & blanket with us several times over before deciding he's ready to be picked up.

Also, he can pick out Mommy, Daddy, & Kaden in a picture now. When looking at a family photo, you can ask him, "Where's Kaden?" and he will point to himself in the picture. Sometimes, he will also then point to himself! We have such a smart little boy, don't we?

A fun new technique

I've always liked Kim Anderson photos. You know, the vintage looking photos with the kids in the oversized coats and hats? Well, I've learned how to create that type of look! I learned it from this blog. One of these days I need to put Kaden in oversized clothing and take him outside in the sunlight. This technique works best with outdoor photos.

Anyway, here's my first attempt:



The frame is by Jessica Sprague and the Word Art is by Bastel Scrapping Mama.

Monkey Boy Is At It AGAIN!

Kaden is becoming quite the climber. If one of us isn't available to use as a stool, he pulls the pillows off the couch and stacks them. He's too smart for his own good sometimes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you all had a happy St. Pat's day. Did you remember to wear green?

Here's a layout in honor of the treasure we found at the end of the rainbow:

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Where did this past week go?

It's been over a week since I posted, and I can't for the life of me think what went on this week. It just simply disappeared!

We have a sick boy AND a sick cat on our hands. Both of them have infections and are on antibotics. Between the two of them, we are dispensing medication 5 times a day. Niether one of them is too fond of the "pink stuff" and we have to be careful not to mix the "pink stuff" up. Both bottles look alike!

Hopefully Kaden and Naboo will be feeling better soon. Then maybe I'll remember to take some pictures so I can scrapbook. I really need to get some pictures of our monkey boy in action. I closed my eyes for one second this morning (Kaden got up at 6:00 a.m. and I was not ready to be awake yet), and when I opened them again, Kaden was on the couch and headed overboard. Yikes!

New Layout

Kaden's shirt for his finalization looked so "Americana" I couldn't resist making an Americana themed scrapbook page. I found these great papers by Gina Cabrera and a quilt template by Ikea Goddess. I think it turned out cute!

It's Official! Kaden Is Ours FOREVER!

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Yesterday was quite the day! Kaden's finalization hearing was at 10:30. Despite being during naptime, Kaden did great. It was a short process and the lawyer and judge were both wonderful. They even agreed to pose with Kaden for some great photo opportunities.

Here is a collage of a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday:


We had a great party to celebrate last night! There were 63 guests in total. For those of you that have been in our house, you know how amazing that is! The outpouring of love that we felt from friends and family was amazing. A big THANK YOU to everyone for your support.

We are so blessed to be Kaden's parents. We have always considered him ours, so it's nice that the government now considers him ours as well. Yeah!

First Attempts At Walking!

Kaden has not been the least bit interested in walking. Last night we finally got him to take a few "lunging" steps toward us. I don't think it will be too much longer before he's all over the place!


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Kaden's 2006 Scrapbook Is Being Printed

After a lot of hard work, I am finally done creating scrapbook pages for 2006. And, believe it or not, I am just a few pages away from being current in 2007!

Shutterfly was having a 25% off sale that ends soon, so that motivated me to get the scrapbook done. Hopefully it will be here in time for Kaden's finalization party. Here is the link if you'd like to view it. -click here-

One day, before we even had Kaden's referral, I was lounging in the bathtub (must be nice, I don't really remember those days now!) and I was thinking about our baby and my hopes and dreams for him/her. I remember thinking that ultimately I hoped they would know how much we love them and how much more our Heavenly Father loves them. That lead to a prayer that I wrote. I finally got around to making a scrapbook page with it and I am very happy with how it turned out. Here it is:


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Template by "Mighty Nice" and Background Paper by Kim Christensen.

First Bike Ride & Trip to the Park

Yesterday, which happened to be my Dad's 60th birthday, was an absolutely GORGEOUS February day! It was so nice that Kaden and I enjoyed getting outdoors after a long winter spent mostly inside. We went for a walk and then played at the park. Kaden had a blast riding on the swings and going down the slide for the first time.

After Ryan got home, we went for a bike ride. This was Kaden's first time to ride on his new bike seat and wear his bike helmet and knee pads. He looked so cute! Then we stopped by the park again to show Daddy how much he likes the swings.

Here's a few pictures of our happy, outdoor-loving little guy:

We have a court date!

Wohoo! We're going to finalize Kaden's adoption on March 8. What is true in our hearts will finally be legal on paper; Kaden will OFFICIALLY be our son!

You are all invited to a finalization party. Here's your invitation:

The blue paper is by Theresa Kavouras; the background paper, ribbon, & paper clips are by Andrea Gold; the word art is by Leah Riordan; the notebook paper is by Valeri Brumfield; and the fonts are J.D. and Ribbon Happy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful "day of love"! We went out to eat for lunch, with Kaden, but it was still nice.

I know you have seen this already, but here's a Valentine's Day card from Kaden:

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday was really on Saturday, but most of my family was out of town, so we are going to celebrate today. It actually works out well, because I was sick and in bed on Saturday. I had the flu. Uck! But, Ryan took care of Kaden all day and pampered me, so that was nice!

Kaden is now 9 months old. Before we know it, we'll be celebrating his Tol. For those of you that don't know, the Tol is a big First birthday celebration in Korea. It's a very special tradition, and we are looking forward to it!

Here's a cute pic of our 9-month old big boy:


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Valentine's Day Scrapbook Page

Happy Valentine's Day a little early! Here's a layout I created using the "Pic of the Month" featured in the sidebar.


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Template by Brenda Miller; Kit by Jan Hosford; Word Art by Tina Chambers; Wings by Bannerwoman.

Oh, and as promised, I got some footage of Kaden on his rider and pushing the walker. Hop on over to Dropshots to see!