may update

It's a little hard to capture the excitement that surrounds the birth of a child... the miracle of new life... especially when you've barely had time to process it, because as anyone with a 3rd child knows... life goes on all too quickly. There are not quite as many lazy moments savoring the haze that is the month after you have a baby... soccer practice, gymnastics, school, work, all must go on....
As most of you know, our little man, Zachary, was born on April 7th... 6 days after Madison turned 6 and 5 days before I turned 29 (again) ha ha!!! He was very healthy and the scheduled c-section went well... the recovery proved to be a little harder for me... maybe because it was my 3rd c-section, maybe because my body was a little older??? In any event, my body took longer to recover and my emotions were up and down...
I basically feel normal again now... with a few tiny extra inches around my belly and some extra poundage on the hips... (yuck)
My days are the routine of nursing, nursing, and oh yeah, more nursing!
Macie is staying home with me while Madison is at kindergarten and they are both a blessing to me. The newness of brother has not worn off, they both delight in holding him and are always willing to run get a diaper or a burp cloth, or the all important pacifier (my first baby to ever take pacifier!) Steve started a new job 1 day (yes, you heard me) before Zachary got here, so he has had little time to stop and smell the roses. He is thankful to have a job and making sure he's doing a good job in light of all the lay offs going around.
I am planning to be off work for at least the entirety of Madison's summer break, and then we will reconsider financially if I can stay home. If this house would ever sell, it would help!!!
I have included pictures in order of:
our new dining room - we decided to dump the toy room for staging purposes (as if that may actually sell the house!!! my nursing time is often spent watching HGTV!!)
us saying goodbye to our pug, Harley... who we had to put to sleep last weekend, life was just getting too hard for him... :(
two pics of us on Memorial day weekend at an outdoor concert
the girls bathing Zachary
Zach on mother's day
Madison loving on Zachary
Macie holding a napping baby
Zachary's first bath
Macie, Zach, and Madison on Easter morning (5 days old)... he is still a little jaundice... We actually did make it to church!!!

of course there are millions more pictures to share... I get crazy with the camera, but it takes so darn long to upload them!!!
love to you all, the Whiddons!

Zachary's room!

Well, with about 6 weeks to go... Zach finally gets a room of his own! I've been pretty slow with getting things ready for him... partly maybe because of the 3rd baby syndrome, and partly because I was secretly trying to hold off moving out our guest room furniture, thinking maybe we'd sell the house in time... but... here we are...!
Steve has been very interested in this boy's room of his... I don't quite remember having him care at all about what fabric I used in the girls' rooms! Anyway, he had the idea to do sort of a safari theme...
My mom and step-dad came up last weekend and we sewed all the bedding and repainted the furniture. Steve and I moved it all in yesterday and hung some pics today... so I thought I'd share! Can't wait to meet the little guy!

Christmas, etc

The last few months in the Whiddon house have been sort of a packed routine of long hours working, keeping up with the girls' school, trying to keep my house immaculate to get it sold, growing a baby, and of course trying to focus on the blessings of life vs. the constant barrage of negatives we get from the world. I figured I'd post a few pics of the past few months, especially from Christmas! I ended up being so sick on Christmas day, that I barely took any pics (which if you know me, is VERY unusual!!!)
the pics are of:
madison's soccer picture (she ended up loving soccer and scoring 5 goals in the last game!!!)
a picture from Halloween (they were ballerinas)
a couple pics from historic Williamsburg, VA at Thanksgiving
a few Christmas pics
and a semi-recent belly pic of little Zachary (about 4 weeks ago)
I'm 32 weeks now and have a scheduled c-section on April 7th!

Wheels...

Hi! I know it's been a while since I've updated my post, but seeing as I can't sleep anyway, I thought I might as well share some pics of our pug Harley in his new wheels! He has gradually become paralyzed in his hind legs over the past 3 months, to the point where he finally couldn't walk at all. It was very sad and especially sad to see his little tail hanging down all the time ( a pug's tail is usually always curled up). Anyway, he seemed to still be enjoying spending time with us and eating, so we couldn't bear the alternative... so we ordered him some wheels! It took him about 5 minutes to get used to them and now he is cruising all around... he can go through the grass and down small steps and curbs without any problems! We still love our little old man!

Back on Campus!

We made it up to the Norman campus this weekend on a spur of the moment trip, sponsored by our favorite sponsors... Melissa and Daren Wilson! They offered us 4 tickets to the game (at a rip off price*, but that's okay!!) I was down at the 'race for the cure' in Dallas when Steve called me at 10:30 am proposing the idea of a last minute trip to Norman. I asked what time the game started and found out it was 2:30. I told him if he could get everything ready, I'd be home by 11:30 and maybe we could make it before the end of the 1st qtr?
Well, we booked it up there, parked, and heard the kickoff as we were walking across campus corner... (Man, has OU changed???!!!) I haven't been on campus in 5 years, on another sponsored trip from the Wilson's back when she was prego with Nathan! I was sad I didn't get a chance to stroll around campus or visit the Tri-Delt house, but it felt good to be there!
I'm including some pics of our little "cheerleaders", and of course the line-up of the Wilson's and Whiddon's.... Colin, age 6; Madison, age 5; Nathan, age 4; Macie, age 3; Seth, age 1; and baby Whiddon (not pictured) age 15 weeks in utero! How's that for some prolific families?!!!!
We got to spend a tiny little bit of time with both sets of my parents, which made the weekend doubly worth it! Thanks guys! Kayla

* rip-off price = FREE!!!

first blog ever!

Okay, here I go!... my first blog ever! I was inspired by my friend Roz, who blogs about everything and also runs our church fellowship group's blog.... it sounds kind of mean to say she blogs about everything, doesn't it... like I'm saying "blabs" about everything...

anyway, today has been the best day for me in a long time (not that every day is not a blessed day!) but today, my husband Steve came home after being in S. Africa for 10 days. I had very little to no contact with him during those 10 days and was really left to imagine what kind of experiences he was having on his mission trip. I was praying constantly that he would experience God in the way I did on my mission trip and that he would be able to understand clearly the reason he was called to action on mission and do or say what God asked him to do. It was a trying 10 days for me, but really a wonderful time for me to realize fully how in love I am with my husband, and how my heart aches for him when he is gone. I hope that is not too personal for you guys!!!! My prayers were certainly answered, as Steve came home today, just fired up for Christ and these new brothers and sisters (young though they were!) He spent several days loving on two groups of children... some 7th graders, and some 3-5 year olds. The pics are precious! He said the way those children listen and behave is amazing, and we realized it is because going to school is a huge privilege for these children, they can't afford to goof off in school! On the last day as they were teaching the verse from Romans 6:23, "for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord"... 8 7th graders accepted Christ for the first time, and when asked about their decision, they stated in clear terms their understanding that living their life their own way lead only to death, but that Christ delivered them into eternity! Steve said it was one of the most powerful things he has ever witnessed, and I am so amazed by my husband and his continual growth! That is why I started by saying this is one of the best days I've had in a long time!

The pics in order are of... 1) Steve with some of the "little sparklers", 2) The children receiving some hand made blankies some of the Mckinney women made, 3) Mbasa, wearing Steve's hat... he said he didn't think she would ever give it back!, 4) some of the 7th grade girls, 5) a few of the children trying on some of the shirts we made for them at Macie's birthday party... thanks everyone!, 6) a close up giraffe Steve got to see on safari, 7) Steve and some of those precious girls!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a joy-filled day, even when the world is beating down your door with all this financial crisis and politics!