Blessed!

There are many women who have come in and out of Carsen's life.  Mostly all positive, cheerful, energetic women.  Their gentle spirits have guided us through every step of the way and gotten us to where we are now.  I am so thankful for the many women is Carsen's life right now including his grandma's, three amazing aunts, matt's cousin Brandi, my mommy friends, and his teaching staff and his therapists.  We have been blessed to have Meghan as Carsen's para throughout the past year!  I don't know how someone so amazing landed in our life.  It was like God saying, "Here ya go Kelly, take a break, let Meghan dig in, you deserve it!"  She had new energy, the time to worry, new motivation, open arms, fresh ideas, fun loving spirit and she happened to win over Carsen's heart.  The first day Carsen went to school this year, I was a wreck.  I was called in to come pick him up because he couldn't tolerate it and was disrupting everyone around him.  It was humiliating as a mom to have no control and to just want to have that normal mom's life.  Walk into school, drop your kid off, get a kiss and hug and worry that they will be okay.  That would be beyond amazing.  After the first few weeks, I got that and it felt so wonderful.  I felt like I was buried into a deep hole and couldn't get out and slowly I was able to climb out and see some sunshine.  So refeshing.  Meghan gave me that.  She gave me the biggest gift a mom raising a special needs child could get.  I kept telling her throughout the year, you will get it when you are a mother on your own.  She gets it, she gets the humiliation, the frustration or hard work in every step of the day, the nap time routine being disrupted and dealing with a tired boy, she got the question from kids that are hard to answer, she understood my confusion and as much as I felt bad for her, it was so nice to know that she was dealing with it the same way that I was.  Really, not much you can do about a lot of his day but try again.  Keep the focus on what is best for him and push on.  I was given the best gift.  How do I thank her?  Oh, how I will miss my break.  She made life so nice!  And I gained a great friend out of the deal!  Not many mothers can say that about their kids para's!  I am so blessed because my son was given an amazing caregiver, snuggler, tickler, and wheelchair pusher.  Not to mention they create great art together!  I have faith that we were given such an amazing person in our life, and a small break, that I am at peace with her saying goodbye.  She gave us the best our son could have.  We are thankful for the chance we got and are hopeful that we have other years like this last.

Our new family blog!

I am assuming a lot of you are wondering why I don't post anymore!  I plan to update Carsen on this blog occasionally, but find that I want to have a blog where I can include Jace.

Check out another one of my blogs, sigh....

www.theshabbyschmittys.blogspot.com

Jace's Birth story

I realize this post in 3 1/2 months old. But, we have finally moved from living at the cabin to the new house in Morris.  I couldn't not put this post in our blog because it was a super special day.  

My C-section was scheduled for September 27th, 2012 at 7:30 A.M.  The night before we had everything ready and prepared.  Carsen had Grandma sleeping with him at his bedside and the bags were packed.  As blessed as I was to be pregnant for the second time, I couldn't wait to get his baby out.  This pregnancy was much harder for me so finally feeling better was on my mind.  I laid down for bed (Just as I did with Carsen) and my contractions started.  I thought, "You have got to be kidding me!"  Can't we just wait until morning.  Guess not!  I called my Morris nurses and gave them a heads ups.  They said, okay we will just put you on the monitor for a bit.  I woke up Matt and we started to get ready.  I took my sweet time showering, doing my hair, putting on makeup and my phone rang.  It was my dad.  Why in the world is my Dad calling me at 1:30 A.M.???  He was the schedule Nurse Anesthetist for my c-section (thank GOD) and he received a phone call that I was in labor and he needed to come do a C-section right away.  What???? My contractions had gone a way by this point, we were 30 minutes from the hospital and the WHOLE OR crew was waiting for us.  OH &*#!  

I didn't realize there were going to do the C-section ASAP.  I wanted to wait until 7:30.  Ok, so we rushed to the hospital.  When we got there, Dr. Sam our surgeon, Dr. Bosl the baby doctor, Paige our midwife and the whole OR crew were sitting there waiting for us.   Oops!  No one told me they were going to call the C-section.  Needless to say, I was a little ticked, especially since my contractions were gone at this point.  

I quickly got ready and off we went to meet another little boy in our life!  I remember laying on the bed, all strapped down, with tears streaming down.  My dad noticed and said, "What is wrong?"  I said, "Nothing, I am so excited to meet him"  I remember thinking back through the past 4 1/2 years on what we had been through with Carsen.  The geneticists put our family life on hold until they found a diagnosis.  Part of me never thought I would never get to have this opportunity again.  But, I did and I was so overwhelmed with joy.  How exciting was this for the 3 of us?  It was hope for Carsen.  To have a brother to love and be loved back in return.  My dad wiped my tears from my face and said, "He's almost here!"

Proud daddy, looking on...

3:03 A.M.  Jace Matthew Schmidgall had arrived screaming like a mad cat...

My first glance at him, he was so beautiful and looked just like Carsen.  I am so proud!!

My dad made sure to let me know that he had a big nose..but otherwise he was doing great...LOL! Okay, Thanks for that update dad!

8 lb 2 oz and 21 1/2 inches.

What a blessing!  I loved his little lips and how chubby he was!

We finally meet our little boy and can't wait to show him off!

Daddy's little boy...

And a good eater...thank God, I will take that...

Carsen comes to meet his little brother after school and is so excited to see everyone!!

It is like he knew something special was going on...

You can see the excitement on his face...It was so adorable...we laughed and laughed at him!

"Look Dad, I have a brother!"

Probably my favorite picture of all time...that face reads pure love!!!

Already learning to be gentle...

Proud big brother, as he should be!

First family picture!

My boys....I am the luckiest gal in the world!

My parents and nephew Ethan holding him for the first time!

Carsen came to visit the next day and made the whole walk in...that right arm is up and means he is so excited!

I just love this pic of my parents...

Auntie Katie made sure she was there for everything...until the c-section was in the middle of the night and she couldn't leave with Ethan.  So glad to have her there and a part of our day!

Fuzz head...

Super cool dude!

Another Super cool dude!

When Katie would walk around the hospital, it confused so many people because they all knew I was having my c-section that day and couldn't understand why I would still be walking around...ordering food, drinking coffee and carrying on...

Ethan loves having another cousin!

My midwife, Paige checking him out and the whole OR crew...love delivering in our hospital! So many people to care for us and love my baby!

Carsen love standing at the bassinet to see him brother

So happy Auntie Alissa and Uncle Marky came to visit!  We really missed Cohen...but when he finally met him...he really could care less...what another baby?? Now, he LOVES to see him and play with him!

Ethan is a follower...even around Carsen! :)

My bestie Genie and Tate came too! So happy to see them and have them make the trip to Morris!

Carsen checking Jace out, once again.

Auntie snuggles!

We had to make sure Carsen got his walks in for the day...

Reminds me of my Grandpa Milt here...Total Lussenden!

Daddy's first bottle feeding.

Best buds already!  Matt was busy building our house but made sure to take 3 days off to spend at the hospital with us.  Probably the best 3 days of my life.  It was so nice to have him around when our life was so chaotic!

Sweet, sweet baby!

Great grandpa Floyd arrives...he looked at my belly and told me that it looks like I have another baby in there...LOL...So funny!

We left a day early to get home...

And when we got there...I realized how tired I was...but loved snuggling!

The first day home, Matt let me take a 3 hour nap while Jace sunbathed!

My handsome hubby

Already changing so much in the first few days!

Matt said, "I have been waiting to hold my  two boys together for a long time"  We are happy to be home and see how we were going to manage having a little baby around!