So Proud

I can't even say enough how proud I am of my baby girl, Kaitlyn. She has had an infection with high fevers and chills and has not missed one feeding with Brayden. She is so strong. He went to the Dr. the other day and he has gained all of his weight back that he lost (8 oz.), and that was in 3 days at home. The Dr. was surprised since he is being breastfed. This is all while she was sick. She's feeling much better now, although not 100%. She's young and single, but I could not imagine anyone being a better mother than her to this lucky little boy. And yes, I have told her every day how proud I am of her. I also told her that I would have given up on the breastfeeding way before now. It has not been easy and she has cried a few times. Anyone who has done it can understand. He is the best baby for her too. He is very content. I know he knows how loved he is.

His Daddy has been here a couple of times, although for very short visits. Kaitlyn will set him straight on that. She wants him to know who his Daddy is. That's very important to her. Even though they will never be together she wants a good relationship for Brayden's sake. She wants him to know his Daddy's voice.

His Gramma has been here too. She is so over the moon for him too. She's a good Gramma. His Uncle Cipriano has been here too, longer than his Daddy.

She's so young in some ways, but so old in other ways. I always thought Kaitlyn was on old soul. She's obviously made some bad decisions, but inside there is this woman that sees things others her age don't. Heck, she sees things some full fledged adults don't see. She knows what she wants. She always has, and she's determined to get it. I am so proud of her!

Baby Brayden Javier Kwaiser

Wow! What a crazy few days this has been! We are all home now. It's hard to believe he's here. He's beautiful. He's keeping Kaitlyn busy. After a rocky start to the feeding he realized how it goes at about 2:00 Monday morning. He has to be the biggest eater I have ever seen. He eats forever, then wants another go at it less than 2 hours later. We'll see what his first night at home has in store for her.

Brayden's eyes are getting so dark. He was pretty pale when he was born, but his skin is getting a little darker too. He gets better every day. He is a good natured baby. He doesn't cry much.

Kaitlyn isn't feeling very well right now. Her temp keeps going up. I think we'll be calling the Dr. tomorrow.

For more pictures go to http://picasaweb.google.com/Braydensfamily/BraydenJavier

Baby Brayden is Here! So Blessed!

Brayden Javier Kwaiser arrived on his due date, December 8, 2007 at 7:03 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long. And he is Gorgeous! It was a tough labor, but I couldn't be more proud of my own baby girl, Katie. She did what had to be done, no matter how much pain she was in. She tore pretty bad and has LOTS of swelling, but she pushed through.

As for Brayden, he is the perfect baby! He is so content. he hardly cries at all. He went through a lot too. His eyes were a little puffyand red. He looks a lot like his daddy. He has his nose and mouth. He has the Kwaiser family's feet. They're pretty big, and his legs and arms are long. He has Katie's long fingers. He is soooooooooooooo sweet! I haven't been home to upload pictures, but this one is from Katie's phone.

Here is one from the hospital's camera.

Happy Mommy, happy baby!

The Home Stretch!

Here we are, waiting, and waiting, and waiting.......
I remember this being the longest part. The whole thing seems to have gone so quickly, then you get to here., and you wait. He's so close. We can feel his little feet stretching and pushing. Katie's uncomfortable sometimes and she's not sleeping very well. We have everything so ready for him. I put the swing together the other day. It seems so close, but almost unreal. You're so busy planning and doing and you're too busy. Then you get everything ready and you have time to stop and think about it and you just think, Wow! We're going to have a baby in the house. That's our grandson's foot that I'm feeling kick. It's so exciting, and scary. You worry about the baby and him being ok, then you have your own daughter to think about. How will she do? It's a lot to handle. How will she handle the pain? How will I handle seeing her in that much pain? I'm just talking about the giving birth part. The raising him is a whole other worry.
We are so excited though. Any day now. We'll let everyone know as soon as it happens! Keep Katie and the baby, and the rest of us too I guess, in your prayers. Can't have too much of that.

RIP Rocky

We have lost an important part of our family. Katie's cat Rocky died on Friday. It wasn't exactly a surprise. We were going to take him to be put down after work and school on Friday. When we got home he was in pretty bad shape. Within 15 minutes he was gone. I think he waited for us to get home. It was a terrible thing to watch. I know I never want to watch an animal or a person die. He was fine a few days before, but he had been sick on and off lately. His liver was failing and we knew that this was it. I know that none of us were prepared for that last 10 minutes though. He suffered and Katie had a real hard time watching it. Rocky was everyone's cat, but he was Katie's in his heart. They really loved each other. He would try to get her to go to bed when he was ready for bed. He would walk toward the stairs and turn back and look at her. Then he would look at the stairs and back at Katie until she gave in or he did. He slept with her most nights. He let her dress him up and stuff he would never let anyone else do to him. He was around 15 so Katie grew up with him and spent almost her whole life with him. Kyle came to see him before we were going to take him in so he got to see Rocky one last time. It won't be the same around here. He is already missed.

Wow! What a Shower!

Katie had her 2nd shower yesterday. It was awesome! Good food, great friends, lots of adorable baby gifts! I think the prizes were pretty cool too, if I do say so myself. Thank you to everyone who was there. If you couldn't make it, we missed you!

The idea of a baby is getting more and more real every day. It's 40 days from today! I can't believe it. You wonder about so much. What will he look like? How big will he be? Will he look like his mom or dad? I think this last little bit is the hardest. Waiting......... We have been sorting through everything and getting the baby's stuff together. The baby's room is all set up and ready and waiting for him. The bed is all ready. His clothes are mostly washed and all we have to do is get the dresser in there and set up. That's all for now. More later!

By the way, doesn't Katie look like one hot mama? She looks great pregnant! I didn't look that cute, ever!

We're getting there!

It's hard to believe there are less than 7 weeks left before the baby is due! We've been working for weeks on Kaitlyn's room, making repairs that were long overdue, removing plaster, putting up drywall, painting, painting, painting, and painting some more. It's quite an adventure fixing up an old house. This is just the beginning I hope. It's been put off for too long. The baby was the perfect excuse to get our butts moving. My sister Cathy and brother Jimmy have been awesome with all of the help they gave us. I can't thank them enough! The baby will have a comfy, cute place to sleep now. Once the closet is done we will start moving stuff back in. We'll get our living room back! I can't wait until it's all together and the crib is in there and the new clothes are washed and put away. It'll be pretty much the baby's room now, with Katie staying in it. When it's done I'll put up pictures.
Katie is doing great in school now. She has new motivation I guess. Her grades are better than ever before. She has a tough load too. I'm very proud of her. I'm pretty proud of myself too. I'm getting A's at school too! Between school, fixing her room, work, and getting ready for her shower I don't know how. You just do what you have to do I guess.
Have a good week everyone and I'll see some of you at the shower this weekend!
Toni

First Baby Shower

Katie had her first baby shower on Sunday. It was great. She had fun and got some great gifts for the baby. She got the swing and baby seat that she wanted. She got lots and lots of clothes. This will be a very well dressed baby already! She got diapers, lots of wipes, blankets (including some beautiful handmade ones), bottles, pacifiers, bibs, burp cloths. The list goes on and on.

The food was great, the clubhouse is beautiful, the games were cute. It was a good time. It was good to see everyone again too.

Doesn't she look cute? She's getting bigger and more uncomfortable every day. Her back is her biggest problem. School is getting harder physically. I remember going to work and being on my feet and it wasn't easy.

She's doing really well in school too. She has a really tough schedule this year. She has Pre-calc, Bio-chem, Physics, AP English, Civics, and ROTC. Thank goodness for ROTC. It's the only easy class she has. She'll probably have better grades this year than she's had all of high school.

I'll put up more shower pictures later. Yes, I love having my picture taken = ( I only did it for Katie.

Still doing great!

Katie is now in her last 3 months. YAY! It has gone by so fast for me, but not so much for her. She's back in school and doing pretty well so far. She has only heard one stupid comment from some girl she doesn't even know. I told her to keep her head up and keep walking. Of course the girl that said it wasn't exactly the virginal type. Why does it make Katie a "ho" because she got pregnant, when others are doing it with everyone and just don't get caught?! It's so frustrating. She's hangin' tough though, like she always does. What a way to grow up fast.
She has a shower in Saginaw coming up on the 23rd. That'll be fun. I'll get a new picture of her to put up here soon. She's getting so big, in the front. When she has her back to you there's no way to know that she's pregnant. Not so far anyway.
More later!

Puppies!!!!!! and Rocky too.

Here are some pix of Katie with Jimmy and Jills' puppies. They are so cute! I wish, I wish, I wish. I'm like a little kid sometimes. OK, often, but they're so cute and snuggly. They're shih tzus (I think that's how you spell it). Could you imagine no shedding? If you walked in my house right now you'd understand my envy of anyone who has a dog that doesn't shed. Angel's hair is everywhere! But she's so cute. It's a good thing too.

Here's a picture of Katie with Rocky too, her current man. she gets a kick out of dressing him in baby clothes and putting him in the baby car seat. She's so lucky he loves her! He's always been her cat. He's about 13 I think. We've had him since he was a few weeks old. You can see how much he loves dressing up, not. They love each other.

Family Reunion

Here are pictures from our family reunion. There are pictures of us Schramm women, and just Katie. You can see her belly in some of them. She's definitely getting bigger, and a little more uncomfortable and tired. After the reunion we went to my brother's house and got to play with the puppies! They're so CUTE and small and lovable. I resisted. A baby is enough to take care of. Babies don't go on the floor either. It was nice to see cousins that I don't get to see much. Kaitlyn didn't remember a lot of them.

The night before we got to go shopping with my sister Cathy. That's always fun. Lots of laughs!!! Katie was looking for maternity clothes. She's a little picky and some of the clothes are a little ugly. She looks so cute in anything though.

Trying to clean and plan a shower! Gotta go. Have a great day!

Belly Pictures

Hi everyone! Here are the latest pictures of Katie. Yes, she's getting bigger. She said that a lady at work asked her how far along she was. When she first started working there you couldn't tell she was pregnant with her work shirt on. Now the customers can even tell.
I felt the baby move for the 1st time! It was just a little tiny kick, but I felt it. Kaitlyn said that every day the kicks are getting stronger. That's great to hear.
I've been buying lots of boy scrapbooking paper and supplies. I'm getting ready! I can't believe I get to start a scrapbook from the beginning. And it will be so much fun to use baby stuff!
That's it for now. Have a great day!

Better picture

Here is a better picture of the profile of the baby.

I just realized that if you click on the pictures you can get a better view too!

Yep, It's a Boy!

Kaitlyn had her ultrasound last night and she's having a boy! We were sure it was a girl, until the last week or so. Kaitlyn and I both got the feeling that it was a boy. She's happy.

Everything looks good to our untrained eyes. The baby is measuring a little big, about 5 days bigger than it should. Poor Katie. He's 13 ounces. Almost a pound! The baby got the hiccups during the ultrasound. He moved around a lot too, especially at first.

We are so happy to know what it is and that he's healthy. Now we can start really shopping!

Still doing great!

Kaitlyn is doing great. She likes her job for the most part. She got her first big paycheck and that made her happy. She feels good most of the time. She got sick at work once. She went back to work.
Kaitlyn had her Dr. appointment this week. She has her ultrasound Monday night! We're so excited! Can't wait to see if we can see what it is, boy or girl. I'll update the blog after the appointment, so stay tuned! The background may be blue instead of pink.
Have a good weekend everyone!

Working Girl

Kaitlyn has a job. She's working at the zoo, doing a lot of different things. Today was her 1st day. She worked at the Stingray exhibit, taking the money. She'll be working at the swan boats, the zipline, selling and making budgie sticks, and airbrush tattoos I think. She likes it so far. She is working for 2 now ;). She needs the money. She is a hard worker so she'll do well. She's worked with me before so I know how hard she works. She's very excited.
Other than that she's doing very well. I think she has that glow that I've heard of, but never had. She looks great and she's feeling well too.

Pic and Flutters

Here's Katie at 16 weeks! She's wearing her FIRST maternity top. I took her shopping on Thursday and all we came up with was one top, but it's so cute!

She was on her way to a graduation party. This was her first time seeing her friend's mom since the mom found out she was pregnant. The mom is a little wierd about the whole thing, like it's contagious or something. I told her to keep her head up and be herself. She had fun and everything went well.

In other exciting news, she felt a little flutter on Friday! She was pretty exciting. It's going so fast. I think it is for her too.

Some of my feelings

When I started this blog It was to inform and vent about Katie's pregnancy. Well, here is the venting part!

Sometimes I feel like changing the name of this blog to "My daughter is pregnant, and she's not a whore."

Almost everyone has been so understanding and kind about the pregnancy. I really appreciate all of the support! You've been great, even with most people saying they would attend a baby shower. I was hesitant about it because when I was pregnant with Kyle there were some of my own family members that wouldn't attend my shower because I wasn't married, and didn't feel embarrassed to tell me so! It didn't matter that I was almost 25 and worked full time to support myself. I didn't want Katie to go through that.

There are always some people that will sit on their high horse and judge. I have to admit that before Katie got pregnant I may have been one of them. I would see a pregnant teenager and think that they must have bad parents, or they're a whore. Actually, I think Katie probably thought the same thing. Boy did I find out the hard way that you can't judge others unless you've been in their shoes. I should have known better since I was single and pregnant at one time myself. I thought I was better than that since I was older.

One thing that I would like to get across is that Katie isn't loose and got pregnant her 2nd time doing the deed. I feel very happy that people who really knew her were so shocked to hear that she was pregnant. I guess that says a lot for her.

The only difference between her and most other girls her age is that she got pregnant and they didn't. Do I feel that I'm a bad parent since she got pregnant? No. I taught her better. She knew the consequences. I've always been very open with her about sex and what could happen. She knew and she chose not to listen well enough. You know, we parents know nothing and teenagers think it'll never happen to them.

Well, it happened, and we're expecting a new blessing in the house. And I thank you all for your tremendous support. (Those that aren't supportive don't read this anyway.) I will be having a shower for Katie in the fall and it'll be a fun one!

Toni

School is almost out and Katie is happy! So am I! Now she's looking for a job and applying everywhere.
She is definitely looking pregnant. She is afraid everyone will think she's just fat. She wants to go to the beach, but doesn't want people to think she's fat instead of pregnant. Time for a new suit I think! I remember being pregnant for Kyle and always asking my mom if I look pregnant or just fat. I completely understand. She's doing well. Not throwing up as much.
At the left side of the page there is a subscription option. If you subscribe you will get an e-mail notifying you when I update this blog. Cool!
Have a great day!

Pictures!

Here are the pictures of the ultrasound! Yay! If you kinda know what you're looking at you can see the head, the body, arms, and even legs in the bottom picture. There's nothing to make it real like an ultrasound picture. The first pictures of my grandbaby!

Went to the Doctor!

It was so awesome! We not only heard the heartbeat, but they did an ultrasound too. We have pix, which Katie took to school so I can't post them yet. I couldn't wait to update the blog though. I'm a little excited! Can you tell? We saw the little head, arms, legs, body, and the teeny tiny heart beating! It made it a little more real for her. The Dr. was awesome. She was pretty young, which was good for Katie. More later. Have a good day!

Doctor Appointment Today!

Today is Katie's first doctor's appointment! We're excited. She's nervous. We're hoping to hear the baby's heartbeat. That would be so great. I'll be back later to let everyone know how it went.

So far, so good

Kaitlyn is still avoiding morning sickness, except for the little bout of the stomach bug that made its way through our house in the past few days. That's over, so things are looking up.
I had to do some shopping for the baby the other day. That's a gramma's job, right? It's so exciting to buy these tiny little things and realize how small this little bundle is going to be. Katie loved it all, and Cam even smiled when he saw how tiny the little booties are. He's going to be a great uncle. They all will be.
The reality of her life is really starting to sink in. A bunch of kids were sitting with her at lunch and talking about their summer plans and going to the beach and amusement parks. She was left out of the conversation, or at least she felt like she was. She's a little on the defensive now and I'm sure it wasn't as bad as she felt it was. She also thinks everyone at school is looking at her stomach.
On the other hand, the reality is she won't be going off with her friends as much, especially after the baby arrives. I won't expect her to be housebound after the baby is here, but she knows that her life will definitely be different. She is different too. Everyone at school has noticed that the carefree Katie is gone. I don't want it to be completely gone. You can be a mother and still be fun and happy. She'll get there. She needs a little time, I'm sure.
That's it for now. Have a great day everyone.

5 days straight

Kaitlyn had 5 days of not getting sick, then it all came back yesterday. It could be this horrendous illness going through our house. I hope that's what it is and not the morning (all day) sickness. It will be nice when that's gone for good.
Katie's mood has been better. She's trying really hard. I can tell. She bought some baby stuff this weekend. She's going to be a good mom.

Time marches on

Katie is having a couple of good days, as far as being sick anyway. She hasn't felt too bad for 2 days. I hope it lasts.
Her moods are another story. It's causing her problems at home and school. It's hard to adjust to what's coming. She'll get through it though.
Almost every day she tells me how big the baby is this week and what is changing. She wants to do what's best to keep the baby healthy. She will be a great mother. This weekend is a big garage sale at Bailey's Grove and she's watching Katie and Emily. If she feels up to it she'll take the girls to some sales and look for some good baby things. That should perk her up a little.
Tonight she receives an award at the ROTC Award Ceremony. She doesn't know it, but she's still one of their favorites.

New theme

This blog is going to be something different than I had originally planned. This was going to be a crafty themed blog, but things happen to change your focus. You see, my dear daughter Kaitlyn is going to be a mother. That makes me a grandmother-to-be. While I'm thrilled that I am going to be a grandmother, it's not the ideal time for her of for us. You see, she's 16.
You can understand that it's quite a mixed bag of feelings right now. We love our daughter, as we do all of our kids. While preparing for such a blessing we're also grieving for our dreams for her. It may sound stupid but I cried because she won't wear the beautiful princess dress to prom like she had planned. It wasn't the dress that I was crying about, but what it symbolized; a carefree teenageer with nothing more to worry about than what to wear to school, an upcoming test, a zit, going to the tanning salon, getting her driver's license. The carefree teenager is gone already. It's allover her face. Eight weeks pregnant and scared as hell. So are we.
When I told her that I was stupidly crying about a dress she said that she's still going to prom. She's smart. She understood what I was really crying about. She told me that she's still going to finish high school and college and become a nurse. She knows how hard it's going to be. She thinks she does anyway. As the days go on a little more of it starts to settle in. She cries about the dress too now. Maybe not out loud but I can hear her, you know, the way only a mother can.
Kids at school are asking her why she's so quiet lately, what's wrong. She's so sick and scared it's hard to be 16. A lot of people at school know. Most of her friends have been great to her. She's finding out who her real friends are. I told her that there will be people she thought she could count on that will be nowhere to be found, while people that she never thought about would be there for her. She's finding this to be true already. So many life lessons.
So here we are. This is my blog. I'll keep up with Katie's progress while sharing my feelings about what's going on at the time. Have a great weekend.

Here I am

Here I am with my first blog! I have lots of work to do obviously. Bear with me.