Our Beautiful Son James

The best day of our lives turned into our worst nightmare. On December 4th 2010, I was in the full swing of labor about to deliver my sweet bundle of Christmas joy! We went into the hospital only to learn that baby James had no heart beat. In one fell swoop, joy and elation turned into terror, panic, fear and anger. How could this be happening? What did we do wrong? These are just a few questions that continue to race through our mind.

We were so ready to be parents and we'd planned for an entire year to start our family. But somehow life had other plans for us. We were quickly shot out of our happy life and now exist in a childless world full of pain, blame, fear, sadness, anger, and a laundry list of questions that have no answers.

All I know is that we created the most beautiful baby boy in James. We may not get to hear his cries, wipe his tears, see his smiles, see what he grows up to become, but we know we made a perfect little boy that sadly was not meant to live long in this world. We are the parents of an angel. We will love him forever and keep his memory alive.

At first we weren't sure if sharing James with the world like this was appropriate. Then we saw him and realized there's nothing wrong with sharing pure joy. The world needs all the goodness it can get. So without further ado, this is what pure joy looks like...

James Edward Kaiton 12-5-2010
8.2 lbs, 22" tall

We made it to Thanksgiving

I had more photos to post! So why not do that while we wait for this baby's arrival!?
We spent a lovely Thanksgiving with old friends and family in Venice Beach, CA this year. Great food and wonderful company!!

Enjoy!

Rock Band

Danielle's grandpa Mike (old feisty Italian)

Tom (Danielle's brother) & Chuck

More game action with the kids (Danielle's niece & nephew)

Mark & Danielle - hosts of Thanksgiving 2010~


Some pics from a spur-of-the-moment mountain drive.




Hanging with the Kaitons in Tujunga Village - window shopping, trying out the new stroller, hanging with the kids!






Our Christmas tree

some pics of the baby bed, new mobile from Grandma Kaiton and nursery





My brother Scott made the sweetest CD baby mix for James...this is the playlist

Last Moments

We are in our last days before Thanksgiving and before the arrival of our first child!
My energy has been good, I feel great and still go to work everyday. I'll be working up through next Wed. and then officially on maternity leave!

I had a chance to see my alternative doctor on Thursday and he did a complimentary balancing treatment on me. Because the treatment utilizes my energy and the ability to ask Y/N questions of the body, he asked my body when the baby will be arriving and my body told him around the 29th. The exact day Nel thought he would come...
So we will see if my body was right!?

In these last days, Nel and I have been enjoying each other, watching movies, day drives, cooking, hanging out, etc. We did a ton of nesting and getting ready for baby while also decorating for Christmas so we don't have to do it after he's born!

I have a feeling our next blog entry will be with a photo us us and baby after he arrives!! So exciting to be starting our family!!

xo
The Kaitons

Some photos from the first weekend in November - baby shower and Mary's visit.

Belly Shots

For some reason, I've not been taking any belly shots!
I finally got a few up on FB and thought I should share them here.
We had a good doctor's appointment yesterday. He is head down and ready to go though I don't think he's dropped yet.
And I am so proud to say that I've only gained 18 pounds in 9 months. I pray that in the last 4 weeks I don't put on much more.




We attended our first hockey game of the season last Wed. the 20th of Oct. The Carolina Hurricanes were in town, so we got to use Bob and Judy's amazing tickets and got to see Dadski while he was here. : ) The last photo below is of us with Chuck and John Forslund (TV for Carolina).

Nesting

We have been getting ready for baby Kaiton's arrival! Martha, Molly and a few other people have graciously handed down clothes and gear for the little guy. Here is what the "nursery" area is looking like:



Yesterday we went to a cute 2nd hand baby store to see what they had and we walked away with 5 onsies and some new washcloths. Here is one of our $0.99 purchases:



Here we are trying to get his kicks on screen...



Here is Nel singing to him with a couple good kicks...

Autumn Summer

It's been hot here in Los Angeles the past couple weeks.
Monday September 27th marked the hottest day on record here at 113 in downtown Los Angeles.
I was driving home from work and my temperature gauge read 116. By the time I got my camera out, it dropped to 115.

My amazing mother-in-law Mary sent me another batch of maternity clothes!! Along with some much needed trail mix and chocolate covered almonds! How did I get so lucky!?

We had some thunder storms and rain last night, so on my way home the cloud cover was beautiful and included this double rainbow!

We are preparing for the baby's arrival in many ways, but my favorite is just enjoying my quiet time, my sleep and my alone time with my husband while we still have it. Our boy has been kicking lots, moving a ton and getting hiccups! In addition we are anticipating the arrival of hockey season and the baseball post season.

TTFN

Happy Anniversary

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us!
I am so proud to have Nel as my partner in this life. The adventures we have had over the years and the love we've show for each other in our commitment to each other has been admirable and humbling.
We are so happy to have each other and I know we are both proud that we made the commitment to marry each other 2 years ago today. It's been a fun ride and we look forward to the years to come!

A Boy!?

We had our final ultra sound yesterday and it paid off!
We learned we're having a boy, which came as a shock to both of us!
The baby is completely healthy and the perfect size for 6 months.

I love this profile picture:



I circled his parts which the doctor took as the main indicator of this being a boy!