Who do I look like?

Many folks have been commenting on who Ethan most looks like or what facial features reflect which parent, and so we have decided to post a few pictures from when we were itty bitty along side some pics of Ethan. Tell us what you think:)! Usted Decide


These Pictures are of Cutie Patootie Andrew
These are of Cameron




And here is our Little Mister

Ethan is one month old tomorrow:)

Hi all!

Well it has been a crazy past four weeks! What an adjustment and learning experience it has been for all three of us. Let me bring you up to speed: Right after Ethan was born, Andrew took off two weeks from work and stayed home with us. Boy was that needed! I could not have functioned physically or emotionally without him having been there learning, stressing and losing sleep alongside me.

Ethan has had two doctors appointments thus far and has done real well. The PA who has been overseeing his health has reported that he is growing just as he should and has been so helpful in answering all of our first-time-parent questions. I always look forward to doctors appointments and knowing that everything looks okay to a trained eye.

Ethan has learned how to breast feed, but has had some problems with gas! Poor thing- he will twist and turn and cry when he can't burp or have it come out the other end. We have tried all different kinds of suggested remedies, but he still has difficulty. He is, however, getting enough food into his system as displayed by how frequently we are changing diapers and the fact he is gaining weight. He also has to be held upright for about 20 minutes after feedings if we don't want to see it come back up again! When this happens he also cries:( He is just a fussy baby and we are learning what cries mean what... well, kinda.

Thanksgiving was celebrated at Cameron's Aunt Terri's home in El Paso this year, and Ethan did real well:) What a great meal and time with family. The following day Andrew's family came down from Santa Fe to celebrate the holiday and Brenda cooked a wonderfully tasty meal as always:)

Andrew has since gone back to work and Cameron's Mom has been up to Las Cruces a couple times a week to help with the baby and this crazy messy house. It has been a huge help! Everything just seems a little less stressfull and more manageable when she is here.

Ethan and I are getting into a schedule of sorts- - -slowly but surely. At least to a degree where he and I both get a bath several times a week and feel somewhat rested :) I am also no longer going the whole day in my pajamas and my hormones are leveling off. I know Andrew is thankful for that last one! Poor guy- - we both thought my mood swings were over once the baby came- - -no way Jose. But I am getting better:)

Today Andrew, Ethan, Uncle Stephen and I are going to be traveling up to Santa Fe for the annual "Dye Open House". Every year the Dye family cooks a bunch of good food and invites friends and family over to hang out and fill their bellies. I don't think we have missed one since we have been married and this will be Ethan's first "Open House" It will also be his first long distance trip (about four hours). I think that he is going to do just fine, but it is always a little nerve wrecking for me with any of his "firsts" until they are over.

SOOO, here are some more current pictures of our little mister:

Like Father, like son

"I am at ease, in the arms of a woman..."

"7 8 9?!!! That's why 6 is afraid..."

This video has a surpise ending.

He's Here!!!!

We are pleased to announce that, 2 weeks earlier than expected, our newest addition to our family has arrived!! Ethan Andrew Dye was born November 15th, 2008 at 6:45am. He is 19 inches long and weighs 7.5 lbs!

What started out as slightly more uncomfortable contractions at 10:45 on November the 14th, led to 20 hours of labor! Cameron called Andrew at work on Friday to let him know that she was experiencing slightly uncomfortable contractions. Andrew was excited, but did not really expect her to really be in labor. He asked her to call the doctor's office to explain what was going on and see if there was any reason to be concerned. By divine appointment, we had an appointment with one of the midwives that day at 3:40. Andrew had already planned to get off a little early, so was able to attend the meeting with Cameron.

The midwife put Cameron on a monitor for about 20 minutes to see what was going on. Our midwife told us that it appeared that we were going into early labor and that we should go home for a few hours until the contractions got more uncomfortable and then go to the hospital. After about 2 or so hours at home, we decided to go to the hospital.

Though we expected that we would have Ethan out in no time at all, he decided to make us wait for an additional 12 hours. Cameron was in labor for a total of 20 hours!!! 2 of those hours were Cameron using up what little energy she had pushing! Andrew is so proud of Cameron and has a new found respect for women who have to go through labor. Andrew was, of course, a big baby and couldn't stop crying when Ethan came out. Andrew kept saying what a handsome young man Ethan was and how perfect he is. Cameron was so exhausted that a lot of her celebrating Ethan's birth came later when she could process it. The honor and responsibility of having a son is overwhelming!

We are now home after staying another night in the hospital. Cameron really enjoyed the "room service" (cafeteria food), but Andrew was anxious to go home and sleep in a real bed. Cameron covets any nap that she can get, but loves just holding Ethan and cuddling him. We have included some pics, so that you can enjoy him as well! We will continue to post entries on Ethan's progress and news in our lives. Thanks for praying for us and cheering us on! May the Lord bless you for that!

Dad with son minutes after birth

Nanna (Cam's mom) with grandson

Grandpa Rudy with yawning Ethan

Grandmother and Grandpa Dye with Ethan

The proud new parents with son

Ethan Andrew Dye Looking around

We Moved!

Praise the Lord! A lot has been going on since we last updated you all and we are excited to fill you in:)

First: We have moved and have officially cut the cord with our apartment! Moving Day was super smooth with the help of so many family and friends. Thanks to each of you that helped- what a blessing. Moving started at about 8:30am and we were done by noon with about 12 people moving along with several trucks, a trailer and dollies. We have never moved so quickly. It has now been about two and a half weeks since we have been in the new home and we are still trying to empty all the boxes. We know this is to be expected, but we are eager to get them all cleared out and to feel a "moved in."

Second: A room for the baby has started to take shape!:) With only about three and a half weeks left till the Due Date this has been a topic that made us feel a little anxious every time it was brought up - until now:) Not only is there enough space for the baby to have his own room in this house, but he also has a brand new crib to sleep in as of yesterday! Cameron's Dad had insisted on purchasing the crib and mattress every since he heard we were expecting and frequently reminded us that the offer was still there. We searched and searched and eventually settled on one from Babies R Us in El Paso, TX. It is super cute and took about 30 miutes to put together. We decided where the other furniture would go last night, rearranged some things and then Cameron put more work into it today. It really is a sweet and calming atmosphere and we think that Ethan will enjoy it. It is not finished yet, but it is gettting there! We hope that the baby will go till the Due Date not only for his health but also to give us more time to get things ready!

Cameron continues to grow and has started working part time this week (two 12 hour shifts instead of three, per week). She will stop working all togther starting November 14th (two weeks prior to the Due Date) and is looking forward to the time to rest. She has started taking iron suplements due to an iron defficient anemia that was found during her last blood test and is feeling a little more energized. The midwife suggested just increasing the amount of iron being consumed in her diet, but Cameron wanted a supplement just to make sure. So far the side effects have been minimal;)

Closing Time

Sorry that it has been so long since our last post. The last few weeks have been fairly busy with work and friends. Andrew preached a sermon at the Baptist Student Union two Thursday ago, which required a lot of time to prepare. Time well spent; Who wouldn't want an excuse to spend hours studying the Bible.

We also had a friend in town who will be going overseas for a couple years. While he was in town, he stayed at our apartment. When Andrew was cleaning the guest bedroom, to set up the bed (which had been propped against the wall), he felt like he was just moving boxes and junk around the room. It felt like those puzzles where you move the pieces around to make a picture. He had to move 3 boxes to the left to move the mattress 3 ft. Then move a cabinet out to move the desk over for the boxspring to rest on the ground. Needless to say, I think we are ready to move into our new home. :)

Speaking of homes, we close on Thursday of this month. Our realtor has given us instruction on what to do when we close. One suggestion that he gave us is to take everything the Title company offers us. Why you ask? Because we're paying for it! He told us that if they offer us a pen, take it. A bottle of water, take it. Even if we don't want it, take it!

We are going to try and box up as much as we can before Saturday because Andrew's family is coming down from Santa Fe with some goodies. Andrew's very generous uncle and family are giving us their fridge. In addition we are getting a chest style freezer and recliner that belonged to Andrew's Grandma. Praise the Lord for those things!!! We are so grateful for the ways that He blesses us through others.

Cameron is getting a little anxious to get things moved in so that she can get the baby room ready. As she describes it, "The nesting phase is setting in". She also wants to have a bag ready for the moment when the hospital visit arrives. It's hard to imagine that in a month or so we will have a son. It's scary and exciting all at once!

Also this week we celebrated 2 birthdays. One for our friend, Chris, who was staying with us. And two, Amanda, Andrew's sister. For Chris we surprised him with dinner at Chili's, always good. For Amanda, she was surprised to receive a traditional British Tea Party at our apartment. The tea party consisted of 3 courses ranging from Asparagus and Ham sandwiches to Blueberry scones with lemon curd. Of course there was a different tea for every course. And as tradition holds, quotes about tea were read during the party. We think that Amanda had a good time and it was fun getting it together.

Cameron: TBA But we can tell she's getting bigger every day.

Andrew TBA But probably nothing since he hasn't worked out for a week :(

Getting close

Sorry that it has been so long since our last update. We've been fairly busy "becoming adults". Andrew's sister says that the only people in Las Cruces are college students and old married couples with kids. Andrew asked her, "Where does that put us?" We like to joke about what "growing up" means. Andrew used to think that "growing up" meant having kids and a home. But now he thinks that growing up is when you retire. I think that we are just nervous.

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster as we have been trying to figure out where we would like to live. We have been shown dozens of homes and had narrowed it down to one specifically. We put in an offer and had to wait until the next day to hear back whether or not they accepted it. Andrew was having a lot of second thoughts and Cameron rode the fence. She would say "I just don't know". We found out the next day that they had countered the offer.

In some ways, because of our anxiety, we felt relieved so that we could turn down the home. But we were encouraged by our realtor to go back to the house, review the warranty and offer, and talk about it. We were glad that we did!! We decided that we really liked the home and put in another counter offer. It's almost like Deal or no Deal on television, as we slam down the cover on the button.

Turns out they accepted our offer on Friday and now begins the hectic process of obtaining a home mortgage loan, inspecting the property, getting it appraised, notifying our current landlord of the intent to vacate, and pulling our hair out. Are you taking notes? We feel as if we have become experts on various aspects of the home purchasing process. Speaking of home inspections, there are a lot of really flashy websites for home inspectors. We found one that you might like: http://www.mesillavalleyhomeinspections.com/. Or how about this one: http://propertyinspectionconnection.com/

In our spare time we have been registering for baby stuff, house sitting, and working. Cameron says that she looks tired in the picture we have posted. I think she is.

Cameron 17lbs +






















Andrew 13lbs -

Third Trimester here we come!

Hi everyone!

We are now into week 28 of growing a baby (the Third and Final Trimester!)and everything is going well:)

The house search is still on, but a few leads have come up. We are trying not to be too picky but want to make the best investment at the same time... it takes a lot of energy to buy a home! We are still hopeful that we will be somewhat settled into a home by the end of October- - -wouldn't that be great?

Last week Cameron was showing Andrew some maternity photographers' websites and mentioned that he could take some maternity photos just as well as they did. Andrew agreed that he would sometime and then said, "Hey the lighting looks good in the living room. Let's take some pictures right now." Here is a sample of some of Andrew's (spur of the moment) Maternity Gallery:

This past weekend we got to spend some time up in the Cloudcroft area with a group of college students that are a part of the Christian Challenge Ministry at NMSU. We were leaders over a small group for this weekend and are trusting the Lord that it went the way it was supposed to. Although we can't speak for the students in the small group we found that preparing for the retreat taught us a lot. The weather was beautiful and we were spoiled by how nice our accomadations were.

On Sunday our Sunday School class took a trip to Rudy's BBQ and Bob O's together. We had so much fun, but everyone left exhausted from the heat and activity. One of the fun things about being pregnant right now, is that there are two other couples in our class who are also pregnant. One gal is due around the same time Cameron is and the other gal is due at the end of January. Our Sunday School leader and his wife just had a baby as well as our friends Vanessa and Josh. Talk about something being in the water! It sure is nice to get to share pregnancy stories and learn from the experienced moms and dads in our class. Maybe our children will all be friends some day?

Weight Watchers for this week:

Cameron's weight gain: 13.5 lbs

Andrew's weight loss: 13 lbs