August

In no particular order...here's some of our recent happenings throughout our August (and probably come from other months...)

There were many cute pictures of Caden and the bears...but what's better than Caden and bears? His parents photo bombing the two so they can capture a family zoo picture!

 

Wishing our sweet little nephew, Alex, happy birthday via facetime. Alex turned one this year and he's getting so big! He's the cutest thing ever. Little man has looks that can kill and dimples that tug at the heart. Love this little guy.

 

Some cousin time with my sisters kids. Caden loves his cousins and loves getting time in with them. He loves them all, but in particular grew very fond of the youngest, Shepherd, and now tends to call all of his cousins Shepherd. It's cute, but also can be kind of frustrating to the one non-Sheps in the group. 

 

And little ol' Dangy, watching the kids with jealousy from the deck.

 

Who doesn't take their clothes hamper in the car with them? We wanted to take Caden to the zoo, he loves the place, but he was in a short stage of refusing to leave when we wanted to and wanted to continue to play with his clothes hamper. So, the clothes hamper got a little car ride that day. And he got to show off his exceptional 'cheese' face, too!

 

Helpy McHelperson. He'll help with the dishes, the laundry, 'dinner', 'cleaning'...any more I list will require a lot of quotes because at this point I'm not sure you can either call it help or the actual task because neither seem to really get accomplished that well the further we go. But, it's cute, he's cute and he's learning so all is well.

 

A little water, cornstarch and food coloring and you have yourself some sidewalk paint. He loved it, and as soon as it gets a little cooler outside we'll have to do it again. So simple, but so entertaining.

When daddy does push-ups at home, he gets an extra 23 lbs added on. This is blurry, but you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. It's cute, and funny-Caden loves it.

 

This was back around 20 weeks, 5 months. In less than a week I'll be 24 weeks, 6 months. This pregnancy has been different, but as is life at this point anyways. I was constantly fighting headaches and had one for three straight days so got in for a 30 minute massage to help relieve the pain. I think I could almost be just as happy sitting in their spa waiting room in this crazy comfortable robe just having some peace and quiet with their yummy cucumber water. It's so peaceful and amazing there, some days I am tempted to just move on in.

 

Baby bump saying 'sit on the couch and be lazy' and a toddler needing a snack. I got this. Have to remind myself some days, but I've got this... 

 

Gary's aunt and uncle have a black lab named Leonard that we've watched a few times. Leonard is older and doesn't really do much, which makes him the easiest dog to watch. This time around Caden noticed Leonard much more and thought it was so fun to have him around. The way he says 'wweonard' is priceless and so cute. Leonard has lost his hearing this time around and taken on some pretty heavy breathing, so that came with some humorous moments. Caden has been mocking a lot of things lately, some of which have been the dogs. MJ will let out a big sigh when she lays down, and she did one day right by Caden as we were playing and Caden just looked at her, sighed real loud back at her and said 'Sissy..go away!' It was funny, but we're also working on that 'go away!' part, doesn't really come off that nice..

 

So along with the mocking Caden picked up on mocking Leonards panting a lot by the end of his stay. The two were cute together and Leonard was very good with Caden. It's a little bit harder at night navigating your way to the bathroom in the dark with two big dogs in the room, but Leonards well worth it and always welcome to come party at our house.

 I had some pumping supplies returned recently and Caden continued to find them funny and attempted to use them as a phone. It was very funny and I just kept telling Gary that once this baby comes, if he sees mommy using them as they are meant to be, he's going to be one very confused child!

 

Last, but not least, before bed book time. He's gotten really good at following the routine of books before bed, a just this past week is insistent on daddy reading the books. It's adorable to watch these two. Cutest thing ever.

 

TWO

We celebrated our little baby turning two this weekend!!

What, he's not our little baby anymore? Rude.

Caden is in such a fun stage, and then at the same time will totally rock the two year old attitude like none-other. Sometimes we wonder if he knows how to walk (kidding.), but really, he seems to have so much energy and runs everywhere. And it's the cutest little run too. He loves 'helping'-he'll sit up on the counter and loves to help hold the measuring cups or put the chopped fruit/veggies from the chopping board into the bowl. (don't worry-we're all safety first here people, no one's loosing any digits.) He eats great--and in the same breath sometimes has no interest at all--but overall, he is down for just about anything, especially some chips and fries. He loves chips and recently has been requesting fries a lot. He doesn't have them a lot either, but the kids a fan, and I don't blame him.

 

We made Caden a lego table this year for our birthday gift to him. Saw it on Pinterest a long, long time ago and loved the idea-already have a simple end table like the above so just had to get another one and the duplo lego pad and then he could play with the duplo blocks he had plus a fun new train set he got for his birthday. Love seeing his imagination go with it--even if at this stage it's a lot of tower building, it's still fun! 

He's loving Mickey Mouse and Thomas. He's totally into dinosaurs and tigers, he has the best 'rawwwr' ever. He loves to be chased. He does great with his book time before bed-the downside to that is it's usually about six to seven books...but they're all short and he truly enjoys them, is learning from them, and it's just so hard to say no when they simple just want to read a book with you.

Got Caden from daycare after I picked up the balloons. He is obsessed with balloons and loved holding them on the car ride.

The above obviously does not accurately depict the helpful attitude I recently described....As we got things together he zoned out on his favorite little Mickey couch (thank you, Craigslist) and then moments later I asked Gary where Caden was. He wasn't watching his movie, I didn't hear him playing...where is he....ah crap. Sneaky dude got out the nice, but strong, carpet powder we have and helped himself to pouring a majority of it out. I quickly scooped him up and washed his hands...no one wants to have carpet cleaner poisoning on their birthday...and we laughed it off, vacuumed up the mess and aired out our now super-fresh smelling house. Oh, buddy....hello two years old!

He's a smart cookie. He's singing the alphabet with us pretty well, he's noticing letters when he see's them, he's quick to memorize and repeat things from books or movies. My mom starting singing 'happy birthday' with him this past Thursday while we were at small group, and by the birthday party Saturday he was smiling ear to ear singing it along with everyone else during cake time. He was loving that everyone was singing it with him but I don't think he caught on to the fact that they were singing it to him.

This cake is a big deal people. I made it myself and I am the last person you will find baking (brownies exempt.). I took my time, got nervous a lot and overall was really happy with how it turned out--whew!! Thomas galore up in our house, red and blue everywhere, Thomas plates, napkins, tablecloths, balloons, decor...Thomas, Thomas, Thomas!

 

 Caden was fun during the presents. The first present we opened was a huge Thomas train and track, which he loves and hasn't had a cool set like that before so it took a few minutes to get his attention back to the other presents and continue opening them. He was very excited, lots of 'wow!!!', 'THOMAS!!', 'oh my!!!' and gasps-It was really cute to see his excitement over everything. And who doesn't want to spend the afternoon in a childs tent at 5 1/2 months pregnant....

There are many moments right now during this pregnancy that I find myself counting down the days, but this weekend made me stop and realize that I don't want to wish away these days. As excited as we are to have this baby and have our family grow, I realized how precious these last few months are going to be of just us and Caden--especially with him at this age. He soaks up the one on one time with us and I don't want to give that up too fast. It's hard enough sometimes feeling like we even get enough of that with both of us working full time, so it's definitely on our schedule to be more selfish these next few months. There's a lot coming up, it's going to be busy and go by fast, but our goal will be to take it day by day and enjoy this little two year old, because before we know it we'll be planning his next party and I'll, yet again, wonder how the year went by so fast.

On his actual birthday we went to the zoo and got in lots of time with the new toys. Caden loves the gorillas, but also loves for us all to sit at this little area in the gorilla exhibit and watch the tv that shows wildlife bits--he especially loves the elephants! 

Caden, we love you so much. You are so fun and such a joy to be around. It may be hard some days to navigate your stubbornness at this age, but I truly hope as you get older you are able to stay stubborn in a positive way. Stick to what you know, but be flexible and willing to adapt. We say our prayers every night thanking God for the time we get, the blessing we have, praying for protection and safety...but I also want to pray that your father and I are able to grow in our relationship with God to be able to show you how powerful his love is. Life isn't always easy, but in those difficult moments are where you find your strength in God and it's through Him that you will be able to do so much more in life than you could ever imagine or do on your own. Easier said then done sometimes, yes, but well worth it. Thanks for being you, buddy....we love you! Happy 2nd Birthday!

See...already driving-ahh!

Our Growing Family

 We are excited to be able to announce that baby number two is expected to arrive December 17th!

 

Here's our precious little baby at 20 weeks. We chose not to find out the sex of this baby, as we did with Caden, this time. It was pretty dang hard sitting there in the sonogram room having to look away while she was checking out the bladder/leg bones so we wouldn't see anything. I'm the kind of person that is anxious to open Christmas gifts the moment I think you got me one, I have patience in some areas of life, but definitely not like Gary. Gary has always been fond of the idea of not finding out, so after we did with Caden I figured I could handle doing the next as a surprise. We're over halfway there and I've got this. I'm super curious, but at the same time, we're busy keeping up with life and a crazy energetic toddler boy that I luckily don't really have time to dwell on the sex of the baby.

 

This time, I just get to wonder, enjoy the feeling of baby kicks and movements and enjoy what we have right now (most importantly the sleep we have right now...) before this new addition joins the party!

 

We tried for eight months with Caden. That is nothing compared to some peoples journeys, that I know, but I do remember how hard it is to see anything outside the view of how desperate your heart aches for a child when you are wanting to have one and thought it would take no time. So, this time around, when we knew we were ready-but also knew we would be okay if it took a while due to Caden not being two until August-we started trying and bam, after one month we were shocked to find out we were pregnant.

 

Sometimes, I envy the women that aren't trying and don't find out right away. Those early weeks are tricky and this time around I was much more hesitant of sharing our news too early. God has blessed us with healthy and easy pregnancies thus far, but we have had friends who have had to go through some tough times, so the reality of pregnancies and the possibilities are just more real to me this time around. So, we waited until around Easter to tell most the family. After that we had a friends birthday to go to, it was all close friends, so we shared the news there as well.

 

But as for the digital world and those pals, we held off until the recent 20 week appointment. So...here I am, sharing our news and excitement!

 

Can't you see all that excitement on Caden's face?? He's just jumping with joy. . .he'll catch on, maybe, at least for sure when there's a new babe in the house, but at this moment he doesn't get it and when we tell/show him there's a baby in mommy's belly he just grabs at his own belly and says mommy. Close, kiddo, close.

At first, I had wanted the baby and Caden to share a room, and still do like the idea...but the reality is Caden wasn't even one month old before we moved him to his crib and not sure how it'll be with this baby but I don't want to fuss with worrying about waking him up while dealing with poo or feedings so a new room for Caden it is! There's work to be done in that area, soon enough we'll start taking some baby steps to getting things moved around in what is currently the toy/craft/random room so that it will be good to go for his first big boy bed (toddler bed, but not a crib-so it counts) and hopefully we can even out the toys so he just doesn't play in there all night. That's a reasonable request right?! Sigh...we'll see how this transition goes.

Lots to do between now and December, but we are so excited to meet this baby. Can't wait to see if it's a boy/girl, can't wait to see it's features, hear those little baby squeaks, get those baby cuddles, we're very, very excited for Caden to have a sibling and for our family to grow. Praying for the safety and health of this little blessing...can't wait to meet our little baby!

...until then, countdown is on!

Summer Recap

There's only 13 days left of 'summer break' for our family. My break is getting to 'sleep in' the majority of the summer days compared to our normal routine of running Caden to daycare before work and I am sooo going to miss that bonus. Gary finished a painting project last week so he has two full weeks of buddy time with Caden.

 

We need to work on this adorable 'cheese' face...but hey, at least he gives awesome hugs:)

We got some good time in with friends recently over a nice little bbq, and Caden got some good time in with his buddy/partner-in-crime, Caysen. These boys are less than a week apart and it's so fun to watch them play. Play..and then run around the corner and get into trouble every five minutes. They are ornery little stinkers and feed off each other so much, but man are they adorable. Always great to get time in with these friends too-the girls click so well, the guys get along great-it's a perfect mix, plus got to see an old friend/co-worker that I hadn't seen forever so that was a fun bonus! Great people, always encouraging and funny-love our time with them.

Seems like we haven't been crazy busy this summer, but it's gone by fast. Gary's been playing softball most Sundays, we had the family reunion trip to MO over 4th of July and we've crammed in a few good pool days-this past Sunday was one for the books. Caden got in some fun time swimming and then laid down for a nap and I got to have some mommy time floating and soaking up the sun with my sister, mom and her kids....amazing. I had a low point of telling the kids I was not going to be a cool aunt for a while so don't splash or bug me-whoops. Hey, everyone has their selfish moments...

Unfortunately, this week started out with Caden having a bad abscess that we had to take him in to the dr and they had to cut and extract it (insert many sad faces here-hate seeing my little boy in pain like that) so he's been healing up from that. Started out as what we thought was just a bite...then before we knew it two days later it just for sure wasn't getting any better and got to be more than we could/should have handled on our own. Medicine, band aids and ointment is the plan now and he's already looking better. whew.

Here's some cuteness from Daddy/Caden time. Love getting these pictures while I'm at work-always makes me feel more included and present. I'm biased and obsessed with Cadens level of cuteness right now. I mean, don't get me wrong, he shows the good terrible-two-year-old side already and shows it darn well sometimes, but that white-blond hair, cowlick, how he says 'mommy!!!' so enthusiastically. melt.my.heart.

Getting some time outside, he's loving his Mickey Mouse coloring book right now. He's connecting more with all the characters and thinks Donald is sooo funny.

 

 

Some fun park time, fun in his little pool to cool off, yummy popcorn-Caden loves watching the popcorn pop and of course eating it all up, zoo trip and last, but not least, a trip to see mommy at work!

 

Summer days have come to an end already, but good times were had by all!