Photo Friday

Some cuteness here and there. Funny, we don't seem to grab the camera during fits to showcase those...whoops!

 

 Caden's little buddy Caysen turned two right after Caden. They are less than a week apart and it's so fun to watch these two crazy boys together. They definitely feed off each other which can be good and bad. Double trouble! Caden loved Caysen's party. He got to get some pool time in, ate some yummy food, and had a blast!

Gary couldn't go to Caysen's party because he had two other things that night, but he ended up getting home shortly after I put Caden to bed. Since Caden was still up he went in to say goodnight, and then a little while after made himself some popcorn. Seconds after the popcorn was done we heard 'Mommy!' 'Daddy!', we gave it a bit but then I went in there and he was standing at the edge of his crib and with the biggest smile said 'Popcorn?!' So-sure, it's a Saturday night, you can sleep in tomorrow, fine-you get some late night popcorn....unfortunately he didn't get the sleep in tomorrow part of the deal. Can't win 'em all!

 

 Caden loves the park-I mean, what kid doesn't. It's a fun age of independence where he can do most everything by himself and is nonstop once we're there.

 Be still my heart. We all went on a walk and towards the end Caden wanted to hold my hand during the walk. It was so sweet and one of those moments I will always cherish. And just recently I got some good cuddles in while he watched one of his shows-good ol' baby bump and 'baby' all in one. Definitely nice to slow down and just soak it in sometimes. It's very exciting thinking of how close we are getting to having our second babe, yet tat the same time these moments of cuddles with Caden, while being able to feel baby kicking around, is just priceless.

A gal at work had a bunch of cars and toys that she found that were her used by her boys years ago and shared them with my coworker and I. This was just half the loot-Caden even got a light saber out of the deal, which he loves. It was fun to be able to dump them all out and see his reaction, and don't worry, I kept a few aside for stocking stuffers!

Big helper in action. We hadn't been doing our grocery runs with Caden for a while mostly out of convenience and just the times we went. And by we, I have to admit that for a while Gary would run to the store while he was already out on the weeknight after the gym, so obviously that fell around bedtime for Caden. But recently, we've gone on a few trips with him and they've all been good! He loves being a helper and loves putting (aka throwing) things into the cart for us.

 My boys. People always go back and forth saying who Caden looks like. More recently he's looked a lot like me in my childhood pictures, and then I got this. The same little expression from my boys. Like father, like son. We've been removing the highchair tray and scooting Caden up to the table to eat with us a lot now and we love it. There is something very special about being able to eat dinner together as a family. He always looks so big and grown up sitting there like that too!

FOUR

Four Years

This handsome fella of mine has been my hubby for four years now. Seems like a little number when you say it out loud for as long as it feels that we've been together and all we've experienced.

I couldn't ask for a better man. Gary has shown so much love and patience in our relationship-I am so glad I get to spend many more years to come with him. One of the things I enjoy most about our relationship is how we don't always take ourselves too seriously. Life gets too serious and strict on it's own, it's nice to have someone to joke around with and enjoy the little things.

I'm proud of Gary, and of our relationship. I"m proud of how we've grown together for the better, closer to God and to the church, how we've worked through the frustrations of finances, continue to learn how to be a great team when it comes to parenting, and how supportive and selfless we've become-and have to continue to remind ourselves to be-so that we can work well together.

Don't get me wrong, we don't wake up each day singing 'Everything Is Awesome!', but other than my major-morning-person-niece, I don't know who does. Taking the time and effort to be open in our communication and constantly work towards a good marriage is well worth it.

I hope we can be an example of a good marriage for our kids. We've had great examples for us in our lives, and not picture perfect ones either, which is the reality of life. And more often than not the reality of life is that if you want something, you have to work for it. And I know we both want to be gray and wrinkly still playing old school video games together, so best continue the work. Be it hard or easy some days, it will be worth it. Anything good in life is worth the effort, especially when it comes to relationships.

I love this man so much. I can't imagine not having him in my life. He's my best friend and the best father to Caden, and I know he'll be just as great to this second baby and any future nuggets that may come our way.

Happy Anniversary, Gary. Cheers to many more to come!

Toddler Transition

 

Caden's new room transformation is finally complete! We still want to add some fun decor for the walls, but no real rush, I finished the last of the three curtains I made and Gary hung them up yesterday so I can now feel like I can say Caden's new room is all put together!

This is the crappy before pictures I got right before we started painting. I rolled all the walls, and the blue wall twice, while Gary did all the trim work and one more coat on the lighter walls ALL in one afternoon. He is a painting beast, people. I loved the way the blue turned out. It's just what I had pictured with the green curtain fabric I got and I think after adding a few more fun touches of stuff on the walls it'll look even better! Much better than the toy/junk room it was before.

So...with the new room being done, comes the transition into the new room. Friday night was our first night. It took about an hour to get him to stay and fall asleep in there, but then he slept through the night and even slept in until about 7:30--awesome!! Gary and I both woke up multiple times wondering how he was--reminded us of the first time babies sleep throughout the night how the parents wake up multiple times despite the baby being sound asleep.

He seemed hesitant and scared the first night, which we felt was reasonable at his age and with a new change like that, so we hung out in there for a while off and on just trying to provide some comfort and help in the change.

On a side note, Caden, you have the best dad ever. Patience is one of his strong suits and he is so willing to step up in areas that some men aren't. I hope you learn this from him, because it is such a blessing to have as a wife and mother. He doesn't hesitate to help around the house, he cooks, will run the annoying grocery errand, and is such a big part of your life--truly priceless.

 

Day one of naps was actually spent in the car after we went to the state fair, so didn't have to tackle naps for the first day of new room. Second night took less than an hour, maybe close to 45 minutes, so progress we thought. Then later that night/early morning around 3:00 a.m. Gary heard some pitter-patter in the kitchen and intercepted Caden. I guess he tried putting him back, sitting with him about 2-3 times, thinking he was settled and then came back to bed. It was this last time that I woke up when Caden was in our room petting MJ, our dog. Gary went and took him back, and I being naive to this not being the first time let him handle it.

This deal ended up in Caden not staying in bed, Gary coming back to get some stuff to lay down in there with him, as Caden followed him to our room, but I didn't want him to have to do that so we just brought the booger in bed with us and let Darth Vader 'sleep' in there for a bit. I don't even think you can call it sleep. He kept 'waking up' and he's always been a loud sleeper so not like we went back to bed.

Gary ended up getting up with Caden a little after six, let me catch some more sleep, and then I got up and a little later he went and caught up on some hours missed. Caden and I ventured out on a long walk to the park nearby, spent time at the park and then headed back. By this point Caden was being a big ol' moody, rude grump that we needed to get fresh air for the both our sakes. He was so tired and mouthy, on the walk back I asked if he heard that dog barking, something he normally loves, just for him to reply 'no. stop it! be quiet!' ummm...excuse me? Little dude got a stern look from me following that one...and then, this:

 

This reminds me of my Uncle Bill. He falls asleep exactly like this at his computer all the time, so I couldn't help but laugh to myself on the rest of the walk back at the humor of how tired he was, how similar it looked and, come on, that can't be comfortable.

 

Well, after we got back he didn't transition from stroller to bed, but he was so.dang.tired that I was adamant he take a nap, knowing how much one was needed. So. Bring on the hour battle to come. We had to finally get stern, helping him understand the concept of staying in bed during naps/bed time and not get out just because he can..aka fun times. At this point, he wasn't scared of the transition, he was simply testing the boundaries of what he could and couldn't do. He's a kid, that's what the do, right?!

 

We had to laugh at one point, he wouldn't come out of his room, or cry, or yell, but he would just stand there on the other side of his door looking at the door. Yawning, standing, getting into bed, getting back out to stand there. He stood there for a solid 20 minutes. Man he's stubborn. This ended in him crawling into bed and napping for three hours.

oy vey.

 

We were so excited to great him afterwards though letting him know how proud we were of him. Positive reinforcement here, people.

 

So, had a good late afternoon/evening and that night after reading our books he gave us big hugs and kisses, we repeated the rules/consequence, and left the room. Silly booger got up, and for 20-30 minutes went from standing there like he did before and laying down and then finally just laid on down and went to bed. We were surprised, happy and proud. Baby steps here, but he didn't come out, and was asleep in his bed 30 minutes later!

 

Well, this morning 3 a.m. rolled around and I heard him call out so intercepted him before he could get to our room. This party lasted about an hour. I tried to play nice and comfort during some, but that didn't put him back to sleep so had to get all disciplinary and firm. An hour later and he was back asleep in his bed. Success. An hour of sleep lost, but this is just a part of the deal and he'll catch on.

 

It could be worse, and maybe it is in some cases, but we think he's doing decently well and I don't look forward to the sleep loss, but I do look forward to seeing him make the progress to figuring it out. He catches on to things quick, so fingers crossed this is one of them.

 

And, let's be honest, it's not like you sign up for parenthood and don't read the fine print of 'lack of sleep will be involved'. And, not like three months from now we won't be zombies with a new baby...so, at this point, we'll just look at it as a little fresh reminder he's giving us.

 

Thanks, pal. Not needed, but thanks.

Hoping he catches on more and more. Thinking we'll use a gate so maybe if he can't come through the house that will help to..there's a few things we can try, I think, but mostly just have to stick to our guns and help him learn the ropes and this new set of rules for him.

It's crazy we're already to this stage and that the baby's room is now again a baby's room. Time is flying....need to enjoy these moments while they last.

Kansas State Fair

We ventured out to the Kansas State Fair this past weekend. Gary and I haven't been for five years, and when we went back then we had severe allergies and couldn't taste or smell anything. Not smelling some things at the fair isn't a bad deal--but not being able to taste anything at the fair, that's just torture.

We were excited to take Caden this year-he's old enough to ride some of the rides, enjoys new things and loves seeing animals.

We first stopped in an 'exotic' animal petting zoo right near the front. There was a bit of a line and it wasn't moving very fast so we had to work at keeping his attention at the start but once it started moving along and he got to see and pet some of the unique animals he loved it.

After that stop we went through the rabbit and chicken barn on our way to the rides and let him run around, jumping in excitement at all the bunnies and chickens. His excitement is so refreshing. It's so easy to get busy, pass things by in life and not really see the joy in things. I'm so grateful to have Caden to give us that friendly reminder at how fun and exciting even the small things in life can truly be.

Caden is about three inches too short, and honestly probably a little too timid, to go solo on any of the rides so Gary and I took turns going with him. First we hit up some flying elephants, then a giant slide, got into a spinning strawberry, and a worm ride and then one last go-around on the slide before we left. Unfortunately the last slide bit ended up in him getting some slide burn, but he's a trooper and got right up and kept going.

We snuck in some healthy food fair in the middle and ended with a funnel cake, of course. You didn't really go to the fair if you don't get funnel cake...right? Caden was hesitant, and tired, towards the funnel cake at first but came around and ended up enjoying a good chunk of it.

We ended up staying a little over two hours, which was perfect timing for him at this age. I'm sure next year we'll be able to stay longer, depending on how the little babe handles it all, but for this year it was just right. Fun to get out and experience something different with him, especially at this age. His joy and excitement was ever present and we loved it!

Baptism

We kept ourselves pretty dang busy this Labor Day Weekend. One of the most important things that we were able to experience was Gary getting baptized.

Gary had recently asked his father if he would baptize him and then shortly before the weekend asked if my sister and her hubby would be okay if he got baptized in their pool. So-figuring out the weekends to come before the pool closed it came that this past weekend would work out best.

Gary was baptized as a baby. At Pathway, where we attend church, they do not do infant baptism. We took a class at the beginning of the year to get to know the church better and he got some information regarding baptism as an adult. Since then it was something he thought about and he wanted to make the commitment and take the action to get baptized. We were very happy that his parents were supportive and his dad was willing to do this for him as well; it meant so much to Gary to have that.

It was a sweet, sweet moment. Caden got upset that daddy got into the pool without him, but luckily calmed down just shortly after, which allowed everyone to hear Gary's dad speaking before the baptism instead of a whiny little toddler...not that that isn't music to the ears or anything..

Gary's dad spoke about how Gary was dedicating himself-death to self and alive in the power of God and to live to His honor and glory; taking up the cross daily. It was sweet, simple, and really nice.

 

It went really well, we had a nice little spread of sloppy joes and yummy sides after for people to eat and the kids continued to swim again into the early evening. Caden has been getting more and more brave in the water. Once he gets over you having to force him to wear the floaties-and once he gets over the fact that he has to keep them on-he is off and going. Kicking his little legs 'swimming' and playing with the kids. It's super stinking adorable to see him go like that and be 'solo' in the water.

Some cuteness from the pool time we got earlier that day.

God is good and I pray that Gary and I can continue to grow closer as a couple, and individually, spiritually. Sometimes it seems just a little hard to trust in God and lean not on our own understanding, especially recently it seems, but I'm glad God has blessed me with a man that is willing to make the commitment to not try to get through our life triumphs or troubles on our own, yet with His help.

Much love to my man...he's the best.