The Happy Couple

No more tubes!

2011-05-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

I am quite happy to report that Fez's health has turned around! He had his feeding tube removed on Monday and is eating on his own. He did loose a little bit of weight but continues to scarf down an entire can of high calorie prescription cat/dog food a day. Our little fur baby is getting better!

At least it's not cancer ...

2011-05-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

What a way to come back after a 5 month absence, huh? So much has happened in the past 5 months but I'll start with the one that has the most urgent timeline.

Our almost 6 year old cat, Fez, had lost quite a bit of weight rapidly and we noticed that he wasn't eating. On our 4 year anniversary, Ryan took Fez to the vet where he was kept for three days/two nights and received multiple blood tests, IV fluids, antibiotics and was jaundiced.

The vet suspected that Fez may have kitty leukemia but after a small liver sample was taken and analyzed he was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease.

Basically what happens is that this disease manifests itself in a cat (there's no known cause) and causes the cat to loose its appetite. After its available fat stores are used up for energy, the liver starts storing fat - which is bad because kitty livers can't process the fat. If left untreated, the mortality rate is above 90%. This is a very serious disease which also has a high recovery rate if caught in time. The recovery time is 6-7 weeks with an aggressive forced feeding schedule.

So, Fez was able to come home Wednesday afternoon. He has a feeding tube inserted in the front of his neck that goes to his stomach that we have to administer feedings every four hours. The "food" we give him is a high calorie gruel that we mix with a little bit of water and feed him through the tube with a syringe. (I can't help but sing "Food, Glorious Food" from Oliver every time I have to feed him.)

While I don't want to be overly optimistic, Fez has been improving each day that he's been home. In the less than 48 hours that he's been home he doesn't look as jaundiced and he'll purr if you pet him gently. The last two feedings that I gave him he's actually sat up for them (a big improvement from just laying there and taking it). He even hopped off the bed and walked into the hallway looking for his food and tried to snuggle last night too. We've had to put a litter box in our bedroom since he isn't quite strong enough for the trips to the basement to relieve himself.

With his improvement, I'm glad that we didn't opt to put him down right away when we found out he was seriously sick. I know we're not out of the woods by any means - we have a long road ahead of us but I'm grateful that he's turned around and hopeful that he'll make it back to healthy soon.

Not A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

So I think my family got the shaft for Christmas. (Don't get me wrong - I know this is a heck of a way to post a blog update in nearly three months but let's just say I got lost and didn't feel like asking for directions. I promise perkier updates later.)

I was all pumped up for my 11 days off from work (mandatory) vacation. 6 of those days I would be able to spend with my husband - time which doesn't come very often. We spend some time visiting with my sister Amanda and her husband Kurtis who drove up from Oklahoma Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas morning with just Kaden, Ryan and myself opening gifts, then off to Ryan's dad's house followed by dinner with my parents.

Sounds awesome? Yes, except for the fact that I've had a "wonderful" stomach flu since Christmas Eve that prevents me from keeping anything in. I hate the bathroom right now. Going on three days straight of this crap, on top of the fact that Ryan seems to be catching the same stuff totally sucks. Where's the rule that at least one parent is supposed to stay healthy when there is a small child in the house? This is so not the way I wanted to spend my vacation.

2 Years Old!

2010-10-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

My little man turned two years old on October 1st. We celebrated his birthday party with my family on his birthday and yesterday with Ryan's family. Kaden was showered with attention, presents (yay! lots of new clothes) and food.

He's starting to talk in whole sentences now: "I eat bar." (eating a cereal bar). "Sit down Papa." "Come here Dada." "Hold you!" (We're working on telling him that it's "hold me" when he wants to be picked up.

I never really fully understood what people meant when they said to me "You're growing up so fast!" As a matter of fact I remember rolling my eyes a couple of times. Oh but how true it is. Kaden is already showing signs of independence - not wanting to snuggle so much, wanting to eat by himself, trying things out on his own. He's such a big guy.

Did that just come out of my mouth?

2010-09-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

I don't exercise. I should. I could make time for it. I just haven't. There are two medicine balls that live in my bedroom. They look pretty on the floor. One green ball and one blue - 6 and 8 pounds. Somewhere there's also two little red 2-pound balls. Not quite so sure if Kaden hid them some place and not quite concerned enough to go look for them.

My little man will be 2 years old next week. I am currently 45 pounds lighter than my heaviest pregnancy weight. Gaining 30 pounds during my pregnancy, I am also 15 pounds lighter than when I found out I was pregnant with Kaden. Yay me.

I have no clue what has possessed me this week but a devilish thought has poisoned my mind: I want to run a marathon. *Blink-blink* Did I really just think that? Yep. Did I really mean that? I think so. The big problem I see with this is that I'm scared I won't be able to follow through with it and that I hate running.

I'd really like to be able to do this and I think it may be achievable. I obviously need to build up some kind of endurance. We hang out a lot with my neighbors and their family. My neighbor's sister-in-law is a sweetheart of a girl and she runs marathons and has been doing it for a few years. She told me about the "Couch to 5 K" program that (in theory) coaches you in 8 or 9 weeks from a lot of walking and a little jogging to 30 minutes of jogging straight.

Another challenge I'm going to face is to find the time to workout. Four nights out of the week I only get to see Ryan for 2 1/2 hours. By the time he leaves for work, the daycare center at the gym is closed.

We'll see if this is a fleeting thought or if I can at least start doing some kind of long distance walking. I'll be attending the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 1 mile walk this Saturday with Kaden and my mother-in-law Terri. There's a two mile run scheduled the week before Thanksgiving to look forward to and a new running store that should be openning within the next few weeks. Here's to the start of my Bucket List.

I'm an Airbender!

2010-09-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

We have recently started watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoons on Nick. It's a cute little series that only ran for 3 seasons. For a short explanation there are people who can control elements (air, water, earth and fire).

The reason I'm telling you about this cute cartoon is because earlier this week the knob that controls which direction the air flows in my car (head, feet, both, defrost etc) broke off. It's a good thing it wasn't winter and I needed to defrost my windshield. I called one of my favorite mechanics and they ordered a replacement for me and had it waiting for me within 4 hours (that's prompt service!). It wasn't until the next morning that I thought to myself "It's so wonderful to be able to control the air. ... Hey! I'm an Airbender!"

It's ok if you don't get it .... I like my stories. :)

Happy Birthday @ Cross Timbers

2010-08-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Ryan's 31st birthday. We celebrated the weekend by going camping at Cross Timbers with my in-laws. We tent camped and they pulled the camper out.

Kaden was completely spoiled with a wonderful pool that Papa (grandpa) and Nana (grandma) brought for him. No swim diaper or swim suit? No problem. Naked baby swimming! (He actually had on a pair of shorts though.)

Brent and Terri watched Kaden while Ryan and I went on a hike on a nearby trail. They were doing some repair work on the dam, so the water level was lower than normal.

Here's what the same bridge looked like last September:

It's a good thing we each had our own camelback. I sucked down 3 liters of water on our 5 mile hike. The temperature was over 100 degrees that weekend.

Kaden loved sleeping in the tent. It sprinkled off and on during the whole night. Ryan was very attentive to the rain fly over our tent so we wouldn't get soaked.

A new playground had been build in the tent only camping area. We had fun chasing Kaden down all the slides and following him around.

Terri and I sat on the swings (at Kaden's request) and watched while Papa Brent pushed Kaden and gave underdogs.

Like I mentioned before, we really were roughing it.

Yes. Kaden is watching Coraline. For the millionth time.

Our last evening there, one of our neighbors came over with a copper pipe contraption that you put in the fire and get blue, green and pink flames. It was too cool. I must find out (first if this is toxic) how to recreate this for later.

Your child's digital history

2010-08-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly I've fallen about 2 years behind on scrap booking and Kaden's baby book is sadly neglected. I've been looking at pictures that we've taken of him, one being his first time on the potty or him in the bathtub. I know that most if not all of you who read my blog were born before the Internet ever existed. We've also heard a story or two on the news about pictures that people took ages ago coming back to bite them on the behinds.

Here's my philosophical question: How much consideration to your child's future do you give before you post a picture of them on a blog, twitter, facebook, etc.?

Gotta go pee-pee!

2010-08-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

While we were on vacation in July in Bull Shoals, Arkansas, my mother-in-law Terri helped Kaden go #2 on the toilet for the very first time. We haven't started pushing Kaden to potty training and hadn't really discussed when we should. At a recent trip to Wally World we picked up a training potty just to be prepared.

I pulled the thing out of the box and quickly assembled it with Kaden watching intently. As soon as I had it put together, Kaden lifted up his shirt and said "Pee-pee." I asked if he needed to go potty and wouldn't you know, he knodded his little head. We rushed him into the bathroom where he pottied on his training potty for the very first time! My little guy is growing up so fast!

No more Ba-Bas!

2010-08-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

We have officially crossed the line into the world of no bottles! Kaden bit a hole through one of his bottle nipples last Friday. We came home from daycare, opened the trashcan, tossed in the bottle and said "Goodbye, Ba-Ba!" He has adjusted very well and is requesting his "sippy" instead of a ba-ba.

To celebrate the event, we purchased Kaden some Spongebob sippy cups. He loves them!

A little dusty

2010-07-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while, okay a few months since I last updated my blog.

In May Ryan, Kaden and I went to Oklahoma City for Memorial Day for the weekend. We went to the zoo, the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, as well as a few other sights around town. Ryan and I took turns holding Kaden while we walked through the Museum. It was a very sobering experience that made both our emotions very raw. Kaden, bless his little heart, picked up on the fact that Mommy and Daddy weren't in happy moods. We both had our turns of Kaden grabbing our head, pulling us closer to him and receiving multiple kisses to cheer us up. What an intelligent little man!

May also saw the arrival of my third nephew, Westley James. They had him at a hospital right down the street from where I work so I was able to stop in for a visit before the new family went home.

In June, Ryan and I headed down to go on a float trip with my sister Amanda and her husband Kurtis. Unfortunately, I came down with a 103 degree fever (which only lasted that high for around 30 minutes or so). We spent the night to see if the fever would break. The next morning it was around 100 or 101 so we made the 2 hour trip back to Wichita to go to Minor Emergency. It wasn't strep throat, but I got antibiotics that got rid of the "feels like swallowing broken glass" feeling.

July seems like it's going by way too fast. Ryan was able to give Kaden a haircut for the first time. Kaden started out in the high chair, but ended up in the sink. Ryan said it was just easier to get all the angles. He did a fabulous job.

In early July, my family had a reunion down in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. My aunt and uncle own several resort properties there and ended up having 30+ of my family. Kaden has been to visit my aunt and uncle three times now (this year, last year and when he was 1 month old)! This year we extended the invitation to my in-laws. Although they were only able to stay 2 nights/3 days (we stayed 6 nights/7 days) they fell in love with the place and are already thinking about a return trip.

Kaden is still going to day care 3 days a week and is loving it. Ryan and I both got Mother's and Father's Day Presents. He's starting to talk more and more each day. The past couple of days he's even started asking to talk to Aunt M (my sister Amanda) and Uncle Kurtis. He's also started taking us by the hand to lead us to some other location to show us something. I'm so amazed by the new things he starts doing and can't wait for him to start talking in full sentences.

I think that's a sufficient update for now. I'll tried to post some pictures soon and promise to update sooner than two months.

I L You

2010-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

When the weather is good, Kaden and I walk outside to wave goodbye to Ryan as he heads out to work. Ryan will give us both hugs and kisses and then hop in the Blazer and back out of the driveway. He'll roll down the window and wave goodbye to us and give us the "I love you" sign in sign language.

Today when we were waving goodbye to Ryan I held up the "I love you" sign and said "Do this Kaden!" to him and he did an almost complete sign. He was able to hold up his hand in the shape of the letter L. (The "I love you" sign needs to have the pinky finger lifted.) Seeing as how he doesn't say a lot of understandable words, we're so proud that he's picking up this sign. Ryan had a big smile on his face as he backed out of the driveway.

Obession

2010-05-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Kaden is obessed with a movie called Coraline. He will sit glued to the TV and watch this movie every time it is on HBO. He watched it so much we bought the movie for him at Target. It's really creepy, especially for a 1.5 year old. It's made by the guy who made Nightmare Before Christmas. Here's the trailer for it - the plot line is just too creepy to type out.

Ok, the trailer is creepy too. But what do you do when your kid loves the creepy movie?

A little bit of heaven

2010-04-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

Kaden was sitting on my lap helping me check Facebook. He's 18 months right now (19 on Saturday) and you don't really realize how smart children are until they do something totally out of the blue. I gave Kaden a hug and told him "Do you know how much I love you?" He decided to stand up on my lap and wrapped his right arm around my next. No big deal - he likes to be king of the mountain. He made my heart melt when he leaned over and kissed the top of my head three times. How adorable!

For Aunt M

2010-04-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

I'm getting complaints from people about not updating my blog. I've been enjoying time away from the blog for a while and here's what's happened since then. (I'll try to post a new entry for each, but this is a start.)

Kaden now has 12 teeth - four front uppers, four front bottoms and first molars on each side
My younger sister and I hosted a baby shower for our older sister at my house.
Ryan and I took a trip to Winter Park, Colorado to go ski for a few days.
We came back from vacation to find a very sick cat. Amy is the one on the left in the picture of the two cats in the right column. We had to put her to sleep. :(
I had to replace the catalytic converter in my car.
Kaden got his second haircut.
I got my very first pair of 4", peep toe sling back shoes. **squeal**

Nine, Ten, Eleven

2010-03-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

I was changing Kaden's diaper last week and noticed that he had sprouted another tooth. Not two days later we notice another one. Today we were eating dinner and Kaden opens his mouth just right - you guessed it - a third (eleventh) tooth is poking out. I'm amazed at how quickly these little teeth appear out of nowhere!

I think we have also kicked Kaden's binky habbit. No more pacifiers at daycare! Kaden's teachers have commented that he seems more social and interative without it. Now let's see if we can manage to hide all the ones at home so he doesn't find them.

Letter to my neighbor

2010-02-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Neighbor,

It's February 28th. Christmas was two months ago. Three if you count tomorrow as a new month. I think it's probably safe to take down the Christmas lights and the lights in your yard. While you're at it, feel free to tell the other guy in our neighborhood that he can take the green garland off his back porch and the ornaments off the tree by his front door. I really hope that you didn't give up taking down decorations that are well past their time for Lent.

Signed,

Annoyed Neighbor

What a horrible mother!

2010-02-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

It finally happened today. Kaden went to daycare as usual. I picked him up as usual. We came home and ate dinner with Ryan. Kaden decided that he'd had a long day and started hitting.

He got his hand smacked a few times. That didn't stop him. More hits and he got his bottom swatted. That still didn't stop him. More hits and he got a time out on the steps. Out comes the lower lip, quivering in his signature pout. After his time out, I squatted down and asked for a hug.

What do I get? You guessed it. One more hit. Kaden got a warning that if he hit one more time that he would go to bed early. This all happened before Ryan left for work and 40 minutes before bedtime.

If you hadn't already guessed it, Kaden tried to hit one more time. So horrible mommy let Kaden say goodnight to daddy, brought him upstairs, changed his diaper and put him to bed. Poor little guy passed out within 2 minutes. I have a bad feeling that I'll be up super early tomorrow.

Perfect Day

2010-02-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

Cooked chocolate chip pancakes for family for breakfast
Worked out at the Y
Went shopping with my Mom
Completely finished all laundry before Ryan woke up
Had dinner with Ryan and Kaden
Started a fire in the fireplace
Gave Kaden a bath and he went to bed shortly after Ryan went to work

All in all, I'd say that today was pretty close to perfect.

Another reason why I love my husband

2010-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

Neither Ryan or I are big sports fans. I'm thankful that we both don't care about watching basketball or football games on tv. Case in point: Superbowl Sunday. Don't care who won or lost or even who played. Just another Sunday.

20 bucks and a pack of gum

2010-01-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

In addition to my regular dentist appointment this week, I got to visit an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist. Since Kaden was born, there have been a couple of times that my salivary glands swell up so bad when I try to eat that the pain made eating unbearable. It comes and goes so it wasn't anything that is cause for alarm, but it was time to have someone look at it.

My appointment was Friday afternoon and I didn't get called into the doctor's office until almost 25 minutes past my scheduled time. He looked in my ears, up my nose, down my throat. He poked around in my mouth to see if he felt any stones in my salivary glands. Finally he sat back down and gave me his diagnosis. Chew gum between meals and drink water. For a 5 minute appointment, 25 minute wait and a $20 copay ... chew gum? Seriously?!?!

Kaden likes to share

2010-01-13T11:29:00.001-08:00

I haven't had the motivation to update my blog recently and it's been quite a while. Kaden had a doctor's appointment last Thursday for his second H1N1 shot and to see if his double ear infections had cleared up. (They did.)

Just a few days later daycare called to inform us that they thought he had pink eye. We took him in to the doctor on Monday and indeed he did. In both eyes. And another infected ear. So as the daycare rules go, I stayed home with my little monkey. With minimal fussing, he was a good patient.

Apparently we taught him to share well because this morning I woke up with - you guessed it - pink eye. Luckily I was able to call into my doctor's office and they called in a prescription. So poor monkey and I will be getting eye drops for the next week. It will be painful to go without my beloved contacts for a week, but what can you do?

Where'd that come from?

2009-12-12T21:13:00.001-08:00

Thanks Amy and Jenn for posting comments on my poor sick baby. He's doing better now and is as ornery as ever. I think the reason why he's getting all these sick periods is because of day care. (I would post the story about how Kaden went from in-home day care to where he is now, but I'm not going to tempt karma only to have it bite me in the butt.) Our day care center is awesome and I'm so grateful that Jenn suggested it and we love it so much.

Here's some pictures from our week so far:

Kaden and the Christmas tree

"What's wrong with this picture? Oh, silly grandpa! You put my diaper on backwards!"

I came home to this scene. Kaden helping daddy cut trim in the garage.

Thank you Daddy for protecting Kaden's ears.

And it was bound to happen sometime. Kaden's first Happy Meal. He ate a few fries, the bottom bun and most of the top bun, no burger and all of the milk.

My Poor Baby

2009-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

Poor little Kaden hasn't had a good couple of weeks. We took him to the minor emergency recently to find out he had two infected ears. He got the bubble gum medicine for 10 days and we hoped that would clear it up. Kaden also had a few days of puking up anything and everything he ate but it would only happen at night. I think I changed the sheets on his bed 4 times! To top all that off, Ryan took Kaden in for his 14 month checkup today and he got 6 shots - 2 for flu (regular and h1n1) and four boosters. It sucks being a kid.

Kaden's First Sushi

2009-12-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

We went to Gindi recently to get our sushi fix. Ryan introduced me to sushi early on when we were first dating. I think Kaden is going to follow in our footsteps. He didn't object to this mostly rice and a bit of cooked salmon.

Corn Maze

2009-12-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I took Kaden to his first corn maze in October. We normally go to Bergmann's Corn Maze but opted to go to the Cox Farm Corn Maze this year. I think we'll stick with Bergmann's next year. We kind of got lost in the maze and gave up after about 90 minutes or so.

Cookies!

2009-12-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Kaden got his first Oreo cookie from my dad. He was smart enough to put a bib on him and take him outside to eat it. Here's the before and after shots:

Critters!

2009-12-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

We went to Petco to get some cat food. Ryan took Kaden around to all the different cages to view all the critters that were available to buy. I think there may be critter cages in our future.

Camping Trip

2009-12-01T10:00:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that I've left my blog dormant for so long! I have many posts to catch up on.

Ryan and I left Kaden in Brent and Terri's capable hands and took off for a few days to go camping. We went to Cross Timbers State Park about 90 minutes from Wichita. We hiked two trails the first afternoon (about 3 miles) and an 8 mile trail the next day. Over the course of hiking the two days we counted over a dozen deer! I can't wait for warmer weather to go camping again.

On the trail.

Ryan out in his element.
Cooking Franks and Beans.
The "bridge" we had to cross to get to the longer trails. The water finally receeded the day we left the park.

Kansas City Trip

2009-09-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, better late than never. In August we went to the Crown Center while we were in Kansas City for Kayleen's wedding. There was a traveling exhibit by New York artist Nathan Sawaya, who creates artwork composed completely out of legos. They were so awesome!

Yes, that Monopoly board is made completely out of legos!

We also went to the Hallmark Visitor's Center and saw how they create the punches for greeting cards. (The worker guy is laughing at Kaden.)

We went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I don't think Kaden was too fond of the museum - he bit me twice. Maybe he was just bored.

We also stopped by Bass Pro Shop and Cabellas. We were able to see some cool dead stuff at both places. Ryan got to practice his shooting skills at the range at both places.

I'm still alive!

2009-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Don't send out the search team - I'm still here. I took a small break from blogging recently to catch up with life. We spend some time last week at Kiel and Amanda's house. Kiel, Ryan and Kaden had a mini jam session:

Ryan, Kaden and I went to Red Bean Bayou Grill on Sunday. Kaden took his first introduction to crawfish pretty well. I think he was trying to bond with it.

I'll post some more pictures soon!

Kaden's New Toy

2009-08-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

One day this weekend, while we were getting ready to leave the house, Kaden was crawling around on the bathroom floor. He had picked up a nut cover from the toilet base and was playing with it.

Ryan caught a fly in his hand. He shook the fly up in his hand and opened the toilet lid and threw in the fly. Just as Ryan flushed the toilet, Kaden stands up next to the toilet. Wanting to be just like daddy, Kaden decided to throw the nut cover into the toilet.

Ryan tried frantically to recover the cap but was unsuccessful and Kaden was grinning from ear to ear. Luckily Ryan had spare caps in the garage. Since they come in sets he replaced the missing one and wrote "Kaden's" inside the other so Kaden has his own cap to play with.

This one's for you!

2009-08-12T11:39:00.001-07:00

This is for my mom, who I instantly thought of when I saw this graph on GraphJam.com.

see more Funny Graphs

July Sick Days

2009-07-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

Poor little Kaden has croup. Ryan stayed home from work two days since I've been coming down with something too. Kaden was starting to bark (cough) so bad this morning we took him into the doctor. The bad part is that croup is contagious so he is unable to go back to the sitter this week. The cool-mist humidifier that we put in his room has seemed to help as well. Ryan thought Kaden did such a good job at the doctor that Kaden got to go to the store and pick out a new toy.

Month of Firsts

2009-07-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Kaden turned 9 months this month and he's growing in leaps and bounds. He's learned how to crawl -not army crawling (where your tummy is on the ground) but full fledged crawling. Ryan, Kaden and I went to my parent's house on July 3rd for dinner and fireworks. Kaden surprised us all by clapping. Two days later he started giving high fives. I don't remember exactly which day it was, but he will now crawl over to us and pull himself up to a standing position. He'll then put both hands up in the air and want to be picked up.

Last weekend we went camping with Brent and Terri. It was Kaden's first camping trip and the first in four years for us. Kaden slept in the camper with his grandparents. Ryan and I slept in hammocks called Eagle Nests. We had bug nets so we wouldn't get bitten. It was so wonderful to go to sleep under the stars and wake up to the birds singing in the morning. (They could have waited until after 6 am though.)

Kaden is drooling up a storm and has been blowing raspberries most of the day today. He's fairing well with the hot weather. He's crawling everywhere and we're slowly baby proofing the house. A baby gate is next on the list as well as re-installing the baby locks on all the cabinets. The homeowners before us had baby proofed the house and we tucked the locks away for just this time.

9 months old!

2009-06-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Kaden will be 9 months old tomorrow. Our little baby is growing up so fast. He has finally figured out how crawling and has started to pull himself up on things (couches, chaise lounge, coffee tables, me). It's so cute that he crawled over to me and grabbed onto my pant leg and pulled himself up. He then put his arms in the air because he wanted to be picked up.

I tried to get Kaden to crawl over to the coffee table and pull himself up like he did a few minutes before this, but he had other plans. He saw the strap on the camera and made a bee-line for it.

Kaden's First Movie

2009-06-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the Drive-In this past Friday. We saw Transformers and Land of the Lost. It was Kaden's first movie at a movie theater. The theater starts showing movies at 9:25 and we got there at 8:30, so we had some time to kill before the movie started. The Blazer was the perfect vehicle to take - the back end had just enough room for me to sit in and let Kaden crawl around. He had so much fun standing up and looking out the side window. Ryan got us snacks from the snack bar which went well with the cooler full of pop. As per my mom's suggestion, we brought a bottle of water and a wash cloth for Kaden. The poor little guy only made it about 30 minutes through the first movie. I ended up knodding off through Land of the Lost. Ryan made the executive decision to call it a night at 3 am only an hour through Star Trek. I think we got more than our money's worth!

Grounded

2009-06-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone makes a mental grocery list of things they need to buy when they go to the grocery store. Light bulbs, toilet paper, milk, eggs, etc. I have a problem of taking things off the list after I've purchased them. Not only do I buy them once, but I sometimes have two or three extras on hand. Right now I'm grounded from buying Italian Dressing. I ran to the store to get milk and "remembered" that I needed dressing only to come home and find that I now have a total of 5 bottles! In all fairness one bottle has about a 1/4 inch of dressing left so that's just a little more than 4 bottles.

Other things I have been grounded from buying:

Rice (Ryan found 2 or 3 opened bags and 1 unopened)
Zip lock bags (hard to say no to a good deal when buying in bulk)
Cereal
Peanut butter
Tea (I went through a tea phase and had several different flavors)

Just a quick update

2009-06-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful trip to Arkansas last week. The weather was great (most days) and we were able to see a few family members from out of town. I was able to get some sun although very pale to kind of pale isn't much of an improvement. Kaden did very well in his big boy car seat, but I have a feeling that he was bored part of the way there.

Kaden is officially crawling. We'll have to start baby proofing the house soon - plug in covers, baby gates and more. He learned to crawl literally over the course of a few days. I'm so impressed by our growing little baby.

I've also had my fourth migraine headache in two weeks. Not much fun at all. The latest one woke me up in the middle of the night with light sensitivity, vomiting, and a splitting headache. If it was just a little bit worse, I might have had Ryan take me into the ER. I did go to the doctor today, so hopefully bloodwork will show up something. That's it for now. Off to bed for a good night's sleep. I'll try to post pictures of the trip soon.

One week and counting

2009-05-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

One week until vacation! We're so excited to head to Bull Shoals, Arkansas. It will be Kaden's second trip there (the first one he was only a month old). This time we'll be able to take him in the lake to go swimming. We will also have time this year to go to the caverns which were closed in November.

Ryan works from now until the morning we leave so this trip will be a good break for him. I have the usual work week including training for some big names on campus. Saturday night I'll be going to my friend's bachelorette party.

Tomorrow Kaden turns 8 months old. I can't believe how fast it has gone. He's up to 21 pounds and is eating baby food about twice a day. We haven't found a food that he won't eat although he has made some funny faces with some very tart fruits.

Kaden isn't quite crawling yet. He's rolling all over the place and almost doing an army crawl but hasn't gone forward. It's strange because he can do a push up (yes, he actually get up on his toes and hands) but he can't go forward.

That's all I have for now. Life is good.

Family Photos

2009-05-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

So I've been a little lax with posting lately. We recently had our family photos taken and here's a few of the ones they took.

Yard Work

2009-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I was exhausted after working all the graduation ceremonies yesterday so naturally that means that Kaden decides to wake up at 7 am. No sleep for the weary. I was able to take a nap for an hour after Kaden had his first bottle of the day.

We decided to do some yard work today. We had tomato plants last year but only produced about a dozen or so tomatoes. The two trees in our backyard grew so much over the summer that they cast almost constant shade over the garden. This year we decided to move the garden to the other side of the yard. He was such a hard worker today. He moved the garden to a different location in the yard, tilled the ground, planted the tomatoes, mowed the grass in the old garden, moved the wood rack (which was full) and swept off the patio. Where was I the whole time? Holding the baby. I did take some time out to pound in some nails that had popped out of the fence. I feel productive even though I didn't do much.

Kaden has been fussy for the past few days. Ryan and I think that he may be getting some more teeth in somewhere. He hasn't cut any new ones yet, but I think they're coming.

We had family pictures taken on Thursday and I'll be posting some of them soon. They were all very good and Kaden behaved very well through the whole shoot.

23 Hours

2009-05-16T20:17:00.001-07:00

WSU held graduation this weekend. I'm on a leadership committee that helps out with commencement every semester. There were 2 ceremonies Friday and 4 ceremonies Saturday. Between the two days I volunteered close to 23 hours. I'm beat, worn out and sore. One of our other leadership members wore a pedometer and logged about 8 miles over the two days. I can't think anymore words to type. Brain and body hurt. Need sleep.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've had a wonderful and busy Mother's Day. I received a card and a new copy of Twilight to add to my collection from my adoring husband. I had the cable repair guy over to try to fix the cable. (They'll have to come back later since the apparent problem is in the master bedroom.) Kaden and I went to Walmart, got groceries and got the oil changed in my car. We came back to the house and cooked food for the dinner at my parent's house. Did some laundry then went over to my parents for dinner. I'm exhausted and still have a load or two of laundry left. Blech.

This week is going to go by too quickly. I work three days, get one day off, then work 6 graduation ceremonies. Yes that's 6 ceremonies! 12:30 pm to 7 pm on Friday and 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday. It's going to be busy, but at least I'll get to see Ryan and Kaden on Thursday.

I do look forward to June when Ryan, Kaden and I will have a family reunion at our aunt and uncle's place in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. Looking forward to vacation always makes work seem to go by faster.

My Growing Boy

2009-04-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our little monkey turns 7 months old tomorrow. I took Kaden to the grocery store today and he rode in the seat for almost the whole time! He's getting so big. He's been eating solid food for quite a while now too. Kaden likes both fruit and vegetables. We've even tried a few combination foods like turkey and beans, ham and eggs, mixed vegetables, and bananas/apples/pears.

Ryan watched Kaden on Wednesday and took this adorable clip of him. He tried so hard to stay awake but just couldn't manage.

I'm glad my pet weighs more than 6 pounds

2009-04-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Is it bad that I laughed out loud at this story?

Kaden's Checkup

2009-04-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan took Kaden in for his 6 month check up today. He got three shots and was a real trooper and only cried for about 5 seconds or so. Ryan soothed him by holding him after all the shots were finished. Kaden's weight is up to 18 pounds 10 ounces. He's rolling all over the place too - he hasn't quite figured out the crawling.

The doctor also said that we can start feeding him solid food 3 times a day. So far Kaden has enjoyed peas (his favorite veggie), pears, applesauce, carrots, peaches, bananas, and green beans. He gets so excited to eat and figured out if he opens his mouth for more he usually gets more. I'll have to get a clip of us feeding him and post it soon. He also cut his first tooth recently and hasn't been complaining about it.

Kaden and I will be visiting my sister, Amanda, in Arkansas this weekend. Ryan unfortunately has to work so he has to stay home. It will be my first trip alone with Kaden. Amanda can't wait to see her little nephew!

Busy Weekend

2009-03-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

We had a big snow/ice storm on Friday. The road conditions were getting bad at noon, so I got out of work for the afternoon. Ryan build us a fire Friday night and also Saturday morning. Kaden was mystified by the fire and couldn't keep his eyes off it. Ryan took a very short nap by the fire and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of him and Kaden.

Saturday afternoon Ryan and I dropped Kaden off for his first overnight stay at my parent's house. We went down to Ponca City, OK to watch a friend of ours (one of Ryan's co-workers) in a UFC style fight.

We received a few toys from our friends for Kaden. One is a police motorcycle rocker that has lights and noise and buttons. We were able to put Kaden on it and put his hands on the handle bars and sit up all by himself. Here's his "This is how I roll" picture.

And the last bit of cuteness for this post, here's a clip of Kaden doing some tummy time. He hasn't figured crawling out yet, but he can hold his head up really well and can roll over front-to-back and back-to-front. This clip is of him chatting away. I especially like the ending!

Snow Day (Well, 1/2 day)

2009-03-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the many days that I'm glad that I work in higher education. Whenever the school closes classes, I get a snow day too. The "big blizzard" that was supposed to hit today hasn't really come in yet. We did get a few inches of slushy stuff that looks like snow cone material which did make the drive home at noon today a bit tricky. I wasn't able to go over 30 miles per hour. Since Ryan has Fridays off now we were able to spend the afternoon together which is an added benefit.

In Kaden news, he'll be turning 6 months on April 1st. He's starting to roll over more now and can roll front-to-back and back-to-front. He also seems to like doing 90 degree rolls which is so cute. (Think his head is pointing at 12 o'clock and he turns so his head is at 9 or 3 o'clock.)

Monday night my sister Lori came over to watch Twilight. She was playing with Kaden while I made popcorn. I'm not sure who came up with the song - Lori or our younger sister Amanda - but she started singing "You barfed on Auntie Lo-Lo" after she jiggled him a little too much. He's been a little puky this week including two nights where he puked down my shirt and into my bra. That's a trick that I'll never get used to. I went through three shirts one night this week. There's always more laundry to do when you have a baby.

Trifecta

2009-03-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

My dad came over and looked at our water heater today. We took Kaden to Lowe's to pick up a new one. I called my father-in-law for assistance and he called my brother-in-law to help with some heavy lifting. Let's just say it was a really long day. I so appreciate the fact that we had help to fix the water heater. It would have cost around $300 just to have a water heater installed.

One good thing about hearing the sump pump running last night (other than drawing my attention to the busted water heater) was that it also brought our attention to the fact that our sump pump wasn't draining properly. So after 4 trips to Lowes, our brand new sump pump is almost installed.

To top the evening off, after one of our trips back from Lowes, there was an incredible amount of kitty barf strewn across the kitchen floor and on one of the rugs. That finished off the trifecta. I think I've hit my quota for a while.

I love being a home owner.

2009-03-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

First, the highlight of my day was picking up a copy of Twilight on DVD at Target. It was just released today and on sale. My sister Lori and I have planned a movie night on Monday to watch it. Yay!

I come home after visiting at my parents house and put Kaden down in his bed. I put away some groceries and grab the laundry to drag downstairs. I hear a motorized purr coming from the basement and instantly recognize it as our sump pump. We just turned on our sprinklers today so I think it's no big deal and nothing to worry about. I pull the plastic cover off the hole and sure enough it's chugging away. Then my attention turns to the wonderful stream of water that's trickling from the water heater. You know when you put a cup of ice water down on a surface and look at it a bit later and there's a ring of condensation around the bottom? That's what our water heater looks like. How super. Now instead of going shopping for fun stuff, like a new tree for the front yard we get to go look at water heaters. I have my fingers crossed that Lowe's or Home Depot will have a sale tomorrow.

What a busy week

2009-03-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy week and I can't believe that it's almost the weekend again. Last Friday was the first week of his new schedule. He hasn't had a weekend night off in over 4 years! We went to dinner and a movie to celebrate. I can't wait for some good movies to be offered at the drive-in so we can go as a family. Saturday morning we wandered around downtown and the Delano District.

I found liquid white chocolate flavoring at the Spice Merchant. One of my favorite drinks at major coffee shops has been a Caramel Chameleon. It's really simple to make: milk, caramel and white chocolate. Just heat it all together and it makes a wonderful alternative to hot cocoa.

Kaden got his first taste of green beans yesterday. He ate half the jar before he decided that drinking a bottle would be quicker to satisfy his hungry tummy. He's had multiple servings of applesauce and pears. Maybe he's just a fruit guy for now.

Kaden still has a wonderful disposition. He sleeps through the night and only fusses when he's tired or hungry. He can hold his head up very well and we're working on crawling. Poor little guy - he can't seem to understand that he needs to make his arms and legs move together. We'll get there soon enough.

Odds and Ends

2009-03-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

My car hit 100,000 miles recently. I've had my grand prix since 2002 and it had around 26K miles on it when I purchased it.

Tonight Ryan and I fed Kaden applesauce and peas. Well, he fed Kaden while I made us dinner. It was so nice to be able to see Ryan feeding Kaden in his high chair. Poor Kaden didn't quite grasp the concept that we had to feed him with the spoon. He tried a couple of times to grab it - one time successfully with both hands. Ryan had to clean peas out between his fingers. We've also learned that you don't jiggle the baby after he's been fed. Ryan got a shoulder full of green puke to remind him.

Kaden and I went shopping at Target yesterday while Ryan went to softball practice. (Ryan joined a softball league with work that will last for 6 weeks.) I picked up a Mommy and Baby yoga/pilates DVD. We worked out for 35 minutes last night. It was really fun and I look forward to doing the work out again.

Cell Phone Pics

2009-03-07T12:08:00.001-08:00

Here's a few pictures Ryan and I took using our cell phones. Kaden and Ryan feeding a big sheep at the zoo.

Kaden in his Adidas coat that Aunt Amanda and Uncle Kurtis got him last year.

Kaden's first time eating apple sauce. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he ended up figuring it out pretty quick.

Feeding Time!

2009-03-02T17:08:00.001-08:00

Even though his eyes are closed, he's really eating. Kaden gets into kind of a milk coma and doesn't pay attention to anything else in the world except that bottle.

5 Months and Freedom

2009-03-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

Kaden turned 5 months today. Last month he learned to pull his socks off with his hands. He has also learned to hold his bottle so he can feed himself. Last Monday morning Kaden fed himself his whole bottle while I was getting ready for work. Granted I had to stop a couple times and help him burp, but it did help out quite a bit. He hasn't started crawling yet, but I saw a few promising moves yesterday while he was on his tummy. I'm sure he'll be crawling before I know it.

In another bit of freedom, Ryan had his days off changed. For the first time in 4 years, other than holidays and requested days off, Ryan will have Friday nights off! I'm so happy that I'll actually have an entire night and morning off with my husband. It's been a long time coming and he deserves it!

Happy Wii!

2009-02-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we had Lori, Brian and my dad over for dinner and Wii. Unfortunately Ryan had to work so he was only able to eat with us. I cooked tacos and bought special "stand up" taco shells for the occasion. They were really cool and worked very well to stand up to get stuffed.

Ryan bought me two Wii party games - Tetris Party and Midnight Bowling. Brian ended up beating everyone in a "best 2 out of 3" run on Tetris and continued to kick everyone's butts on Midnight Bowling. We purchased Mini Golf right before everyone showed up and it's really cool but there is a bit of a learning curve.

Evan and Kennedy - if you buy Tetris Party on Wii Ware (it's only 8 or 12 bucks, I forget which), we can hook up with Lori and Brian and have a long distance Wii party! Any takers?

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-02-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

Another year older. I was thinking about this last night as I fell asleep. Exactly one year ago we had just found out I was pregnant an now we have a beautiful, almost 5 month old baby boy. Ryan was sweet enough to whisper "Happy Birthday baby" to me after 1:00 a.m. this morning. Life is good.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

This is in honor of my friend Jenn (Fincham) Erickson. Happy Valentine's Day. Hope your house is feeling better than mine!

Sick Family

2009-02-13T06:01:00.000-08:00

I came home from work early yesterday to finish the day working from home. Ryan was sick and wasn't fully able to take care of Kaden. Like the loving family we are, he ended up passing his bug to me. 3 a.m. rolls around and I'm spending at least an hour in the bathroom throwing up. Did I mention that Kaden seems to be coming down with something too? This is not the type of quality family time that I had in mind.

Kaden Videos!

2009-02-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

This took a couple of tries, but I finally got them up! Here are a couple videos that Ryan took of Kaden recently.

I love Jesus, but I drink a little.

2009-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist posting this. One of my friends had this on their Facebook account.

Happy Groundhog Day!

2009-02-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. Today's holiday got me thinking. Who in their right mind decided to pull a rat out of a hole to see if it casts a shadow to determine if winter will continue? When you break it down to simple terms like that, it just sounds weird.

Hey Mr. Sandman

2009-01-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

My mom gave this strange sand thing to my dad for Christmas. It's a frame with liquid and sand in it that you flip over and create different "pictures" as the sand falls to the bottom of the frame. Kaden and I went to visit them tonight. As Dad and I were playing cribbage, Mom was "painting pictures." She showed this one off to us and Dad and I instantly saw a face in the right corner of the frame. She didn't believe us and thought that we were pulling her leg when we told her to grab her camera and take a picture of the face. You can see the guy's eyes, nose (fairly sizable), mouth, mustache, beard, and billowy hair.

There's another face that's in the middle of the frame. You can make out an ear, nose, eyebrow ridge, lips/mouth and even a neck if you look at it just right.

Does this mean if we say it's Jesus that we can sell it on EBay for a few million? We'd put in fine print that there's no guarantee the picture won't change when it ships.

Anticipation Crushed

2009-01-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

I was running a little short on time getting ready to go to work this morning so I opted to skip breakfast at home for some yummy biscuits and gravy at the Rhatigan Student Center (RSC). You know how you anticipate ordering something and how good it would taste? Imagine my diappointment when I found that they are no longer offering biscuits and gravy. :0( The next best looking thing was 2 plain cake donuts that didn't taste good at all since my anticipation of the "better" breakfast was completely ruined. Karma sucks sometimes.

Almost Done

2009-01-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

My home computer has been out of commission since before Thanksgiving (I think). It's really great to work at WSU because staff and students can get their computers fixed for free. We had to order a new hard drive, which we got a really good deal on. It's also 70 gigs more than our old one. I'm excited to get it back (which should be sometime this week) so I don't have to fight Ryan over the laptop.

We measured Kaden today. He's a whopping 25 inches long. That's five inches that he's grown since birth! We'll weigh him tomorrow and give an update soon. Ryan also took some really cute videos of Kaden. One was Kaden trying to play with a toy that makes sound when you spin a ball and the other is Kaden feeding himself. I'll post them as soon as I figure out how to post the videos.

My "Little" Monkey

2009-01-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

My little monkey is in bed. I swear that he's growing by the day. We had to buy him size 3 diapers which fits 16 to 28 pounds. :0( My friend Jenn's daughter Lauren is a year older than Kaden and is wearing the same size diapers. He's going to be a very big boy!

He's starting to develop really good sleep cycles too. The size of pjs that he's wearing right now is 6 to 9 months. Kaden is only 3 1/2 months. It's just another realization that he's growing up (even though he's still mommy's little boy).

Confirm This!

2009-01-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

I was looking at some information about Google Sites this afternoon. My boss was looking at that for something and came over to my office to chat about something else. I signed up for an account, but they give you one of those weird words or letters that you have to type in to make sure you're a human creating things and not a random robot. I'm not making this up at all, but here is what it wanted me to type in:

Two for two, fingers crossed

2009-01-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

Usually Kaden gets a bottle somewhere between 8 and 11 pm. For the past two nights I've been able to put him down after Ryan leaves for work at 8:30. He slept all last night and didn't start fussing until about 6 or 6:15. I'm so excited that he's starting to settle into a good sleep pattern and not to mention a bedtime.

This reminds me of when I was little, my mom said that I would occassionally put myself to bed. She said I would say "I go to bed now!" or "I go to my room!" and march down the hall to bed. I have a feeling that Kaden is kind of doing that. I'll take what I can get.

On a side note, I was over at my mom's house Saturday and we weighed Kaden. According to her house scale Kaden is a whopping 17 pounds!

A little slice of Heaven

2009-01-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

I had two good things happen already this morning:

1. Our ice maker has been temperamental for the past month or two (maybe 3). Translation: we've been without ice for that long. I was afraid that we'd have to have someone come out and look at it and possible replace it. I had a eureka moment last night and pushed the on switch a couple of times. The switch, for whatever reason, doesn't feel like it sticks in the on position, but I figured it was worth a shot. This morning when I was in the kitchen and I heard the wonderful noise of ice being dumped into the ice bin and water refilling the trays. Of course that made me want a glass of ice water! It's so refreshing to be thankful for something as small as ice.

2. After the above happen, I had to share my ice water with Ryan. He was sleeping but obliged me in sitting up and taking a few sips. (He was almost as excited as I was about the ice maker working again. ) He laid back down in bed and I gave him a hug. I got the second slice of Heaven in the following conversation:

Me: Do you know how much I love you?

Ryan: Yes. (light chuckle)

Me: Well, I just want to make sure you know!

Ryan: The feeling is mutual.

First Post of the Year

2009-01-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow. I've been off since before Christmas and it's been wonderful spending the extra time with my husband and son. Kaden got a monkey for Christmas and he's starting to hug it (and suck on its nose, tail and ears).

We also got him a Bumbo for Christmas and was able to sit up and watch us take down all the decorations on New Years Day.

We used our Christmas money to get cabinents for our laundry room. Ryan was able to put them all together and up mostly by himself. We only had one minor setback. One of the screws to secure the cabinent to the wall drilled all the way through a water pipe. Thankfully Lowe's was still opened and Ryan's dad helped him pick out the parts to fix it in only a few minutes. The flood was averted and we now have quite a bit more storage in our house.

Have a happy and safe New Years!

2008-12-31T07:28:00.001-08:00

Time for some updates!

Ryan finished putting the six cabinets in the laundry room. We had a minor setback but they are all up now. Yay! That more than tripled our storage capacity for that room which will be a good selling point for whenever we do decide to sell our house (which isn't anytime soon). I'll post a picture soon - just after the battery for my camera charges.

The insurance guy came out and looked at my car. He's suggesting to State Farm to replace the whole stereo. Another yay! I'll either get the same stereo or an upgrade if they can't get the same one through their ordering program.

Kaden is still growing as fast as ever. He's starting to wear some 3 - 6 month clothes. He's 3 months old tomorrow, but it still makes me feel that my baby is growing up so fast. Kaden can blow raspberries and is working on sitting up on his own. He's still a little shaky but can at least lift his head very well when lying on his stomach.

New Years Eve! I'm so totally excited for this New Years Eve since it will be only the second time to spend the evening with Ryan. He was in the academy the second year we were dating and was working the other times. Those years I got my New Year's kiss but it was always 4 hours early. This year I am grateful not only that he got to spend both Christmas and New Years with Kaden, but also with me.

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy New Years. Drink in moderation and get home safe!

Independence Day

2008-12-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

We have Cox digital cable which has it's own version of TV guide (it shows you what's on and what's coming up). I'm creating a new label post called "TV Guide" based on the description it had for Independence Day:

"Earthlings vs. evil aliens in 15 mile-wide ships"

It just makes that movie sound completely silly instead of the box office hit it really was when it was released in theaters.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T22:24:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We got to spend Christmas Eve with Ryan's family and Christmas afternoon/evening with my family.

My younger sister Amanda was able to make it in from Arkansas to spend Christmas evening and the day after Christmas with us.

Kaden was able to open some presents at our house Christmas morning.

The day after Christmas was in the 60's! Amanda and I took advantage of that and took Kaden on his first (no carseat, just stroller) walk around the neighborhood.

And finally, my least favorite part of Christmas. I went out to my car to bring Kaden over to my parent's house on Friday to find the following "present" in my car. Merry freakin Christmas to me! And the idiots who broke into my car thankfully left the garage door opener on the passenger seat. Only my stereo was stolen, but the jerks also went across the street and broke into the sheriff's car (busted out the driver side window) and also into his wife's car. The good thing about being married to a police officer is that Ryan was able to call in the police report on my car. I'm thankful that I have insurance which will "hopefully" pay for everything to be replaced and installed. We'll see what happens - they'll come out next week to inspect it. More on that as it develops.

It's almost Christmas!

2008-12-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well I'm on the mend. I finally decided to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics. Sinus infection. Really fun. Even more so since Ryan is catching the same thing too. So we're both downing some antibiotics so we're healthy for Kaden's first Christmas.

After my last post, Ryan urged me to try to get some sleep. I got another hour or so before I had to get up and get ready for work. He came upstairs to wake me up and said to come downstairs to see the "changes" he made while I slept. He decided to rearrange the furniture. Our family room is more open and it's a better use of space. There's a ton of extra room in front of the TV now, which will come in handy when Kaden is crawling around on the floor or playing with toys.

We're going to try to do all our Christmas shopping today. I know it will be a mad house but it's better to do it now than Christmas Eve. Wish us luck.

The thing about being sick ...

2008-12-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

I've had a nasty sinus infection since Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I had no voice. Does anyone remember what I do for a living? I teach classes to faculty and staff at a college. Teaching. As in talking. I already had to cancel classes on Tuesday because I had no voice. I did go to the doctor Thursday and got started on antibiotics. The bad thing about being sick is I woke up at 3:30 coughing and I'm still not back to sleep at 4:00. At least my husband works fourth shift (9 pm to 7 am) and he woke up to take care of me. Sigh. Here's hoping I'll get to sleep soon!

Oh what a night!

2008-12-14T22:18:00.001-08:00

It's almost 12:30 a.m. on Sunday night. I'm having one of those moments where it feels like the planets have aligned and the heavens are smiling down upon me. (And with my post-partum stress, I needed a day like this!) I've had a very productive day and I'm proud of myself for everything that I've gotten done, especially in the last 5 hours:

Get Kaden up and ready to spend the day with Aunt Lori and Uncle Brian
Work the graduation ceremony at WSU (6 hours!)
Return home to have a wonderful husband air up my tire
Kiss hubby goodbye as he goes to work (just a tradition as he leaves)
Cook dinner for myself
Do 4 loads of laundry (folding, hanging up stuff and putting everything away)
Pay bills and balance checkbook
Do 2 loads of dishes in the dishwasher and handwash 8 bottles
Feed/burp/rock/sing to Kaden
Pack Kaden's bag for tomorrow to go to the sitter

I know that might not seem like very much to some people, but it's been a great evening and I feel good about myself. I also went through my closet and folded up some of my maternity clothes that I received on loan from my friend Suzanne. It feels nice to know those clothes are making their way out of my closet.

I also worked up the courage to try on some of my pre-pregnancy jeans. My American Eagle size 14 jeans didn't fit. I hoped they would but it just means that my hips haven't gone back to their pre-baby size. Not wanted to be discouraged again I took a deep breath and tried on my Gap size 12 jeans. They fit! I was so surprised and so happy that they fit. I now have 4 pairs of jeans that I can wear.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

2008-12-12T19:39:00.001-08:00

Say Uncle!

2008-12-12T19:34:00.001-08:00

Here's a picture from last Sunday when uncle Maurice came in town on a business trip. Of course Kaden threw up on his shoulder. :o)

Merry Christmas, from Hal

2008-12-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

I came home from work Wednesday evening to see our trash dumpster (or whatever you call it) at the end of our driveway with something sticking out of the lid. I took Kaden inside and went back to the curb to drag the trash can back into the garage. The white thing sticking out of the lid was actually an envelope. It was a card from our trashman Hal wishing us a Merry Christmas. Now this wasn't a "Merry Christmas, from Waste Management" type card. It was a card that our trashman probably purchased for everyone on his route. Did I mention that it was hand written? It touched me and Ryan that there are still people out there that go above and beyond their job duties.

2 month check-up

2008-12-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

Ryan took Kaden to his 2 month check-up on Wednesday. Kaden weighed 14.6 pounds (91% percentile) and measured 23 inches tall. He also had to get his first round of shots. Poor thing, he got two shots - one in each leg! Ryan said Kaden fussed a little bit and was better after a pacifier and being held by daddy.

I've been going through Kaden's clothes and have pulled all the newborn clothes out of his dresser. Some of the 0-3 month clothes don't fit either. Today we also had to put Kaden in size 2 diapers. My little monkey is growing up.

Kaden is starting to follow things when they move. He's starting to babble more - we had a great conversation this morning.

Kaden: Bwah, bwah bwah.
Me: You don't say!
Kaden: Ahh, ahh, ahh.
Me: Really?
Kaden: Ohhh, ahhh, blah.
Me: Tell me more!

He's smiling and cooing and it's so darn cute! Both Lori and my mom have said that he's grown so much since they saw him last.

I've Been Tagged

2008-12-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

My sister Lori tagged me a little while ago, so I figured it's time to stop putting it off. First, the tagging game's rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.
Let each person know he/she has been tagged.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about me:

1. I don't like professional/college sports. Both my sisters and brothers-in-law went to KU. They, along with my dad, enjoy watching KU basketball and other games on TV. I just can't get into it. I don't see the point of watching sports or getting all excited about it. (I also think it's stupid that professional people earn millions of dollars for something they can do well.) I'm glad my husband shares my point of view on this.

2. I love math, logic problems and sudoku. There was one time in high school (maybe earlier, I don't remember exactly when) that our teacher gave us a logic problem to do. We were only assigned to do one side of the paper but I did the logic problem on the other side of the paper for fun.

3. My husband and I met at WSU during a rock climbing class. I'm so glad that I decided to "treat" myself to an extra curricular college course. We kept seeing each other on campus and around Wichita. I would always hint to him that if he wanted to go climbing again that he should give me a call. He finally asked for my number and the rest is history.

4. I used to be very warm and now I'm very cold. When I was little, I wasn't able to help my mom make bread because my warm hands would make the dough stick to my fingers. Now I'm freezing. I usually have an extra blanket on my bed for when I go to sleep. There are some days that Ryan says I'm just like a furnace and I'm too hot to snuggle. Then again, after a long, cold night's work he really appreciates the warm bed when he gets home.

5. I love tomatoes but hate tomato juice. I could eat tomatoes at almost every meal. I've also been spoiled with home-grown tomatoes for most of my life. I'm not quite sure why, but the taste of plain tomato juice is just gross to me. I'm quite fond of tomato juice and beer though.

6. I hate the sound that untied shoe laces make when you walk. It's not something that I have to compulsively go tie some stranger's shoe when I hear the noise, but it's still annoying.

In the spirit of Kennedy's response to my sister tagging her, tag yourself and let me know!

2 Months Old!

2008-12-01T20:45:00.001-08:00

My little baby is two months old today. Today also marked my full time return to the work force. Since I am now working full time, Kaden has to go to the babysitter twice a week. It was so hard dropping him off this morning. I almost cried - I had the wavering chin and the whimper going as I walked back to my car and told myself to be strong. I did text Ryan an unhappy face :( and he just reassured me that we (Kaden and I) would be fine.

I had an epiphany about three weeks after Kaden was born. When I was pregnant with him, that was the safest he would ever be. I could protect him from everything. Today was just another day that I had to trust someone else to take care of my baby. Even though I'm still a new parent, each day I start to further appreciate all the emotions that my parents have gone through taking care of me and my siblings. I never truly understood the depth of just how much my parents loved me until I became a parent myself.

Bad Cyber Goat

2008-11-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

I was looking online tonight to see if I could find a place that carried one of my favorite pair of North Face yoga pants. I think I found it, but the evil cyber goats ate the webpage.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

I am grateful this year to have such a wonderful, caring husband and a beautiful baby boy. I can't believe he's almost two months old and that there's only a month or so left of 2008.

Pretty soon, maybe even tomorrow, Kaden, Ryan and I will go to Praire Pines to pick out our Christmas tree. I'm excited to photograph more of Kaden's firsts.

What a cute little baby!

2008-11-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

Kaden heard there was going to be a third Hellboy movie. He wants to try out for a part in the movie.

Quote of the Day

2008-11-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I were watching tv while he was getting ready for work tonight. We were watching Squid Invasion on the Discovery Channel. One of the guys on the show had captured a squid (I think it was about 2 or 3 feet long) and had shoved a small camera-type scope into the animal to observe its gills in action. He was amazed at the surface area of the gills and how it had three different hearts. Here's the blog worthy quote:

"Now I know why aliens like probing so much!"

Kaden Pictures

2008-11-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Kaden will be 1 1/2 months old tomorrow. He's getting so big! It's hard to believe that he's pushing 14 pounds.

(So Blogger did something weird and put all the pictures in the reverse order that I wanted to put them on here. I'm feeling a little lazy and didn't feel like fixing it. I think you'll live.)

Getting ready to go for a ride on a cold day:

Walking around at the Dixie Air Gun Museum in Arkansas. (It's the "You'll shoot your eye out" gun from A Christmas Story.)

Check out my cute little T-Rex baby.

Ryan, Kaden and me at Big Brutus.

Dad, Kaden and Mom shortly after Halloween. Check out Kaden's ghost pacifier.

Finally, Kaden's Halloween outfit. I also put him in the bear coat from the first picture.

I am an addict

2008-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

My name is Jen and I am a Twilight addict. My pushers are Lori and Jenn. Lori is my supplier and Jenn was the first person that told me about Twilight. I blame you both. :)

These books are so awesome that I've already read the first two books, the excerpts from the first two books, and the unpublished Midnight Sun (protagonist's view of the events in the first book). I've even pulled up the soundtrack page at work so I can listen to three of the songs from the soundtrack. I have a feeling that sooner or later the CD will be a part of my collection.

I've been sharing these books with Lori and have only taken about a week or so to read each book. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book and have a feeling that I might be spending most of my Thanksgiving vacation reading at least one of the two remaining books.

My mom is also starting to read the first book. Lori and I have decided to take mom to see the movie Twilight during its opening weekend. (I blame Ryan for my current obsession about seeing the movie since he told me that the movie was coming out when I was reading the first book in October.) I hope this movie with its viral following will prompt them to make movies of the next three books. I also hope that the movie lives up to the integrity of the books.

The greatest feeling in the world

2008-11-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today was my first day back to work. It wasn't too bad spending 5 hours away from my baby. After Ryan left for work I headed back down to the basement with Kaden and a bottle. After he finished I burped him and he fell asleep on my shoulder. What's the greatest feeling in the world? He wrapped his little arm around my arm and squeezed it! It was as if he was giving me his first hug. It gave me butterflys and realized that there is no greater feeling that I brought this little life into the world.

Return to Normalcy

2008-11-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday evening and it is a bittersweet evening for me. Tomorrow I will return to work part time. I've had five weeks of maternity leave and it has been wonderful. Part of me wishes that I could stay home with Kaden, but I knew that this day would come.

The nice thing about my return is that I'll be able to work part time for the next three weeks which will last until Thanksgiving break. I'll return to work full time on December 1st and Kaden will go to daycare for two days a week. With Ryan's schedule, he'll be able to watch Kaden for the remaining three days while I work.

My little munchkin is growing in leaps and bounds. Ryan weighed him the other day at about 11 pounds if our scale is accurate. We measured him yesterday and he's at 24 inches. Thats a 2 pound, 4 inch gain from his birth. I'm thinking more and more that he'll be taller than both his mommy and daddy.

Family Vacation

2008-11-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Last week Ryan, Kaden and I took our first family vacation to Arkansas to visit my sister Amanda and her husband Kurtis and then to visit my aunt Colleen and uncle Dave. Kaden travelled very well and slept most of the way, only waking up to need a bottle.

Amanda was very excited to see her nephew for the first time. We spent the evening together and even went out to dinner. The following day we went exploring while Amanda and Kurtis worked. We went to the Walmart museum (which was actually pretty cool), the Dixie Air Gun Museum and the Pea Ridge Military National Military Park. Amanda was more than happy to feed Kaden while we were there. We'll work up to doing a solo diaper change on her next visit. :)

The third day of our vacation we drove up to Bull Shoals. This was also Ryan's first trip to see Dave and Colleen's resort and guest house. He was quite the shutterbug and took tons of pictures. I'll post some here soon. Colleen was generous enough to watch Kaden while Dave took Ryan and I on a tour of the lake. I think it's safe to say that Ryan is in love with Bull Shoals and is already looking forward to his next trip out there. Tim and Brad also joined us at Dave and Colleen's; they came down to work on Brad's house. It was great to see them again and they taught Ryan and me how to play the card game Hearts. I'm looking forward to a rematch and will be practicing!

One Month Old!

2008-11-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

My little man is one month old today. I don't know how time has flown by so fast. We've gone on errands as a family such as Dillons, Wal-mart, Target, and even the zoo! It also seems unreal that I've been off work for four whole weeks. I'll be unfortunately going back to work part-time on November 10th and full-time on December 1st. I'm sure it will be difficult to leave my little one behind. It's nice to know that he will only be at the sitter's for two days out of the week and with daddy for the remaining three days that I'll be working.

Next week will be Kaden's first road trip. We'll be visiting Amanda and Kurtis and Dave and Colleen. I'm excited to be packing for three and wonder how much extra luggage we'll be packing (stroller, portable crib, diapers, etc). It will also be nice to get out of the house and go on vacation for the first time as a family.

Old Chicago

2008-10-29T14:58:00.001-07:00

My uncle Joey and aunt Terry came to visit us this week and to see Kaden for the first time. We had a fun visit and even went out to eat at Old Chicago last night. Ryan was able to finish not only the Halloween mini-tour (for which he received a cool jack-o-lantern t-shirt), but he also finished his 4th tour. His prize for finishing the tour was a very awesome BBQ grill set that came complete with a carrying case. I can't wait to grill with them! They are a very nice quality set with wooden handles and Old Chicago stamped into them. I'm sure the set would cost around $40 or more if you went out and purchased something like them.

One Week

2008-10-24T16:51:00.001-07:00

Ryan went out of town for training for a week and will be back tomorrow. It was painful for him to leave and it left me feeling emotionally overwhelmed that I would be left with Kaden for a week by myself. We managed to survive and visited WSU and both grandparents houses to keep us occupied. I'm looking forward to having Ryan back and he says he's ready to come home.

We're planning a trip soon to see Aunt Amanda and Uncle Kurtis. It will be the first time that they are able to see Kaden and it will be wonderful to get out of the house on a mini vacation. It will be strange packing for three people and the simple fact that we'll have to pack enough diapers and formula for our trip. Thank goodness Amanda and Kurtis live in Wal-mart land if we run out.

Date Night and the Exorcist

2008-10-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

Friday night my mom and dad watched Kaden to allow Ryan and I to go out on a date night. Weekend date nights are few and far between since Ryan usually works 4th shift on the weekends (9 pm to 7 am, Friday - Monday). We were able to go see Max Payne, which was an OK movie. The previews made the movie look somewhat like Constantine but it turned out to be nothing like that. If you have any interest in seeing the movie, make it a matinee or wait for it to come out on video as a rental. I'd recommend seeing Eagle Eye instead.

After the movie we went to Old Chicago and enjoyed grown-up company and grown-up beverages (or at least Ryan did). Never mind the fact that we ended up talking about poop for a good 15 minutes. Yep, we're officially parents.

Now, about the Exorcist reference. I've personally never seen the movie, but I've heard that there's a scene where some girl's head rotates and she projectile vomits. Before Ryan and I headed over to my mom and dad's, Ryan fed Kaden. He had just set the bottle down and didn't even have a chance to put Kaden up on his shoulder when we looked down to see Kaden regurgitating the entire 4 oz bottle all over himself and Ryan. Picture a 5 to 8 second continuous stream that's about as thick as a quarter. Poor Ryan had his shirt soaking wet. The formula went all over both of them, soaked around Ryan's back and onto the couch, down Ryan's jeans and even soaked him down to his boxers. My poor boys! Needless to say both boys got a thorough wipe-down before we left the house.

Visiting Grandma, Aunt Amanda's Present

2008-10-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today Ryan worked at his part-time job and I had an early eye doctor appointment so Kaden went to Grandma Ann's house. I was delighted that I didn't have any change in my prescription. I've heard that sometimes pregnancy will change your vision. Not sure if it's true, but it wasn't in my case.

After my appointment I went over to mom's house. Kaden was a very well behaved for Grandma and slept the whole time. I even managed to get in a 2 hour nap. Mom and Dad visited my younger sister Amanda this past weekend and she sent home a present for Kaden. It was a hooded blanket with a ghost and a "I love my mummy" t-shirt. I think the picture with Kaden and my mom makes Kaden look something out of Harry Potter.

Thank you Aunt Amanda for the presents! We'll have to get a picture of Kaden in his cute t-shirt and post it sometime soon.

Bath Time

2008-10-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

We've been having a good time relaxing at home. Kaden is being such a good boy and has been sleeping most of the night. We've been swaddling him in a green rain forest blanket most of the time and have nick-named him the green burrito when he's in it.

He frequently gives us this look which he inherited from mommy. He'll raise one eyebrow and give us a "what the heck are you looking at" look.

Most of the time he's just giving us cute faces like this:

Kaden had his first bath tonight. He enjoyed it until we took him out of the nice warm water. We got to use his froggy hooded bathrobe which helped to warm him up after the bath.

We're getting a good schedule established as a family. Daddy goes back to work Friday so Kaden will be with mommy most of the weekend. We've had a few outings this week and Kaden has been very well behaved in the stores and in the car. It's so amazing to think that we've only had him a week and that I can love someone so much that I've been around for such a short amount of time. I can't imagine my life without him. I am so thankful that I have Ryan and Kaden in my life.

Kaden Hearon

2008-10-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

We've been relaxing at home since yesterday evening and this has been the first chance I've been able to get a hold of a computer. Our family is doing great and Ryan is taking great care of me and Kaden. Here are a few pictures of the much anticipated new addition:

As Lori mentioned, I went in to the hospital Tuesday evening to be induced. Kaden made his debut at 8:28 p.m. on October 1st. He weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces (8/15 is Ryan's birthday). He's 20 inches long, with very long fingers and toes. He also has very long fingernails that we had to put some mittens on him in the hospital to keep him from scratching his face.

I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow, but it's time to get back to my son. I'll be posting later, but I hope this will tide you over for now.

5:00 wake up call

2008-09-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

I wish that I was writing to tell everyone that the reason I'm up so early has something to do with Kaden's arrival but I'm not. Some #&!%@# idiot decided that it would be cool to ring my doorbell at 5:00 AM! What the hell people! So I'm jolted awake from a dead sleep trying to decide if the doorbell noise was imagined or not.

I decide I didn't imagine anything and called Ryan to make sure he was OK. With him still on the phone, I put contacts in (blech) and flip on the lights in the front and in the back. My car is still in the driveway and nothing looks out of order. The only problem is that I now am fully awake at 5:30 in the morning and Ryan won't be home for another 2 hours at the very least.