2 Years Old!

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.

Gotta go pee-pee!

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!

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!

I L You

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.

Nine, Ten, Eleven

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.

Kaden's New Toy

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.

July Sick Days

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.

9 months old!

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

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!

Just a quick update

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.

Cell Phone Pics

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!

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

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 Birthday to me!

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.

Return to Normalcy

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.

Milestones!

Mom was released from MICU yesterday to a "regular" hospital room!  Lori helped her move from one room to another.  Check out her blog for the full details.  Mom called me from her new room last night to say goodnight - it was really great to hear her voice.  There's a chance she may even get to come home this weekend.

Tomorrow we have our carpet guy coming over to install the carpet in the basement.  I'm excited to get a step closer to starting the baby's room.  I even get to pick up paint samples for the room soon.

I've made it to the double digits!  I have 99 days left in my pregnancy.  It's so strange to think that we'll be holding Kaden in about 3 months.  I'll try to post another baby bump picture soon.  I can still see my feet but I have to lean forward a bit to do so!

Updates

Mom has made extraordinary improvements over the past few days.  Some of the nurses in the MICU are calling her a miracle!   See my sister's blog for the full update, Life is Golden.  I'll provide the Cliff Notes version below:

Mom was able to eat yesterday.  Her first meal include 2 cups of coffee, graham crackers, vanilla pudding and mushroom soup.  This morning they pulled her feeding tube out!  She's had tubes down her throat for the past two weeks, so I bet having only the trache feels so much better for her.  

The doctors are looking at capping the trache later to see how she can breathe on her own.  She may still have assisted oxygen (via the nose rather than the trache) but they'll have to see how she labors with it.  We're expecting mom to continue making baby steps, but she surprises us every day.  It would be so wonderful if mom could be home for her birthday on June 11th. 

Baby Update:

My "How big is baby" calendar is now going on months instead of weeks, so I haven't had anything to share for a while.  Kaden has been kicking on and off for the past few weeks.  I can already tell that he's got some characteristics from his parents - he'll stop kicking when someone puts their hand on my belly!

Month 6: Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.  Average size: 13.6 to 14.8 in; 1.5 to 2.2 lbs

New Addition:

Amanda and Kurtis recently adopted a new puppy.  It's a miniture poodle named Toby.  He won't grow very big; max height 10 inches and max weight 7 pounds.  Good luck with the potty training!

Halfway There!

Week 20: Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation... baby's genitals are now fully formed! Average size: 6.5 in, 10.6 oz

The doctor's appointment went smoothly this week. I had a morning appointment but had to come back later that afternoon since the doctor was running back to the hospital to deliver a baby. I've only gained 2 pounds and the doctor said that's fine and some women just don't gain weight the first couple of months. I'm supposed to gain 3-4 this month. We reviewed the sonogram information - nothing really new there.

House wise Ryan finished the laundry room - drop ceiling is installed and two cabinents are hung above the washer and dryer. I now even have a rod to hang up clothes right out of the dryer. The office is painted and we have a beautiful ceiling installed.

Ryan's gone this weekend for his last weekend drill. He'll have a 2 week trip in June that he'll have to do and then he'll be done with his one year contract in the Army National Guard.

1 Year Anniversary

Today is our one year wedding anniversary.  It's hard to believe that only a year ago we were on the beautiful beaches of St. Lucia in the Caribbean.  We've had a wonderful year and will soon be blessed with our first son.

Here's to the first of many good years to come.