A little dusty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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