Not A Very Merry Christmas

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.

Happy Birthday @ Cross Timbers

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.

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.

What a horrible mother!

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.

Kaden's First Sushi

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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!

One week and counting

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

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

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.

Happy Mother's Day

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.

Kaden's Checkup

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

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)

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.

What a busy week

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

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.