It's quittin' time

I am officially a full time stay at home mom now! I quit my job last week, it's kind of sad, I really loved my job and everyone I worked with. Oh well, I have a cute little monster at home to take care of. Kaden has been walking for a little over a month now, and he is so fast and into EVERYTHING! It seems like all I do is chase him around and make sure he isn't breaking something, making a mess, or being loud if Andrew is trying to sleep from working a night shift (which seems to happen alot lately.)
It was also nice to be able to get out once in a while and talk to adults, ha ha. Andrew has picked up some extra shifts at work, and with us going through the temple(next week!) we are just too busy for me to work one day a week right now.

We went and got all of our temple clothes a few days ago, I can't believe we are almost there-only 4 more days. I am really excited, and I think this is the perfect time of year to get sealed to the two boys in my life!

Also, on the school topic, Andrew got accepted at Westminster in Salt Lake. So right now it's looking like that's where we will be moving next summer. We will know probably around the first of Feb. if he gets into Excela. We may or may not go there, but we are still seriously considering it. As for TCU, he didn't get in-he was pretty bummed. I wanted him to get in there, but at the same time it's ok, I would rather live here or Pennsylvania I think. :)

Thanksgiving was back and forth between Andrew's family and mine a few times. Which meant Kaden didn't take a nap. That was a long day! But I'm glad Andrew didn't have to work. Well, we will be really busy next week, so I will have to post after Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone! (not really sure that anyone even reads this, but Merry Christmas anyway!)

(and yes-that is a Jazz Christmas tree, and-yes there is a Jazz lawn nome on the top...don't ask, that was Andrew's idea a few years ago. Men, sheesh.)

Blah-g

I hate this time of year, when you have to switch back the clocks and it is dark at 5:30 p.m. Blah! (Hence the title of this post.) I couldn't think of another title and just wanted to express my disdain for daylight savings. I do however, like it in the Spring when it stays light until after 9. I'm already sick of Winter and we've only had one tiny snowfall.

Anyway, on another topic.....Andrew finished his 3 interviews a little over a week ago. He really liked it in Pennsylvania! He is in the "pool" of applicants there at Excela. Meaning they interview about 300 people for 35 spots, and they are still taking applications until Dec. 15th. So, they are keeping his file open for a second review after everyone else has interviewed. Not bad, but not good either because if they do accept him, we won't know until February! That means that if TCU accepts him (we will know within a week and a half) he will have to pay the retention fee to hold his spot and he would start this January. By then, it will be too late to wait around for Excela. I think we were both really feeling like Pennsylvania was the place to go. There are a group of guys from Utah out there (Andrew used to work with one of them). He met up with them the night he flew in and said they were all really nice. They showed him around the school and the town they live in, and their wives hang out alot. We just had a good feeling about it.

He really wants to get a Doctorate degree though, he said it's been a lifelong goal. TCU offers that, it's just mucho dinero :( So now we just wait to hear from them. If TCU doesn't accept him, well..... Westminster did! They accepted him in his interview, at the very end! So Texas or Utah?!? (If TCU does not accept him, I think we will go ahead and pay the retention fee at Westminster and then wait for Excela to decide, if Excela does come through we will go there.)

There are a couple of possibilities, it's just kind of scary waiting to find out what's going to happen. Oh, Mayo didn't give him an interview. They said he didn't have enough "experience". Most of their applicants have 5 years apparently. Oh well, I've read that you pretty much have to have really good references from THEIR doctors, and have worked at THEIR hospitals to get in anyway.

We set our dates to go through the temple! Dec. 19th, we are doing our endowments at the Salt Lake Temple. Dec. 20th we are getting sealed at the Draper temple. We are excited and have 2 more temple prep discussions left!

Fall

Kaden was a Fireman for Halloween, we took him to our ward trunk or treat on Saturday, then on Halloween we went trick or treating on Main Street in Springville. There were CROWDS of people there, and he gots tons of candy! Andrew and I didn't dress up, we are boring like that. Later that night we went to my mom's and decided to take him to a few houses in her nieghborhood. It was the first holiday where I think he knew what was going on. He loves candy!

He is a little busy body and everywhere he goes he makes a mess out of everything. Our house is never clean when he is awake! He has been walking on his own quite a bit the last 3 days. He can walk about the length of half of our living room. I think in a couple of days he will be walking all over on his own.

3 out of 4...

Well, Andrew now has an interview at Westminster! That's 3 out of the 4 programs he has applied to! We are just waiting to hear from the Mayo Clinic now. He is getting anxious I think, but seems to always do well in job interviews. Hopefully he does well in these school interviews too. The first interview in Pennsylvania is less than 2 weeks away. I wish I could go I've never been to the east coast, but tickets are expensive and he will only be there for about 24 hours anyway.

Kaden has had a pretty bad virus (I took him to the Dr. and that's what he said it was.) He didn't give Kaden any meds, just said to wait a few days and hopefully it will get better. He had a fever of around 102-103 on Sunday, and has been really ornery and fussy ever since. I don't know how to deal with this, I think I have been really lucky because he has never been whiny or cried very much at all. This is a whole new side of him. He cries for me to hold him, so I pick him up, then he cries because he wants down, so I put him down, he cries more...over and over. I get really frusterated because I know he doesn't feel good and I want to help, but don't know how. Usually he will quit crying right away if I put him in his crib for a nap, but as soon as he wakes up he starts being really fussy again. He hasn't been drinking or eating much either. So hopefully this goes away soon! Andrew works really long shifts, so it's pretty much my gig to deal with all day and I don't know how many more days I can keep it up, sigh.

Andrew and I are starting the Temple prep discussions on Sunday, yay! One step closer...still need to get a date set.

TCU

The other day Andrew was telling me he didn't think he was going to get an interview at TCU, because they hadn't called yet. The application deadline was Oct. 1st (and it was only 6th when he was saying this). I told him he still had another week until he would know for sure (they said he would hear by the 15th) and I thought they mailed out letters, instead of calling. I had been doing some searching on all nurses and other forums from previous year's posts. Everyone in those forums said they got letters in the mail either denying or accepting them for an interview. I wasn't too worried about it. Low and behold, I was at work on Friday morning and checked our email on my phone, guess what? He got an interview! Yay! If he does get accepted and decide to go there (we are starting to wonder if we should though, it's pretty dang expensive!) I'm not sure how I feel about moving to Texas. All I hear is hot, humid, roaches, and big drought this year. Soo anyway just thought I would share that bit of exciting news!

He will be hearing from Westminster this week. He went to an openhouse on Saturday, and they only have 19 qualified candidates that have applied so far. So there's a pretty good chance that he will get an interview there too. (They only accept 18 people.) I will update when he hears from them.

Kaden's first fish

We have taken Kaden fishing 2 times in the last 2 weeks, both times at Utah Lake. Kind of a nasty, dirty lake, I wish we could have taken him somewhere prettier. But it's close and gets the fishing monkey off Andrew's back for a while. So his first fish was a white bass, same as me! Kaden could care less about the fish, he just loves exploring and playing with anything he can on the boat. He is really good while we are out, it was really hot the other day, and he just played and played.

Big Walleye

Huge White Bass!

Hanging out by grandpa

Dad helping reel it in

First Fish!

Kaden is still growing so fast! He has almost outgrown 12 month clothes and is mostly wearing 18 month stuff now. It's crazy because when he was first born, he was so small he would fit into the clothes way after he wasn't supposed to. Now he is so big, one of my neighbors even said to her little boy today when I was walking Kaden, "Look he is about your age", I said "oh, how old is your little boy?" She said, "Two". I started laughing and said, "He's not even 15 months yet!" With his huge head, he looks so much older than he is. But he is soo cute, without fail every Sunday in church at least one person has to come and say how he is the cutest thing they have ever seen. Not to toot my own horn or anything. :)

Now he knows how to say pssst. Andrew was taking a nap the other day and he crawled upstairs to our bedroom door and started knocking and going psst, psst. I didn't even know it, Andrew told me and I started laughing.
He is always doing something that brings a smile to my face. Kids really do bring so much happiness to your life!

On another note, Andrew got a call the other day inviting him to an openhouse at Westminster on Saturday. He had already traded shifts at work for family coming to town, but luckily someone traded him again so he can have Saturday off and go. The guy that called said it's a good way to get your face out there before they start interviews.
He also talked to a guy he used to work with that just started Excela's program. After talking to him that program is sounding more appealing to us! So hopefully his interview out there goes well.

4 exciting things!

Posted in the order they are happening...

1. Yesterday Andrew and I celebrated 9 years of marriage! Holy cow, I cannot believe how fast that time has gone. We have been together (dating and married) for around 12 and a half years! I love Andrew more than anything and I'm so glad I married him! We celebrated by going to dinner at Tucanos and then went and saw "Contagion" it was a good movie. Now I'm just really paraniod about washing my hands and touching my face.

2. Andrew got an interview at Excela Health School of Anesthesia in Pennsylvania! We sent his application via UPS with tracking so we would know when it got there. We got an e-mail saying it had been delivered, then 2 hours later they called and offered him an interview! We couldn't believe they called the same day. The interview is October 26th. We should be hearing from TCU (Andrew's first choice) and The Mayo clinic in about 2 weeks. I didn't want to move that far away, but if it's the only place Andrew gets in, that's where we are going. I've been thinking though, it will be an adventure and I've never been to the east coast so I think I will be OK with it, if it comes down to it.

3. I am (tentatively) scheduled to get my braces off on Nov. 30th! Yahoo!
I went in on Monday, and they said my teeth were looking really good. They gave me elastics to wear for 4 and a half weeks, which are kind of annoying btw. Then I go in on Nov. 1st to see how the elastics did, just supposed to be lining up my midline. If they worked alright, which I'm praying they do, the braces are coming off!

4. Andrew and I are going to go through the temple in December! This has been a much anticipated, long overdue goal of ours! We finally get our hineys to church (almost) every week. Now that we have Kaden in our lives, we realize how important this is to our family. We don't have a set date yet, probably around Christmas some time. We are thinking either...

Draper Temple


Or

Salt Lake Temple


We went to the Draper Temple open house a few years ago, and I really loved it! I think Andrew really wants to go to the Salt Lake one, which I like too. I just think that maybe the Salt Lake Temple is alot busier than Draper. So we will be making our decision soon, exciting! We have already had so many blessings the last few months, and we are so grateful and can't wait to have an eternal family! I will update with anymore news.

Kaden says:

Kaden has been learning new words at a fast pace! I think he learns a new one almost every day. So far the list is:

Mama
Dada
Grandma, sounds like maa-maw
Grandpa, bop-a
Kitty (always tries to tickle kitty)
Tickle tickle, sounds like tckl tckl
No no
Teddy (loves his teddy, hugs it and kisses it all the time!)
Shoes, soos
Grass, rass
Bye bye
Uh oh
Juice, juissse
Bath, bass
Hot
Cheeto (loves them!)
Mosquito, ss-quito
Ouch

I think that's it for now, I'm sure he will start saying a few more soon.
He will also point to the following when you ask him:
Toes
Belly Button or belly
Ear
Hair
Mouth

Applications

Well, the time has finally come for Andrew to start sending applications into grad schools! So far he has sent one to TCU, Mayo, and West Minster. He is almost done with Excela's and will be mailing it in a couple of days. We decided against OSHU because it was just too expensive and we would have to go clear to Florida for some of the clinicals. So we are thinking about maybe SUNY in Buffalo NY, they are starting a DNP program this year. The bad thing is that they are not accredited with that program-yet, and they don't know how much it will cost. So now we will just have to wait and see if he gets any interviews.

Kaden has a tooth on top and the another one is coming in, so he'll have 4 soon. He is pretty close to walking, I think anyway. The Dr. wants him walking by 15 months, so we have a month to work on that and then we have to go back in to get a 15 month check up. He also wants him off the bottle by 15 months, and right now he is down to just the night time bottle before bed. I think I'm going to take that away in a few days. It's so sad to me that he is so big now, I miss him being a tiny little baby! But he is so cute and interactive now, I think he learns something new everyday so this is a really fun stage (other than the getting into EVERYTHING part!)

We went to Oregon a month ago, and it was a blast! I still haven't put the pictures on the computer yet. I tried once again to put the pictures of Kadens birthday on here, but the computer was taking waaay to long to download them! I will have to have Andrew see what is the matter with it. So hopefully we will hear from a school or two in the next few months. Until then.......................

uh oh

Not alot has happened since I last posted. We did have Kaden's birthday party, it was fun-just some of our family came. I couldn't think of what to title this post, so "uh oh" is one of the words Kaden has learned and he says it all the time. He will be playing and then just randomly say "uh oh", it's pretty funny. He also says "kitty" when he sees our cat, and "ouch"- he learned that from me saying ouch when he bites my fingers! I'm pretty sure I got him to say thank you today, he gave me a taste of his sucker so I told him thank you. He made a sound like thank you, so who knows?
Well I did have some pictures posted of his party and was loading more on here, but the computer decided to freeze, and erased them. So I will have to post them later.

Kaden had his one year check up yesterday and had to get four shots, two in each leg! He screamed and cried pretty hard for a minute or two. I always feel so bad and wish it was me getting the shots. He weighed 23.4 lbs, 30 inches, and head size is in the 99.74 percentile! Height and weight were about 50th percentile. He follows me all over the house, and we don't have a gate for the stairs yet, so I have to always keep my eye on him. Trying to get him off his bottle, he doesn't like his sippy cup very much (I have 4 different kinds!) the Dr. said to "bait" the cup with chocolate or strawberry milk. I tried that today for his afternoon drink and it worked, he drank almost all of it himself out of his cup! They are supposed to be off the bottle by 12-15 months. He quit taking his pacifier all by himself about 3 weeks ago. I don't know why, but it's fine with me, that way I don't have to worry about taking it away when he gets older-I have heard horror stories about that!

We went to Rexburg last week for our bro in law Jacob's graduation. It was a short trip, but pretty fun and good to see family!

I haven't worked the last 2 weeks, Andrew's schedule has been crazy so it leaves me with no time to go to work. I get to spend a lot of time home with Kaden so it's good. I'm still couponing but I haven't found any really good deals lately. (I did get 6 boxes of free band aids yesterday though.) So I need to get out and get my couponing "fix" sometime :)

Andrew is getting applications for schools together. They are finally narrowed down to: TCU (texas), OHSU(oregon), West Minster(utah), Excela(pennsylvania), and Mayo clinic(minnesota). He is stressing getting his letters of reference and everything together. I tried to convince him to only apply to 4 schools but he wanted 6, so I guess 5 is a good compromise. :)
He is going to tour Westminster's campus on Friday, they have been the nicest so far! They even said they would waive the application fee!

We are going to Oregon in 3 days, so I will take lots of pictures to post. Can't wait!!!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Just wanted to wish my cute little guy Happy Birthday! I really can't believe it was already one year ago (almost exactly) that he was born-1:55 p.m. He is the happiest little boy, in the last month his personality has really grown. It's so fun to be able to tell what makes him happy, sad, excited or mad. He has started to pull himself up to standing in the last 2 days.
I am feeling alot of emotions today remembering the awful labor, but how overjoyed I was the first time I saw him. It makes me sad that his first year is already gone, but I still have so much more to look forward to. I really tried hard to cherish every moment, especially when he was a newborn, but time just slips away so quickly! It is so fun now that he can interact more, and somewhat let you know what he wants.
He is soft hearted and still very much a momma's boy. He has really been fascinated with stacking things and putting things inside of each other-like cups and that toy that has the rings that you slide onto the little post. If he has something in his hand and I can tell that he is going to put it in his mouth, I say "no" and and he shoves it in his mouth as fast as he can, it's pretty funny. Kaden has been such a blessing in our lives, and I'm so glad he chose us as parents, we love him so much!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happenings...

I can't believe how fast time flies when you have a kid! Seriously, Kaden is almost one and I feel like we were just driving to the hospital to have him a few weeks ago. We are going to Lake Powell next week with Andrew's family, and would like to stay the whole week-but with Kaden's birthday being on Saturday (and me having to work-grrr) we are coming home on Thursday or Friday. We're going to have a little party for him Saturday evening with family, so we need to get home to get some stuff ready-well hopefully Andrew can handle it since I will be at work! I wanted to make him a cake but that won't be happening now, so I just went and ordered him a Cars one at Maceys-they also do a free 8 inch cake if it's your child's first birthday, I thought that was neat!

Then with the next week being the 4th of July, Andrew has to work 5 shifts...bummer. Two weeks later, we're heading to Rexburg for a brother in law's graduation, then one week after that-it's OREGON! I am so excited, I love it there, I could live on the Oregon coast some day-it's beautiful. A few of my favorites there:

The summer after we got married we stayed in Newport, and our hotel was right on this beach...wow, that seems so long ago!

This place has the best clam chowder, and we will definately be going again!

And Jake's in Portland has the best crab cakes ever, they are to die for!

Now I'm nice and hungry and wishing I was eating there right now!

I am definately needing a vacation, we didn't get to do anything last summer since I had Kaden. Being a (mostly) stay at home mom can get pretty monotonous sometimes. This is the busiest summer we've had since we've been married (almost 9 years) we usually can't do much because Andrew always has school. But since he is done for now, we figure we had better do as much as we can with our families, since we most likely won't be around here much longer. Which leads me to...Andrew passed the GRE!

I am so happy for him, he was really dreading it. He studied for close to 3 months-I think that really helped alot. He has decided to apply to Westminster's program in Salt Lake as well, so maybe we won't end up as far away as we think. Also, he was looking into SUNY-in Buffalo, I think (there are 2 SUNY programs in New York). It's a fairly cheap program, but I saw that they will be a doctorate program starting next fall, so who knows how much that will make thier tution increase.

Now (or after our vacations) Andrew can get all of his resumes, letters of reference, and applications sent out, and we can nervously wait to see what schools he gets interviews at. This is an exciting (stressful for andrew) time for us, and we can't wait to see what happens in a few months!
Here's to an exciting and fun filled summer!!!

Here comes trouble!

Within the last week, week and a half-ish Kaden has gone from scooting around backwards on his tummy to sitting up, pulling up, and crawling- finally! He keeps one leg bent underneath him so when he feels like sitting up, all he has to do is lean back. He kind of has a little "hop" in his crawl, it's the cutest thing ever! He looks like a little frog. I can't believe how quickly he learned to do all three things. We were getting a little worried, I know they say every kid is different and everything, but the Dr. said he likes them to be crawling at least by one year. Kaden is fast approaching the year mark, but I don't think we have anything to worry about now-except baby proofing our house!

He has just been crawling a little bit at a time, but today he started to fuss (as usual) when I went into the kitchen, a couple of seconds later I heard a little "thump thump" coming from the living room. A minute later, here he came around the corner and when he saw me he had the cheesiest little grin on his face! He is pretty proud of himself and has already opened the bottom drawer in the kitchen and found the cat food (which I saw coming and grabbed him really quick.) I guess the cat food will be in the garage from now on!

It has been so fun watching him learn how to do things, I can't believe how much kids pick up on stuff even when they are so little! I can't wait for the months to come when I know he will be learning and doing so much more, it's going to be a busy and fun filled summer! We have 3 trips planned in the next month and a half...so we will have to keep a close eye on our little "frog"!

(Im)perfectly Happy!

What makes me happy:

I have been thinking alot lately about how, even though my life and marriage are not perfect in any way, I am so happy right now. Some of my friends at work were talking a while ago about how they get down or depressed when someone they know gets married to a guy that has a really good job, buys a house, nice cars, and has kids before they do-when they haven't been married as long. I think it is easy to beat yourself up when people around you seem like they have it all and you don't, or feel like you should be ahead of where you are now. I just think you have to remember that no one is perfect and even if they seem like they are-most marriages and people have problems. They just have a good way of pretending they don't!

I don't have a house or nice car-I've only even owned 3 cars in my entire life! But I have the cutest little boy and a great husband that works hard so we can have the things we do have, and that makes me happy. I really believe that everything happens for a reason, and when the time is right things will fall into place. If you do face a problem or hardship, I feel that it is to learn something from it and move on hopefully wiser because of it. So I just wanted to say whats been on my mind lately :)

I am glad that I live in America, our family has good health, a roof over our heads, clean water, a car (even if it's not a Bentley ha ha) and food!
And I'm not gonna lie-I do sometimes wish I had nicer things, but I just always think-I guess it could be worse, lol!

1st Haircut!

I finally got the courage to cut off all (well alot) of Kaden's baby fine hair today! He looks soo cute, but so much older too. I am sad, but at the same time it was getting scraggly and in his eyes. He didn't even cry, and I even used the clippers, which make most little kids scream! I did get a few tears in my eye as I cut it off. But seeing him now, I'm glad I did it, he is so cute! Now I need to get some good pictures to send in for the Art City days baby contest. So here's my handsome little boy-(sadly)he's not a baby anymore!


Before:

After:

Yes, I did keep some locks of his hair!
Kaden is the cutest, sweetest little boy and I love him so much!

Metal Mouth

So I know these pictures are gross and I'm sure no one wants to look in my mouth, except my dentist and orthodontist. But I just got back from being at the orthodontist for over 2 hours today! I knew I had to get braces on my very back upper molars, since they didn't put them on those teeth originally, and apparently they have dropped down a little bit. But what I didn't know was that they had to put on another palate bar too! So now I have 2 of them! Plus I still have the tongue spurs, I have been asking to get those out the last few times, but he won't do it yet. Kaden even stuck his hand in my mouth the other day and got his finger poked by them, I felt so bad! So-sorry to gross anyone out-but this is what I'm trying to work with............... ***I deleted these pictures because someone put links to them on some german braces forum, and I had people from all sorts of countries looking at them, and it kind of creeped me out.*** Now do you see why I said "metal mouth"? It sucks. Bad.

Decisions, Decisions

Andrew has been diligently studying for the last few months. He took a class, studied for, and passed the CCRN (Critical Care Registerd Nurse) exam a month ago. I'm really happy for him, and I knew he would pass even though he was nervous about it. Now he is studying for the dreaded GRE. That test looks really intimidating and most of the grad schools want you to get around 1000-1100. I would never be able to pass it, ha ha. I looked over some of the vocabulary thinking the words would be recognizable-nooo way! I feel bad for anyone that has to take that test, and can't wait until Andrew gets it over with. He is also getting certifications done at work, such as PALS in 2 weeks.

It sucks, he has been going to classes and training alot the last couple of months, so I feel like a single mom sometimes. But I guess at least he is a hard worker, and getting all of this done to turn in applications this fall. I can't believe it's time for grad school already!

I think (after alot of researching tons of schools) he has narrowed it down to OHSU in Portland, Excella in Pennsylvania, Minneapolis school of Anesthesia, and TCU. We would love to live in Oregon, but Andrew really wants to go to TCU because they have a doctorate program. So in the next couple of months I guess we will be busy getting papers organized and sent in. Scary and exciting at the same time! We may add a school or two to the list because he wants to apply to 5 or 6 I think. I'm afraid this is going to get expensive! :(

Little Surprise

We took Kaden for his 9 month check-up last Thursday, and he had to get 2 shots, his second flu shot and last Hep B. Usually he is fussy for a day or two after the shots, so I didn't really think much about him being fussy a little bit on Friday and Saturday. But yesterday (Easter) he was really fussy most of the day, and he even woke up crying last night a couple of hours after I put him in bed-that never happens! But I just popped his binky in and he went right back to sleep, and didn't wake up again until morning.

Today he was still kind of crying more than usual, I gave him a bath tonight and normally he is really happy afterward. But he started fussing when I was getting his pajamas on, so I thought-hmmm...I wonder? Stuck my finger in his mouth, and low and behold-his first tooth is coming in! It's just tiny, but it's totally there, kind of sharp and through the gums. It surprised me because I had felt around yesterday, and there was nothing there. So 9 1/2 months, and his first tooth! It's on his bottom right side. I think I will be going to buy some teething gel tomorrow.

He's almost not a baby anymore and his hair is getting so long, he looks like a little boy now. I'm thinking as much as I don't want to-it might be time for me to give my little man a hair cut soon! I HATE cutting baby's hair, but maybe since I'm his mom he will be good for me, fingers crossed! Anyway, just wanted to post this latest "first" about Kaden so I don't forget.

Oh, one more thing-he got his first fishing pole for Easter yesterday, it's a Batman one-so cute! Andrew can't wait to take him fishing and already said he will catch his first fish before he is 1 year old.

All about K-A-D-E-N

Kaden is almost 10 months, so I just thought I would jot down some things about him-so I remember what he is doing. He loves dancing, if we are in the store and they have music, he dances in the shopping cart, or in his stroller, or just whenever! He has been doing patty cake for quite a while, he raises his arms up in the air for "big boy". He is just starting to get the hang of waving. Still not crawling yet, but does scoot backwards. Loves eating, everyone thinks he is older than 9 months because he is so big and chubby. But I'm alright with that considering how small he was when he was born-he's healthy! He loves our cat and laughs whenever he sees her, and he is soo ticklish!

He has the most beautiful blue eyes and longest, eyelashes ever. He sleeps from 8:30 p.m. to 8 a.m. every single night without waking up-ever! It's so nice to sleep in until 8, I am not a morning person at all. He is still a mama's boy, and cries every time I leave the room-kind of frusterating, but oh well. He has never been a very snuggly baby, which makes me sad-but he goes to bed all by himself.

He has taught me patience and unconditional love. I fall in love with him all over again every morning when I go to get him out of his crib, and he gives me the biggest smile! We sure do love our little guy, he is the cutest!

Random stuff

This picture is of stuff I got at Smith's today. My total came to $54.46, but after my coupons it was only $16.29! I started doing coupons around October, it takes some time to cut them out and organize them, then to go online and find the deals. But if you have time-it's totally worth it, you can get some great stuff for cheap or free. The 3 boxes of catfood and 6 boxes of pasta in the pic were all free!

I got this idea from a cute blog. Since we never made it home from the hospital with Kaden's little ink footprints, I made my own. I made this about a month ago though, so the print isn't tiny-I should have done it when he was first born-dang it! I thought it turned out pretty cute.

We went to our niece Isabella's blessing up in Boise around the first of the month and got some cute pictures...

It's a little blurry, but Kaden loved Preston's ear. He kept pulling it when they were sitting there, it was cute. Preston just sat there looking like he didn't know what to do.

I thought Kaden had the cutest smile in this one, and gotta love Preston's fingers up his nose! :)

These are a few more flower necklaces I made for the boutique in Payson. That's just some of the stuff we've been up to lately.

Lately...

Kaden is getting so big! He is a little pig and loves to eat, pretty much any baby foods. Veggies, fruit, or meat it doesn't matter to him. He is so happy and smiles and laughs all the time, definately independant and a huge momma's boy! Probably because I'm the one home with him all the time. If he is playing with his toys, every minute or two he has to look up to make sure I'm still in the room, then gives me the biggest smile. He sleeps all through the night and never ever wakes up, it's so nice! The weather has been so nice these last couple of days, I decided to take him for a walk on Saturday its so nice to get outside once in a while.

Andrew is studying for the GRE, and taking a couple of classes at work in preparation for grad school. (Still not sure where he's going to apply.) We just bought our plane tickets to Portland for our trip with the whole Roylance family in August. We can't wait to go, we LOVE Oregon!

Here's the little chunk!

And I have been making these...................

I'm going to try to sell them, hopefully someone will want one!

Necklaces

I have been seeing fabric flowers around alot lately and my sister in law, Megan taught me how to make some a few months ago. (Thanks!) So I have been thinking lately that I might try to make some more. I've seen them alot on headbands, barrettes, and some on necklaces. There is a cute little boutique down in Payson that I discovered - a girl my mom works with is selling headbands with flowers on them there. So I have been thinking about different types of necklaces that I might be able to make and sell.

I am home alot now and besides Kaden and working one day a week, this could be a way to earn a little extra $. So...I've made one necklace and a couple of hair flowers for myself, and have gotten compliments on both. Today I made some other flowers and just need to get them on chains for necklaces. After I figure out what I think will look good, I'm going to take them to the boutique and hopefully they will accept them! I have always wanted (and hoped I was crafty enough) to make something to sell at a fair or boutique, so maybe this is it! I'll take pics of them and post them in a couple of days! Kind of nervous, but excited too!

Rolling!

I just thought I would make a quick post that Kaden started to roll from tummy to back today! I was getting kind of worried, everyone kept asking if he was yet. They say every baby is different though so I think he's doing pretty good. Also, we have been feeding him solids twice a day for a couple of days now. (we did just once a day for a couple of weeks.) He likes green beans, squash and bananas-a little bit. He does not like peas or carrots very much. I think we will start doing three times a day in a week or so. Going to the Dr. on Thursday for the 6 month check up, and Andrew is working so I have to go alone. Not excited for the shots, it makes me feel bad. :(

Time Flies

Wow! I cannot believe I have a 6 month old son (Kaden) since the last time I posted! Life has gone by so fast, it makes me sad. At the same time, I am also the happiest I have ever been right now. I have the cutest, happiest, best little guy ever. I don't know what I would do without him. He cheers me up if I'm having a bad day, just by smiling at me. I don't think you realize how much your parents can love you until you have kids of your own. He was pretty small, two and a half weeks early, and not doing so great when I had him. He was in the birth canal for quite a while. His heart rate was also dipping low, and had only been 60 beats per minute for about 5-6 minutes right before I had him. Which is not a good thing! I was seconds away from having a c-section. (Since the stupid anesthesiologist let my epidural run out, and wouldn't start more, and I could not push anymore from the unbearable pain!) Finally they numbed me up for a c-section and hauled me to the OR or whatever that freezing cold room was. I was actually able to have him right after the nurse had paged the c-section team to come. Kaden was rushed to the NICU for about 4 hours, and I had to wait that long to finally meet and hold my precious, tiny little baby. Right after Andrew handed Kaden to me, he looked up at me smiled. :) Right then my heart melted and I knew I would (and will) do anything for him! He has been our greatest blessing, and he is healthy and so chubby now. Considering his scrawny little 5 lb. 14 oz. start, he weighs-I would estimate, between 18 and a half to 20 pounds now. Not bad for a 6 month old. He is sitting on his own and loves to stand,(with help) he has been able to bear weight on his legs since he was a couple of weeks old. He isn't rolling over yet, although he did once at about 5 months. Well I just wanted to update and I am really going to try to blog more this year, especially since I have a reason to now! It gives me something to do while Andrew is on his 12 hour shifts at work, 15 if you count the commute. UGGHH!