Our Family

Quarantined.

2012-01-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

We're back. In the hospital, that is. However, this hospital trip doesn't include a surgery or drains. This is how are past three days have gone.

Sunday morning: He seemed normal. He woke up happy, wanted to eat. Ate. Threw up the first time.

Sunday: Slept and threw up the whole day. If he wasn't sleeping, he was throwing up. We assumed he had the flu and just made him rest for the day.

Sunday evening: Nothing left in his system. Dry heaving. Really paste-like puke. Disgusting and couldn't have been pleasant coming up. He was crying a lot, seemed to be in pain. Very lethargic. Staring off in to space.

Sunday night: Woke up about 4 times with him. He needs mom to vomit.

Monday morning: Seemed much better. He was a little more active wanted to eat. GREAT!

Monday morning--20 minutes later: Puking. Everywhere. Again.

Monday: Every hour to two hours. Keeping nothing down. Very lethargic. More staring off in to space. It freaked me out a little bit. I've never, ever, seen him this way.

Monday early afternoon: Took him to the doctor. The doctor was worried because he looked dry. He was extremely dehydrated. They gave him a phenegrin suppository to help with nausea. Immediately he seemed better.

Monday afternoon: We went up to Primary Children's. He had blood work drawn and showed more energy in those couple minutes than he had in two days. He kicked the crap out of her, all the while she was drawing his blood. Chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. (I guess I should also say Tadd has a respiratory infection. Kade has a nasty cough. There was reason for the x-ray.)

Monday...later afternoon: He throws up again. Crap.

Monday....even later afternoon: We were advised by the earlier doctor to take him to the emergency room if the phenegrin suppository didn't help. Well it didn't.

Monday evening: Called our home teacher to come assist Aaron in giving Kade a Priesthood blessing. It was perfect.

Monday night: Took Kade into the ER. Tadd to our home teacher's home. Our home teacher, whose wife happens to be my visiting teaching companion. They rock. Tadd spent the night there.

We got to the ER at 9 pm.

1030 pm: They started an IV. It took 5 of us to hold him down.

At 1130 pm, after the billionth time telling the doctors and nurses what was going on, they told us he might need to be admitted and watched over night.

1200 midnight: I told my visiting teaching companion we probably wouldn't be able to pick Tadd up until the morning. She said not to worry, just focus on Kade. Seriously, she rocks.

0130: Kade is given morphine to help with pain. He hadn't stopped crying since his IV was put in.

0230: Kade has an x-ray of his stomach. Images show that he is very constipated. Made perfect sense, he hadn't had a bowel movement since Saturday.

0300: They tell us they're going to take us to our room.

0330: We are on the pediatric floor in the hospital. They're wheeling a now passed out Kade in an over-sized bed to his room.

0335: Paperwork begins and the nurse goes over everything. Very, very thoroughly. It's ok. It's better that way.

0340: The doctor on call comes in to tell us that Kade has some sort of intestinal infection. They're going to fix it.

0430: We go to sleep.

This morning, he threw up again. The doctor said he can't go home until he can keep stuff down on his own. Because he's throwing up, he was told he can not leave his room and walk around the halls or go to the playroom. Hence the title of this post. It feels like we've been quarantined. Now, he's sleeping.

More later.

DTV

2012-01-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

After reading my past couple posts, you might be wondering who Daniel is. Probably, you aren't. But maybe. And if you are, I'll tell you. If you already know who he is, you're reading a post full of information that you already know.

Daniel is: Daniel Tyler Van Deventer. Soon to be, uncle to my sons and......

HUSBAND to this girl. ^

They're getting married in a matter of weeks! FINALLY! They've been dating for 3 and a half years and they're finally tying the knot! Yay them!

Also this is my third post today. Read them all.

New Year.

2012-01-29T20:53:00.001-08:00

On New Year's eve, we missed Aaron. A lot. He had already returned home to Utah because of work. Here were some of the things we did.

Daniel helped Brock get ready for his first Stake New Year's Eve Dance.

The boys stayed up way too late. I was actually shocked. They both took short naps around their normal bed time and then woke up around 10 and rang in the new year with me. I sent Aaron pictures. He spent the time alone in our room working on wedding videos. Sadness.

Kade felt extremely cool that he was part of all of the party.

We ran out side and hit pots and pans, started our car alarms (Daniel's sounds like a train...scared the boys to death.) Then we went inside and tried falling asleep to the sounds of fireworks. Good stuff.

Also good news: I'm officially caught up with holidays. Except of course Martin Luther Kind Jr. Day....I'll give you a clue to what we did that day.....nothing.

Christmas.

2012-01-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas at my parents house in California. We deemed this the last official Christmas that we would all be together.

On Christmas Eve, we headed out to do our usual Christmas Eve stuff and then some.

We first headed to a neighborhood that gets together ever year to over-adorn their homes with Christmas lights and other decorations. We also found out that in two of these homes, live the creators of the all too famous "icicle lights". They came up with the idea way back in the day after attempting to create the same look with regular lights on their homes for this neighborhood decorating.

We opted to walk through. The line to drive through was outrageous. Plus it was like 60 degrees.

You can see the kind of attention they get every year. Luckily, they always put it to good use and have toys for tots donation spots. :)

We missed Jordan and Tawnie but since they were going to be spending Christmas day with us, they spent Christmas Eve with her family. We missed Kylee too. She was working her butt off at the Olive Garden.

After the lights we went up into the hills and found the usual night tree. My family decorates a tree out in nature every morning with birdseed and popcorn so when the animals wake up on Christmas morning, they have a little surprise waiting. While we are up there we take in the silence and ponder the true meaning of Christmas. We then each take our turns talking about things we're thankful for. It's always nice to get away from the "world's" Christmas.

We came home and got our Christmas pj's on. Put the boys to bed and waited for Christmas to come.

It came.

So many attempts at the kids on the stairs pictures.

The only two grandchildren were more than spoiled.

The mess.

All of the days events wiped everyone out. Including Kade.

We missed Jordan and Tawnie when they went back to her parents house after church. And Kelsey and Daniel went to his parents house-though they were with us all Christmas Eve so that was only fair.

Overall it was a great Christmas. The boys created memories that they'll probably forget. Maybe not Kade but definitely Tadd. Good thing we documented them. :)

Some Randoms

2012-01-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have a lot going through my mind. So I write them down. Usually I write them down on here. They might make you laugh, roll your eyes, gag, or stop reading my blog all together. There's also a huge possibility that you'll be totally and completely bored Anyway, here are today's randoms:

*I wish I had a countdown for the amounts of times "OMG" was going to be used before it goes away forever. I would watch that countdown daily possibly even by the hour. Also "epic fail" is ALMOST GONE and I couldn't be more thrilled. Unfortunately "LOL" will probably stick around forever, that makes me gag a little. Am I the only one that finds these things inappropriate unless you're in 7th grade?

*I am now a lemming. We bought an iPad. Do I love it? Sort of. I'm sort of obsessed with it actually. However, when I think about how much I love it, I also think of this video:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/ipad/1227292

Then I make myself sick.

*I wish I had a best friend. Obviously I have a husbandly best friend. The best friend I am wishing for is a non-husbandly best friend. The kind I call whenever something big...or small happens. The kind of friend that thinks about me when they don't need something. This isn't a pity party. Seriously, cause those make me sick too. I'm saying what's on my mind. I have very good friends. Very good friends, just not a bestie (shudder). That's another one. Bestie. Gross.

*I'm really excited for Kade to not be 3 anymore. He's slowly coming out of the "terrible 3's" and it does my heart good.

*I have more determination this year than I have had in a while. It's great. It was needed.

*Jimmy Fallon makes me laugh. Am I the only one that kind of feels like he's 12?

*I wanted to go to the Jim Gaffigan show so badly. While he was here in Utah he said: "People in Utah are so nice, I feel like they're stealing from me." Awe. Some.

*I hate. Nope, that's not strong enough. I detest the presidential elections. Or rather, government elections of any sort. I know voting is important and being informed on the candidates is important. However, watching them "fight like children" does not seem important to me. Hey candidates, here's an idea...how about you stop talking crap about another candidate that you feel threatened by. Instead, try convincing me why you're the RIGHT choice. I already know you don't think the other guy is the right choice, hence your running against him-ness. Blah

*Tadd's smile can make my day.

*Three of our siblings are getting married this year. So exciting! Also exciting....we will get to be there for ALL THREE! That news makes my year.

*I wish for snow. Daily. I like snow, it hasn't been around this winter. For that, I am sad.

*The worst part about living in Provo: your friends move away.

*Apparently I am socially distraught.

*I almost got released from my calling. Then I didn't. I'm so happy about it.

*I took January off from weddings and photo shoots. It's been incredible.

*I have some family that needs the word spread on their hoping to adopt. Adoption is amazing and can bless families in ways that most of us will never understand! Please spread the word!

Brad and Emily

Ryan and Kristen

The end.

So There Was This One Time....

2012-01-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

...that we celebrated Thanksgiving. Oh, you didn't know? That's probably because I didn't blog about it. But you should have figured that we did anyway.

We spent the day with my Aunt Jeny and her family. It was a nice and mostly relaxing day. Ya know, aside from the cooking. The boys hung out..

Kade and Tadd had their own "Turkey Bowl".

We ate dinner. It was good.

After we ate dinner, we hung out some more. Then, we went home.

the end.

Tadd Turned 1. A really...really...really long time ago.

2012-01-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

Tadd turned one. This was a big deal for me apparently. I didn't handle it too well. Eh, I'm over it now.

The day didn't' turn out as expected at all. Not even close. We didn't have plans of grandeur but the plans we did have, didn't happen. We ordered pizza and just spent time with our little family.

Tadd's Nana (my mom) sent him an edible arrangement, balloon and stuffed bear. I made monster cupcakes.

He got some bouncy balls and a big toy car.

Then we sang and let him dig in to his "cake" It was hardly a cake and I did only a little frosting because Kade's stomach didn't handle it so well when he turned one. To avoid barf clean up becoming a tradition this is what his cake was. Pretty right? Also, I'm pretty mad that I can't figure out why this is being underlined nor how to fix it.

He was a little nervous at first.

Tried eating without making a mess.

Then gave up and went in headfirst. (again with the underline. This is getting ridiculous.)

Then the real mess began. At one point he picked up the plate and threw it. Go big or go home right?

He thought it was a success. That's all that matters.

Kade was oh so patient for his turn to have a cupcake.

Once Upon A Time... (Part 2)

2011-12-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

If you are interested in reading part 1, it can be found HERE.

This post is mostly going to be pictures. I'll have captions on some but mostly I'm just trying to get caught up on the "documenting my kid's lives" part of my life. Read... or don't. :)

This took me forever. I don't want to spell check. Forgive typos please. :)

These both are actually quite old. But I liked them anyway.

For Kade's birthday we kind of made it into a big deal. He doesn't have a lot of friends (or any really) that he see's outside of church, so we made his birthday a few days of celebrating and just having fun family time! The first thing we did is go to the Children's Discovery Museum at the Gateway in Salt Lake. The photo above is of Kade putting balls into tubes that go all over the place. They made him nervous at first but he thought it was amazing!

Tadd hung out.

They have a life-flight helicopter on the roof of the museum. The kids are allowed to get inside and push whatever buttons they want and Kade thought that was the greatest idea ever!

This was my favorite part of the museum when I was growing up. The mini-grocery store. Kade and I went shopping and then Tadd worked the register.

Birthday Boy! This is the morning of his birthday!

He had previously called my mom and dad and sister Kelsey. He told them to come visit him for his birthday. Kelsey responded with "Oh Kade, you're cute! I miss you!" He then said to her, "No, don't miss me. Come to my house for my birthday." So they made the trip. He got lots of good presents and loved having Nana and Grandpa, Cici (Kelsey), Becca and Brock there for his special day.

He got his first bike for his birthday! Don't worry, we make him wear a helmet and shoes when he rides.

We had burgers and hot dogs, fruit, corn on the cob. Little Spring BBQ.

At one point, somehow, his balloons became detached from his chair and floated away. This created quite the drama and he couldn't focus on anything but the balloons in the sky. Dad saved the day though and "flew up in the sky" to go retrieve them. (Or to the store to buy some more.)

He already had a big cake when Grandma and Grandpa Blair were here, so we went with cupcakes on the actual birthday.

THEN...... Then next month (june)

Aaron turned 31. I'm lame and only took this one picture apparently. I can't find any others.

We tried to enjoy the Summer as much as we could. It's my busiest time of year so we don't always get to spend a lot of family time together but we did what we could, including shave ice, the water park and picnics.

Seven Peaks always wipes Tadd out. He loves it though!

Cherries from our cherry trees, pretty mountain drives, walking our NEW DOG in the evenings. We acquired a dog this Summer. We love him. Especially when he doesn't run away!

On the Fourth of July we went boating with Mark, Jeny and Tara. Kade was sad that we didn't catch Nemo but he loved being on the boat.

While we were doing fireworks that evening, Kade was thoroughly disinterested. He wanted to work on the dog house that Aaron was building.

Tadd got so excited every time a firework went off.

Tadd got stuck at church and it was funny. Kade went on his first plane ride he'll remember. He's been on a plane before but was too little to remember. And Aaron got some pretty flowers for me for our 7th anniversary this year!

We got awesome Summer storms this year. One in particular that hit fast and hard. The streets pretty much flooded. It was awesome! We love storms and rain around this house!

Lindsay and Kade went puddle jumping!

Our beast of a TV died. We weren't sad about it. Not even kind of. The "beast" was ridiculously heavy and an absolute nightmare to move! The new TV is much nicer and lighter! PLUS our family room feels HUGE now!

Tadd spent the Summer exploring and climbing. (sometimes getting stuck)

Kade was hilarious again. (In the photo above, he's sitting on a foot massager.)

He loves cuddling and watching movies!

Tadd isn't a cuddler. He just wants to be moving and playing all the time. So when he cuddles, I take it. I love it!

In September I had my first wedding at the Washington DC LDS Temple! It was my first time to the DC area and SO much fun! Aaron came with me and we had the morning to explore around the area where the temple is. We found this antique street that had a gazillion antique stores and little cafe's and such.

More snuggle time. :)

The YW and YM were in charge of the ward's Trunk-or-Treat this year. We had high hopes for the decor of our car and it fell short. Oh well, it was still fun. We had a cauldron of home-made rootbeer. That equals yummy smelling fog!

This is Tess and Lindsay. Tess is the YW president and Lindsay is one of my Laurels. They are also mother and daughter, Kade adores both of them! He kept calling Lindsay, "green Tron".

Aaron was dressed as Gumby. He was the hit of the night. All the kids kept trying to guess who he was. It was so fun!

My friend Katy and her little boy Aiden came to go trunk or treating with us. Kade and Aiden are good buddies.

On Halloween, I went along trick or treating for a few houses and then went home to hand out candy while the boys continued on. This was our doorway. I was pretty proud of my spider webs.

There. I'm almost caught up. Thank goodness. Good job if you lasted until the end.

My Son is 70.

2011-11-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

This was Kade's, Sunday activity of choice. Doing a puzzle, eating his treat that HE picked out at the grocery store last night: pistachios. He's 70.

For Grandma Blair

2011-11-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a little video of Tadd playing with the birthday present that you got for him. Happy Birthday!!!

Still Here

2011-10-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

Aren't they cute?

Compliment

2011-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

I was recently complimented on how polite Kade is. Though at times, he's quite the bully, he almost always says please or thank you. He says "bless you" when someone sneezes, he says "excuse me" when someone is in his way or he is in theirs and most of the time he is not prompted to do so.

I was so happy to receive this compliment. If I fail to do anything else in this world, I would hope that I can at least raise a respectful and polite child. (We're still working on the respectful part.) I would much rather be complimented on my child's politeness rather than his "cuteness". Though I'd like to think he has both. It just does my heart good. Plus, what's cuter than a little boy saying please and thank you? Not much I tell you.

So thanks for the compliment friend. It made my day.

For Now.

2011-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I'm working like crazy. Which is good, although it has caused me to be lacking in the record keeping department of my life. Journals, neglected. Photo-taking of my own children, neglected. This blog, neglected. Summer is winding down though and I will be back on top of things soon. Until then, get a load of this guy. Geez, he's got my heart.

I Forgot.

2011-09-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

Two other quite eventful things happened in April. I will give you a little back story.

When we bought our Pathfinder, it came with an automatic starter. This was something on our "it would be nice if it had this feature" list when we were car shopping. But it wasn't something we absolutely had to have. This was also not something we found out about until we came home with said Pathfinder. I have a few issues, one of them is that I prefer to hit the lock button on my car remote, 3 times. I like to have assurance that my car is definitely locked. Those three beeps give me just that. When we came home with our new car, we all got out and I proceeded to hit the lock button three times. It caught us all off guard when the car started again. It turns out that pushing the button three times, not only guarantees the locking of the vehicle, but it also starts the car. Hooray! This was something we had always wanted. It's wonderful in the hot summer or the cold winter when we can have the ac or heat blasting in our car before we get in. Spoiled? Definitely.

Let me reel this in.

The start the car sans keys in the ignition, it becomes locked. For sure. Thus creating a "lock your kids in the car" hazard. This was the case, for us.

The boys got locked in the car. The car was on, music blaring for some reason. The music being super loud turned out to be the second most annoying thing about the whole situation. We called the police department to come help us out. Apparently, at least in Vegas, policemen don't do that anymore. A locksmith was then called. Though the policemen don't do it, they provide a free locksmith in these kinds of situations. So we waited. Suddenly, there was a firetruck. Sirens, lights, embarrassment. It was there for us. The firetruck was there to "rescue" our children. Joy. This was the first most awkward thing about the situation.

If there are children in the locked car, the fire department is called no matter what. If it's during the day (in the Vegas heat) they smash your windows in to save the child. That seems fair. Luckily for us, it was night time. No window smashing. This was good considering we still had a 4ish hour drive ahead of us. HOWEVER, they "had" to wait for the locksmith to come to our rescue before they could "leave the scene". Embarrassment.

So we waited. Waited. Waited. For close to an hour. Kade and Tadd at the time had their car seats next to each other. Kade was closest to the door. We tried for the duration of the wait, to get Kade to somehow unlock his door. He decided to keep teasing and smacking his brother instead. (That was the number one more annoying thing about the situation,) So while we waited, we were yelling through the window, trying to yell over the music so Kade could hear us. Second most awkward thing about the situation.

The locksmith got there and took about half a second to get our car unlocked. Apparently it was a busy night for the free locksmith and that's why it took him, about an hour, to get there.

The firemen were pretty cool guys. When the kids were "released" from the car they let Kade get up into the firetruck and put on the headphones. They gave him a fireman badge sticker and let him look around a little bit. He though it was pretty cool. Tadd screamed himself to sleep in car during the wait, so we let him sleep instead of getting in the pictures.

The more exciting, of the two things I forgot. Tadd got to meet Grandma Kirkham. Aaron's grandma. We are so glad too! She let us stay with her during this trip. We usually stayed at my family's house but with all the wedding stuff and other family in town, we opted to stay with her and I'm glad we did. It was so nice to spend time with her! We love her!

Her health has severely declined since April. She was recently diagnosed with colon cancer among other things and doesn't have much time left here on earth. This is something that makes her happy. She is eager to join her husband again. She is such a sweet woman. I love her more than I can explain. She's very quiet but so kind and generous and always so happy to see us. Whether she meant to or not, she always made me feel like part of her family and that is something I appreciate more than words can describe. We love you Grandma!

Kade also found a lizard in Grandma's backyard with uncle Brandon.

Faces

2011-07-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

My word. So, I have been going through a lot of our pictures lately. Ya know, in the spare time that I don't have. I have found a plethora of photos of Tadd. Thank goodness. I don't love him less after all. Anyway, I noticed a trend. His face. Geez, I love this kid's face. It's amazing and never ceases to entertain. The thing is, he's an incredibly happy baby. However, he looks pretty ticked off in most of the pictures.

We have been told over and over again that he changes so much all the time. I've never noticed it before. Probably because I'm his mom and see his face everyday. Well, after going through some pictures I've noticed that we have about 30 kids encompassed into this one 9 month old child.

Here are a few gems I've found; just some of the many faces we get from him...

Whoa.

2011-07-17T23:41:00.001-07:00

We have two kids. Did you remember that? I didn't want to be "that mom". You know, the one that is obsessive about taking pictures of her first child and then barely takes any of the second. Well as much as I didn't want to be "that mom", I am. I'm trying to make up for it now. Anyway, I couldn't get away with not posting about Tadd's blessing. We turn our blog into books for our family to keep and look back on. Aaron and I are not good at keeping journals. We write in our journals every once in a while but we're not consistent. I haven't been consistent at this lately either but that's another story. I have more important things going on right now. Good things. So long story short, I know his blessing was almost 8 months ago but here we are, trying to avoid the "you love him more than you love me" drama years down the road.

Tadd was blessed by Aaron on January 9th, 2011. Aaron did a great job! I feel so fortunate to have a husband that can perform these blessings. Plus he's kind of a hottie.

We were fortunate to have a lot of family and friends there with us, though we wished everyone could have been there. It was a cold winter day but it was beautiful. The whole day was just perfect!

Once Upon A Time... (Part 1)

2011-06-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

It was a very eventful month. The month was April. It was grand.

My little brother Jordan, married Tawnie. The day was beautiful and it was pretty much a party all weekend. (I have just posted a few pictures. If you would like to see a few more, and a more extensive post....go HERE)

By far the hardest wedding I have ever done. Being the groom's sister and all. However, it was so fun and I loved being with them the whole 2 days!

This is my favorite photo of the day. Don't ask why. I have, not a reason, just a feeling.

Brock and Aaron were two of Jordan's groomsmen. Awe, cute.

Kade loves his new Aunt Tawnie. LOVES her! So do we!

We couldn't stop this kid. He's uncontrollable. He was cuttin' a rug the whole night.

Also in April, Utah became a beautiful place again. I'm sorry, but March has got to be the ugliest month in all of Utah. And most of the country, I'm sure. It's between the snowy winter and the blossoms of Spring. Thank goodness April eventually got here.

We also got some visitors! Aaron's little sister Serena graduated from BYU and so his parents came for her graduation.

Because they were here just a couple weeks before Kade's birthday, we had a birthday party for him. We went to Trafalga, ate food that wasn't so tasty but had a fun time playing in the arcade, riding the go-carts and other little rides.

Kade wanted to go on this ride "so so so much" the whole night.

It was Easter

My most favorite of all the Holidays. I love it.

One great thing about Easter is that it is always on Sunday. The boys always get new suits to wear on Easter Sunday. I love dressing these boys for church. I'm all for actually dressing them for church.

Kade got some killer sunglasses in his Easter basket. He was really excited to match grandpa.

So there you have it. Our very small update of April.

There's more to come. It's too overwhelming to do all at once so this is all you get for now.

Small Update.

2011-05-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

You're all probably on the edge of your seats, waiting for an updated blog post from me. Well, you're not gunna get it. Not now anyway. There's a lot going on and blogging isn't my first priority. "gasp"

Until then, take a gander at....

The world's. Cutest. Fat baby. Ever.

(Yes, you see two little teeth in that gummy mouth of his. AND Kade turned 3. There IS a lot to post about. I'll get around to it eventually.)

Conan O'Brien?

2011-04-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Look at my little Conan O'Brien look-alike. Scary. Gross.

That's why we did this. I've never regretted it. Not even for a second.

Also, this kid is 6 months old today! What? I know. Weird.

Also, also, I finished my finals for the semester, last night. Go ahead. Cheer.

Sister

2011-04-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is a post about my sisters. I'll post more about the wedding later. You'll just have to be waiting on the edge of your seat for that.

Sister: a female person who belongs to the same group as another or others.

The Jensen's added a new member of the family this month. I now have, yet another sister. And I couldn't be happier.

I haven't always taken full advantage of having sisters. In fact growing up, sadly, I thought I'd be better off with only brothers. I think part of that is that I was so much older than two of them....emotionally, much older than Kelsey as well. (just growing up. :)) However, the more I've grown up, the more I've learned to appreciate each of them differently and love them unconditionally. I have a pretty incredible group of sisters.

Kelsey: There were many occasions, growing up, where I may or may not have wanted to kill her. We butted heads...sometimes literally. We made each other bruise and bleed on more than one occasion. She was not even close to my favorite person. People always told us, "You hate each other now, but just wait. You'll be best friends when you grow up."...then I'd laugh. However, now, I think we're pretty close to that. I talk to her more than any of my sisters. She has become one of my best friends. I feel like I can tell her just about anything. She is one of the most genuine, generous people I know. I'd trust her with my life.

Kylee: Oh Kylee. The laughs she gives me. When I moved out, Kylee was only 11. The past couple of years I've gotten to know her a lot better and we have so much fun together! It sounds so strange to say I've "gotten to know my sister". But when you're 18 and 11, there's a huge age gap in interests as well as emotions. Anyway, I've really enjoyed when she comes up and visits us for a week here and there. We always laugh a lot. Her laugh is incredibly contagious.

Becca: Everyone always tells us we're a lot alike. I don't mind being categorized with the smartest kid in our family. I'm so proud of her and her determination to make good choices and not be ashamed of them. She's never been embarrassed of her standards or religion! I admire that incredibly! Becca was only 9 when I moved out, so just as Kylee, I didn't really know her very well. We've become much closer in the recent years and I'm grateful for the relationship we have.

Each of my sisters is SO different. I love them each for different reasons and can't imagine my life without them. Good job mom, for continuing to get knocked up.

Now we have a new sister and I love her just the same.

Tawnie: There are so many reasons I love her, aside from her impeccable taste in television sitcoms, the very biggest reason is that she makes my brother incredibly happy. Jordan had a rough couple of years where he just wasn't himself. He didn't seem happy. Now that he's with her, he smiles and laughs more. His face lights up whenever she's around and it does my heart good. Watching him kneel across from his bride and commit to her for eternity was an incredible feeling and I'm so glad I was there to see it. Their wedding day was beautiful! I'm excited to continue to get to know her better and Aaron says he's excited that he finally has an "in-law friend". Because apparently he was SO excluded in family things before. Whatev.

In short, I love my sisters. ALL of them. I'm so lucky to have them in my life and so happy to welcome a new one to the family!

PS, I've started using film more often. I'm a little bit in love...there may be a transition soon...maybe. I don't know if I'm that brave yet.

Velma

2011-04-05T23:42:00.000-07:00

I got my hairs did. As you can see, it was a nasty mess. So I called Caitlyn, for some much needed hair care.

Here's the after. I'm quite pleased. Caitlyn thinks I'm a hater, I'm sure. When all was said and done....I was a little hesitant. I haven't had bangs since...the last time it was cool....wait. No, since 6th grade. Anyway, I got the change I wanted and I dig it.

Some News

2011-03-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

We're back to Kade again. He had his drain taken out this morning. To say it went smoothly would be a lie, but it could have been worse. Kade knew where we were going and he wasn't happy about it. He's been so bothered by his drain, so I thought maybe he would be excited to take it out. Nope.

He started crying as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, saying he didn't want to go there, while pointing to the door we went in last Sunday when the bulge was aspirated. (I feel like the bulge should have a name. How about.... Timon? I don't know, sure.) I promised him we wouldn't go into the building through that door, we'd go in through another. That calmed him down. We got into the building, he was fine. Excited even, that he got to push buttons on the elevator.

We got into the office and he wasn't pleased, then that was made better by the toys in the office. Then....dun dun duuuunnnn.....we had to go back to the exam room. Mind you, I had one arm occupied by the Goliath of infant car seats and the other by Kade's itty bitty hand. Well, Kade went limp. He did NOT want to go back there. His memories of that office are not his most fond memories. Keep in mind, Goliath is in my left arm....I literally (and yes, I'm using that word correctly) had to drag him into the exam room. All the while he is kicking and screaming. I'm just glad it wasn't a super busy day there. We were the only patients in the office because it was right before lunch.

We did the usual pin him down action, the drain was pulled from Timon's previous residence. Dr. H. was bothered by how much fluid had filled the drain since the surgery. We had dumped, on average, 30ml per day. Dr. H. was hoping for around 15ml the first day and then drops from then on out. Since that was not the case, he became uncertain with what will happen next. He will be contacting a pediatric E.N.T. up at Primary Children's to get a second opinion. We're hoping for no surgery round 3. Timon is not welcome in our home. We're hoping he never comes back.

Until then, Kade continues to be bandaged up, nice and tight. He's so happy to be drain free.

We Still Have Two

2011-03-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

So much of this blog lately, has been centered around Kade. You may have forgotten that we have two kids. So here's a reminder.

This is Tadd and he's hilarious!

I can't believe he's almost 5 months. Then, at the same time, I feel like he should be much older already. A LOT has happened since he was born. He's such a happy baby despite his ever-present-photographic-grimace. He smiles and giggles all the time. He loves his brother from a distance. (Kade has a tendency to get too close.) Tadd rolls over from his stomach and is SO close to rolling over from his back. He's a regular laugh riot. This picture of him cracks me up.

More Pictures

2011-03-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Remember how I said, I wished I'd brought my camera? Well it's true. Super duper true. My camera phone came to the rescue. It's awful quality! Just pretend I'm making a statement with my art, OK? Deal.

We went on a walk to the gift shop, just to get out of the room for a while. Kade preferred to push his IV stand all on his own.

Aaron is the best husband, I'll spare you my gushing over him because I don't want you to feel bad that he's not your husband. But he brought dinner to me from Carrabas, and cake from the cutest cake shop ever called The Chocolate. (Super tasty p.s.) He knew today was going to be a different, less exciting birthday and definitely went out of his way to make sure we could still have fun. This will be one of my most memorable birthdays for sure.

When Aaron showed up with Tadd, Kade immediately insisted Tadd sit by him and watch his movie with him. He gave him a big hug and kiss when Aaron sat him on the bed.

My mom sent me flowers for my birthday and a stuffed dino for Kade for his surgery day. Thank you mom!

My yummy dinner. Chicken Parmigiana and mashed potatoes and salad (not pictured).

I should have taken a picture of the actual cake and not just the box. Oh well. Room service even brought us some vanilla ice-cream to have with the cake. Yum! I feel bad going on because I know how jealous you must be....

Kade got Bambi for me and Aaron got a pair of Vans for me. I love them both. Aaron also wrote me a note that made me weep. I'm blaming it on the exhaustion and stress of the day....

This photo is for Kade's ever-so-curious cousins, Colton and Rylan. They wanted to know just about as much as possible about this fluid, causing problems for their cousin Kade. So boys, here is a picture of it. Kind of weird looking, huh?

He'll have the drain in for a couple of days. Hopefully he'll get a little more used to it and not keep tugging at it.

So Far-So Good

2011-03-10T11:46:00.001-08:00

So far, everything is good. Kade is miserable this time which is making it more difficult both emotionally and physically, however, it's also causing him to rest more so that he can heal. I didn't bring my camera today because I figured it would be, basically, the same pictures. Now I'm mad I didn't. Aaron got him a cute balloon. And it's just been (aside from the doctor, hospital, incision site, and room layout) a completely different experience. We're doing well though. Just watching movies and hanging out.

I absolutely love this hospital. Right outside Kade's window, there are horses. He's been watching them run around and he loves it. Kade's doctor is awesome! We love Dr. H. We haven't felt like he is ignoring our concerns or questions even once. He thinks about Kade when he's not meeting with us, he's just great, and has done a wonderful job taking care Kade! The nurses have been so nice today. Some of them even remember Kade from last time. It was only a week ago, but still, it's nice to know that he's not just another patient to them. One of them told me she thought about him for a few days after he left because he was just so cute. Another today, asked him if he wanted a drink, he replied "yes please." She said she's now in love and he can have anything he wants. He's definitely won the nurses over. They also have done such a good job at making sure Aaron and I have been taken care of. I'm rambling, I just feel so blessed to live in a place where we can easily get well taken care of when it comes to our health. I also am so grateful for health insurance!

My food came to me all pretty today. And guess what? It tasted good too! You can choose not to believe that, but it's true. Also, I really am diggin' this "room-service" style meal time in the hospital now.

We really sincerely appreciate all the prayers in our behalf and love that we have felt from friends and family members. We love you all! We're very lucky to have all of you in our lives!

The Bulge.

2011-03-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures of his neck. It's pretty bulge-y. The incision is at the top, the line in the middle is just irritation from the bandage he had on the incision. Surgery will for sure be tomorrow. We'll update when we can.

More Surgery

2011-03-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Kade will be having surgery again. There is a lot of fluid build up in the area that he had his surgery last week and it's not going away. The doctor aspirated three syringes of fluid from the area on Sunday and it's just as puffed up and swollen today as it was before he did that. Basically, something is "leaking" and he has to go in and fix it.

The area that is swollen is the area of skin the doctor pulled back to remove the cysts and the fluid is causing his skin to not be able to reattach itself, therefore creating the perfect pocket of space for it to fill....

He'll open the incision up again, drain it, see if he can see what is leaking, put a tissue glue in there to prevent future leaks and sew him back up. It should be a lot faster than his last procedure and then we'll be finished with it. Hopefully.

The doctor is going to do everything possible to do it tomorrow. But for sure they'll be doing it by Monday. It's just a matter of finding an open spot in his surgical schedule.

That's all for now.

Oh also, our internet is down. Yipee. I'm borrowing the hospital's. Good stuff. So there's lots I have to post on this blog and others but wont be able to do it until at least tonight. For example: a picture of Kade's neck. Stay tuned.

Lumps, No More...Maybe

2011-03-05T22:09:00.002-08:00

Kade had the lumps on his neck removed on the 28th of February. It might not be a big deal for some people, to have their child go in for surgery, but for us it was. It's not something that we have to deal with on a regular basis and I was trying my best to not let my nerves get the better of me. We got to the hospital at 7:30 sharp. I was really proud of us because we're not always so great at getting out of the house on time.

They took us to a pre-op room where they'd do a little prepping on Kade before he was taken into surgery. We got him changed into his kid-sized hospital gown (it kind of breaks my heart that they even make them in small sizes), turned on cartoons to distract Kade for a bit and waited for the doctor to come take him back. Kade was doing so good and the whole situation didn't seem to be affecting him too much....until they were about to take him back.

The nurses tucked him into the bed and talked to him (trying to reassure him) about what was going to happen. As they were talking to him, his bottom lip started to frown a little. He was trying very very hard to be tough though and we still didn't see tears. I held his hand and walked with him next to his bed as they rolled him towards the doors only they can pass.

They may as well have ripped my heart out. As they left us to wait, Kade was screaming that he wanted me to hold him. He was absolutely terrified and I couldn't do anything about it. But I just had to keep telling myself, "he'll be less traumatized than I will be." It's now safe to say, that is very true!

We were originally told it would be an hour and he'd be out of surgery. That was not the case. Three hours later, we were very happy to see the doctor coming out to talk to us. He even drew a picture for us.

This is a rough illustration of what was in there. The lines are muscles, the thicker line (if you can make out the caption) is a spinal accessory nerve. The nerve, if damaged, could prevent Kade from being able to shrug his shoulders or turn his head completely. Not life or death, however, it's kind of nice to be able to do those things. This nerve is what cause the procedure to last so long. As you can see, one of the cysts was directly underneath it and the doctor took his time (thankfully) to make sure the nerve stayed undamaged. The cysts used to be called cystic hygroma, but they're now called lymphatic malformations.

Lymphatic malformations are sponge-like collections of abnormal channels and spaces that contain clear fluid. The lymphatic system normally collects excess fluid from the tissues and transports it through a series of small vessels back into the venous system. With a lymphatic malformation, however, transfer of this fluid through these vessels is slowed. The excess fluid accumulates and dilates the vessels, resulting in a swelling of the affected area and sometimes in more extensive enlargement of soft tissues and bones.

After the procedure they wheeled him up to his room. Had he been older, we would have gone home afterward. However, because he's only 3...well almost, they kept him overnight. They also prepared us for when he'd come out of anesthesia. They said he'd probably be crying or throwing a fit of some sort. Luckily, he came out of it without any problem. He just seemed really sleepy and wanted to cuddle a lot. That was okay by me.

His face itched like crazy.

He was treated like a king and loved it. He was waited on hand and foot by the nurses, got to watch Megamind 3 times, and play in their toy room all alone. (I didn't see one single child while we were there aside from Kade, only heard them...so sad.) The most difficult thing we had to do in the hospital was give Kade his pain medication. It's an oral medication and it even smells nasty. It usually took two of us to pin him down, and one to get the medicine into his mouth only to have him spit most of it out. He didn't seem to grasp that if he took it, his neck wouldn't hurt. But by the time we left he was doing much better with it. It just took some bribing with stickers!

I had to take a picture of his glowing toe. He thought it was awesome.

That night, Aunt Cici (Kelsey) and Tadd came to visit him. Kade was very excited to see them both.

We played some more. And then went to bed. (This night, I just have to say, I'm really sad about. My friend went into labor and had her baby and I slept through it. I was supposed to photograph it while Aaron stayed at the hospital with Kade. I'm still really sad I missed it. I'm sorry Janine.)

The next morning bright and early (very early...Kade and I were still sleeping) Dr. H. came in to clear Kade to go home. We slept for a little longer, woke up, ate breakfast while we waited for Aaron to come back from work, and then got ready to leave. Aaron and Kade played in the play room while I packed everything up. He had to get one last play in. He didn't want to leave. The nurse told him he could bring a car home with him and he thought that was okay. It at least got him in the wagon and leaving. He would only get in it though if I was pulling it. He thought the nurse was going to take him from us again. So sad. We eventually got out of there though. Thank goodness!

When we got into the car it took some coaxing, again, to get him to leave. He waited to throw his aforementioned fits until we were leaving. Better late than never? No. Never would have been better. Oh well, he's 2.

After Kade came home, everything was fantastic. You would never have suspected he'd just had surgery. He didn't seem affected, still. He was taking his medicine fantastically, everything was great. He hasn't even needed pain medication for the past two days. Until yesterday. He's started complaining more. Yesterday it looked a little puffy but still not anything I was worried about. Today, different story. This morning I looked at his neck and it was SO swollen. I was worried enough to call the doctor. So I did. After explaining what was happening, he asked us to meet him at his office. Part of me felt horrible for dragging the doctor out on a Sunday (in his suit and all) and the other part of me felt very grateful to have a doctor that didn't just blow us off until Kade's follow up appointment on Tuesday.

Once the doctor looked at it, he seemed less worried but still wants us to watch it. He aspirated it (three syringes full of fluid) and wrapped up his neck nice and tight to keep pressure on the area. If it comes back, we're looking at another surgery. Hopefully it doesn't come back!!! I don't want to do this again.

He Just Wants to Dance

2011-02-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

Kade has not had a lot of energy today. Obviously, that's what we expected. Don't think it kept him from dancing when music was on though. Ha! Watch carefully or you'll miss it.

Day 12.

2011-02-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

I went into Tadd's room this morning and found this. Cute. He likes his stuffed bunny from his Nana.

Then when he realized it was me behind the camera, I got this face...

You're coming home tonight and we couldn't be happier! Holy smokes. I'm a huge wuss, I know. But this whole 2 weeks alone with the kids, pretty much wore me completely down. For reals, kudos to any single mom. I don't know how you do it. Also, to any military families. Husbands and wives alike, it's rough being away from your family or having a family member gone for any period of time, let alone, years at a time. Also, can I freeze time so my boys never grow up and go on missions? Deal.

Day 11.

2011-02-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Today the boys just hung out while I was studying. Do you like Tadd's knee socks? I sure do.

Day 10.

2011-02-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, Tadd thinks he's a big kid.

Then, he gets tired.

Day 9.

2011-02-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

Forgive the photos. We were at my Aunt Jeny's house all day and I didn't have my camera with me so my phone was 2nd best.

Kade went on a walk today with a bird.

Tadd napped for a bit. (Really, only a bit.)

He's so small

2011-02-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

Nickell has been wanting me to post these for a while now. (Since the wedding)

Day 8.

2011-02-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

Day 8. Dada, you come home in 4 days. We can't wait.

Day 7.

2011-02-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

He likes calling people.

Oh, and the Dodgers.

Music Video

2011-02-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

Here is the final edit of the music video made at our family reunion last summer.

Credit: Worlds Apart (Separate Ways) by Journey

A Face.

2011-02-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

Day 6.

2011-02-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

We played outside this morning.

We miss you.

Day 5.

2011-02-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Kade knows how to play nice.

Yay for being half way through this business trip! We can't wait to have you home again!

(I don't know how military families do it.)

As Promised. My Positive Post

2011-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

So yesterday's post was quite negative. I know. I'm a horrible person for having negative feelings. It's ok. It's something I've come to terms with. But I'm not negative all the time. I promise. So here we go.

I'm glad my husband has the job he has. It has made us nervous a few times but he really does have an incredible job and a great boss that puts a lot of faith in him and is flexible with his school schedule.

I'm SO happy (the indescribable kind) that Kade's lumps are benign. Seriously. Indescribable.

All. Four. Seasons.

I'm glad I have a huge family. This is not something I've always been glad about. There were many, really, many days that I wish I were an only child. But I love each one of my siblings more than they could ever know and miss them like crazy.

Snow storms, thunderstorms, rain, wet cement,...not hail. Oh but also sunshine.

I love that I have a job that allows me to be at home with my boys so often.

I love that my family is healthy. (mostly)

I love my church and the women I visit teach and the friends we've made in this ward. Making friends is hard for me. This is the first ward that we've had friends that weren't related to us.

I'm glad I'm not technologically handicap.

Although I hate it sometimes, I'm glad I went back to school.

Good friends. 'nuff said.

That I am able to have children.

I'm glad I have all my senses.

I'm glad I've never had to take out a business loan.

Netflix streaming through the Wii.

Zumba. That's right, I jumped onto that bandwagon.

Justin Bieber....wait. No. Sorry, wrong list.

Cell phones. What did we ever do before them? Also remember when people that had car phones were "the rich ones"? That's funny.

The internet. Although, as much as I love it, I am equally terrified by it.

IMDb. Again, 'nuff said.

Ok, well there you go. There's lots more. But I fear you may be bored already...

Day 4.

2011-02-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

The most exciting thing we did today was take Tadd's blessing pictures. FINALLY! Also, I realized today that I have yet to post about CHRISTMAS and his blessing. Oh man, I am behind.

It's Time.

2011-02-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just need to get things out. Now is the time. So if you are easily offended....maybe don't read this. Sorry. One of my least favorite traits about myself is how easily I get irritated, and I can't stop thinking about the thing that irritates me unless I get it out. (emphasis on the latter.) So here I go.

The mis-use of "then" and "than". Really, it's incredibly simple. I feel like more and more I am reading "then" where "than" should be....and if I'm going there I might as well put the mis-use of they're, their, and there; effect and affect; and this is another huge one, your and you're. Really. Simple. Stuff.

Narcissism-'nuff said. (I feel like there may be some hypocrasy in this one since I am posting a bunch of stuff that bugs me. Like you care.. )

Using the same cup for more than different kind of liquid without it getting full on washed in between. No glass of milk and then glass of water. Sorry. Gross.

When the trashcan outside is full and we still have 5 days until trash day.

Using different fonts in one blog post and blogger not letting me fix it.

Kade is regressing with potty-training since his CT scan last Saturday. I'm pretty close to throwing in the towel.

When I feel selfish for wanting my husband to come home, even though this is a really good opportunity for him to be a part of.

Skype's sound wont work for us. Aaron can hear me but I can't hear him. And yes, my volume is on and up.

When two people are together and one of them is on the phone for a good majority of the time said two people are together.

There aren't enough hours in the day.

Abnormal fonts on blogs. They might make your blog all cutesy, but they also make them more difficult to see. Which leads me to the next one...

Crazy font colors on blogs that you can't see. (I have a feeling this one and the prior will hurt some feelings. Like I said, sorry. It's my opinion though, you don't have to care what I think.)

There's one more that I'm not going to add the details of. But I am going to say that narrow mindedness is involved...I'm not going to get into details mostly just because I don't feel like hearing the contrary argument. I already know it. I've already heard it.

15 items for "less". Let's try fewer. Ok, yep. Fewer is correct. 15 items or fewer.

I know this was super negative but I promise tomorrow to write a much more uplifting and happy and positive post. Promise.

And p.s. I feel much better. Again with my own narcissism. I'm out of control.

Day 3.

2011-02-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

This morning Kade cuddled up with a blanket on his little wing-backed chair and watched Planet 51. He also told me he misses Dada.

Here Dad.

2011-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

I told Aaron that while he's gone I'll post a picture a day. So Dad, here you go.

Another Mystery.

2011-01-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

Kade again. I don't know what is wrong with this kid. Neither to the doctors. He's had a small lump on his neck for about a month. It first appeared when he was sick and you could really only see it when he'd turn his head and the skin would tighten. Anyway, we figured it was a swollen gland and kind of forgot about it.

Recently I was giving him a bath and noticed a much larger one a little below the first one. We took him to the doctor and the doctor ordered an ultrasound for this morning. The doctor was originally thinking it was something vascular since they kind look like huge bruises, but after the ultrasound we discovered it isn't vascular. That's good because vascular would be surgery BUT not good because we still don't know what it is. The tech said there's some kind of fluid build up, we just don't know what kind of fluid. Anyway, here are some photos of it. They're kind of hard to see in photos.

2011

2011-01-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

We had a "party" on New Year's Eve. I quotationed (sure, that's a word right?) it because there were 5 of us. It was just going to be Becca Aaron and myself but then Beez and Harrison invited themselves over and we let them. Ok not really. We invited them. It was fun. We played Mario Party and watched A-Team (the original pilot episode AND the movie). It was super fun. At midnight we cheered and had noise makers and confetti explosions. Like I said, super fun. The end.

This Just Happened.

2011-01-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

This morning on the baby monitor, I heard Kade go into Tadd's room. I was slightly nervous, because I knew he can climb into his crib, but I wanted to see what happened next. I'm glad I didn't interfere. I then heard the mobile music start going. It wasn't playing steadily....so I wondered what he was doing. This is what I found...

He'd start the mobile, and then lay next to Tadd and watch it go. When the mobile would stop, he'd get up again and start it again. He loves his brother so much. It's so cute. He's always so concerned when Tadd is crying.

Different story..same idea: One time Kade was in my car with Kelsey. Tadd stayed home with me. Half way into the drive back home, Kade looked at the empty carseat base and said "Oh no! Cici! WHERE'S TADD???" He thought they had left his somewhere and was very nervous about it. He's cute.

That's all.

2010 in Retrospect--Repost!

2011-01-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights from our year. It was a very good and very stressful year. I'm glad it's over and I'm looking forward to 2011! I did this last year and it was fun to look back and see what we had done that year so I decided to do it again this year. Enjoy.

January

January was SO busy. We had just moved into our home and we were busy fixing a lot of stuff up. There is still quite a ways to go but it looks incredible compared to where we started. We're hoping 2011 brings us a dishwasher in our kitchen. And one that is not a person. With a new dishwasher we'd be getting a new counter too! Hooray!

February

Melody and Nathan came to visit in February. This was their first visit to our home and we wish we could have spent more time with them but it was still a lot of fun to have them! We hope they come to visit again soon! February was also a big month for us because this was the month we found out we would be adding to our family. Sorry I don't have a picture of the pee-stick. That's gross.

March

March was pretty uneventful. However, Kade learned that he loves bowling and sidewalk chalk.

April

The entire month of April was consumed by weddings and other photo-shoots in California! It was a busy but fun month!

May

Kade turned 2.

June

Aaron turned THIRTY! Big birthday, not a big party :(. On his birthday we also found out we were having a BOY!

July

We spent our first 4th alone this year. We spent the morning by riding our bikes down to the Sperry's house to watch the parade. Then we went home and relaxed. Also in July we celebrated our 6th anniversary and I found the most amazing curling iron known to man. (It's so incredible, that I'm including it in this retrospect.) --I can't believe I originally forgot this. We had a family reunion for my mom's side of the family in July. It consumed A LOT of my time. It went surprisingly well and I think everyone had a good time.

August

We made our second trip to the bay area but first trip to the Oakland temple to do a wedding. It's amazing! We also went on our first family beach outing. I had been to the beach with Kade but Aaron never had. It was SO cold but very fun still!

September

We bought a bigger car! Also known as "Mama's big car" by Kade.

October

October was the most exciting month for us this year. Duh.

November

November was one of the more eventful months for us. We welcomed LOTS of visitors. Most notably, Aaron's parents and brother. This is only the 2nd time Aaron's parents have come to visit us and we were so excited to have them again! They came to visit, meet Tadd and spend Thanksgiving with us. While they were here we ate lots of yummy food, saw the temple lights and just hung out! Aunt Cici (AKA Kelsey) came to visit for a week as well. She spent the whole time spoiling my boys to death. They sure love Aunt Cici.

December

This year we spent Christmas day with just the four of us and it was absolutely perfect.

Sucker.

2010-12-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, I found this guy doing this....

I'm a sucker for a thumb sucker. I love that he figured out how to do this.

White Christmas

2010-12-21T09:52:00.001-08:00

Mother nature knew what I wanted for Christmas. Last night we got a load of white dumped on us and I love it! I really do. I'm so excited to have a white Christmas! Kade loves it too. This morning he immediately asked if we could go build a snowman! Sad day because his gloves are in Dad's car at work.

Until the snowman building can commence, we'll just cuddle with lots of blankets and watch Christmas movies. Perfect day.

(Also super glad yesterday wasn't like this, Aaron and I were in Salt Lake and Lindon all day shooting a wedding!)

Thanksgiving

2010-12-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

Now that the semester is over and things are a little slower with business (it's a blessing I promise) I decided it's time to catch up on the blog. There's a lot to post. SO much has happened since Tadd was born and I haven't documented much of it. 2nd child syndrome? Maybe.

This Thanksgiving we were happy to have Aaron's parent's and brother and sister here with us! We also had one of Serena's friends from her ward. In my adult life, I've found, I absolutely love being a hostess. I love throwing parties. I should throw more of them. Would you come?

Needless to say we had a very fun Thanksgiving!

For a lot of Thanksgiving day, Kade did this...

Dressing the table was probably my favorite part.

And then eating. I can't explain to you how happy I was to be able to eat on Thanksgiving. I was thankful for that in and of itself. During my pregnancy I ate due to necessity and hated every bite. How happy I was to have a holiday celebrated by eating a lot of good food.

Yeah, I took pictures of the food.

This is how Tadd spent his first Thanksgiving dinner.

After dinner we played games and ate pie. I didn't take a picture of the pies. Just had a slice. Let me tell you what, you wish you could have had a slice.

Do I look tired? I was. It's a whollatta work for a 20 minute meal. Perhaps that's why we only do it once a year?

Also: Worth it.

2010-12-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

I think my header looks ridiculous atop all these Christmas related photos...I vote I change it.

Snow!

2010-12-17T20:56:00.001-08:00

It's snowing! I'm so happy! I love snow at Christmas-time! Kade loves it too. He got so excited when he saw it was snowing. The picture of our house with lights is pretty dark. I'll take one tomorrow before it gets too dark! Yay snow! Also, lucky you for me posting two days in a row! You. Are. Welcome.

Santa's Reindeer

2010-12-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

Santa's reindeer are scoping out house tonight apparently. Well not really, they were just deer. Aaron was cleaning up some of Kade's toys tonight and through the window of his toy room he saw two deer! IN OUR FRONT YARD! Yes I all-caps-ed that because it was that crazy! Holy cow. I can't even believe it! I wish we could have retrieved the video camera quickly enough. The battery was dead and Aaron was trying to get the spare in but they started walking away and then they were gone. Holy smokes. Coolest 1:15 am experience to date. For me at least.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...?

2010-12-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday for a good portion of the day I was wondering why on earth people think this is the most wonderful time of the year. The traffic is worse, stores are CRAZY busy, and most people are fairly inconsiderate. Yes, that seems truly wonderful.

However, we saw Santa. Kade sure thought it was the most wonderful day of his life. He just wanted to stay and hang out with him.

Tadd...not so much. He was hungry.

(side note: I know it's the most wonderful time of the year because we are celebrating the birth of our Savior. The "world's" Christmas though.....Also, I do actually LOVE Christmas. I'm extremely excited for it this year. Ask Aaron, I tell him every day. Kade understands it this year and that makes it even more exciting! I'm just not a lover of Christmas shopping....or traffic.....or inconsiderate people...)

Temple Lights

2010-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Aaron's parents and brother came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. Serena lives here so she usually spends Thanksgiving with us anyway. It was a very fun week. While they were here we decided to have them join us for our annual Salt Lake Temple lights trip. We love doing this every year to kick off the Christmas season. We get all bundled up and Aaron makes his famous hot chocolate. I'm sad this year because I felt so sick most of the night. BUT it was still fun and thanks to Brandon we have some pictures of it! Tadd was very bundled in his stroller. You'll see a picture. If he wasn't in his stroller he was strapped to me.

So far this Christmas season has been our most exciting! Kade is SO into it and it's so fun to watch him get into it. Every time we're in the car at night he points out every house with lights and says "MAMA! Yook, yights! YOOK, yight dare!" or "MAMA! Yook! Kiss-yass tee!" I can't wait for Christmas morning!

Halloween

2010-11-20T19:54:00.001-08:00

Halloween kind of fell through the cracks this year at our house since I was in the hospital with a new baby. But thanks to my mom, Kade still got to go trick-or -treating. Sadly his costume fell through the cracks too. I had purchased the fabric to make his costume and just never to to making it. Luckily my mom found this giraffe costume at Target on Halloween.

From what I hear, he was a little bored of the idea of knocking on doors until he realized they were giving him candy to for doing so.....

All of the pictures taken during trick-or treating were taken on my mom's phone camera. I don't know why I didn't think to have her take my back up camera. Oh well.

After trick-or-treating Kade and my mom came to the hospital so Kade could show us his costume. He looked so cute. I loved that the costume had big hips. I also love that one of the nurses thought he was a girl.

Awesome.

He's currently in training to be Aaron's back up for filming weddings.

Thanks Nana for taking Kade trick-or-treating!

As Promised....

2010-11-18T01:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't get around to taking the updated picture of his bald spot until today. You can see how much bigger it's gotten! You can also see a little of his rat tail. So gross. I shaved his head today and we've started putting the cream on. Hopefully we'll start seeing an improvement in the next few weeks.

(just in case you didn't figure it out already, the photo on the left was taken when we first discovered it. The photo on the right was taken today.)

It All Started With A Buzz Cut...

2010-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

A few weeks before Tadd was born, Kade needed a haircut. He needed a haircut SO bad. The way his hair grows creates a rat tail in the back. It's awful. Anyway, I decided I couldn't put it off any longer or I might barf. I got out the clippers and started buzzing away. I started on with a 3 guard on the clippers. It wasn't going to be too short, but short enough to keep my lunch down for a few more days.

He was OK with me cutting it because he got to play "Yario Kart"...

Whilst cutting his hair. I found something. It looked like I messed up and cut a spot too short but I knew I hadn't. It was pretty obvious so I cut the hair shorter hoping it would become less obvious...it helped but only a little. He had this bald spot. A bald spot that hadn't been there the last time his hair was cut like 6 ish weeks before....

He happened to have a doctors appointment that same day. The doctor told us to keep an eye on it and see what happens. So we did and it grew. (I'll take a picture of it when he wakes up from his nap) We took him to the doctor again and he referred us to a dermatologist. We had that appointment today and it turns out he has Alopecia Areata. Basically it's hair loss in a circle shape.

Alopecia areata is a type of hair loss that occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles which is where hair growth starts. -Web MD

They don't know what causes it and the doctor told us that it usually reverses itself but with a steroid cream applied three times a day it will help it grow back more quickly. He also said he sees a few other spots on his head where it might be starting to fall out. So he could soon have a few other bald circles on his head. I'll probably just cut his hair really short and start putting the cream on those spots as well....Crazy! Apparently it's fairly common. It's just so weird!

We've always joked about his "receding hairline" and that he'll probably go bald early in life...just didn't think it would be this early!!

theNKOTB

2010-11-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

On Friday October 29th I headed to the doctor so she could give me a better idea of when this baby would be here. After a few words from the doctor and an exam, she sent me to the hospital to do a non-stress test.

At the hospital they hooked me up to all the machines to do the test. They would be monitoring the baby's heart beat and my heart beat for 30 min. 30 min turned into 90 min. My doctor came in (she hadn't been there before) and said I couldn't wait any longer. (A little back story: Kade was born via c-section and I was trying to not have a c-section this time. Due to high risk, inductions can't be done after a previous c-section. So we were basically on a waiting game.) The baby's heart was decelerating. He was in distress and he needed to come out. Translation: c-section....forever.

I will now always have to have c-sections to have my kids. It makes me sad. I'll never experience "giving birth". I know most women will say that I'm not missing out on anything but I am. I feel like I am. But I'd rather have my babies here healthy and safe.

I had been fasting as per request from the doctor's office as a "just in case" for the anesthesiologist. But when I went to their office they had me drink orange juice

before the non-stress test so that the results would be more accurate. The test was at 2:20 ish and we were finished at the hospital at 4. Because I had had the oj they made me wait until 6:30 to come in and get prepped for the birth! Meaning more time of not eating. Let's just say I was starving! By the time the baby was born I hadn't had anything to eat in 21.5 hours! Blast that oj!

Needing to wait to come back actually ended up working out pretty well though. It gave Aaron enough time to get off of work and come home to help me get everything ready to go. And then we left our house. Kade stayed back with my mom, and we left our only child for the last time. He would no longer be our only child, or only boy. Honestly that was harder than I expected.

Kade and I were best buds. I couldn't imagine loving another child as much as I love him and I was worried about him and how he'd feel about everything. After a million hugs and kisses to Kade, we left.

We drove to the hospital. We were surprisingly calm. Especially for the ridiculous amount of traffic we hit. It normally takes us 15 minutes to get to the hospital. That day, it took 40.

There was a pretty sunset.

We got to the hospital and checked in.

Took the elevator up to labor and delivery.

We were escorted to the room I'd be prepped in, where we found this sassy number for me to put on.

And then we waited.

Aaron texted and called family and friends.

After three attempts and a blown vein they got my IV in and drew some blood. I was obviously dehydrated from the forever fasting that had taken place that day. Therefore, my veins weren't super cooperative.

Aaron slipped into HIS sassy number and insisted on taking pictures with me. P.S. my mom took these. Just in case you were wondering.

Surgery started and finished. This guy was born. Tadd was born at 8:44 pm. The nurses ever so kindly let me rest my head against his for a minute before they took him to his first bath. (I'm being serious about the kindly thing. When Kade was born I barely got to see his face before they took him to clean him off. It's another disadvantage to c-section. You're completely numb and laying on a table not really able to move so you can't instantly hold the baby. Sad face.) These are also courtesy of my mom.

After being taken to recovery and watched for an hour they finally took me down to mother/baby so I could hold my sweet little boy.

Instant love that cannot be described. Only felt.

He looks so different from Kade, but then there are times that he looks so similar. Weirdness.

He slept in my room. I'm not afraid of what goes on in the nursery. I just don't like being away from my new baby for that long! I want to soak up every second of the tiny-ness.

This is random but I was feeding him in the hospital and his little foot found it's way out of my gown through the pocket. I love baby feet.

Daddy was in love too.

See! Tiny baby feet are so cute!

Because he was born so late in the evening, Kade didn't get to meet him until the next day. Yes I look incredible. Don't judge. Though I think he was a little disappointed that Tadd wasn't an instant playmate, he sure loves his little brother.

He wanted "baby Tadd" to sit by him while he watched a movie in my room.

And he loves holding baby brother's hand.

Aaron slept like a King on this fancy bed.

It turned out to be a pretty eventful hospital stay. Monday morning at around 6 I woke up with chest pain and I couldn't take a deep breath. The nurse came in and checked my vitals. They called the doctor. Then it was decided that I needed a CT scan. Everything started happening so quickly that I can't remember it all but for some reason I needed another IV. It took four nurses and three more pokes.

Awesome.

They took me down to do my scan. The hospital at that time of day is so empty. It was pretty eerie to be rolled around the hospital in my wheelchair and not see another person the whole way to radiology. And to be honest I was freaking out about the whole situation anyway. Everything turned out to be great though! We found out that it was actually just an unexpected side effect from one of my thyroid medications. Good times. Oh and Aaron slept through pretty much the whole thing. He didn't wake up until right before they got the successful IV poke.

Luckily everything scary happened and the scan results came back before the doctor made his rounds in the morning and he cleared me to go home that same day. Thank goodness. I wanted to be in my own bed and home with my family again!

Because of the CT scan I had to "pump and dump" for 24 hours. Tadd had to have bottles of formula for that time. Kade loved feeding him!

I love this boy. I was preparing myself for the most difficult baby on the planet. He is a sweet surprise! We got lucky enough to have another really easy, mellow baby. He is just as calm and content as Kade was. The only difference so far is that Tadd's stomach is more sensitive so he's had a couple of rough days.

We have done some of his newborn pictures. But I've been doing them slowly.

I'm SO SO SO happy to no longer be pregnant! Tadd has been so fun to have around and Kade absolutely adores him! I'm so lucky to have three cute boys in my life!

The end. Holy cow if you read the whole thing. And 50 bonus points if you can tell me what the title of this post means. Also, I'm still claiming pregnancy brain, so you shouldn't judge my massive grammar and spelling issues today ok?

Also again! Happy Birthday to my mother in law today! Hope you had a great birthday Debbie! We love you!

Similarities.

2010-11-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

The big question all during this pregnancy with Tadd was "will he look different from Kade?" I couldn't imagine what another son would look like. I could only imagine that he'd come out pretty much identical to Kade.

Kade came out almost (plus or minus a few features) identical to Aaron. See below...

Which is great! A son should look like his father.... Then came Tadd. His baby pictures are almost identical (plus or minus a few features) to me. How weird. See Below...

The other weird thing is that sometimes Tadd will make facial expressions that remind me a ton of Kade. I know they're both pretty good mixes of the two of us, they just lean more in one direction. Genetics are crazy!

It's so fun to see how similar they are. So far their personalities are more similar than different. Something I expected the opposite of. I expected Tadd to be a much more difficult baby but so far he is just as perfect! So quiet. He's very alert and very calm. We love him to pieces!

FINALLY!

2010-10-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

Tadd Alan Blair was born 10.29.2010 at 8:44 pm. He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long! We're so happy he's here! More pictures to come lately. Obviously. Right now I'm just really tired!

Prayers Answered

2010-10-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Aaron got a phone call yesterday from his boss asking him to come back! Yay! It was going to be a temporary thing but jobs have started looking up at his office and he's back for good! Thank you to everyone that kept us in their prayers! They were answered!

Beware.

2010-10-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am about to solicit for prayers on my blog. If you wish to not be solicited please leave now.

Aaron was laid off today. His boss said it is most likely temporary but if the company can't get more work, then it will become permanent. If you could keep us and the company in your prayers it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Oh and still no baby.

Table Setter

2010-10-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Kade has finally started becoming more of a helper than hinder-er(?) Anyway, he set the table the other night, for the first time. I'd tell him, here's mommy's plate, put it on the table please. He did a surprisingly good job. The plate on the far side of the table is where Aaron's seat was. Good stuff. And yes, we use paper plates for plain old dinners. We don't have a dishwasher. Neither of us like doing dishes. Therefore....

Popcorn

2010-09-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

You should be so excited that you get to hear me sing two songs in a row.

Sunbeam

2010-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

A Little Less Irritated...A Little More Relieved!

2010-09-18T19:06:00.001-07:00

WE GOT A NEW CAR!!!!

This has been something we've known we would need to get since we found out we were pregnant. Our little Honda Civic has been very reliable, however, it is very small. (it's also recently paid off! Yay!) We were planning on waiting a few more weeks BUT with our school and work schedules, we just needed to do it sooner. This new addition to our family will now accommodate BOTH car seats with ease, has 4-wheel drive for those scary winter storms, a DVD system for rear passengers (just a plus), a sun roof (another fun plus), and is exactly what we wanted! (Also,P.S. if you are in the market for a new vehicle, go to the Nissan dealership in Orem and ask for Big Ed. He was fantastic! He wasn't pushy at all and he went above and beyond to make it a positive experience!)

But wait! There's MORE! When locking the car tonight after we got home, we found out that it also has an automatic starter! No more getting into a scalding hot/freezing cold car! That was Aaron's "want", but we didn't expect to find a vehicle we could afford that had it. I'm not sure the dealership even knew it was in there because nothing was said about it the whole time! All I have to do is "lock" it three times in a row with the remote and BAM! it starts! Holy smokes, I'm in love!

Randoms

2010-09-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a few things floating around my head...

I love that Kade says "yes" instead of "yeah".

Kade is nervous to sing out loud so he always just mouths the words to the songs he knows, whether they be on the radio or in nursery. It's hilarious.

I had a dream Aaron committed me. I was coaching girls basketball in the old gym at Provo High and all of the sudden I was being taken away kicking and screaming. Then I was in a giant white building wearing a straight jacket. I can't decide the reasoning for all of it. Maybe he thought I was crazy for wanting to coach high school anything (since I don't have a whole lotta patience or a high tolerance for high school students) OR maybe it's because right now I just feel crazy in general.

I can't wait to feel like myself again.

I'm more nervous about having a baby this time than I was last time. Not having a new born, the whole hospital experience scares me this time.

I can't wait to sleep again...when will that happen?

I'm 100% expecting this baby to be completely different from Kade as far as personality goes. That terrifies me beyond belief.

Why am I so afraid this time?

Everything irritates me right now and that irritates me. I can't let things go.

Why does pregnancy suddenly make a woman incapable of doing anything. I can't tell you how many times I've hit the backspace during this post.

My kid is pretty cute.

How can one mom love more than one kid? I don't get it.

I love this semester at school. For reals. School is great!

I wish I could take over a more energetic body for an hour and clean my house.

I can't reach my toe nails to paint them and my sister isn't here to do it for me. How rude.

I'm surprised by those of you that have read this far because I'm irritated just writing it. I wont feel bad if you don't want to listen to me complain any more.

We're hopefully getting a second car in the next few weeks and I can't wait.

No one calls us to hang out with them anymore. Probably because I'm such a beast right now.

I need a haircut, and the energy to call Caitlyn.

I'm going to the chiropractor today and couldn't be more thrilled. Really.

Ok the end. There's probably more but I'm finished for now. (Thank GOODNESS, right?)

My Retirement Plan...

2010-09-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Spread the Word-[Please]

2010-08-21T12:39:00.001-07:00

So, my heart is a little heavy today.

I was planning on taking from October to the end of the year from work. However, due to recent events, it turns out that wont be possible.

So please spread the word. I am offering a 15% discount for November and December weddings for anyone that books before September 15th!

Thanks!

P.S. Due to some phone calls and texts I've gotten recently I feel it necessary to clarify that no one is dead or dying. Also that no one has been fired or laid off. My heart is heavy, simply because I was really really looking forward to spending the last few months of this year with just my boys and not having to worrying about working. Minus a few unexpected/unwanted expenses this past week, all is well.

Finally The Hairs Were Cut!

2010-08-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

This kid looks homeless when his hair grows out. Ok maybe not homeless, but close to it. His hair grows in a mullet. It's awful! So gross when it sticks out of his collar...ugh, yuck. Ok, here are the before pictures!

(yes I am lame enough to have taken these on my phone. get over it, it's not his first haircut. who cares.)

After! Nice and short! Just like I like it!

He was soo good and sat very still for most of his haircut. I had told him that we'd get ice cream if he was good so I had to live up to my word! Don't worry, he shared that with Aaron!

My Magic Curling Iron.

2010-08-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Let me first give you a little background. I have straight hair. And I'm talkin' seriously STRAIGHT hair. The kind of straight that's a blessing when you leave the house with wet hair because it dries nice and straight. However, it's also the kind of straight that makes you want to cry because you can't ever change up with just a curling iron or hot rollers. (Or in my case even a perm.)

When was a young lass, it curled fantastically! Permed, fantastically. Then I got older. It stopped curling. It got straighter. Sophomore year I got a perm. Even with a whole-lotta product and appropriately applied heat, it was wavy at best. The years went on and I tried and tried and tried to no avail. I tried a million different curling irons, hair sprays, hair product and tips from others that just couldn't understand the lack of curl. So I gave up. I learned to accept defeat. My hair would never curl and I would be OK with that.

Right before our anniversary this year we were shopping at the mall. A kiosk employee of a company called HerStyler approached me and in broken English asked if he could curl my hair for me. I laughed and said sure, knowing in my head the outcome would be distressing on this eager salesman. At first I was a little surprised when it curled so quickly and easily with just the curling iron. No product at all. I had left the house with wet hair that night so it really didn't have ANYTHING in it. Not even dirt. It was clean and as soft as ever. I was still skeptical. I had been able to get it to curl like that before, but it would be straight again within 20 min. Just like before.

However, he curled my whole head and the curls didn't move. They were perfect. He ran his fingers through it AND IT STILL LOOKED CURLY! So he had me hooked. I had to have this iron of amazingness and in fact I'd have two. Two different sizes. He sprayed a little hairspray all over. IT STAYED UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING! I slept on it and my hair was still curly the next morning. It's crazy I tell you.

The only explanation I can come up with is black magic, but I'll take it.

As you can tell, I'm still practicing but this is proof. This is 4 hours after the initial curling this morning. Seriously magic.

No Explanation Needed.

2010-08-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Oh my. Better than their lyrics are their subtle dance moves every so often.

6 Years

2010-08-01T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was out 6th anniversary.

Cool things about reaching 6 years:

*1st time since our wedding that our anniversary has landed on a Saturday!

*We're now closer to 10 than 1!

*I still like him a whole lot!

Happy Anniversary to us!

New header

2010-07-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

So we went with a flash header this time. Too bad Aaron was a bit rusty on his actionscript, and it took him until 6 in the morning (starting at 1:30am). But hey it's done now.

I LOVE This Photo.

2010-06-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

There are many reasons I love the Garner family and this gem is one of them.

The Garners are friends of the family that we haven't really seen in probably a gazillion years. Shantel, pictured above with that sexy beast Jordan and Kylee, found me last October to do her wedding photos. I was absolutely thrilled because I have nothing but fond memories of her and her whole family. Seriously they're great! Then at the wedding her mother handed me an envelope. Inside that envelope were some pictures. They're all great, but this one takes the cake. I love it so.

The Aquarium. Or Nemo.

2010-06-21T11:08:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago we went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy and it was so fun! We went with Ashley and Wyatt, they have memberships and so they go all the time. We decided to get memberships too because after going twice they pay themselves off and they don't expire for a whole year! Kade kept calling the aquarium "Nemo."

Kade's favorite exhibit was the penguin exhibit. He could have watched them all day. They were pretty cool!

They have a little cave area for kids to climb around.

It was so fun and we can't wait to go again!

Aaron Had A Birthday Too!

2010-06-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Aaron turned 30! It's a big birthday and I'm ashamed to say that nothing extra special happened. Part of the reason is because on his actual day he worked 14 hours. Then I was going to plan an 80s themes surprise party for him (since he was born in 1980) and it just didn't happen. I'm a crap wife. Anyway, we did have a little celebration. He got 3 new audio books to listen to while he's at work and a baseball glove from Kade, so they can play catch. We also went to lunch with him on his lunch break. The next day The Grierson's came over and we had a little BBQ with hamburgers and then did the cake thing. It was fun! Sorry I didn't do something bigger Aaron.

He old, so I bought him a balloon.

I didn't even get around to making him a cake. Worst wife ever award can go to me. It's ok. I can accept it. Instead I got him a cake from Cold Stone. It was his favorite thing. Chocolate cake, with chocolate ice cream that had chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

It looks like the whole cake is on fire.

(You better believe I put exactly 30 candles in there.)

Mark and Jeny got him some diapers and All Bran cereal to help soothe him through his old age.

Also, don't miss the post below!

OH BOY!

2010-06-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Here we go for round two of boys. We found out a couple weeks ago that we are expecting baby boy number 2. Can't decide on a name to save our lives though. We have narrowed it down to four. Feel free to vote on the left. We're just curious as far as the voting goes though, it doesn't necessarily mean that whatever name wins, we'll end up naming him. We'll name him what his name is supposed to be. We're just curious and it's just for fun. I'm not sure what I just made any sense. Pregnancy brain. Anyway. Yay for brothers!

Also, I tried to upload some of the ultrasound video for the Grandmas, but blogger is being gay and wont let me right now. I'll try again later.

He Turned 2!

2010-06-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Kade turned 2. It's crazy to thing that he was born so long ago! We did some of his favorite things on his birthday. We went bowling, played catch, watched his favorite cartoon and had some yummy treats.

Aaron took a lunch break during the day so he could come see Kade since he leaves for work before we're awake, we took the time to open the boring/necessary presents. Kade had almost zero summer clothes that fit him.

We went bowling with some of our friends. It was pretty small and simple but he's 2 so who cares. It was still fun!

When we got home we let Kade burn the #2 sparkler we got for him. It took a while to start because it was so windy but once it started he thought it was pretty cool!

Kylee's Graduation

2010-06-14T00:07:00.001-07:00

My cousin Tara and I drove down to CA at the beginning of the month because Kylee graduated high school. Unfortunately Aaron couldn't get work off so we went solo. If you can believe it they still had graduation despite Aaron's absence. She's old enough to not be in high school now and it's weird. Makes me feel old. I'm not, but I feel like it. Anyway, we had to sit on the side that had the sun shining right in our eyes and I swear half of her class was wasted! They were so rambunctious! Principle Bolde didn't even get to say the whole "switch the tassel, your graduated..." speech. They just started throwing their hats in the air as soon as the last student's name was read. They were crazy pretty much all night. So entertaining.

Kylee.

Kade loved it when the graduating class would start hitting beach balls around. He thought it was the greatest part of graduation!

Kade and Bampa Jensen. He can't say grandpa. It's cute.

Kylee and her posse.

Tara had way too much fun.

We went to dinner after. I was too tired to even be hungry but at the same time I was starving. It was all very confusing.

P.S. I have about a million things to post. They wont be in chronological order because I don't feel like posting them that way. I'm just going to post them when I'm ready to.

Maybe I'm Wrong....

2010-06-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

But personally, I think it would have been much easier and more cost effective....

....to just say $9.99 and up.

The Tabloids....

2010-05-29T11:52:00.001-07:00

I love this too much not to post it on my blog. It's pretty funny. Boy the tabloids love to make stuff up, for instance, about this "mystery man" or later named "future hubby no. 4". This "mystery man" they're referring to is most definitely not in a relationship with this woman. How do I know this? Well, it's Aaron's brother. My brother in law. This lady is like 13 years older than he is. Not to say that age gaps this large don't ever happen, but they don't with this guy.

Another White Wedding For Wild Child Emma Ridley?

These pics of former wild-child Emma Ridley just landed on my desk and I’ve got to say I’m intrigued.

They show her loading up her BMW in a car park of a posh hotel in Valencia early on Saturday morning with what appears to be a boxed wedding dress, bottles of champagne, and a mystery man – who is most definitely not her husband – is helping her.

This won’t help the rumours that the dancer and hubby no. 3 have separated!

So is Emma:

a) filming scenes from her new reality show

b) planning to renew her vows to her hubby

c) planning a wedding to the mystery guy – or as I like to think of him, the future hubby no. 4!

Or maybe Emma just really likes dressing up and drinking champers – er, don’t we all darling!

I found this HERE

Growing Boy.

2010-05-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

This post is basically a repeat from last year but it has a new addition to the end.)

When Kade was first born my mom gave us the idea to get a white dress shirt that we would take a picture of Kade in every year on his birthday. We did some pictures soon after he was born and incorporated the white shirt into his newborn pictures.

The above pictures were taken by Michelle Reyes

6 months old.

1 year...

2 years

Insert Clever Title Here...

2010-05-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm out of clever titles. Not that I had very many to begin with.... Anyway, here's my cute kid. I put him down for a nap today and he didn't want to stay in his own bed apparently. I heard some doors opening and closing (not my favorite thing he can do) and didn't know what was happening but when I went up to check on him this is what I found. He just wanted to sleep in our bed I guess. Gosh he's cute.

Birthday Boy

2010-05-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos from Kade's birthday. I haven't even looked at the pictures yet so those wont be posted for probably a couple more days. Anyway, the first one is of everyone singing happy birthday to him.

The second, is really just for his Grandma Jensen. She got him a "Cozy Coupe" for his birthday and since she wasn't here to see him receive it....here's the video. He loves it!

TWO!

2010-05-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's this kid's birthday today! There will be more pictures later. But I wanted to recognize it on the actual day. Happy birthday buddy!

A Little Redemption.

2010-05-07T16:13:00.001-07:00

After my post yesterday I needed to do a good post about Kade, that way he wont hate me too bad when he grows up! He loves to color. And he loves to draw sports balls even more. Today he bought his picture to me that he had drawn and said to me "batheball" which translates to "basketball". I became a pretty proud mama because what he was drawing actually closely resembles basketballs. (At least I think so.) He loves to draw just like his mom and dad.

P.S. the photo was taken with my camera phone, hence the awful quality!

P.S. again, suddenly Kade is too old to call me "mama", it's now "mom". What the? He still calls me "mama" sometimes but most of the time now it's just "mom".

It Starts Young...

2010-05-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

It's pretty self explanatory and equally gross.

Boy or Girl

2010-05-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

We still have to wait about 5 more weeks to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm going crazy. I think it's a boy but everyone else I talk to including my husband is positive we're having a girl. I was crazy wrong last time so who knows. Anyway, for curiosity sake and nothing else I am putting a poll. Boy or Girl, vote. Or, don't.

Did You Know?

2010-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know that I have a photo blog? Well I do. You don't have to know, you also don't have to care. It won't hurt my feelings. But if you are interested. Here you go, this is the address:

Nickell Photography Photo Blog

This Is Why....

2010-03-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest kid in the world. This morning when I went into his room to get him up for the day, I found a bare bed. Only his fitted sheet was on it. As I looked around the room I found him like this.

He had moved his pillow, and temporary bedspread (his is in the washer), climbed up onto the rocking chair and just made himself comfortable. He was just laying there, awake. Just hanging out. Oh man, I love this kid.

A Sidewalk Full of Fun

2010-03-27T22:52:00.001-07:00

Kade got a new toy. It's called sidewalk chalk.

I'm pretty sure he thinks sidewalk chalk is the greatest thing ever invented.

He decided that step was the best spot for his artwork.

You see all those lines? Those are basketballs....at least that's what he said. Also, since when did they make sidewalk chalk look like giant chalky crayons. Way more awesome than boring ol' sticks of chalk.

Kade Had A Friend One Day

2010-03-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

My cousin Shannon came over the other day and played with Kade. He was in heaven since friends for him are hard to come by these days. They played in his cardboard box fort that Aaron made for him. Said fort is also his hiding spot when he knows he's in trouble.

Also, just a minor ps: he won't be without friends for much longer because we are with child. It's still pretty early but we've passed our scary part. We will be welcoming #2 in October. We tried keeping it a secret but I've been pretty sick and so it's a little hard to hide. Anyway, yay us.

Bowling

2010-03-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

For family home evening on Monday we went bowling. It was Kade's first time and he was in HEAVEN! We figured he would love it considering his obsession with sports. He did a really good job at taking turns as well. I thought he'd think it was his turn every time but when it wasn't his turn he'd run back to the table and climb up onto a chair and wait for his next turn. He's so cute!

Can you believe they have bowling shoes that small? I had no idea but they were so cute!

He thought this machine was downright magic.

Big Helper

2010-02-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Aaron was doing some work around the house. We're trying to finish up about 15 projects. Well, Kade wanted to help. This isn't a first either. Last time he wanted to help, he saw Aaron working with tools, went down to his play room and got his plastic play tools set. Yesterday was no different. I wasn't home but Aaron's sister Serena was over at our house so she got some cute pictures of them working together.

He even wanted to lay down the same way as his dad.

Boys and their tools.

Watching carefully.

Such a good little helper.

More Random Thoughts

2010-02-25T09:39:00.001-08:00

What ever happened to the "Zest fully clean" commercials? The soap still exists, yet the commercials do not.

I'm still wondering why the poster of the video I just posted removed it from youtube. It was so awesome.

I like that Kade says "wa-wa" for water.

It makes me sad when he's sick with a fever but happy at the same time because he just wants to cuddle and I love that.

I have a new favorite commercial. This is it. Laugh.

Why is the weather here so crazy right now? Probably every other state in the country is getting more snow than we are.

If it's going to be cold, I'd rather have snow on the ground than none.

In a month I'm going to be turning the same age Aaron was when we got married.

My son is a sports freak. He is currently handing me his baseball glove and yelling baseball at me. He has the bat and the ball.

I love that he is an athlete, I don't love that I, in turn, have to play baseball all day.

I wish all adults would act as adults.

There are a lot of projects needing to be finished around this house and I have absolutely no desire right now to do them.

I wish we had a dishwasher. I didn't like doing dishes even when we had one. Now, it's worse. Far worse.

Baseball time.

Justin Beaver.

2010-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is the best home video ever. This 3 year old girl is already in love.

...and if you're wondering who on earth Justin Bieber is, like I was, click HERE