Sunday = Play Day

While Kaden played with his toys, Mommy got out her camera and played a little too. Here are some candid shots from our lazy Sunday, which happens to be my favorite kind of day!

Swimming 101

We had our first day of swim lessons on Saturday morning and Kaden loves the water. We spent the session splashing, learning to kick, floating on our back and playing bumper boat. What made the lessons even more fun was that Kaden's buddies were in the class too! Mr. Colton, Mr. Jacob, Miss Lily and Miss Josie all brought their mom or dad for a little fun too. I think Kaden might have a little crush on Miss Lily because he was splashing her the most!! The class was about 40 minutes long and that was just perfect because K-man was getting a little tired towards the end. We said our "see you next week" to our new friends and headed home for a quick bottle and a nap. And I know how water can wear me out, Kaden took a 2 1/2 hour nap-he was a very tired little boy.

We also got the rest of Kaden's 6 month pictures from Janie Jones Photography and below are a couple of my favorite pictures of the little man. I can't wait for his 9 month pictures to role around and then it will be his first birthday, man how time flies...guess I should get to planning the party, this is a bigger deal than our wedding! :0)

My absolute favorite.

I love the drool-he drools non-stop and I love that it was captured!

Pick Me, Pick Me

Free Stationary! Kendra, from KJanedesigns.com, and the wonderful designer of our wedding invitations, our family Christmas card, Kaden's baby announcement, thank you cards, Valentines card and so many future projects, is hosting a free give away on some super cute spring stationary. Visit her blog if you would like a chance to win and take a look at her work too, you will love it!! And if you leave a comment on this post, my chances at winning get even better!!

http://missprissandme.blogspot.com/

What's NEW this weekend?

It has been a busy weekend between house hunting, March Madness and showing our house to potential buyers but we managed to fit in a couple new things for Kaden. Besides going to Hooter's for the first time (see post below), we also started off the weekend working on sign language with Kaden. We decided to start with simple words that Kaden would use more when communicating with us, words like mommy, daddy, dog, more, eat and all done. We know it will take time to learn the words but we hope that before he can talk and tell us what he needs that he will be able to sign and thus leading to less frustration for Kaden and for mommy and daddy. As he learns the first sets of words we will add more and more words, please, thank you, i love you, night night, juice, milk, and so on.

We also introduced sippy cups into our day to day routine for the first time. He is a little unsure about the whole sippy cup thing and maybe it is just because it isn't milk. (The doctor said we could start giving water or juice diluted with water to him.) Hopefully when it is time to take away the bottle in the next 6 months it will be a little easier since he is getting use to the sippy cup.

Kaden also got his first basketball goal and although he would rather slobber all over the basketballs, he did watch mommy make a few goals and I am sure it won't be long before he will be scoring his first 2 points of a very successful basketball career. In the upcoming weeks we will start swim lessons, celebrate Easter, and cheer on the Royals at the home opener.

It may be spring but since there is snow on the ground I figured the snowmen

pajamas would be okay to bring out and wear one more time.

That's My Boy...

So far so good when it comes to teaching our son to respect women. So much so, that we ventured out to Hooters and he didn't even want to take a peek at the pretty ladies. Mommy was so proud but Daddy was wondering who his real dad is since no son of his would miss his first Hooters experience. And instead of getting his picture taken with the Hooter Girls, we had to settle for the menu.

House Hunters KC

How can it be so exciting but yet so disappointing at the same time? Justin finally let me pick out a few houses from our "to see" list, 2 of his favorites, 3 of mine. We dropped Kaden off at Aunt Becky's and met the real estate agent and Uncle Adam at the first house. I will have to say, the first house was my favorite but it had a deal breaker, the backyard, if you can call it that. The so-called backyard had a stream running through it (not a pretty one either), tons of old, skinny trees, sloped at a 45 degree angle away from the house and absolutely no playing area for a kid or dogs! It only took one look at the backyard and it was on to the next house. Not a great way to start the day out and unfortunately it didn't get much better. We ended up looking at 5 houses, all from the top of our list and none of them made the short list and so it is back to the drawing board. As hard as selling our current house has been, finding a new one might become more of a challenge.

HaPpY St. PaTrIcK's DaY!

St. Patrick's Day is a very special day for our family. Justin and I got married on St. Patrick's Day two years ago-it was pouring, it was in front of a judge, our witnesses  and took place by a palm tree wanna be plant at the courthouse. However, it was very intimate and intense and I wouldn't change it for the world. Now this could be news to a lot of individuals, especially our family who watched us say our vows to one another on the beach on April 22nd. To make a long story, short, there were lots of hoops in Alabama to go through in order to get a marriage license and it was just easier to get the legal issues out of the way before we left for Alabama. So we picked St. Patrick's Day 2008 but we also get to celebrate on April 22nd, which is EARTH Day. Justin is actually pretty lucky, not only did he get to MARRY ME twice but it is really hard to forget your anniversary when it is a major holiday and if for some odd reason he does, he certainly won't forget on the 22nd, unless he doesn't want his legs! :0)


Anyways, we woke up pretty early on Wednesday to get our day started, we all had our green on and I thought it was a great time to get the camera out and take a few pictures of our little leprachaun. He was a little tired, the hat was a little big but it all made for some great pictures and memories. Here are a few of them from our mini photo shoot.

C-Man and K-Man

Grammie Janet had all of us over for dinner on Tuesday night, which was delicious and convenient since we had a house showing from 6-7. Adam, Becky and Cousin Colton came over, as well as Nannie. It was so much fun watching the boys interact. Colton is crawling around and pulling himself up and Kaden is sitting up without support and is a little more aware of everything that is happening around him. Kaden kept his eyes glued to his roaming cousin. (I hope he was taking note and trying to figure out how he could move like that!) Although they look to be about the same age, Colton is about 4 months older tha Kaden and will celebrate his first birthday on May 11th. Mommy Becky thought since we were eating lasagna for dinner that Colton should have some as well (baby food lasagna-which didn't look half bad) and he ate some pears and puffs, and Colton did such a great job on feeding himself when it came to the pears and puffs. Just put a few on his tray and he takes it from there and I can't wait until Kaden is able to feed himself a little, it will be great to be able to eat as a family instead of me feeding him and then him watching me eat! Anyways, we had such a great time playing with Colton and we can't wait for our next play date.

How many people does it take to get to both boys looking at the camera, at the same time?

NO IDEA, we had five people and it didn't work!

Strawberries and Blackberries...Oh My!

And this was just after a couple minutes with the new teether feeder. Good thing I removed his clothes!

Nothing feels better than...

walking into the house, seeing your son for the first time in 5 days and him smiling from ear to ear at you! He certainly knows his mommy and daddy and you know, it almost makes leaving worth it, just so you can see that expression.

The only picture of us, the day we are leaving-SAD :0(

So now why were we gone and who stayed with Kaden? Justin and I took a little time off and headed to the Riveria Maya (Mommy actually had a work conference for a firm which she covers-it was all FUN but lots of WORK too). We were a little worried about leaving Kaden since this would be the first time both of us would be away from our little man but we knew he would be in good hands with his grandmas. Grammie Janet and Grandma Sara were going to take turns with Kaden. Grammie Janet came over on Tuesday night and stayed with Kaden until Friday when Grandma Sara picked him up from Ms. Melissa's and kept him until we got home today. We were very lucky that both grandmas were able to help us out with Kaden! Oh and don't forget the dogs, they took wonderful care of them as well. I will have to admit, I had to call a couple times each day to check up and make sure everything was going well and when I did, I just heard laughter in the background. I am not sure who was enjoying their time more, Kaden or the grandmas but one thing was for certain, we couldn't have left him in better hands.

Now just like the very first time I left Kaden to travel for work, I came home and he was cutting his first tooth and after both daddy and I being gone this time, we come home and sure enough his top tooth is trying to break through! I can't believe he is already getting his top teeth!! We also learned a few new tricks while mommy and daddy were away, he is able to play patty cake with your hands and I am almost certain that for the past few weeks when "ma-ma-ma" was coming out of his mouth that he is saying Ma-Ma. I didn't want to announce it until now but after being gone and hearing it when we got home, it is official, ma-ma is his first word!

Check back next week for a picture of the cutest little leprechaun you have ever laid eyes on!

Paal, we got to swim with him!

Mexican Raccoon, they were all over the golf course.

This and That...

Most everyone knows that I am a control freak, which might be the understatement of the year, and this week was certainly goint to test my patience. After I found out that I was heading to Ft. Lauderdale I asked Justin if he wanted me to reschedule Kaden's 6 month check up and his 6 month pictures and to my surprise, Justin was willing and ready to step in and not only be Mr. Mom for 4 days but to be Mr. Super Mom! Piggy and I said our goodbyes early Wednesday morning and headed for the airport.

The Boys before the night before I left. How precious.

 Piggy in Ft. Lauderdale

Justin decided to take advantage of the quality time that he had with Kaden and took both Thursday and Friday off from work. On Thursday, the boys headed to Kaden's 6 month check up and we got yet another good report card. Kaden is now 17 lbs. 12 oz. and 27 1/4 inches long, which puts him in the 50th and 75th percentile respectively. They also get their head measured and Kaden was in the 95th percentile here, I hope that means he will be SUPER SMART! We are now sitting up with total control and you can tell he is itching to really start moving around but he just doesn't have that upper body strength yet. I would say we would work on belly time more each day but the little monkey rolls over every time we put him on his belly!! How can one work on his upper body strength when he won't stay on his belly? K-Man also got his 3rd round of shots at the doctors on Thursday, which Justin said he cried for just a minute but quickly settled down. It was great knowing that the boys made it through the doctors visit without any mishaps, but then again, I had complete faith! ;0)

This is my favorite! 

I will admit, I was a little worried about Kaden's 6 month pictures on Saturday since it was the first time we would be using this new photographer. I gave Justin the directions, sat out Kaden's clothes, and told Justin to make sure he looked presentable too in case he was in the pictures as well. Other than that, there wasn't much I could do from 10 states away, I just sat and waited to hear how they went, I might have said a little prayer too! After having viewed the pictures, I am not sure I just let Justin handle them from here on out, because as you can see, they were SOOO good and Kaden did so well for Janie. We will have a cd of all the pictures soon and I will post more once those are available.

Today, we decided to have lunch with the Berberiches and the Walshes at Grinders before heading down to the Kansas City Car Show. The car show was quite the adventure, Kaden slept for the majority of it in the new stroller daddy bought on Thursday (yes, he even went to Babies R'Us and picked it up after the doctors appointment-we needed a smaller one to travel with easier). While at the car show, I sat Kaden in one of the KIA SUVs and as I was letting him sit in the backseat I was explaining to him that I needed to let him sit in the Acura MDX, seeing how that will be Mommy's next car, and I guess he agreed with mommy because up his lunch came! We quickly wiped it up and got the heck out of there, lucky for us there wasn't a big crowd huddled around KIA!

Up next, SWIM LESSON! Check back for some great pictures and stories!!