BB in Training

A special shout out to Miss Sophie for allowing Kaden to get in a few hours of Big Brother Training in. Since the guys were having a guys night out, Tiffany and Sophie came over for a little play time. Not only did Kaden allow me to hold and love on Sophie, he too got his first chance at holding her. He did such a great job-he was gentle with her, attentive to her and most importantly wasn't bouncing off the walls around her. Anytime he came close to her, he was very calm and it was so sweet and endearing to see. Let's just hope that when Baby Logan arrives that Kaden is just as happy and loving with him as he was with Sophie tonight.

Homely and Ornery. Makes me want to take scissors to that mop!

 I can't wait until I have a picture like this with my two boys. 

 

Hodgepodge

Since I have a lot of different topics to blog about and no one individual topic really holds the potential of a full blown post, I figured I would give you a hodgepodge of what is happening with the Souths.

1. Buffalo Fried Chicken Salad. With Kaden it was Chili Cheese Coneys from Sonic and this time around with Logan it is a Buffalo Fried Chicken Salad, I could eat one for each meal of the day but let it be known, I don't. Other cravings have been chocolate milk shakes and cereal, mainly Fruit Loops but I am trying to cut back on the Fruit Loops for some still tasty Honey Nut Cheerios. The weight hasn't accumulated as quickly as it did with Kaden but I am still a little over where I would like to be so we will see if I can give up a few of those chocolate shakes too!

2. Home Improvements. Over the last year, Justin and I have done a lot of updates to the house-a brand new kitchen, refinished hardwood floors, new carpet, new paint in kitchen and family room, new windows and some new furniture. After pulling all extra furniture out of the formal living area we decided not to put anything back on the walls until we knew for sure what we wanted. Fast forward a few months, more like 6 or so, and the walls are still blank and with the baby coming, mom would like to get it finished so I have enlisted some help. A very dear co-worker of mine came over this week, took pictures and has now been on the hunt for items that will fit her vision and what a vision it is! It will be so exciting to see everything she does and watch it all come together!

2b. Home Depot. May have just won us as a customer for life. A few weeks ago I attempted to alter the closet in our master bedroom, we needed more space for my clothes to move in. I searched online for some new closet systems and found one that I thought would be perfect for our need. Justin bought it, I unpacked it and started to go to work on assembling. Read step 1-I got this. Read step 2-I still got this. Read step 3 and 4-What did they just say? Reread steps 3 and 4 and this time more carefully-was that in Japanese? Picked up the phone and called my handy BIL, he stopped by and he made the decision, even before reading the instructions that what we had bought wasn't going to work. It didn't even fit!! So I hauled it all back down, boxed it up and today we attempted to take it back all duct taped up with no receipt. Justin thought there was no way in hot-boiling-lava-land that they would take it back plus give us our money back instead of store credit but they showed him. No questions asked and handed us the cash right back. (We were able to pull the receipt from his debit card. What a fancy little trick they can do!) We thanked them and continued onto our next project, paint. We bought two samples of paint, hazy skies and ashes. They are up on Kaden's wall and now we just have to figure out which we like best....suggestions?

3. Logan's Nursery. We always knew that if had another little boy that we wouldn't change anything major in the nursery, we would just make simple changes. We decided to start by removing the pictures above the current crib and replace them with a wall decal. This will be my first attempt at a wall decal but if it turns out like the picture (do they ever?) then it will be perfect. We actually just got it in the mail today and I am thinking that my evening just got busy.

4. Besties. We didn't really have any plans for Friday so we thought we could head out to Adam and Becky's and allow the boys to run, jump and play and more importantly wear themselves out for a nice, peaceful night of sleep. Worked like a charm, Kaden didn't want to get up until 7:30 which is a win in the South House.

Cross the T and Dot the I...

Actually, I guess, you can only cross the Ts because there aren't any Is in this name to dot! Justin gave me the best present last night, he named our little guy. From here on out he won't be anything but...

Keeping His Options Open

Way to early for Monkey to be settling down. We started the day off with a play date at Matt Ross with an older girl. We had hoped to see Hannah, Jacob and Lily but Jake the Snake wasn't feeling well and he and Hannah took a rain check. Luckily, Lily was still in and Kaden didn't have to share her with anyone now. Kaden showed Lily some new tricks when it came to sliding and Lily kicked Kaden's bottom when it came to racing to the top to do it again. They showed their dance moves to one another as they were swinging and since "hand holding" isn't allowed at their age, they high-fived. They played and played and probably would have played longer had we let them but it was getting close to lunch time and nap time so we said our good-byes until next time.

After we left Matt Ross, we had lunch and Kaden decided he needed a little bit of shut eye to prepare for his second date of the day and this time, it was with a younger girl. We had made dinner plans with the Johnsons at Granite City. Kaden and Madi sat across from one another and we caught them on multiple occasions sharing "the" look. Looks weren't the only thing being shared, Kaden tried sharing his crayons and grapes and Madi tried sharing her links. There wasn't a lot of conversation shared but then again, I too, was pretty tongue tied when I had my first date with Kaden's daddy.

With two stellar dates today, Monkey is wiped. Maybe, just maybe he will let us sleep in tomorrow.

I promise...

This post is for those of you who were worried about Kaden being so upset in the "Good Idea" post. He was only upset for a very short while and by a very short while, it was literally 30 seconds and in a matter of minutes was running and smiling. I promise I was not abusing him or asking him to do anything that would hurt him in any way. He was my muse and my muse just happened to be unhappy but here are a few other pictures, of which still won't spoil any surprise, but where he is happy and being his charming self.

Waiting and Wishing..

Good Idea??

Maybe on paper! I was trying to be creative and pull something cute out of my bag of tricks but this is what I got....

But I am not giving up and if I am able to pull this off, these pictures won't spoil anything! 

Double the Fun...

Or Double the Trouble, depending on who you were. On Saturday Kaden got to spend some extra time with his cousin, Colton. We had a work event for Daddy and Adam and Becky were kind enough to watch Monkey for us. We dropped him off around 5 and when we called a little before 10, both boys were down for the count and we figured why wake him, so he stayed until morning. Okay so I might have or might not have called at 10:30 and said I was going to come and pick him up. This momma was missing her boy and it just felt like he was growing up too quickly...

By the looks of the pictures (and confirmed by Becky and Adam) the boys had a lot of fun moving from one toy to the next. We are so lucky to have a Godson/Nephew so close in age to Kaden, they are going to be so much fun to watch as they grow up together. But as much fun as they might have had, when we walked into the house to pick him up the next morning, he couldn't get enough of his mommy and I was pretty happy that I didn't have to let him go too!

Big Boy in a Big Boy Bed

Today marks the start of transitioning Kaden into his big boy bed. We I decided that it would be best to try taking naps in his bed first and once we conquer the naps, we can see if we can make it through the night. We I started off putting him in his crib and allowed him to fall asleep (while I was waiting I had to put away the pile of clothes that occupied the bed). After the hammering of the walls stopped, I snuck into his room, picked him up and laid him quietly down in his race car bed. He did wake up as I was moving him but I think that might of helped because he knew right where he was and fell right back asleep and has been out like a light since. Keep your fingers crossed that we have an easy transition and if you have any tips, I would love to hear them and those that deal with keeping items out of the toilet. Let's just say, we are short one Dell charger!

Milwaukee 2010 In The Books.

I have been trying to think of a way to document our family trips other than on the blog and decided that a photobook would be the perfect answer but hadn't had time to put everything together. Then, Shutterfly sent me a free 8x8 photobook if used by January 30th, time to make some time and get it done. Here is our first family vacation to Milwaukee to see the Garretts!

Click here to view this photo book larger

More Space? Yes, Please!

If there is anything in which we need, it is more space. Our house has plenty of living space but when it comes to bedrooms, we have three. Sure we will have two kids come May, making a total of 4 of us and frankly that is all the 'bed'rooms we need but what about visitors?!? Where would they sleep? I doubt they would want to hang out on the couch, no matter how comfortable it may be and even if they were okay with it, I certainly am not.

Enter our new plan-a daybed. I wanted to find something that could grow with our family and that would be timeless. That Kaden could possibly use or that would fit perfectly into our future office/guest room in our dream home.  I was on a mission. I scoured multiple websites and then finally ran across West Elm and they were having a SALE. I love sales so I pulled out the measuring tape and verified that the bed would fit in multiple spots and clicked through the multiple pages to make the purchase. The bed is ours and it will go right next to Kaden's race car bed. What a lovely pair they will make. Luck for us, the room has plenty of space due to some wonderful built-in cabinets, so this should work out perfectly.

One item on the Before-Baby-Boy-South-Arrives-To-Do-List checked off, now onto the closets-this should be interesting.

Snow Day

Although the snow wasn't fresh, we couldn't miss out on the first "real" snow. We unloaded the car with help from daddy, ate lunch and I decided I couldn't wait any longer. We put everything else on hold and I went around the house looking for our snow gear. I think we spent more time getting ready to go out and play than we actually did playing. After we were finally bundled up, we headed out to the backyard so the dogs could join the fun. We dodged the yellow snow and made our way to a semi untouched area. Mom couldn't find her gloves so we didn't get to lay in it and make angels but Kaden still enjoyed himself until he face planted right into a snow drift! I may be partial but is this not the cutest snow bunny you have EVER seen!!

Having a hard time...

A lot has gone on this past week and one would think I would have so much to blog about but truth is-I am in a rut. The passing of my grandfather has been extremely hard for our family and I feel I owe him an extraordinary post to let everyone know what an amazing person he was but the words just aren't anywhere to be found...yet. I have made a few attempts and nothing seems to be good enough so until I am able to find those words, we will just give a quick post with lots of pictures.

Kaden and I have were able to go home on Saturday and spent the last 5 days with family. With such a large family-7 kids, 21 grandkids and 27 great-grandkids (4 more cooking), we hardly have a day in which over half of the family is able to get together. But this week, we had almost everyone and although we hated the circumstances, we cherished the time together. I like to think Grandpa had some master plan because we all know how "busy" life can get and we all say that we will make time but when that time comes, we have tripled booked ourselves and family will understand... Well, Grandpa wasn't having it any longer and wanted to remind us all, how lucky we are to have one another. Thanks Grandpa, we needed that reminder.

When we left KC on Saturday the sky was grey and gloomy but the closer and closer to home we got, the clouds opened up and the sun shined through.

Cousins-Matthew (12 months), Luke (6 1/2 months) and Kaden (16 months). What you don't see are all the monkeys hooping and hollering in the background to try and capture their attention. Wish I had a picture of them!

My marshmallow puff! Kaden was zonked out on our way to visitation. Side note-my sister took this while I drove, there was no operating the camera and driving done!

 The Earl Family:

 Couldn't resist sharing this photo! Kaden has become quite the cheese ball!

 The Hartley Family:

My sister and her kiddos. Blake wouldn't smile when the camera was on but the moment you were done, he was all smiles-stink pot!

Four More. We have four more great-grandkids that will be born within 8 weeks of one another. The first around the middle of the March and the last by the end of May.

Kaden saying "cheese". I thought a few weeks ago it was hard to capture his picture but now he makes the "cheese" face and it is even more impossible. Hopefully he will be out of this phase by March when we get his 18 month pictures!

Grandma Sara and Kaden created a new game and the laughter that came out of this was PRICELESS.

The Innocence of a Child

Children have the uncanny ability to bring joy and laughter to any situation and to bring a smile to a face that hasn't had a reason to smile for awhile. Kaden is no exception. A few posts ago we visited my Grandpa Earl over Christmas Eve in the nursing home and at that time, the idea of that being the last time I would see him, didn't cross my mind but in reality it could have been. On Monday, I received a call from my mom and dad letting me know that Grandpa had faded quite a bit and that they weren't sure how much time he had. On Tuesday, Kaden and I loaded up the tahoe and headed south to say our proper "goodbye". Not sure how one says goodbye to someone they love so instead of saying goodbye, I held his hand and told him I was there. Told him that Kaden and I were both there with him and that we loved him more than he would ever know. While I held his hand, Kaden was off charming the family with his sweet and innocent (and not so innocent) personality. He was loving, he was cuddly, he was exactly what we needed and more importantly what Grandma Sara needed.

Losing someone is never easy but unfortunately that is the circle of life. Grandpa continues to hold on and before this week, if you would have asked me where my stubbornness came from, it was an easy answer-The Hartley Side-my dad particularly. Now, I'm not so sure, Grandpa continues to pull through each day, not wanting it to be his last, so maybe it has been the Earl side all along and being stubborn isn't such a bad thing.

Grandpa, thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will alway cherish our memories and keep them close to my heart. Thank you for teaching me the game of pool and allowing my husband to brag on my ability to play-he will only play with me, never against me. You always allowed me to use the crutch on whatever shot I needed and I think that was the key, it taught me my angles. I will never look at a piece of Werther's candy the same again. And how I will miss sitting at your house and hearing the radio go off with all the men talking about where the coyotes are or who got stuck in such and such field. Simply put,  it won't be the same but I guess that is exactly how it should be-you have made a permanent mark in our lives and will have left behind a pretty amazing legacy.

It goes without saying that over the next few days/weeks that Kaden will be the sunlight to our grey days. It will be faces like these and the love of a family that will help us get through it all.