So Glad the "Sunny Day" were "sweepin' the clouds away" after this week.

So our week was pretty crummy.  It started with Caden waking up with 101 temp on Monday morning and the worse cough I could imagine.  Sounded like he had been smoking 3 packs a day.  And my energetic happy baby boy was lethargic and only wanted to be held and lay on me.  "Not himself" would be an understatement.  The crummy week reached its pinnacle when I was rear-ended on Thursday.

But, I really want this blog to be about Caden and his lovely little life, so I will refrain from complaining about how the 3-car collision I was a part of has become a big headache since the 2 other parties have different stories of what happened.  Some might call that lying :).  And, how my neck hurts and I fell down the steps Friday night to top it all off.  Oops, I think I am complaining now, so I shall stop, haha :).

The blessings......

Caden was able to get on antibiotics on Tuesday and woke up Wednesday a new man.  Much (closer) to back to himself.  I never knew I could be so worried for someone in my life, and so overjoyed when they were feeling better :).  Ah, Mommyhood :). 

He was not with me when I got hit, so I didn't have to worry about him through it all.  Didn't have to worry about him sitting in the car during the whole fiasco.  Didn't have to worry if he got hurt, or watch him be scared.  None of that.

My van is driveable.  Well, I'm driving it.  We'll put it that way.

So anyhoo, this crummy week ended in the most lovely of ways this morning when we got to go to Sesame Street life with the wonderful Reis family :).  I remember going as a child and how wonderfully fun and amazing it all seemed.  Caden was a champ and didn't get antsy until about the last 10 minutes.  He sat in amazement most of the time.  And he of course wanted to show affection/pester/harass Miss Harper Grace as usual :).  So glad they were able to go with us......special memories for the kiddos :).

 This was last weekend before he was sick. I went to the bathroom and came out to this. I must say I am pretty proud of my little (not quite) 15 month old. I'd say it takes some pretty sweet skills to make a tower like that to stand, with different-sized containers. Don't know that I could even do that, haha. Such a cutie patootie!!

And this is Monday night when little love bug was sick.  This was the first time I got him to smile/laugh all day, so I of course snapped some pics.  He hardly looks sick in these smiley ones.  I got the empty diaper box and put him in it, and you'd have thought I did a stand-up comedy act.  This sick baby thought I was the cat's meow :).






Seriously.  Such a sweetheart.  Love him.





And then, finally, it was Saturday, and time to meet Ben, Rebecca, and Harper for a wonderful time :).  "Sunny Days, Sweepin' the Clouds away!  On my way to where the air is sweet!  Can you tell me how to get, how to get to SESAME STREET?!?!?"







Harper's Initial Reaction:)



It was so much fun.  The kiddos did great and I think we all had fun.  Toward the end CW decided he need to sit in his own seat.  It was pretty cute :).  And hey, for the record, if you're looking for an inexpensive light-up Elmo toy, you can get one at the show for a mere $15 :).  Ha, what a steal, huh?  Yes, we got one for Caden.  And yes, it's already been used as a hammer more than anything!!  Thanks to the Reis's for coming with us.  It was a great day indeed!!

If there's something I've learned as a Mom, it's that.......

Sometimes, ya just gotta roll with it.......

Like when your son takes a purple color to the wall sometime today when you weren't watching.

Or when his new 24 mos PJ's you think will be huge on him fit him already.

Or you had made plans for the a.m. and he is taking a morning nap for the first time in forever.

Or when he has decided 4:30 is a nice wakeup time for 10 of the last 14 days (if I were counting....).

Or he puts his toy in his (really) dirty diaper as you are changing him.

Or he chokes on a piece of apple and you have to stick your middle finger down his throat and scoop it out.

Or he pees on the floor as you fish his poo out of the tub (oh ya, blogged about that already :)).

Or if you're being really honest with yourself, he probably only ate 2 bites of supper and a whole cookie.

Or his face is dirty from eating but he's crabby & you put him to bed without cleaning it off well.

Or he pulls everything out of your bathroom cupboards while you are getting ready.

Or he wants to feed himself yogurt & puts a spoonful in his eye.

You sort of choose to ignore him while he plays on the kitchen floor and you start making dinner.....assuming he's still playing with the book you gave him.......and after only a minute, you look down to this scene:

Yep....pulling all of my Christmas ziplocks

(which I save for cookies at Christmas) out

of the drawer and out of the box.  And he

was so excited about it and concentrating

so hard.  And my camera was there on the

counter, so I snapped a few pics.  Shame

on me :).  I had him help me put them back

in the box and back in the drawer before

supper.  He thought that was fun, too.  Ha.

It's crazy to me how much more relaxed I am with this child than I thought I would ever be! Things that I thought would get me all uptight, and very well may have with someone else's child, I can roll with much easier now that I'm a Mama Bee. Don't get me wrong, I don't let him tear the place apart and get away with everything. It is my strong hope and desire NOT to raise a tornadic monster, but at the same time I've quickly learned to choose my battles.

Now, when he climbs on the speaker, gets on the entertainment stand, and opens the stereo to pull CD's after being told not to.....ya, not so laid back about that. That'd be called 'worthy of diciplinary action' in this house :). Or, when I tell him not to take dog food out of the bowl and eat it, and he proceeds to go back to the dog food and throw some at the wall.....yep, you guessed it. Doesn't fly so well 'round here. But, if he is insistent on being Mr. Independent and feeding himself his yogurt, even though it wasn't supposed to be bath night, most the time I figure what can it hurt if he gets a little yogurt in his hair?? Or, if I'm trying to get ready in the morning and "ignoring" that he's pulling my baskets out of the cupboards and emptying them, having a blast & letting me get ready all the while, what does it hurt? So I have to spend 2 minutes putting it away later. He wasn't doing anything I had told him NOT to do, he had a blast, and I got my makeup on-(ish), and my hair looks a little better than it did when I got up.

So, pretty much, I'm much more chillaxed as a mom than I ever imagined. I hope I'm not too chillaxed. I guess time will tell :). Or those around me will :). Side note......any tips for getting him to eat veggies?? I've tried lot's and am getting nowhere....ugh.

Visiting Caden's Great-Grandma :)

Caden is a blessed little cookie to have lot's (or at least I think so), Great-Grandparents alive.  I have only lost 1 grandma, and both of Jared's grandfathers have passed away, but Grandma's are still here.  What a blessing they are all to us!  I try to capture a picture of each with Caden when they are with him (and I remember my camera :)).  I know that know matter how long we are fortunate enough to have each and every one of them around, these pictures will be a treasue for Caden and Jared and I always and forever :).

Jared's Grandma James fell on Christmas day and cracked her knee cap.  Not only was the timing unfortunate, as she and Sherry missed Christmas with the family and instead were at the hospital, but it is a long recovery for her as well.  She is back home (at Savannah Pines) now, and Jared's Uncle Ken and Aunt Alice are here for a while to help take care of her as she continues to recover.

Tonight we went and visited Grandma and Ken & Alice.  We brought a few toys for Caden to try to avoid him getting into anything & everything at Grandma's, but you can about guess how long that lasted :).  It was a great visit, though!  It was nice to see Grandma back at her place rather than the hospital.  We always have wonderful visits with Ken & Alice.  They live in Florida and/or Chicago throughout the year, so our visits are few and far between.  So, we always look forward to seeing them.  And, for them to see how much CW has changed :).

Alice was sweet enough to make us personalized Valentines Day cookies!  I had to take pictures of them before I would let Jared steal one!  They were so pretty and it was so lovely of her to think of us!

Painting

Since Caden was about 11 months old I've had this giant paper pad that we color on with giant colors.  He has been good at 'coloring' pictures since we first tried with him.  Sometimes 'coloring' becomes hitting the crayon as hard as he can on the paper, so that chunks of crayon fly everywhere, some sticking to the paper.   Sometimes it means lot's of lines and scribbles, making a masterpiece :).

And every once in a while, when Mommy is feeling brave........we get out the finger paints!!  I first did this with him a month or so ago, and every once in a while now he runs to the dining room table where he knows I keep them usually and begs for them.  So, every once in a while we........er.......I mispoke, trust me :).......HE takes clothes off and we finger paint like crazy!  Now that he's a little older, he know the paint gets squeezed out of the tubes it comes in and onto the paper, so he constantly protests for more.  Often times it becomes a giant wet disaster.....errr......masterpiece in no time :).

What a grown up 14 month old!  So proud of his talent, ha :).

TADA!!!  Made especially with love for Grandma and Grandad :).

Pajama Day!!





"Tore the living room apart, Mom!  Ready to go!"



As most of you know, Caden goes to Dimension Early Childhood Tuesday's and Thursday's from 9 to 3.  They are absolutely fabulous and Caden loves it!  Yesterday (Thursday) was Pajama day at school!  So the teachers and students all got to wear pajamas to school for the day!!  I wanted to bring my camera to school and take pics but didn't want to look like a weirdo.  So, I took a few pics before we left home.

Caden is incapable (or unwilling :)) to stand still and face the camera when I try to take a picture.  But, I did my best to get a few.  He looked so cute in his coat and pajamas!  It was so fun!!



 

Still looking a little sleepy, but ready to head to school soon!

Holy Cuteness.









TROUBLE??  Is that what you see too?  About to hit the carbon monoxide
detector (a big no-no of course).....I know, as I quick snap a picture again.
Anyhoo, he thought it was funny till he hit the button and the alarm went
off.  Then, CW didn't think it was so funny anymore :).  Tears galore!!

I've got my lunch packed and am ready to go, Mom.  (Ignore the chaos in
the background.....it just seems to be a constant around here).







Tired and relaxing on his couch after a very

fun and busy day at school :)!!



Left the room for 3.5 seconds, and this is what I came back to....

A wild man on the coffee table.  He knows he's not supposed to do that.  I took a pic.  I'm sure that discouraged him.  Ha!

This child is non-stop....holding a fork and a pen (I think).

As I told him to get down and walked towards him, he began his mad dash off the table.  Which included kicking these candles off the table.  Ya, that helped.

Love him :).

Oh Happy Day!!

...that's what we call it around these parts when Liz comes to visit :).

Great pic - Minus the fact it looks like CW might be on drugs, haha.

I met Liz when I worked at Three Eagles, and she has been a blessing to our lives from the start :).  We have remained great friends and always have a good time!  And CW is pretty fond of her, too!  She drives from NE City every day for work, and boy are we glad God brought her to Lincoln for her job....or we would have never met our one and only Liz :)!!