Lately

Kaden, at two months shy of three years old . . . 

Kaden was watching Hercules on Netflix (my least favorite Disney movie of all time, but he seems to have developed a fondness for it), while he wrestled with Chad.  When Hercules and Meg were reunited at the end, Chad asked him, "Are you going to get the girl someday, Kaden?" to which Kaden responded, "I'm going to get the girl!  I'm going to get a pretty girl!"  They continued wrestling and he suddenly stopped and said, "Daddy, Mommy's a pretty girl."

Chad works from home one day a week and I am in the middle of a free lance editing project.  The other day Kaden commanded us to leave the computer room because, "I need to work from home."  When I asked him what his job was he said, "Pushing buttons."  Kaden LOVES it when Chad works from home, because he gets to see him periodically throughout the day.  He usually gets super upset the first twenty minutes that Chad starts working, though, because he doesn't understand why Daddy can't come play.

On the regular days when Chad leaves for work, Kaden frequently cries at the door begging him to stay.  We've explained to him that Chad leaves during the day, so he can make money for our family.  Recently, while Chad tried to peel Kaden off of him and leave for work, our toddler was screaming, "But I don't want money!  I just need you!"

Whenever he wants breakfast, a snack, lunch, you name it, he says, "My body's hungry."  The other day he had an entire discussion with his body after I asked if he wanted yogurt for breakfast.  "Do you want some strawberry yogurt?"  "Yes!"  "You do?"  "OK!  Come on!  Mommy will get us some."  He has two part conversations like this with toys, too, and it's hilarious.

One of my favorite books to listen to him read is Freight Train.  He knows it word for word and says, "crossing trestles" in the cutest voice ever.  Sometimes when he plays with his toy train set he recites the lines from the story, too, while he pushes his train across the track.  

He is constantly reminding me that, "I'm a good helper!"  and he really is.  He is always so eager to help.

Kaden and Chad gave me a raised vegetable garden bed for Mother's Day this year.  We planted basil, sage, mint, a red chili pepper, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, Roma tomato, Better Boy tomato, zucchini, and pickling cucumbers.  Part of me wondered if it would end up being a complete waste of money, but stuff is actually growing!  LOTS of stuff!  All of the plants are huge and way over crowded in our tiny garden plot, but it doesn't seem to be bothering them too much.  We've already harvested our first couple of zucchini and cucumbers, and Kaden gobbled them right up since he was so proud that he helped grow them.  We've had a ton of rain lately, so some of my cucumbers turned into mutants before I managed to get them picked.  I can't wait for the tomatoes to finish growing and ripen up.  I see a lot of BLTs in my future this summer.

Sometimes I say, "Uh-oh spaghetti-ohs."  I also say, "Woopsie!"  Kaden's phrase of choice when he drops something is a combination of the two: "Uh-oh! Spaghetti-oh-see!"

Me:  Kaden, how much do you love Everett?
Kaden, very seriously:  I love Everett little much, because he's a little baby!

While I get ready in the morning, Kaden examines everything in my makeup drawer and asks what it is.  Then he "pretends" to use it.  For example, this morning, he held up every bottle of my nail polish, asked what it was, and when I said "nail polish," he said, "Oh!  This can go on my chin," and then rubbed the bottle against his chin.

We borrowed a balance bike from his friend, Liam, because we're trying to decide what kind of bike to get him. (Anyone want to weigh in on your preference?  Training wheels or balance bikes, folks?)  It amazed me how fast he's picked it up, and he loves it.  It honestly makes me a little nervous, because he's so fearless on the thing!  He is still talking about the bike with pedals that he test drove at the REI garage sale though, so we're still debating.  Mostly he's played around with it inside, but he's loved going on a couple of outdoor bike rides with Daddy.

On Father's Day weekend:

Progress:

He's constantly saying, "Watch this!" or "You need to come downstairs!" or "Look at this!"  and showing off something he can do.  He loves having an audience.

He is a master negotiator.  Maybe we have a future lawyer on our hands?  I'll talk him through our plans for the day and he will propose an alternate plan (usually one involving no nap, fruit snacks, and going to the swimming pool) and then say, "Sound like a plan?" and adamantly proclaim, "But this IS a GOOD DEAL!" when I don't buy into his arrangement.

Has found where we keep the chocolate chips in the pantry.  It doesn't matter that I moved them to the top shelf, as evidenced by these photos:

Kaden just finished taking a five week art class (Mini Monets) offered through the city.  I went with him every Friday morning for an hour.  He was the oldest kid in the class, so it didn't end up being the social experience I was hoping for, but he still really loved it, especially the days he got to paint.  I'm planning on signing him up for a class with the same teacher in the fall, but he'll be three at that point, so the class is a bit more what I originally envisioned.  I'll drop him off by himself for that one, and they do an art project based on a story they read at the start of class.  I tried to get a picture of him with Ms. Michelle, his teacher, but he refused (he refuses to be in a lot of pictures lately).  Instead, I got these shots of him at home with some of his completed masterpieces:

He LOVES nursery now.  Usually he starts begging to go to nursery immediately following the opening prayer during sacrament meeting and continues to ask if it's "ready" to go to nursery throughout the rest of the hour.  We went to Kinston for Father's Day weekend and during the youth speaker's talk he said, "He needs to stop talking.  Please, Mommy, please!" so he could go to nursery.  Slightly embarrassing.  The people on the pew in front of us got a great laugh out of that.  Last Sunday Chad told him there was only one song and prayer left before nursery and he started shaking with excitement.

He has changed the name of Imagine Dragons' song "Radioactive" to "The Robot Song" and sometimes sings the line, "Welcome to the new age," at random times during the day.  It's pretty funny.

He has successfully pee-peed in the potty!  Go, Kaden!!!  He's done this probably three or four times now. We are not pushing things, because he still doesn't seem completely ready (no where NEAR ready when it comes to #2), but we're praising him immensely and showering him with candy whenever he has a successful encounter with the toilet.  He is so strong willed that I don't want to make it a battle, so we're giving him more time before we push things.

I had Kaden fill out a survey about Chad for his birthday card this year.  His responses were pretty darling.  I love how much they reflect the time that the two of them spend together, and that Kade obviously thinks Chad is having the most fun during those times.  So sweet!

Less charming things:

He has this really rude tone of voice he's started using while saying things like, "Stop it!" We are working on this, especially when he interacts with adults.  He also uses this tone of voice to tell us "No!" or "You can't do that!"  or "That is NOT right!"  So. Not. Pleasant.

He frequently boycotts naps now, and the days he does actually sleep it sometimes takes a 40 minute fight for me to get him to lie down.  Not fun.  And he's super cranky by about 4:00 on the days he doesn't nap, not to mention what happens when he goes three days in a row without one.  With Chad's commute, it's super hard to get him to bed early and still have any time as a family, so it's a major bummer when he doesn't sleep during the day.  We are enforcing quiet time, which helps, but is no replacement for an actual nap.

He is incredibly stubborn and strong-willed, which I keep trying to remind myself will be good personality traits if we can steer him in the right direction.


Katie, at three weeks shy of full-term pregnant:

I frequently voice the fact that I can't do this for three more weeks.  Last week I said, "I can't do this for four more weeks!"  Now I say that I can't do it for three.

My feet and hands are starting to swell.  Oh, joy.

This is the part of pregnancy where I have a really hard time remembering how much I wanted to be pregnant.  I try so hard to be thankful, because I know how lucky I am to have this experience, how much I cried over it and prayed for it, but it is hard to remember sometimes when I'm as big as a house.

I'm as big as a house.  Wardrobe choices are becoming more limited by the day, as is the likelihood that I'll ever wear any of my regular clothes again.  I think I have maybe three tops that actually cover my entire belly.

Sleep is something I think I once did at night.  Now, in between potty breaks, I roll from my left side to my right, re-positioning multiple pillows and moving my restless legs.

I can't breathe.  The best is when Kaden imitates me by breathing really heavily and saying, "I'm having . . . a hard time . . . breathing."

It's getting hot and humid, and the only thing I hate more than feeling heat and humidity is being pregnant while feeling heat and humidity.  Thank goodness we have air conditioning that works this time around!

The severity of the pregnancy brain is pretty awful.  I am forgetful to the point it can be borderline irresponsible at times.

I alternate between moments of elated excitement about meeting our new little one and complete terror realizing I'm going to have to learn to juggle two kids.  The terror usually strikes when I have a less than stellar moment as Kaden's mom and feel terrible that another kid is about to be stuck with me.  Sometimes, though, it comes at an especially great moment, and I worry about not having the same one-on-one time with Kade, or having the same one-on-one time I've had with Kaden to bond with the new baby.  I am guessing this is normal?  Or maybe not . . . in which case I should be concerned?

I am beginning to realize that I still have a list of projects to complete before this baby gets here, and that my time frame for making those things  happen is starting to shrink.  Yet, I don't seem to be starting any of those projects . . . just adding more to the list.

I need to post a belly picture.  I'll try to get Chad to take one in the next day or two, so I can do that.

Chad, as a Man Still Living with Auto-Immune Liver Disease:

Chad now has Diabetes.  Well, not really Diabetes, so much as his body thinks he has Diabetes because of the side effects of one of his medications.  We found out a few months ago, when his blood sugar was over 800, and the nurse called to tell us to take him to the emergency room before he went into a Diabetic coma. (And I was slightly ticked, since he had been calling the doctor's office reporting symptoms that they kept passing off as side effects of his meds, which were really all SCREAMING that his blood sugar was completely out of whack.)  That was a fun night, let me tell you.  I have never been so thankful for amazing friends, who truly stepped in and saved the day by watching Kaden.  Now Chad takes ANOTHER medication to help keep his blood sugar normal.  And that keeps him more normal, which is great, because I was starting to fear what life was going to be like when the new baby showed up and I had an almost comatose husband.  The weeks leading up to figuring out what was wrong were a bit scary.  Thankfully, that issue seems to be resolving itself, but other issues do not.  There's a chance he's going to need another biopsy before the end of the year, a prospect he is less than thrilled about.  I keep reminding him a second biopsy is better than a liver transplant.    

He is working hard and really enjoying his new job, despite his added commute time.

Is in a band with Kaden, or so Kaden tells me when they play guitars together in the evenings.