Christmas is here!

I want to start off by saying that I'm sincerely sorry for being so slack in updating this thing! It's just that usually when I have time to sit down at the computer, I don't want to have to do anything that requires a lot of thought, and I like for these blog posts to be meaningful yet concise. Anyhow, we have been very busy since my last post in October and there is some catching up to do!

I'll start with Noah. He is 10 months old and now a crawler! He has really started picking up speed over the last two weeks and is even pulling up and cruising around the furniture. It is adorable but definitely making more work for me! He has three teeth now and another one coming through on top. He refuses to eat baby food anymore, so we are having to be creative with his meals. He loves yogurt, toast, and Easy Mac so I try to incorporate those as much as I can. When I took him for his 9 month checkup his weight was only in the 5th percentile, so his pediatrician has really stressed the importance of fattening him up. Otherwise, he is a happy healthy boy who is just a joy to be around :)

Kaden is doing well too! He is such a talker now and constantly walks around the house singing and talking. He is currently on Christmas break from preschool, so we have been keeping busy by getting things ready for Christmas! We went to a gingerbread house party over the weekend at my aunt's house, and Kaden did a fabulous job decorating his house! We also had his preschool Christmas program last week, and I was so proud of him for getting up in front of all the parents and family members to sing songs with his class. Yesterday, we took him and Noah to get some Christmas pictures taken at the Picture People in the mall, and Kaden was such a good listener. (We got some great shots of both boys, and I will post some as soon as I get them on my email.) He definitely has his "terrible two" moments, but I know it's just part of him growing up and exerting his independence, so we are taking it in stride and just trying hard to be patient with him.

We have a busy few days ahead of us with our family Christmas get-together, my mom's Christmas Eve drop-in, and Christmas day. From our family to yours, we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! If I don't get around to posting before New Years, we hope you have a Happy New Year too!

Kaden and Bobo on Thanksgiving

Kaden helping put up the tree

At the gingerbread house party

Opening presents from Patrick's parents

My crawling boy!

Kaden and mommy after the preschool program

We love October!

I can't believe we are already halfway through October! We have been doing lots of fun stuff to celebrate Fall. This past Friday, we went to Boo at the Zoo; basically, this is an event held at the zoo for kids where they can come trick-or-treat at the zoo. It gave them a chance to wear their costumes, get candy, and see some of the animals.! We had such a blast :) Kaden is being a fireman and Noah is being a little lion. Both of the boys' costumes are adorable, and Noah was the star of the zoo on Friday. Everybody commented on how adorable his costume is, and one woman even took a picture of her little girl with Noah. We are so proud of our adorable babies and had a great time at the zoo.

Saturday, my parents watched the boys so Patrick and I could go out and celebrate our anniversary! Our third anniversary was on October 14, but Patrick had to work so we celebrated over the weekend. We have been through SO much (good and bad - mostly good) over these last three years but we are so thankful for all the blessing we have been given and look forward to all the anniversaries ahead of us :)

Sunday night we braved the cold to go to the fair. Both boys loved the lights, sounds, and animals. Kaden was still a little too young to ride the rides, but he sure loved munching on corndogs, french fries, and elephant ears! He also won his first ever prize playing a fair game! We had a good time even though we almost froze to death!

Just a few other updates.... Kaden is now in the swing of things at preschool! We no longer have tears at drop-off. He really doesn't even notice when I leave, and he actually cries sometimes when I pick him up. It is so awesome to hear him come home talking about all his friends and the fun things they do at preschool. I feel so much better about our choice to enroll him :) As for Noah, he is 8 months old now! He is sitting up and talking up a storm! He is such a curious boy and is fascinated with pretty much anything Kaden does (which sometimes drives Kaden crazy!). He is starting to scoot around the floor, so I have a feeling he'll be crawling in the next few weeks. Both boys are such a joy and we love being able to do so much fun stuff with them!

Preschool has begun!

As I am writing this, Kaden is at his second day of preschool! His first day was Tuesday, September 1st. I was a nervous wreck when we dropped him off, but he did really well. He immediately went in his classroom and started playing with all the toys. When we told him goodbye, he gave us hugs and kisses and kept right on playing. Unfortunately, when we picked him up that afternoon, we learned that he cried pretty much all day! Patrick is working today, so I had to take him by myself. It definitely wasn't as pleasant a drop-off as Tuesday. He was crying before we even got into the classroom! I really do think he wants to go - even when he was crying he was pulling out toys and coloring a picture - I just think he wants me to stay with him while he does everything! I have faith that he will adjust well; I just hope it's sooner rather than later :) That being said, I almost don't know what to do with myself with only one baby in the house! Noah and I got home today, and I was able to put him down for a nap and pick up toys and fold clothes... it was nice!

Another exciting development in our house is that we got new floors! My dad put laminate down in our living room last week, and it looks awesome. Our carpet was just awful. Since this is a starter home, the carpet and pad were pretty cheap. After being here a year, the carpet looked like we had been walking on it for ten years - it was disgusting looking. The laminate makes the room look awesome! It looks so much brighter and bigger. I'll post some pictures from the first day of preschool and of our new floors! Take care and GOOOOOO COCKS!

Couldn't leave Noah out!

More Summer Fun!

Well, it's time for my monthly post! I've been meaning to get on here for awhile but always find something (or someone) else to take up my time! We have really stayed busy these past few weeks!

A few weeks ago, the boys and I joined Kaden's speech pathologist and some of her friends to go pick blueberries. There is a place here in Chapin where you pick your own berries. I never thought of doing anything like that before, but I'll tell you, it is good, cheap fun! Kaden had a ball picking berries (and eating them!), and it was so nice to be around other kids and moms. We are definitely going to investigate some other "pick-your-own" farms later this year for pumpkins!

Not long after that, we went on our second beach trip to Folly Beach. Our family went with my parents, sister, and nephew. We had such a good time! The stretch of beach where our house was located stayed pretty empty the whole week, so we usually had the whole beach to ourselves. The weather was awesome and we just had a relaxing week. Since Folly is so close to Charleston we got the opportunity to check out the Charleston Aquarium. Kaden really enjoyed that. We also got to visit the outlet mall a few times (I enjoyed that!). This was the first extended beach trip we've ever taken to Folly, but I really hope we go back because it was such a nice place! Now we're back home and back to reality :)

Since things are always changing around here, I'll let you in on the most recent change. Patrick has gone back to his job on the ICU at Richland. Wound Care just turned out to be the exact opposite of what we thought it would be. There were definitely a lot of office politics that got in the way of it being enjoyable for Patrick, and he is not the type of person who likes drama. Also, it was a salaried position which means he only got paid for 40 hours of work per week. Unfortunately, the requirements of his job cannot be met in 40 hours, so he usually had to stay late everyday without getting paid (because salaried positions don't get overtime). So, we decided that it would be better for him to go back to the ICU, work days, and actually get paid for any overtime he chooses to work. We are very hopeful that this will be the best option for us!

Both boys are doing fantastic! Kaden is talking A LOT and putting three and four words together to make phrases now. He starts preschool in two weeks - I cannot believe it! We go next week to meet his teacher and check out his classroom, so pray for us that this is an easy transition for him. We took Noah for his 6 month checkup yesterday. He is doing well - the only concern is that he has only gained about 5 ounces since his last checkup in June. He sure doesn't appear to be undernourished, but he went from being in the 75th percentile for weight to only being in the 15th, so we are definitely shoveling in the solid food now! Noah has also recently learned to roll over from back to front and from front to back! He is sitting up better (still using his arms for support), and he is reaching out for toys and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. We love these boys so much and are so blessed to have such wonderful children!

Thanks for sticking with me to read all this - maybe when Kaden starts preschool I'll have more time to update! Enjoy the pics!

First Beach Trip and More!

We have had such a blast over the past week that I had to get on here and update everyone! We were very fortunate last week to be able to take the boys to Edventure Children's Museum. My mom and I took my boys and A.J. for the morning, and it was so much fun! Kaden has been twice before, but each times gets better because there are always new things for him to discover, plus, he is getting older and becoming interested in different things at the museum. Noah slept most of the time we were there, so it was a great morning. Afterwards, we met Kimbo for lunch downtown and then went home where we all crashed from exhaustion! It was a fun day!

This past weekend, we loaded up the minivan (literally - it was crammed) and took a trip down to Dataw Island where my grandmother lives. Dataw is a really nice retirement island located not far from Beaufort, SC. It was a long drive, but we made it without any major meltdowns. Anyway, the reason we went down is because my grandmother has begun having a little reunion for some of the family members and we go down once a year to the island's marina to see everyone. There's a nice picnic area where all the adults relax, and there's a playground and TONS of fiddler crabs to keep the kinds entertained. We had a fantastic time visiting with that side of the family :)

We stayed in Beaufort overnight, and the next morning we met back up with my mom, Kimbo, and A.J. to go to Hunting Island Beach which is located not far from my grandmother's island. It's a really nice beach that isn't too crowded, and it was the perfect place to take Kaden and Noah since this was both of their first times visiting a beach! I wasn't sure how Kaden would like it because he is funny about new things lately, but he absolutely LOVED the ocean! He loved jumping the waves and having Patrick carry him out into the water, and he especially loved digging in the sand with all the sand toys we took with us. Noah and I spent most of the time relaxing under the umbrella, but I did christen Noah as a beach bum by dipping his little feet in the water... he liked it too! I'm so glad the beach trip went well because we are going to Folly Beach with my parents for a week in August and this was great practice!

Enjoy the pictures!

Kaden driving the Volkswagon Bug at Edventure

My sweet boy changing a tire - at least one of us can!

Kaden next to Big Eddie's shoe

Kaden checking out the ocean for the first time!

Digging up the beach... and tossing sand everywhere!

Fun in the sun!

Mommy and Noah relaxing under the umbrella

Adorable!

Family picture on the beach

Our summer so far...

Well, judging by the fact that it's been almost a month since my last update, I'm sure you can tell we've been wrapped up with other things! I'll start off by saying that my parents' anniversary party and Noah's baptism were huge successes. Everyone had a blast at the party, and I'm so glad it was such a special evening for my parents. Noah's baptism went very well too. He slept through almost the entire service and never made a peep when he got the water on his head. I was such the proud mama :) I'll include a few pictures from each of those events.

I took Noah for his four month checkup on the 19th. He is a chunky monkey weighing in at 14 lbs. 11 oz., and 24 inches long! We started him on cereal shortly after his doctor's visit, and he is doing well with it. He isn't too crazy about it, but he'll at least eat about half of what I fix him. I'm hoping to start him on some veggies next week, so wish us luck! Another big development with Noah is that he has started sleeping in his crib finally! I have had him in the bassinet right next to our bed since he was born, but, obviously, he has just gotten too big for it. He has slept in the crib for the past three nights and done a fantastic job. It makes me a little nervous not having him right next to me, but I guess I'll just have to get over that! He is such a happy baby and is perfectly content to sit in his new jumperoo just bouncing away. We absolutely adore him!

Kaden is doing well too! One exciting development with Kaden is that he just read his first book yesterday! It is a touch and feel book by Scholastic called How to Build a Snowman (yes, in the middle of summer). I was on the phone with my mom, and Kaden walked up holding the book and I guess when he figured that he would have to wait until I was off the phone, he just decided to read it himself! I am so excited for him. Hopefully I can catch some video of him next time he reads something. Also, we are beginning the potty training process with Kaden! We have started putting him on his potty every night while we run his bath, and most times he goes potty! I'm so excited for him and so happy that soon he will be out of diapers!

Patrick has been in Wound Care now for about a month, and he has adjusted really well. It sounds like he is picking up the necessary skills quickly, and he works with two great ladies who are always more than willing to help him out. It is so nice having him home on the weekends and getting to spend that time with him. As for me, I am now the proud owner of a minivan! I have been in denial for about a week, but I have really grown to love it. A few weeks ago on the way to Noah's checkup, the Jeep just gave out on me while I was driving on the interstate. My mom had to come pick us up, and it was just really scary. I decided then and there that I was not getting in that Jeep ever again! Patrick and I had been talking about upgrading to something bigger and a minivan just made the most sense. We bought a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, and it is really nice. I love having rear AC for the boys, and it just amazing how much space we have for groceries, shopping, the humongous double stroller, and anything else we take with us. Overall, I am very happy with it, even if it is a minivan!

Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly, but I make no promises! Take care and enjoy the pictures!

Our family following Noah's baptism.

Kaden in between tantrums :)

The 2 party girls!

Noah's first time trying cereal

All smiles (and wearing his golf outfit in honor of Grandaddy)!

Kaden's cool new trick!

You can't tell me he's not the most adorable baby ever!