home renovation

1.  Watching Kaden's face light up in the children's section of the library.  He fell in love with the giant fish tank full of swimming friends.  Maybe he thought they were the same ones he smiles at every day while he watches his mobile spin around?  I think we will have to get Kadester a pet fish for his birthday this year.

2.  New board books from the library, and one from the used book store, to entertain me and my little man.

3.  The juicy clementine I just devoured.  Oh how I love a clementine!

4.  Driving home from running errands and looking at all of the signs of spring.  I can't wait for the azaleas and dogwoods to join in the fun!

5.  My Kitchenaid Mixer.  Have I told you lately, Mrs. Kitchenaid, that I love you?

6.  The homemade pizza dough rising in the bowl of my Kitchenaid mixer.

7.  The homemade pizza sauce waiting for the dough in the refrigerator.

8.  Kaden taking a long enough nap this morning for me to work on my sharing time and talk for sacrament meeting on Sunday.  Oh, and a long enough nap this afternoon for me to bond with Bernice, my Kitchenaid mixer.

9.  Knowing my cute husband will get home in two hours and we can eat homemade pizza together.

10.  Laughing while Kaden practices his new trick:  shaking his head no.  We're a little young to be starting this, aren't we?

It has been a great day.

The past couple of days, I have come to some realizations, some big and some small.

For example, I realized yesterday (while strolling to the park with my handsome son) that now that I am a Southern gal I find it not only extremely odd if someone I pass on the street doesn't wave at me, but I am somewhat offended when they don't.  I mean, come on!  If I'm going to live in a town where I have to drive at least 40 minutes to buy a packet of curry mix there need to be some perks.  One of those perks is having everyone be friendly, which means strangers on the street are supposed to wave at you.  And most of them do.  Which is why I was shocked yesterday when three didn't.

I also realized yesterday (while cleaning my father-in-law's office, because he's awesome and gave me that job so I can afford health insurance) that some people are just nasty.  Case in point:  who pees all over a toilet (and I don't want to get TOO graphic here, but I will suffice to say that when I say "all over a toilet" I really do mean ALL OVER the toilet) and just leaves it.  I would be mortified to leave a restroom covered in my urine, knowing that someone could walk in behind me and know that I DID THAT.  A second office example:  who deposits their chewed stick of Big Red on a leather, waiting room chair--on which someone else may sit! So gross!  These people had mothers, did they teach them NOTHING?  

I also realized yesterday, that I occasionally enjoy trashy TV.  I guess I've always known this, because as a youngster, I used to watch episodes of a show starring these lovely people:

That, my friends is the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful.  I don't mean to expose my mother's inner-most secrets on this blog, but she watched this show when I was growing up.  She still watches it (sorry, Mom).  My Grandma Joy watches it, too (sorry, Grandma).  I don't watch it anymore, but I do tune in with her when I go home to visit.  She records the episodes, and we fast forward through the commercials.  That means one 30 minute episode probably ends up being closer to 18 minutes.  The amazing thing is, I can tune in for a couple weeks a year and feel like I never stopped watching.  That's the beautiful thing about soap operas.  I mean, my mom will have to fill me in a little bit (about which divorcee is now married to which "I-thought-he-was-dead"-"no-he-was-always-alive-just-was-in-a-coma-and-forgot-his-identity" fellow) but it won't take long for me to be completely up to speed.

I denied I had rekindled my trashy TV addiction for a while when I first started watching this:

See that smiling, sensational actress in the left-hand corner?  That's Sally Field.  If you don't know who she is, I suggest you go to rent my favorite movie of all time, which just happens to be Steel Magnolias.  If you don't want to watch the entire film (which is a ludicrous thought--OF COURSE you want to watch the entire film), you can fast forward to the funeral scene--look for the part where she starts screaming, "I'm fine"--and I guarantee you will still cry:  that's how amazing Sally Field is.  Anyway, I started watching this series because I could stream in on Netflix, which we currently have due to a wonderful Christmas gift from my parents.  (Plus, my friend Lacey told me about it.  Sorry, Lacey.)  The plot lines were a little extreme (see how honest I'm being, maybe you shouldn't judge me too harshly), most of the acting was mediocre at best, and Sally was still amazing.  I couldn't stop watching.  She sucked me in.     I have now watched the first three seasons (remember that part earlier about not judging me too harshly?).  Anyway, despite the at times melodramatic nature of the show, I didn't think it was a soap opera.  I mean, it airs in the evening (even though I stream it at all times of day while I nurse Kaden or fold a load of laundry).  Then, Chad caught a few snippets of episodes. One time, he walked in while I was watching one and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Chad:  You're still watching this show, huh?

Katie:  Yup.  It's not even that good, but Sally Field is so amazing I can't stop.
 
Chad:  Wait a minute, they're dating?

Katie:  Yup, they're going to get married.

Chad:  I thought they were brother and sister.

Katie:  No, no.  They only THOUGHT they were brother and sister.  They thought she was his father's illegitimate child from his mistress, Holly.  Then they found out her real dad was a man named David, so they started dating.  The real illegitimate kid is a boy, some kid named Ryan.

Chad:  I seriously can't believe you're still watching this.

Light bulb.  Once I heard myself explaining the plot out loud, there was no denying its soap opera-ness.

And the thing is, I can't believe I'm still watching it either.  But every episode ends with some plot twist that makes me stream another episode later, because I just HAVE TO KNOW what happens.  Evil.
  
Today (while watching my sweet baby go for his first swing) I realized that the likelihood that this face will ever stop melting my heart is non-existent:

 It's hard not to forgive me for my trashy TV addictions when I bombard you with photos of a precious face like that at the end of a post, isn't it?  I'm very sneaky.

At six-and-a-half months old, Kaden:

• Has become a pureed fruits and vegetables connoisseur .  He tried his first vegetable, green beans, on February 4th.  Since then, we have added carrots, prunes, pears, squash, bananas, and peas to his repertoire (in that order).  He loves them all.  We had a brief moment this morning (whilst he he was introduced to peas alongside his rice cereal) that I thought he might permanently boycott the little, round pellets (since he started crying after every bite and trying furiously to spit the mush out).  After a re-introduction at dinnertime, I think even peas might have won him over.  He loves to eat.  He voices his disdain if you don't shovel food into his waiting, open mouth quite quickly enough. 

• Has his first tooth.  All of that Orajel really wasn't wasted on our fussy baby.  He actually WAS teething.  I felt the sharp point of Kaden's first tooth on February 7th while, you guessed it, rubbing Orajel on his gums at bedtime. 

• Mostly sleeps through the night, with occasional relapses.  After Kaden started solid foods, we started "sleep training."  Basically, we don't pick him up when he wakes up in the middle of the night anymore.  We do the 10-15-20 minute go in, comfort, leave routine, until he falls back asleep on his own.  I know half of you are thinking I'm a terrible mother for letting my son cry in his crib, but I've got to say--8 hours of sleep at night is a glorious thing.  Most nights he just sleeps completely through the night, but every once in a while we'll have to go in and comfort him a few times before he'll zonk back out.  The biggest battle we had to fight in this department was breaking the swaddling habit.  Kaden has always loved to be swaddled.  Usually when he woke up during a nap, or during the night, it was because he had "broken out" of his swaddling.  We even used the special Swaddleme blankets, which were miraculous, but eventually he outgrew them.  Even the largest size.  We had mastered swaddling him in a select few blankets that were still big enough to get the job done, but he was getting too strong for those.  When we started the "sleep training," we also stopped swaddling, so he could learn to fall asleep without it. 

• Can sit up by himself, with supervision.  Kaden can support himself while sitting up, but quickly topples over if he reaches too far for whatever object catches his fancy.  We are practicing every day, and I think he'll be sitting completely solo before long.

• Whisper-talks to himself in the morning.  Oh my, this may be the most precious thing my child will ever do.  It is soooooooooo cute to listen to him do this.  Every time I try to catch him on film he promptly stops, however.  I hope  I can always remember what this sounded like.  After Kaden wakes up in the morning, he usually ends up cuddling in bed with me and Chad.  He just lies here, content as can be, whisper-babbling.

• Makes consonant sounds, which means he's now more of a babbler, and less of a coo-er.  It's pretty clear that the word "Dada" will probably be numero uno.  He already says this about a zillion times a day, he just doesn't know that he's saying it.  

•  Bathes in the real bathtub now.  We finally had to face reality:  our 28 inch baby can no longer bathe in the baby tub on the kitchen counter.  This was a travesty.  It is so much easier to bathe him while comfortably standing at the counter top.  Kaden LOVES taking a bath.  He kicks and splashes like crazy, and tonight I discovered that when squirted by his bath toys he can't contain his giggles.  He finds it hilarious.  He still can't take a bath every night because his skin gets too irritated (he still has some eczema).

• LOVES to jump.  If he's not in one of his jumping toys, he still pretends that he is.  He jumps while you hold him in your lap, and he even moves his legs like he's jumping while he's lying down. 

• Has figured out he can actually go in a complete circle while in his exersaucer.  His favorite part of this toy is the toy phone attached to it.  He tries to eat it, instead of talking to whatever imaginary friend is on the other end.      

• Still hates being on his tummy.  I talked to the pediatrician about this one, because I'm afraid he's never going to learn to crawl.  Kaden will only tolerate limited tummy time before he starts to scream. 

• Can successfully remove his pacifier and put it back in.  This is such a blessing.  He used to take his pacifier out when we'd put him down at night and then wake himself up by hitting himself in the face with it, attempting to get it back in. 

• Has better motor skills in general.  I love watching him play with his toys now, because he really does seem like he is starting to "play."  He can really hold on to objects now.  His favorite toy right now is by far his soccer ball.  Although he mostly just tries to, unsuccessfully, eat it.   

• Loves music.  The Disney music channel on Pandora is a frequent listen in our house.  (I love that part of my day consists of dancing to hits from The Jungle Book and The Lion King.  My life is seriously so awesome.  Especially when it's 1:00 and I'm still in my pajamas.)  Some of Kaden's favorite songs right now include "The Wheels on the Bus," "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and "Popcorn Popping."

• Still loves to be read to and is still pretty attentive while listening to the story (after initial attempts to ingest the literature).

• Loves to play peek-a-boo and patty cake.  

• Still typically takes three naps during the day.  One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the early evening.  I wish so much he would just turn this into two LONGER naps.  It would really help give me time to get more done.

• Is a snugly little guy right now.  He likes to bury his little head in your chest while you hold him.  I took him to see the English teachers at North Lenoir and he cuddled with every one of them.

• Is still precious, sweet, and is so much fun to take care of every day.

• Is growing up way too fast.

Weight -- 17 pounds 10 ounces, 53rd percentile

Height -- 28 inches, 91st percentile

Head Circumference -- 44.75 centimeters, 77th percentile

It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's super baby!



When it took me awhile to get pregnant, I finally made an executive decision to stop being depressed and start living life.  I figured I'd get pregnant when I least expected it, since sitting around waiting for it didn't seem to be working.  I looked up admission dates to ECU and started plotting to begin my master's degree.  We started shopping for tickets to see the World Cup in South Africa.  Then, about a week before my 26th birthday, all of those plans changed because we found out our little man was on the way.  (THANK GOODNESS we hadn't already purchased plane tickets half way around the world!)  We have started training Kaden for the World Cup.  Maybe if he plays for team USA we'll get to one eventually.


Chad helped Kaden master this skill when he stayed home with him one day while I was still working.  Gigi was sick, so Chad took the day off and taught Kaden this trick.  He informs me he did way better at this before I returned home, but it is still pretty darn awesome.  Without further ado, I give you  Legs Up, Legs Down: