home renovation

Last weekend, Chad and I went to walk as a part of Team Brenda in the Walk to Defeat ALS in Greenville.  I taught with Ms. Brenda at North Lenoir and I adore her.  She's the reason I got my teaching job when we moved to North Carolina.  Without her putting in a kind word for me with the principal, I never would have gotten an interview.  My application was sitting in a drawer at the county office.  (I know, because I had to redo it after he decided to hire me.  They couldn't find it anywhere!)  Ms. Brenda is the kind of woman who says just what she thinks, and she can get away with it, because everyone loves her.  She can tell a high school girl she's dressed like a street walker and the girl will still walk away loving her.  She was a phenomenal teacher and she is an inspiring person.  I hope that as they continue to research this terrible disease, they can find a cure. 

Kaden came with us, too.  We drove to Kinston on Friday night, so we wouldn't have to drive as far on Saturday morning.  He woke up at 4 a.m., and he was in a killer good mood.  He did surprisingly well.  He made it through the entire walk, but he started to get pretty whiny while we were waiting for the closing ceremony to start.  We had to leave early, but I am so glad we went.  I hope Ms. Brenda knows how many people love her!

We were going to drive back to Raleigh on Saturday afternoon, but we decided to make a weekend out of it and stay instead.  Chad's parents were on vacation (in LONDON and PARIS!  My heart was bleeding with envy!).  We had the best time!  It seriously felt like we were on a mini-vacation.  On Saturday we lazed about and watched HGTV pretty much all day long.  Home improvement and house hunting shows were on a continuous circuit.  We were inspired with so many project ideas for our future house, so we felt justified in our constant lounging.  We all went outside and Kaden played shoot ball and splashed in puddles, while Chad and I washed and vacuumed the car.  It had long been needing a cleansing from the layer of cheerios and goldfish embedded in the upholstery.  Then, Chad and I had a date night after Kaden went to bed.  Chad built a fire in the fire pit, we roasted marshmallows, and made s'mores.  There was a huge rainstorm that night, so it made it even more fun being cozy by the fire on the back porch, listening to the rain fall.  On Sunday, I raided my sister-in-law's closet for church clothes (something I wish I could do EVERY day of my life.  Have you seen her wardrobe?  Gorgeous.  And her jewelry armoire?  Be still my heart).  Luckily, she is loving enough to really mean it when she says, "My closet is your closet."  I went through the attic and found one of Chad's/Chad's brother's outfits from when they were little for Kaden to wear, and we were golden for sacrament meeting.  Then, we came home and relaxed.  I experimented with Pinterest recipes, and then we all welcomed Joy and Bruce back from Europe around six in the evening.  It was fun to have a visit with them, and then we zipped back to Cary, NC, Lady and the Tramp entertaining Kaden on the portable DVD player all the way home.    

Here's the only bad thing about this trip:  we slept on my in-law's mattress.  Joycious and Brucious recently got a new mattress, and it has been getting rave reviews.  Well, let me tell you something:  On Saturday morning, I was awakened at an hour of death by a crying toddler.  We tried to bring him in bed with us, which was an absolute joke.  Friday night's sleep could have been great, had it not been so rudely interrupted.  On Sunday, Kaden slept in until after eight, and oh, my.  As I told Chad, previous to this, I thought the best sleep of my life had been in the hospital when they gave me Ambien.  I was wrong.  I spoke too soon.  I had no yet experienced a truly blissful sleep.  AMAZING.  I should be a part of the ad campaign for the mattress company.  Why was this lovely night's sleep a bad thing?  My sleep upon returning to our own mattress has been somewhat torturous.  Tossing.  Turning.  Dreaming of the king-sized phenomenon I experienced days before.  I am, in a word, ruined.

I realized I am thankful for a lot of things this weekend.  Watching all of those home improvement shows with Chad made me realize that I am thankful we can see potential in things.  If we couldn't, we'd be in a serious fix while house hunting.  Spending so much quality time with Chad and Kaden made me realize I am so thankful we are a happy family.  We are not a perfect family, by any means, but we are happy, and I love that.  I am so thankful I married such a patient, kind man.  I am so thankful he is still my best friend, that we still have as much fun talking and laughing together as we did when we were dating.  Staying in my in-laws house made me realize I am thankful for them.  How many people would feel comfortable crashing at their in-law's house while they are away?  Some of you are probably reading this post and thinking it's a little strange that we slept in their bed.  (We did change the sheets, and tell them, by the way, lest you think we are completely inconsiderate.)  The thing is they are so incredibly hospitable.  It's amazing.  I am so thankful that I feel so at home with them.

We are going to Kinston this weekend, too, to spend Mother's Day with the family.  Sadly, the bed of my dreams will be taken.          

I am so behind in the blogging realm.  Kaden is rapidly approaching 21 months.  I didn't even blog about his 18 month stats.  Mom fail?  I think so.

It is over 90 degrees today.  It's too hot to think about writing a million blog posts.  So, I am going to write one instead.  One, long, catch-up-so-I-feel-less-guilty post.

First, a list about what Kaden is like these days:




 Here is Kaden, dapper lad that he is, one Sunday we were in K-town.


Here he is on the porch swing with Uncle Tyler and Daddy:

 Here is Kaden on his first Easter egg hunt.  A girl from Church organized it.  Everyone brought eggs, and we let the kids go wild.  Kaden would tell me the color of each egg before plunking it in his basket.  He would also shake each one.  He didn't know there was candy inside, so luckily we avoided the sugar rush that could have followed.  Well . . . the sugar rush was avoided by him, at least. 

 Here is Kaden, helping me sweep the floor, after the egg hunt:

 My brother recently reported to North Carolina for military service.  My dad helped him drive across country, so they were with us for Easter Sunday.  Here we all are, before church.  Sadly, we don't have any individual pictures of Kaden in his southern-gentleman attire.

 We thought it would be fun to let Kaden go on another Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday.  Gigi hid all of the empty eggs, but after Kaden shook a few, and heard no evidence of goods inside, he was no longer interested.  (Side note:  I really did wash his shirt in between egg hunts.  So random that he is wearing the same outfit in these pictures.)



 I love this picture.  Kaden was fascinated, watching Daddy and Poppy toss a football back and forth.

 Kicking a little shoot ball. 
 Fun with Uncle Tyler:
 Eating his favorite food, black beans:



 As you can tell, he was in a killer good mood.
 There may have been other kids on the slide.  Not a happy camper about that. 
 I love my child's mouth.  It's just one of the cutest things about him.

 Getting ready to slide.
 Kaden, sporting my pink high heels one morning.  I love that he's kicking a soccer ball while wearing these.

 And that in this one he's surrounded by a pile of trucks.

 It's pretty impressive that he can actually walk in these things. 





 Kaden, in his jammies (tackled puzzles in the background):

 Here's a photo of me with my niece Adeline.  When I coaxed her to sleep, and I felt the weight of her sleeping head on my arm, my ovaries might have started screaming.  Just a little bit.  She is absolutely precious, and it was fun to have her and her parents with us for a couple of days.  Bryan's wife flew out to spend some time with him in NC for a month.  Kaden did much better with Addy this time around.  Even after she left, when he woke up in the morning, he got this serious look on his face, put his finger to his lips, and said, "Shhhhhhhh . . . Baby seeping."  It was, in a word, precious.  He definitely isn't ready to be her number one fan, but he was more curious about her this time.  He also loved playing with her toys, in a lot less gentle way than she plays with them.  We had to keep reminding him to be soft and that babies are fragile.  Definitely wouldn't leave him alone with a newborn any time soon, but this was a huge improvement.  I'm still terrified of how he's going to react when he is no longer the only child some day. 
 This is Kaden and I cuddling during Lady and the Tramp after he woke up ridiculously early one day.  I look smashing, but I asked Chad to snap a quick shot before he left for work, because I wanted to remember the moment.

Today you are twenty months and six days old.  Not what one might call a traditional milestone birthday.  There is no special doctor's visit today, we aren't having a party, and there is no lit candle eagerly waiting for you to blow it out.  Today was one of those days when I stop and stare at you, in awe that you are getting so grown up, changing so much every day.   

We went to the library today for story time, only as soon as we rushed into the library (five minutes late because I had to convince you to leave Cougar-your giant pillow pet-in the car), I noticed the quiet.  The library, even though it is always meant to be a place of quiet, is not quiet during toddler time.  And then I realized today is Tuesday and story time moved to Wednesdays now that it is Spring.  You ran up and down the stairs in the story time room, completely unfazed by my mistake, while I scooped up a pile of books.  You climbed into one of the little chairs at one of the little tables, and I thought we were going to share a delightful story time of our own.  Only then you threw a massive temper tantrum, for a reason that is still unclear to me.  So our pile of books stayed on the table, and you were carried back to the car, the sentiment, "NO!  Books!!!" reverberating through the otherwise still library, while I told you there would be no new books to bring home today, because you had chosen to behave badly. 

In the car, you said sorry, and we struck a deal.  If you could behave nicely at the post office, then you could still go to the park on the way home, the one with the shoot ball and the dinosaur slide.  When I asked if you could behave at the post office you said, "Yes!" and so to the post office we went.  While we were there, you drank an entire sippy cup of apple juice and pretended to be bashful, burying your face in my shoulder while the lady behind the counter helped me send peanut butter to Brazil.  It's a tricky thing, mailing peanut butter to South America, but you were a dream child the entire time.  And so, since you kept up your end of the bargain, I kept mine.

The park was almost empty when we got there, except for two rambunctious boys.  You stared at them with wonder, while they slid down the slide head first and jumped from the top of the jungle gym.  You explored and climbed and went down the biggest slide in my lap, like you always do, and suddenly you were climbing to the big slide on your own, a very adamant, "No! No! NO!" being the answer when I asked if you wanted me to come, too.  And then, there you were, standing at the top of a slide that suddenly looked as tall as a skyscraper, with me at the bottom fighting the urge to climb up and stop you.  And then, just as suddenly, there you were, sitting at the top of the slide and counting, "Two! Two! Two!" (because, even though I always count, "One, two, three!" before you slide, two is the only number you say).  And then, there you were, laughing at the bottom of the slide, your little blond head thrown back in a huge chuckle, because you had done something great all by yourself.

Today, when you are only twenty months and six days old, I realize that motherhood is full of tiny goodbyes.  As you have grown older I've said goodbye to so many things already:  the tiny clothes you wore home from the hospital, nursing you in the middle of the night, that fat roll on your wrist that I cried over when I realized it was no longer there.  I love watching you grow, Kaden Cub.  Even though goodbyes are hard, I am so thankful I get to be there for every hello, too.  Today, you said, "Hello, Big Slide, I am big enough and brave enough to play with you."  Who knows what hello I will get to witness tomorrow.

I love you.

Love,
Mommy         

Kaden:  "No, no!"

He then hands me a single strand of coconut from the top of his muffin.

A couple of bites later.

Kaden:  "No, no!"

Another strand of coconut is banned from the sight of Master Reese.


Me:  "I hate to break it to you, kid, but there was a lot of coconut INSIDE that muffin that you ate unknowingly . . . just sayin'."


Would any of you like to come over and help me eat the 2 dozen muffins still cooling on the counter?

Too far away?

Try the recipe here.

This is what Kaden has woken up saying the last few mornings, and I've got to say, I couldn't agree with his sentiment more.  Of course, when he says this, it sounds more like, "I neeee books!"  Just like when he says "I read books," it sounds more like, "I reeeeee books!"  It does my English-teacher heart proud to hear him say this; I'm not going to lie. 

I need books, too.  It's just part of who I am.  When I have nothing to read, I feel this sense of anxiety, like something is terribly wrong.  Something is missing.

I just finished reading Sarah's Key.  Today.  While Kaden was napping.  When I should have been doing laundry.  Don't judge me

Did you know they made a movie based on this book?  I had no idea.  Where have I been?

I don't know if I will ever see it.  The book was so tragically sad, that I don't know if I can handle two hours of reliving it on film.

My journey through The Thirteenth Tale, which was my most recent read before embarking on the guilt-fest The Science of Parenting (do NOT read this book if you have ever let your child cry), reminded me a lot of my experience with Sarah's Key.  I got swept up in both stories and couldn't put them down, but was kind of left voicing an anti-climactic, "Huh" at the end of each. 

I'm looking for a new book.  Something that won't make me feel like a terrible mother. (Although when I got to the chapter in the aforementioned book that said you should disregard the commonly accepted advice not to sleep with your infant, because even a newborn baby would not let itself be suffocated, I stopped reading and felt a heck of a lot better about myself.  Suddenly, the text had lost some serious credibility with me.  My favorite part of this chapter was when they said to make sure you were in a well-rested alert state when sleeping with an infant.  HA!  Who is well-rested and alert while caring for a newborn in the middle of the night?  The times I did fall asleep while rocking Kaden, I was a sleep-deprived MESS!)

Anyway, back to the book search.  Any suggestions?

I went to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games in Smithfield last night with some of my former students.  It was the last book we read together in my Honors English III class.  So fun to see them and to savor the movie together, but I was exhausted after my 3 1/2 hours of sleep last night.  As a result, we started the morning in a way we rarely do:  with a movie.  Here is Kaden in all of his Toy Story Sheriff Woody pajamas glory, watching Ratatouille, and eating an Aldi-brand cereal bar.  He was in heaven.

After breakfast, we got dressed and headed outside for a little "shoot ball."


 Kaden was more interested in his football and kick ball today, so I don't have a single shot of a basketball.  One was there, though.  We also had a soccer ball.  It's amazing how many balls you can fit in a stroller basket.



 Here's Kaden, upset, because I had misunderstood and shot the basketball, when he wanted me to shoot the football:

 Here he is, fully recovered:

 Here he is, after I told him he couldn't eat the football and made him take the big chunk of orange foam out of his mouth:
 Oh, the anguish.
 When standing didn't get the results he wanted, Kaden resorted to sitting:

 Here is Kaden distracted by mulch next to the basketball court.
Another meltdown was induced when Master Reese found out he wasn't allowed to pick up handfuls of mulch and dump them in the grass.  At this point, I realized we were probably overdue for a nap.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture footage of the event, as I was struggling to strap him into his stroller, whilst he arched his back and screamed bloody murder. 

We came home and read this:

We got this book at the library last time we went to stock up on new stories.  I remember my Grandma Jensen reading me this book when I was little.  If I try really hard, I can remember how it felt to be snuggled in her lap, my head nestled up against her, listening to her read this story.  It's an oldie, but a goodie.

Then we read about a zillion other books, and Kaden went to sleep with a handful of bibis (what he calls his pacifiers).

That was our morning.  How did you spend yours?