I was tagged!

  Rules:

Each person must post 11 things about themselves, 

answer the questions the nominator asked,

and create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

Then, choose 11 people and link them in your post.

Go to their page and tell them.

No tag-backs.

11 Things About Me

1.  I'm pretty sure that the Harry Potter series are my favorite books ever.  And that's saying a lot.  I typically read at least 100 books a year but I can't go too long without some Harry Potter!

2. I love being pregnant.  I could do it over and over and over....but I don't think I could handle that many kiddos....

3. I know it's fun for them but I don't like that my babies are losing their baby teeth.  Those perfect, beautiful smiles are turning into those awkward, teeth-of-every-size smiles.  I mean, of course they're still gorgeous smiles but....

4. I miss college.  Friends around all the time everywhere, nothing to spend money on except the things you want, so very little responsibility.... 

5. General Hospital has been my favorite show since I was 12 years old.  If it gets canceled, I will cry.  You can be sure of that.

6. I love Christmas! 

7. With the online earning I have done this year, I have almost completely paid for Christmas for us (over $1000 worth).  I need $32 more to break even!  I am so proud of myself!

8. I love my smartphone!  I kept saying I didn't want or need a smartphone.  I was wrong.  I still don't need it but OOOOH I LOVE IT!  

9. I don't like reading to my kids.  I know, that's really sad.  I love to read but I've always hated reading out loud.  I have to make a very conscious effort to read to them often because it's not something I enjoy.

10.  I love pictures.  I love taking them, I love scrapbooking with them, I love making gifts with them.  It's a good thing I'm not Amish.

11. Speaking of Amish, I would love to visit Lancaster County and see all of the Amish communities.  Their culture fascinates me.


My answers to Julia's questions:

1. What is your most used kitchen appliance?   Probably my can opener....

2. What do you do to treat or pamper yourself?  Once or twice a year, I go on a scrapbooking retreat.  It's 4 days and 3 nights of sleeping, eating, chatting, scrapping - and I can do all of it whenever I want without any littles waking me up or asking for my food or attention!

3. Are you planning on making any Christmas gifts? If so, have you already started?  I made digital scrapbooks of the year for the kiddos.  I've done it the past two years for Kyler and Meli and they absolutely love them so it's become a tradition.  I've made or am making a couple other things for other people but they might read this so...I can't tell yet.  :)

4. If you had to choose only one music album to listen to during a week, which album would it be?  Well, at this time of year it would be Harry Connick, Jr.'s Harry for the Holidays CD.  It's one of my very favorite Christmas CDs! 

5. How frequently do you wash your car? (or have it washed?)  Um...never?  Maybe once a year we'll get out there in our swim suits and scrub it but not always.  I have enough to worry about keeping the kids and house presentable.  The car just doesn't rate up there in importance....

6. If you had an extra $500, what would you do with it?  Pay bills!  (Or put it towards my scrapbooking retreats fund....) 

7. Do you have any moving boxes you can give me?  Sorry, no boxes here :(  And where in Tx are you moving???

8. What is your favorite meal of the day? Why?  Depends on what I'm eating!  Any time I can eat out, it's my favorite meal of the day (That's where alot of that $500 would probably end up going.  Supporting my eating out habit. I'm a restaurant addict.)

9. What kind of student were you?  Mostly As, some Bs and a C in stupid IB biology freshman year.  I hate science.  I'm one of those people that gets good grades with little effort.  I put off writing papers and doing projects until the last minute almost always.  I enjoyed school, probably because it was so little work, and (as a people-pleaser) liked doing what was expected of me.

10. Where do you like to vacation?  Anywhere works for me!  We had a fun family vacation to San Antonio a couple years ago.  My scrapbooking retreats are the only vacations I've had since then.  Someday we'd like to go to Orlando to visit DisneyWorld.  I'd also really like to go to Hawaii and Australian eventually.  And Lancaster County, PA, as I mentioned above! :)

11. If you were invisible, where would you go?  Hm....interesting.  Anywhere that I could listen in on conversations that I wouldn't otherwise be privy to and that I might find....enlightening.  :P

My 11 questions for those I'm tagging:
1.  What's your favorite holiday memory?
2.  What's your favorite food you've ever eaten?  I'm not talking "I like pizza."  I mean what is the BEST food you've ever put into your mouth?
3.  If you had a day to do anything you wanted, what would you do?
4.  Who on your Christmas list is the hardest person to buy for?
5.  What's different about your life now than you expected it to be 5 years ago?
6.  What's your favorite article of clothing in your wardrobe?
7.  If you could choose any time period in history to have been born, which would it be?
8.  What's your favorite thing to do on a date with your spouse?
9.  If you could only watch ONE movie for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
10. Do you like to dress up?
11. What's your favorite restaurant?

I'm only tagging 3 people, but if you weren't tagged and you want to play, go for it!

I tag:
Amanda
Crystal
Kate

Caedon is ONE!

Wow.  Two posts from me in one week?  Impressive!  But you know, with the big two off at school I do have a bit more time on my hands.  I mentioned on Monday that I don't remember what I did all day when I just had Kyler at home with me! 

Today is my little man's birthday.  He has been such a joy and a blessing to our family this year.  I cannot express how grateful I am to have him with us.  After such a crazy pregnancy and birth, I was thrilled to find that he was the happiest, easiest baby I've ever known.  Seriously.  It's the one thing that almost everyone comments on - that he's always smiling and that he always seems to be happy.  I will say he's not ALWAYS happy but most of the time he is.  I will also say that while he has been a super easy baby....I think he's going to be a monster of a toddler!

Caedon at a year old:

- At his one year check-up this morning he was 23 lbs, 3 oz and 29.5 inches long.  He's just above the 50th percentile for weight and right under for height.  I don't remember his head circumference but it's always way above average. He has a big head!  Lots of brains in there, you know.  :)

- He's not walking quite yet.  He'll stand up for a few seconds and look at you like he WANTS to walk but then he'll drop down and crawl.  I'm not sure if it seems safer to him or just easier. 

- He IS talking.  He learns words and says them a few times and then he'll stop saying that word for about a week before it pops back into his vocabulary again.  From what I recall right now, he's said Mama, Dada, bye-bye, ball, bottle, diaper, thank you (my favorite!), please (which is also super cute) and Papa.  My mom also said that while she was baby-sitting he said monkey, mine and Grammy but I haven't gotten to hear those yet! 

- He also signs "more" and "eat"...sometimes.  More often than not, though, more is not in reference to food, which is how we teach it, but in reference to doing something naughty.  I'll pick him up and take him away from the movie cabinet where he knows he's not supposed to be pulling all of the movies out onto the floor and he'll start signing "more".  No, Caedon, we're not going to do that some more.  Goofball.

- He already tests the limits quite alot.  He knows that the printer and the movies are off limits.  He'll look at you and head that direction and when you say, "No," he'll grin and keep going.  Cute.  But very rotten.  I have to force myself not to laugh at him.

- He LOVES to eat.  Seriously, this child may only be one but he's going to eat me out of house and home!  He loves...well, everything, really.  Except peas and green beans.  Those get smushed all over his high chair tray after he finishes eating.  On Monday we went out for breakfast with friends and he had a breakfast taco from Chiloso - just tortilla and egg - and he finished the whole thing.  And a jar of baby food.  And the Gerber Puffs I had in his bag.  Piggy baby.

- He enjoys making music with his instrument toys and he loves to dance to the music from other toys.

- He absolutely adores his sister.  He has missed having her with us this week.  She sits next to him in the van and there have been times this week while I've been driving that I know he's wondered where his playmate has gone!  He loves Kyler, too, but Melissa has always been more of a helper with him and they have a special relationship, I think.

I can't wait to watch how he grows and changes over the next months and years.  He's such a sweet, special little boy and I just adore him!

My little man before we came home from the hospital.  So hard to believe he was so tiny!

And look how much he's grown!

A sneak peek from his one-year photo session and cake smash!  He had a blast!

Happy First Day of School!

First Day of School scrapbook page :)

My kids were ready to head to school this morning!  Kyler was excited to see his friends, although I think he was a little nervous about the change in teacher and classroom.  Melissa couldn't wait to get to kindergarten!  She'd been bouncing with excitement for about a week.

Here are my big kids ready to head into school for a brand-new school year!

 We got to school and got Kyler settled into his classroom first.  He has friends in there so I knew he'd be just fine to be the one dropped off first!

My handsome little man!

Melissa snuck into Kyler's picture with his new teacher, Mrs. Hubbs :)

After telling Kyler bye - with no kisses! - we headed down to the kindergarten wing to drop off my sweet girl.....

Melissa with her kindergarten teacher, Mr. Ron

Sitting at her table looking through her school box :)

I successfully dropped the kiddos off, with no tears!  I will admit that later on, though, once Caedon was down for his nap and the house was so quiet, I shed a few tears.  I was missing the company of my chatterbox Melissa!

Caedon and I had a fun day, though!  We had lots of snuggles and kisses and we got to go eat breakfast with friends - where Caedon ate a whole breakfast taco and jar of baby food.  Piggy!  Caedon also got his first big boy haircut!  He looks so handsome :)

I adore baby kisses!  :)

 

After his haircut - he was so excited!

He loved all the extra "just-mommy" playtime

After school we picked up Kyler and Melissa and went to Sweet FROG for frozen yogurt!  Yummy!  They told me all about school and how much they love it - makes my heart happy to know that they are happy and well-cared for at school!  Kyler said he had a great day back.  I didn't get alot of details but he said the best parts were PE and recess. I'm not surprised.  :)  Melissa informed us that Mr. Ron is cooler than Kyler's teacher and she told me all about their hunt for a gingerbread man in their classroom and about all the books they read today. But...she would like everyone to know that kindergarten recess is DUMB. She wants to play on the BIG playground. She cracks me up!

Frozen yogurt!  Yum!

A picture of Caedon at Sweet FROG - just cause I like him.

7 years!

Kyler is 7 years old today!  At this time 7 years ago, I'd been in the hospital for almost 24 hours and I was getting VERY anxious for Kyler to join us!  His delivery and my recovery after were very rough and are part of what led to me going the midwife/natural route the 2nd time around but despite the trouble with getting him into the world, I've been so blessed to be his mama!  I love this boy so much!

Kyler at 7 months old.  Can you believe this kid is 7 now?  Crazy!

Kyler at 7 - he's so very smart.  He loves school and he got the "Math Whiz" award for his class at their end-of-year awards assembly.  He reads way above his grade level and we found out this week that he was accepted to the GT (Gifted and Talented) program for next year at school. 

Showing off his A/B Honor Roll and Math Whiz certificates at his awards assembly

He's silly, imaginative and creative.  He LOVES to play with Melissa and they're always making up all kinds of new stories and games to play.  He also loves Caedon and can often be found acting goofy trying to make his brother laugh. 

This is my silly, creative boy.  He put his head upside down and frowned.  He said it would look like a smile that way :)

He's pretty quiet.  He doesn't talk alot (except about his current obsession, Pokemon) but he's always thinking.  He's "inside his head" so much that he often misses directions we give him, forgets what he just repeated back to us or starts to do something completely different that we just told him and then turns and looks at us quizzically and says, "What was I supposed to be doing?"  It can get really frustrating, but I'm learning to make a special point of making sure that he's really focusing on me when I give him instructions.

He loves playing video games and is really very very good at them.  He's handsome, sweet and loving.  I'm so proud of him!  Happy birthday to you, Kyler!  I'm so happy that God picked me to be your mom!

Oh, he's a handsome little man, isn't he?  Just love him!

How big is Caedon? So BIG!

Caedon is 9 months old today!  It's crazy to me that he's 3/4 of the way to a year old.  But it's true and he's growing up more every day!

As of 9 months old Caedon can:
crawl - everywhere and very quickly
stand up - he pulls up on everything and he's started taking tentative steps sideways while holding onto things.
eat! - he is a little piggy!  He LOVES his bottles and if he sees it but it does not find it's way to his mouth immediately he starts doing his high-pitched scream which gave him his nickname within days of his birth - Teapot.  He also loves baby food, Gerber Puffs and Yogurt Melts and just tonight he started eating "real people" food (as my kiddos called it) - tonight it was diced bananas and carrots. 

He's learning to clap his hands and he LOVES to play Patty Cake with me.  And he loves to hang upside down or be tossed up into the air.  Or have me hold him up in the air to fly like an airplane.  He loves splashing in the bathtub.  He hates laying down to get his diapers or his clothes changed.

He's a very good sleeper.  He very very rarely fights naps or bedtime.  When he did fight it the other day I told Brian I don't remember how to deal with it. Kyler fought almost EVERY nap and bedtime until he was about a year old so it was frustrating but normal.  Now, if Caedon does it, it's I-want-to-rip-my-hair-out frustrating because I've forgotten how awful it is to listen to them scream!

He's saying ma-ma!  I'm not certain that he knows that it means me but he might.  He mostly says it when he's whiny or wants something, so it does make sense.  :)

 

So many people comment on what a happy baby he is.  And he is.  He's sweet, smiley, low-maintenance.  Such an easy baby for this busy mommy! I've been more than a little bit blessed to have him in my life for these last 9 months! (plus the 9 before that when he was in my uterus... :D )

Melissa is 5!

Last Tuesday was Melissa's 5th birthday!  It's so hard to believe that she's 5 and we'll be starting kindergarten this year!  She's such a precious girl and we love her SO very much!

Melissa at 5 - she talks alot.  Alot alot.  She asks so many questions and sometimes it's so very random.  I wish I could see her thoughts sometimes to see how she gets from whatever we were last discussing to the next random question that pop out of her mouth.

She is a little mommy.  She is a great helper for me with Caedon, especially in the car when I can't reach to take care of him.  She often asks for a tissue or a burp rag to clean him up and she helps him with his bottles when he's eating on the go.

She adores her big brother.  They are the best of friends - although they do fight more than ever these days.  Hopefully the best friends part with continue and the fighting will stop (yeah, wishful thinking, I know....). 

She doesn't play with toys very much, really. She loves to be outside on the trampoline or playing in the sand box.  She also enjoys being read to or reading books with her TAG pen.  She also loves movies - Tom and Jerry and the Tinkerbell movies are her current faves, with occasional appearances of Tangled, Despicable Me, The Smurfs and Rio.

She CAN NOT WAIT to go to kindergarten.  I tell her that I'm sad she's going to leave me all day and she says, "You will still have Caedon and you can come get us after school."  I ask her what I'm going to do all day with only Caedon at home and she says, "You can take a nap!"  Does she know me or what?  :)

I just adore her.  I'm blessed to have her as my daughter.

Melissa got to have two birthday parties this year.  This was her "park party" with some of her friends

How cute is she?

She's been wanting the cupcakes baked in a cone at her birthday party for about 6 months.  She finally got to have them! 

Her birthday party #2 was a Tangled party at home with family and close friends.  It was lots of fun!  This was the sign on the door welcoming our guests to the party - the yellow yarn is Rapunzel's hair, of course!

Awesome Tangled cake!

Happy birthday to Melissa!

Time to eat cake!

Melissa got a bike from Mommy and Daddy!

5 years old

She is so grown-up and beautiful!

This is my silly little girl.  :)  Love her!

A special occasion

Caedon's getting so big!  Look what he did tonight......

"Oh, yeah, I'm standing up.  I'm big now, Mom."

Love that sweet boy!

Caedon is 6 months old!

Well, he's been 6 months old for almost 2 weeks so this post is a bit late.  :)  At his 6 month check-up he weighed 17 1/2 lbs and was 27 inches long!  He's growing up way too fast!  When I took him in for his check-up, he'd had a fever the week before and still had some runny nose and congestion.  The doctor said it looked like he had an ear infection that was clearing up on its own AND that his lungs sounded like he'd had RSV!  So scary!  But I'm glad my little man was strong and healthy enough to get better on his own.  Although, that ear infection decided to get bad again this week and he's on antibiotics.  :(

He's eating...well...ALOT.  He's quite the little piggy!  He still drinks bottles 4 times a day and he's eating rice and oatmeal cereal, and has tried all of the basic baby foods.  He has also started eating Gerber Puffs.  He loves them but he can't pick them up on his own yet so I have to sit and put them in his mouth one at a time...and listen to him yell at me if I don't do it fast enough!

He's working on sitting up on his own.  He can do it for 3 or 4 minutes but if he gets too excited, he'll kick his feet and knock himself right over.  He also really wants to crawl.  He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  He's started inchworming his way to what he wants.  He'll get on his hands and knees and push himself forward onto his tummy and then get back up on his knees and do it over again, until he gets within arms reach of what he wants. 

He's quite a little flirt.  When we're out and about, he'll sit and stare at a little girl or a women until she looks at him.  And then he'll grin really big and start bouncing up and down.  What a ham!

Now time for pictures!

This hand is Caedon's favorite toy at at the moment.  He got it for Christmas and he LOVES to chew on it.  It shouldn't come as a surprise since he loves his own fingers, too....

He's started giving lovely slobbery kisses.  My favorite is when he grabs my face with both hands and leans towards me with his mouth wide open ready for a kiss.  It's adorable!  And wet.

Aunt Kate gets kisses, too!

Now that he can roll over both directions, you never know how you'll find him sleeping!

See?  Goofy boy.

Daddy and his three little munchkins

Daddy with his littlest munchkin

We got the jumperoo back from Aunt Kate this month and Caedon LOVES it!

Caedon has taken to holding onto his feet.  All the time.  During diaper changes, while getting dressed, during playtime.  And while he's eating.  What a silly baby!

He's a happy boy!

Practicing sitting up for his 6 month pictures

There he goes with those feet again!

2012

I haven't blogged since last year!  :)  Been too busy dealing with sick kiddos, one right after the other seems like.  I haven't even been to a church service since Christmas day cause the kids have been sick and the two weeks they weren't, I had children's church.  Thankfully, we've been able to go on Wednesday nights for Bible study and AWANA.

Random things that I've considered blogging about recently:

- Kyler made a deal with me that if he gets two calendars full of black and green (they start on green and can move up to black if they get a Bulldog Brag) at school then I'll take him to Chuck E. Cheese.  That's 12 full weeks so we'll see if he can manage it.  He said it was a challenge!  :) Oh, and if he gets ONE calendar full of black and green I'm supposed to give him $2.....

Kyler's 1st grade picture

 

 

- Melissa got a haircut.  She looks adorable with short hair.  I think she looks adorable with long hair, too, but I just think she's super cute when it's short.  Plus I don't have to make her scream every day when I brush it.

- Melissa, also, is going through a phase that I don't think Kyler ever went through.  It's hilarious and I love it.  She's very into familial relationships and when she talks to us about people instead of calling them what they are to HER she relates them to us.  When she's talking to me, instead of aunt Kate, it's "your sister."  Chris and Zach are no longer uncles, they are "your brothers."  Grammy and Pawpaw are "your mom and dad."  Grandma and Grandpa are "Dad's mom and dad."  And sometimes daddy is "your husband" and Kyler and Caedon are "your sons."  "Mom, your brother Zach has one pet, named Rufus.  And your mom and dad have 2 pets and they are cats named Phantom and Ringo.  But Dad's parents only have one pet named Mitzi."  (This is seriously what she said to me tonight.)

My sassy little Melissa with her haircut

 - Caedon is now 5 months old and he's so precious.  He's not doing anything new although he REALLY wants to be able to sit up on his own and would love to learn to roll from his back to his tummy.  OH!  I lied.  He is getting up on his hands and knees and rocking alot.  First step on the road to crawling!  Oh boy....  We've moved backwards a bit in the feeding department, because I've taken him off solids for the moment.  He's had a runny nose and congestion since we started it and I wanted to make sure it wasn't related.  It's probably just weather related but I want to be sure.  So we'll start that back up in a week or so and see what happens.

Caedon practicing his newest trick during his 5 month photo shoot

Okay, that's about all I've got the time or concentration for tonight.  :)