Dark sky in K-town!

The Tornado that hit Kearney!

This is one of the tornadoes that hit Grammie and Grampies town! I can remember hearing the tornado sirens going off throughout my childhood and hiding out in the basement with the radio on and "knowing" Kearney can't be hit by a tornado because the Native Americans said so....supposedly because of the landscape Kearney had never been hit by a tornado. But I guess the landscape didn't really protect us and Grammie wasn't scared without reason (my mom is a HUGE whimp in storms) because 6 tornadoes hit my hometown! I talked to my mom the night the tornadoes hit and she told me they had tornadoes in tonw......but I thought she probably meant big winds b/c grammie is known to blow storms up into something more than they really are (sorry mom, you know I'm right;-). So when my cousin Brian called to express the shock of seeing Kearney, NE on national news for the horrible storm they went through I was in shock that my mom was correct in using the word tornadoes! So we are super glad that grammie, grampie, the doggies, Uncles, Aunties and cousins are all safe and sound and the houses were untouched. God must have been watching over our little family and keeping them all safe and sound for us!

Bye Bye Paci

This is the last picture I have of him using his paci, we were at Sheila & Andrea's birthday party and it was WAY past his bedtime so he was using it till we could get out the door.....I might have to pop it back in for a better last pic!

Kayden used his paci for the last time on Thursday, May 29th. That night it dropped behind our bed and I can't reach it without moving the bed so I decided to see how long we could go without it and so far it is Sunday and he doesn't miss it. He was only using it for naps and to help himself fall asleep at bedtime but wasn't sucking on it through the night. I'd also bring it with me so if I pushed him too far past his naptime or he was really upset in the car he could soothe himself a little. He never was a huge fan of the paci, it worked to soothe him and give me a rest from his love to suck but he didn't ever "need" it. I'm so happy it was so easy to get rid of the paci....Uncle Mark was a paci addict and I remember the extreme measures my mom had to go through to get rid of his paci-we had a paci throwing ceremony into the "big" trashcan in the neighborhood and he got a battery powered car he could ride on to celebrate him being a "big boy". I will miss that little paci sucking face because it reminds me of the baby look but yeah for my big boy doing okay without his paci!

My BLUE baby!

Kayden will no longer let us feed him any pureed food....argh! It has been very hard but today he refused to eat any at all, spit anything pureed out, except his yogurt, which is good b/c I want him to keep eating that. So he had blueberries as part of his dinner and loved turning himself blue! Guess he loves blueberries like his grammie!

11 months old!

Yep he is one month away from the big 1! He changes so much everyday it is hard to keep up with all the new Kayden changes. This month brought his 3rd plane ride so far and he was a champ on the plane! He got to visit grammie and gramps and play with their doggies and crawl in the pretty green grass and rough house with his uncles. He had lots of new foods from all the relatives trying to sneak food into him without mommy seeing, he had oranges, ice cream, chocolate, raisins and I'm sure alot more I don't even know about. He loves his finger foods now and doesn't really want us feeding him anymore but we continue to try. For breakfast he is usually having a half of a banana with a tbsp of cereal, some fruit and cheerios. Lunch is usually a yogurt with a tbsp of cereal added to it (his favorite flavors are banana, vanilla, apple and blueberry), a piece of cheese and some fruit. Dinner is some mixed veggies he feeds himself that has carrots, peas, corn, and green beans in it (yes he'll eat green veggies but only if they are NOT pureed!),some protein, some sweet potatoes or squash, some fruit, and some ceral. Getting the pureed foods and the cereal in him is becoming more and more of a battle. His main source of liquids is still his breastmilk, he does get his sippy of water throughout the day but his milk is still 90% of what he intakes liquid wise.
Kayden is an on the move baby now, he cruises along everything and can stand for periods of time without holding onto anything....he still isn't so sure about that but he can do it if he chooses or if he doesn't realize he is doing it! Yesterday we went to the park and he didn't want to kneel on the grass so I put him down and he stood long enough for me to walk to the wagon, get the camera, get the camera ready and take several photos of him standing like a big boy. So he can do it, he just doesn't know if he wants to yet;-) Last Thursday he took a step when he was standing a couple different times and he has done it a few times since, he stands, takes one step and then on his second step sits down on his bum. He just isn't so sure he can do it on his own yet. He walks holding onto one hand/finger and that gives him the security he needs right now. He speed crawls to whatever he wants and follows me around the house yelling "mama" if I get too far from him. He loves to play chase, I'm gonna get you, peek a boo, and where is Kayden are his favorite games. Dancing to his toddler tunes is his favorite way to start the day, he moves and grooves and looks adorable, I've tried to get it on video several times but as soon as he sees the camera he stops and poses for it or comes to steal it from me so I'll keep trying! But as soon as he sees me going toward the stereo he starts to do his little "bounce", too cute! Swimming is another new favorite, when we first started swimming lessons he wasn't so sure about the whole thing but now that the water is warm he loves going in our pool and playing in the water and floating in his floatie, which makes mommy happy because I can get some sun! Books continue to be a favorite and he loves to go grab a book and turn the pages all on his own now.

Waving hi and bye are fun ways to enter and leave a room now, he gets a big grin on his face when he waves and thinks he is so cool. And he will wave to let me know he wants to leave too, on Saturday we were at a friend's birthday party and it was past his bedtime so he decided to start saying goodbye to everyone before mommy knew it was time to go....he was telling me! If we are at a playdate and he is playing he has to find me in the room and wave just to know I'm still there and then he goes on his merry way;-) He has made his own sign for "no" and uses it all the time, even if we are telling him no he uses the sign....so we know he knows the meaning of "no" but does he listen.....sometimes;-). I'm trying to use no less frequently and redirection and arranging the environment more frequently, I don't like saying no all the time and I don't want him to think his mom is the "no" machine so now that I know he knows what no means, I will try and use other techniques more often. He loves to clap and claps on command, when playing patty cake, and when he is listening to music. He is also attempting to say lots of words now and loves to repeat things and jabber in his little sentences, dada is now a frequent sound in our house (he also loves to say car and doggie) and this makes daddy so happy! He had to wait awhile but it came! Last night we were swimming in the pool and he wanted the pool thermometer, so he was reaching for it and going "uh, uh, uh". So I said "crocodile" and he started mimmicking me with what sounded very close to crocodile, so I gave him the croc, let him check it out for a minute and he stopped the "crocodile"-then I threw the croc and he started reaching for it and saying "crocodile" again.......that night I was telling Kyle and he didn't believe me so I told Kayden to say it and it took him a few tries and he started saying it for daddy too! (of course it isn't a clear "crocodile" but his best attempt at an approximation;-)
One more month baby boy and you will be the big ONE. I can't believe it has been 11 months since I met you! You are my favorite person and I love watching you grow! XOXOXOXOXO

BIG Waterslide!

Today was Memorial day and Kyle and I didn't have any real plans, other than running errands so when Christa called and said they were spending the day at the Wild Horse pass Sheraton and wanted to know if we were busy we decided it sounded like alot more fun that going to Leslie's pool supply, Linens N things and the other random spots were going to stop. We met Christa, John & Tula at the pool area of the resort and Kayden was having so much fun he even skipped his afternoon nap (other than the quick catnap on the way to the hotel), the first time that has ever happened! And he didn't get super cranky like I had imagined he would. Jaclyn & Tatum came after Jaclyn was done with her class too. He loved going in the pool with the sprays with his daddy, and the beach entrance pool where he could play with his toys & his friends and he even got to go down a big waterslide with daddy and I. The first time he went down with daddy, he almost got dunked but daddy saved the day and kept him above water. So the next time I took him down because he was reaching for the stairs of the slide and really wanted to go again. He had tons of fun and felt like such a big boy going down the slide! It was so fun spending Memorial day with friends! Thanks John and Christa for such a fun day!

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

How bout you you you! Today we took Kayden to the zoo, we figured we should go again because we have had rain the past 3 days and it was below 80 degrees today, an oddity in May in AZ! It is amazing how much more he was into the animals than even in February the last time I took him. He was talking to and pointing to the iguanas, the elephants, the baboon, the tiger and the giraffes. He loved looking for them and once he found them could examine them for as long as we'd stay. We took him to the petting zoo too and he LOVED petting the goats. It was hard for me to let him pet them because goats aren't the cleanest animals but we washed his hands right after we left the petting area. His eyes were so big while he was petting them and he loved watching the "big kids" running around the goat area. And he said "goa" for goat, over and over. He has books that have goats and lots of other animals in them but hasn't ever said goat before but today the actual experience of seeing, petting, smelling, & following the goat around motivated him to say "goat" over and over. In college I learned the main dividing factor between social classes is real life experiences, many urban kiddos that are low socioeconomic satus have far fewer real life experiences than kiddos of other social classes and because of this their vocabulary level suffers greatly, for example they may have never seen a cow and no matter how often they see a picture of a cow or read about a cow it isn't as stimulating as seeing the cow in person. Kind of like if you are trying to learn to ride a bike, reading about a bike and seeing pictures of a bike isn't nearly as important as actually getting on the bike and riding it. Today I saw that in my little guy first hand and it made me so happy that the #1 advice I have always given my parents I work with is "give your child as many real life experiences as possible". It is so true and so important!
So I walked away realizing that even though the weather is going to be super hot, Kayden & I are going to have to get up early and head to the zoo and petting barns and other places where he can have those real experiences that are so important for him........tell me again why I live in the desert and have to take my baby to the zoo in 110 degree heat??? The good thing is, the zoo opens at 7am in the summer, lucky us:-)!
Oh yeah-pardon the non-matching hat! Kayden is no longer keeping any hat on that doesn't have an under the neck strap so that is the only one that we had in the car that he couldn't yank off, so we had an unmatching cutie today;-)

I'm gonna get you!