Friday Night

Friday nights were always Kyle and I's "date nights" pre-baby. We'd always do dinner and drinks or dinner and a movie, or something just the 2 of us. Post baby we have only had a Friday night date night when my mom is in town.......last night Kayden had a date night that we supervised:-) Jaclyn went out for a friend's birthday and Tatum came over for dinner, playtime and bath. They had noodles, veggies and fruit for dinner and read lots of interesting books and then entertained eachother with pouring water from cup to cup in the bath. We also did a little baby gymnastics (we learned these cool moves from Auntie Christa and Kayden and Tatum thought it was hilarous to do it and watch e/o do it too). Bedtime came and they both wanted to be rocked by me, with only one rocker and one set of arms I wasn't sure what to do. I tried doing each of them while the other stayed and relaxed with Kyle but that wasn't going to work, they both wanted to be in the same room. So I gave up rocking and nursed Kayden on the couch and Kyle held Tatum while she drank her bottle and they both fell asleep. I was about to put Tatum down in a bed when Jaclyn called and said she was on her way so Kyle just held her until Jaclyn arrived. So we are officially parents who do more for our child's social life than our own:-)

Bye Bye

The other night when Kayden was ready for bath time he grabbed this bag and was pulling it around on his shoulder saying "Bye Bye". Not sure where he was going but he was on a mission and looked so stinkin cute w/ his bare booty and the bag on his shoulder I couldn't resist!

Mall Play area

When Kayden and I are at the mall I always walk around the long way to avoid the mall play area or run by it standing so he can't see it. I don't want him to play in it because it is always swamped with kids and the germs in there just seem too much for my OCDness to handle. But I also don't want him to feel jipped by not getting to play in it, so I figure if he doesn't even know it exists then he doesn't think I'm mean mommy. Well I was doing my hide the play area move with Christa the other night and on our way back she looked in and said "should we let them?". A surprising thing to hear from Christa so I said "I don't know should we?" and we decided to be fun moms and let our kids play in the germ bowl since it was almost bath time and the area was actually not very busy. They thought they were in disneyland walking around and smiling huge the whole time they were there. So our cool mom move made their nights and I guess was worth it. So far no diseases that I can tell :-) Now if he screams to go to the play area everytime we are at the mall I might be a little annoyed at my attempts to be fun mom!

So Proud!

So everyone knows Kayden is a mommy's boy. He is a very social little guy but as Christa said "just wants me around while he is being social". I have only left him with 2 people in the 16 months he has been a part of my life. My mom and Anna. And my mom is not here that often and Anna decided to leave me and move to Cali so he doesn't get left often. at all. It's a running joke between my husband, friends, family, everyone. I don't leave him. It takes alot for me to leave my heart, my life, my everything with someone so you have to be pretty special to get to take those things from me for awhile. It's hard when you grow up in a town of 24,000 where everyone knows everyone and you move to a metro of who knows how many. That is a very frightening thing for me and not something I mess around with. So, I can think of a handfull of people that I'd leave Kayden with in this big city of mine. And today I left him with one of them. I'm so proud of myself for doing it and so proud of him for being okay with it! I was so nervous last night. NOT nervous about who was watching him or about leaving him with her but nervous that he was not going to take it well b/c he is not used to me being away from him. I couldn't even sleep thinking about him crying for my whole doctor appt and putting Sara through an hour or more of misery. BUT it all went great (at least if she is really telling me the truth;-)!! When he got in her car after storytime and left with her he didn't cry and she said that he was fine the whole time I was gone. I have never been so relieved in my life. I'm relieved that Sara wasn't put through an hour of torture and relieved that he can be okay if I have to leave him. Thanks so much Sara for watching him! You are a great friend and I trust you with my little man and that is huge for me! And he liked being with you and that is HUGE for him! (He actually wasn't even in a hurry to leave and I had to chase him in the yard to get him in the car!)
Thanks again Sara (and Audrey for sharing your mommy this morning!)

By the way...I know I have issues and I fully admit it:-)

Baby Sydney!

Kayden checking out Sydney

Sheila and Sydney

Tiny baby Sydney yawning (I love new baby yawns!)

Today we drove to Goodyear to meet Jon and Sheila's new baby girl Sydney. She is a month old and adorable. This morning I told Kayden he was going to go see a tiny baby like Maverick and the whole morning he kept saying "baby". It's crazy what he seems to understand (and how much he loves baby Maverick!). I brought my peanutshell and ergo so Sheila could see how she liked them and when I was showing her the peanutshell I put Sydney in it and she fell right asleep and slept there the WHOLE time I was there! We had to wake her up so that she could feed and I could leave. It was great wearing her in the peanutshell though b/c I could still feed Kayden lunch and play with him on the floor, all the while I had a baby sleeping contently in the sling! Slings are awesome and I'm guessing a must have for mommies that have a toddler and a new baby! It was fun seeing Jon & Sheila in Sydney's tiny face and seeing Sheila be a mommy. She is one of those women that when you meet her you just think that she was born to be a mommy and after seeing her today I know that my thinking for the past 3 years was right! She is a natural mom and so at ease and wonderful with Sydney. And Kayden now has another baby he loves, he gave her hugs and had to share his truck and car with her but he wouldn't kiss her toes like I wanted him too. So glad we got to meet her today, wish we didn't live so far away from each other so I could cuddle her more often:(
CONGRATS Jon and Sheila!! Your daughter is precious and I'm so happy for you both!

Christmas house dance

Fountain Hills Arts Festival

Kayden & Mommy

Trying really hard to over power daddy and pull him to the ducks.

About to charge the ducks!

Daddy being a kid again with his kiddo;-)

Flying the airplane...he RAN for the airplane as soon as he saw it!

Yesterday we took Kayden to the Fountain Hills Arts Festival, we took him last year too so it is kind of a family tradition for us now. On the way there we made a Starbucks stop and since Kayden loves our weekly trips to "bobucks" I decided I'd try and use this to see if it would make him want to drink "starbucks milk". So I got him one of those Vanilla organic milks they have there and gave it to him when we had our starbucks. He tried REALLY hard to like it. It was hysterical to watch. He kept asking for "more" and taking the tiniest sip possible and then we'd talk about how yummy his starbucks was and he'd ask for another sip. Each sip was torture for him, he had to choke it down but he wanted to like it so bad. He drank about 1/16 of the little jug and then decided he couldn't take it anymore and told us no. We tried a few more times but he wasn't having any more starbucks. It was the most cow's milk he has ever drank though, so maybe I'll try it again. Once we got to Fountain Hills he loved playing on the airplane, dinosaur, and car at the park by the fountain. The huge fountain spraying in the air was also a big hit as well as chasing after the ducks by the water. The festival is an assortment of artists that come to sell their items and we like going and looking at all the art and Kayden loves all the dogs walking around with hats on (they sell doggie hats there so everyone showcases their new hat). Last year that is where I found Kayden's name puzzle that he loves and his cloth book so we had to go check out both of those vendors and see what they had new for this year. It was a nice way to spend the day outside and let Kayden people and dog watch.