the talented jena gabinahead

For those that aren't aware, the talented Jena Cumbo is my ridiculously talented cousin that we are blessed to have living on our side of the world, at least for the time being! She is trying Los Angeles out for a little while, and she is tossing around the possibility of moving back to NYC. We are so hoping she decides to stay and grace lala land with her wonderful energy, aswe LOVE having her here as a part of our little cozy family! But wherever she decides to go, they will be so lucky to have her, and we will just have to take kaden on a lot more vacations to visit his beloved auntie gabina! Jena Gabinahead always comes over arms full of photographing paraphanelia. From now on, I need to be sure to be showered and wearing something other than jammies! She came to visit last week after a few days of my being back to work, and took some sweet pics of kaden in the midst of daddy time bliss. These pics make my heart melt...I truly love my life, I feel so blessed to have these two incredible boys in my world!

daddy days

Kaden absolutely LOVES his daddy days. It's absolutely incredible to watch Chad with Kaden, the way this little man laughs uncontrollably when daddy says something as simple as the word "pancake" or "boom". I have never seen anything like it, it makes my heart skip a beat! Whenever I get home from work, daddy has 100 new games that he has perfected and patented, and kaden is loving every single minute of it! As difficult as going to work has been for me, I could not ask for him to be in more perfect hands!

playing with dr seuss

Kaden went to his first little carnival this weekend! We went to a little school carnival in Sherman Oaks where Miss Shyla goes to school. We had a chance to hang out with VickyV and Dreyvin and see Shyla perform a song for everyone. Jillian Michaels was also there to encourage exercise as the PE program was cut from the school. It's so sad how many schools are without PE, Art and Music. It just doesn't make any sense as this is where children have a chance to find their talents and learn to express themselves.

Anyway, I played a Go Fish game (I think I was the only adult who played) to try to win a mini Dr Seuss doll for Kaden! One of his favorite books is "I can read with my eyes shut" and Dr. Seuss has a "mini me" with him in the book, and I thought he might need to have the mini me as well. He hugged him and ate him a little while hanging out at the carnival, but when we got home, we read the book with the mini me, and he absolutely LOVED the effect of dr seuss helping him read the story!

check out the video...it is a little long, but if you make it to the end, you can see what happens when he laughs a bit too hard, he always has a little emotional meltdown!

poopsie-daisy!

warning...this could be TMI for some!

Kaden's new favorite thing to do is to poop in the tub during bathtime! He has done this just about every single night for the past two weeks, and I am not sure what I can do to stop it. I have shortened his baths, rushed through them, tried to distract him with random games (today we blew bubbles), but always just before I lft him out of the tub, he does the dirty deed. I am not sure if the water is just too comfy and warm, or if m timing for bathtime is just horrible! any advice or thoughts are much appreciated.....

Cha cha cha changes

So I made it through my first two days back to work....it was so hard to leave the house that first day, I must have gone back in and kissed him 12 times! Driving to work was scary as well, the tears wouldn't stop coming, and I was getting strange looks at every stop light from my car neighbors. They couldn't get away from me fast enough!

Kaden had a BLAST with his daddy, he never stopped smiling, and LOVES playing with him! Chad had a chance to take some pics of him (I of course instructed him that portrait sessions are mandatory) and I posted some above!

Chad dropped him off at his first day at the family daycare today, and Chad said it was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be. Kaden just kept smiling at him, like he was waiting for him to play a game with him! I of course called four times during the my workday to make sure he was adjusting, and he was having a blast. He is so interested in the other little boy Noah that is there also, and I am sure they will be BFFs in the near future. The hardest part of the day for me, was picking him up, because he started to cry when he saw me, and it just broke my heart! I guess he REALLY likes his daycare!

My second day back at work was a little better, and I know it will continue to get better! All of the hugs from my miniature clients helped so much, and they all could not stop asking questions about kaden. One of my clients insisted on stealing one of my pics of him that I had on my desk, she taped it in her notebook and said it would make her happy everytime she looked at it...so sweet!

mommy is a mess little kaden...

So the tears flowed nonstop today, they just kept coming and coming, no matter how much I tried to get my mind off going back to work, and as much as I racked my brain for all the positives about going back, I just couldn't stop. What I wish I would have captured was the look on little kadens face when he saw my tears. He seemed so concerned and worried about his crazy mommy. I talked to him a lot about it and explained that mommy is hyper emotional, and it might be good for him to get used to seeing mommy cry. I think I may just have needed a good day of grief for my maternity leave, because I am starting to see the light, and although I know it will be awful on monday, I am trying to remain positive. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful phone calls, messages and emails. Your love and support means so much.

Of course for my last day, there had to be a photo shoot! I wanted to make sure I had an amazing pic of him for my screensaver at work, so I could look at him and smile whenever I needed to! Here are some of my favorite shots from today.

Chad spent the past week putting together kaden's crazy exersaucer, and he finally had a chance to try it out today! He is a little small for it, so we stuffed a sheet in the seat with him to help him feel more secure, but he still didn't seem too sure about it.

little penguin

kaden loves to hear aaaahoooo noises and we were trying to caqpture his penguin dance that he does when he hears it! He was of course doing it full force before the camera turned on, but I still think it's precious to see his precious little self get all giggly!



Not only is he my little penguin, but he also seems to be my little night owl lately. We were spoiled with his ability to sleep so soundly through the night, and now he seems to think there are better things to do than to sleep during the night! I have spent the last 4 days ocking him and attempting to put him down in his crib for 4-5 hour stretches at night. Most people would suggest sleep training at this point, and although I still feel he is a little bit too young for that, I will admit I am pondering the idea for all our sanity. I also have been reading about the 4 month wakeful, and I'm wondering if maybe he is getting to it a bit early because he is just so gigantic!

We spent yesterday spending some time at Margarets, the lovely woman who is going to be watching him him two-three days a week when I go back to work. He was so happy to meet his new little friend Noah, who is 8 months and seemed to really adore kaden! Margaret is wonderful, and we are so happy to have found her! After spending some time with the two of us, she commented that she is grateful Chad will be the one dropping him off in the morning as she can't imagine what a mess I will be when I have to say goodbye to him! Just the thought of it makes my tummy hurt! I know it will be good for him, but will it be good for me?


he is so in love with this new toy ball! He holds it wherever we go and it seems to calm him!

giggles

This little man has the most amazing laugh! I have been trying to capture his new little penguin dance he does when he laughs so hard, and it seems whenever I turn on the camcorder he becomes self conscious and stops immediately. I took this video today of daddy playing with him, attempting to get him to do the penguin dance. He got camera shy right away, but he is still a delight to watch!

Daddy also got him to ride in the Baby Bjorn today! He seemed to like it so much better than when I put him in it facing me. Daddy seemed to love it too!

happy easter...my little easter bunny part II

Kaden wore his little my first easter outfit that mamaw gave him today! It's hard to tell from the pictures, but there are bunnies on his feet. He apparently noticed them and was absolutely intrigued by the little bunny faces looking up at him!

I have so much to write, but it will have to wait, because a certain someone is not cooperating with his sleeping schedule this evening.

Happy Easter to eveyone!!!

xoxo

so fitting....

savoring each and every moment...

I started getting so sad today thinking about going back to work. I go back two weeks from today and it literally makes my stomach hurt. I am so thankful that we found the amazing woman that we did to watch Kaden, and I am so happy he will get to spend some extra time with daddy, but I just can't help feeling like I am going to miss so much. For now, I am just savoring each and every moment with him....we stay up a little later each night, and I let him nap in my arms so I can just inhale his sweet smell for a wee bit longer!

In other news, Kaden had his first "trip" to Hollywood yesterday! I was so nervous that we would get stuck in traffic, but thankfully there was none. We spent the day hanging with the Boceks and Kaden had a blast with little Hanna!

we already did a "photo shoot" with his new favorite friend Dr Seuss, but I had to get this shot of Kaden wearing his new "Oh the places you'll go" onesie. This one's for you Pammy! xo

flashback

I have been tryig to unload the contents of our flip camcorder onto youtube (thanks papaw!) to make room for more LIVE footage of the little nugget! I have had so much fun watching so many of the videos and wanted to share one of the first we took! Chad shot this when kaden was first able to come to our room in the hospital from the NICU. It's not super exciting, but it amazes me just how tiny and fragile he was.

joe cool

Kaden and I went on a journey to target today with auntie farrah! Farrah was disgusted that I did not have a pair of shades yet for the little nugget. She purchased these adorable shades for him and we must have taken a zillion pics of him and his new shades and his matching binky. Heres one...please notice us trying to sneak into his moment in the reflecion in his lens!

my wonderful friend Natalie over at Little Shindigs (check out her amazing blog! she is soooooo creative! It's absolutely inspiring!) tagged me, and I am not one to miss out on a good game of tag! so here goes....




7 things that I LOVE





this amazing little guy has changed the way I see the world so drastically in the short time he has been us. I love watching him grow and discover the world! I honestly didn't know that I was capable of this kind of love....




I thank all my lucky stars that I was blessed with this wonderous soul to be by my side. He has more kindness, spunk and originality than anyone I have eve known....and that's just for starters.....love love love him







I'm blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family, both my immediate and extended fam! Even though we don't get to see each other often, I love the connection we have and I try to savor the time I have with them when I'm home! My adorable 3 nephews and niece are the loves of my life....it's so hard to be so far away!




how lucky am I to have the coolest in laws EVER? They are absolutely amazing and I feel so lucky that they made me feel so welcome in their family right away...love them!




teehee :) I could not live without my girlfriends...one of my greatest loves! But I also didn't want to leave anyone out by missing someone's pic! so you know who you are.....and I love love love you girls! and a few of you that WISH you were girls ;)






I am a cupcake whore.....I love to eat them, look at them and even to smell like them!




and last but not least.....furry creatures
not only our little furry monkeys...but all furry creatures...minus rats. I am not a rat fan.

there you have it!