Thursday, November 26, 2009

super duper thankful



There is so much to be thankful for this year, I cannot even begin to put it in words! I would try, but sadly I am sicker than a dog while writing this, and I can hardly even focus on the keyboard!

Here are some pics we took yesterday at Disneyland! We went for my birthday, and we were probavly only thee for about three hours, but we had a wonderful time, and Kaden made a new mouse friend.




~taking it all in on main street


~this was the expression pasted to his face for the first hour or so! This is us in front of Cinderella's castle.


~meeting a new friend.




~I'm not sure what on earth I'm doing in this shot, but how cute does Kaden look?




~kaden trying to get me out of bed on thanksgiving morning, soooooo sick!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Big Changes



Many of you know that we have been mulling over the possibility of moving for the past few months....many more of you probably DON'T know this because we wanted to make sure we really thought over all the possibilities objectively. After having a ten year love affair with California, we are ready to say goodbye. There are so many reasons, and I don't know if I could adequately even BEGIN to describe them in this short blog post. We knew that we could not provide the sort of lifestyle we want for Kaden living in Los Angeles. So we thought about our options, being closer to loved ones, being in a more financially stable situation, and living in a city where there are more OPTIONS! Being that my family is in New York and most of Chad's family is in Denver, we were feeling torn. It was a difficult decision, but in the end we decided Denver would be the best option for us right now! We are not planning on making a move until the springtime, but for right now we are just really excited about the possibilities....

Mamaw and Papaw came for a visit this weekend, and we thought it would be the perfect time to tell them the news. This is Mamaw's expression when we told her!





We took Mamaw and Papaw to Travel Town, since Kaden loved it so much the first time, and Papaw has an adoration for all things trains!





bonding with papaw....











cozying it up with mamaw and papaw



our little early thanksgiving dinner



standing like a big boy! he was so involed with what he was doing, he forgot to hold on, and stood on his own! He looked so proud of himself!




Cheers to California! We got to enjoy this incredible sunset at our favorite beer garden in Venice as we celebrated the final decision!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Random Wednesday



Kaden was a little social butterfly this weekend! He went to lunch with the girls on Saturday and on Sunday we had a visit from our friend Gina and her beautiful little 3month old, Trevi! We also got a new "ride" for Kaden, but it hasn't been taken out of the box yet, as we are trying to justify the price tag, so if we decide to keep it, I will be sure to post about it soon.

So many fun things coming up this week!!!!! We are SO excited for Mamaw and Papaw to visit this weekend! On Monday, I am going to see New Moon (thank you to my amazing sister in law for getting me addicted to the series during my pregnancy days), and I can hardly even stand the excitement. Kaden is going to stay home with daddy now that we have a handle on the sleeping situation. And on Wednesday, for my birthday, Kaden and I are going to DISNEYLAND!!!! Tickets are outrageously expensive right now, and since Kaden is a wee bit too young to really enjoy the experience, and will probably only last a few hours, we are only going because I get in free for my birthday, and that is why only he and I will be going. I am so excited for him to show him the happiest place on earth!!!!









Our friend Gina and her precious little Trevi came down to visit us from Fresno this weekend. Kaden was absolutely smitten with Trevi and showed her how to use all his old toys.

















~came home and saw his exersaucer put back together and immediately crawled underneath to play hide and seek!


~givin us the side eye


~uh oh




~having a blast in the tub.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

mini me



From the beginning, I heard that Kaden looked so much like a good mix of the both of us. Today, I think he might be Chad's perfect mini me!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Random Wednesday

~wordless random wednesday.











Monday, November 9, 2009

the art of zzzzzzzs


~kaden catching some zzzzs in the stroller at the farmers market on sunday.



We had a HUGE breakthrough with Kaden this weekend....he actually slept through the night! My feelings about sleep training and letting children cry it out are no secret to most people, I have always felt it was something that I could not do, and my intuition told me that it was something that worked well for others, but was not for us. Well after 10 months of co sleeping with him, restless and very LIMITED sleep (in 45 minute increments as of late), and watching his list of negative sleep associations grow larger, I began to stress if he was getting enough sleep such a little guy. All signs pointed to NO, and with the gentle coaxing of my amazing rock of a hubby, and our amazing new pediatrician, I thought it was our last resort and we had to give it a try.

An amazing mommy friend recommended the book, Sleep Easy Solution and walked me through how it worked miracles for her little girl. Chad and I picked a weekend when we could implement the training, and Chad took of from work for the festivities, knowing there was no way I could go it alone.

Night one was horrifying. I imagined it would be, but seeing his little face so horrified and having his itty bitty hand reach out to us whenever we came in and checked on him, was just too too much. The first night, I gave him a very long pep talk after our nighttime routine, and daddy and I said goodnight to him and put him in his crib awake. He smiled at first, oblivious to what we were doing, and just started to play with his cat and the hat and Ipod player. I kissed him and gave him some last encouraging words and turned around and left the room. The shriek I heard behind me will forever be in my nightmares. Chad had a glass of chardonnay waiting for me and he agreed to go in on the first "check in". The plan is to check in at increments and have them grow increasingly longer each time, staying only 30 seconds at a time, and offering encouraging words. Chad went in at 5 minutes, checked on him, left, and 5 minutes later the crying immediately stopped. We checked on him and he was slumped in the saddest little position I had ever seen with both arms hanging out of the crib. This continuued ALOT throughout the night, and I was beginning to think this whole idea was completely masochistic for all of us.

Night two. We gave him another pep talk and had one for ourselves as well! I said good night, laid him in his crib awake, walked out of the room, and he cried for about 4 minutes. We did not even have a first check in, he was completely asleep! He woke again at 1:30am, I went in and gave him some positive encouraging words, and he slept until 6:30!

Night three. I am trying not to get overconfident about this whole sleep training thing, but my goodness, it really seems to WORK! He knew exactly what was going to happen, I could feel his anxiousness when we started to say goodnight, and I smothered him with kisses, gave him his pep talk, laid him down awake, and closed my eyes as he cried in disapproval. I started to walk out of the room and before the door was even closed behind me, he was asleep. And he slept, and slept, and woke up 10 and a half hours later.

This may sound so ridiculous and dramatic the way I am going on and on about this....but for anyone who has seen us on a daily basis, you know that we were all in very rough shape, and this could be a turning point for all of us. Every new parent goes through a period of sleep deprivation, and my wish is that maybe someone will read this who can benefit from it. I look back on all the things we have done so far, and I would not have changed one thing. I won't ever regret co sleeping with him for the first ten months because I truly feel that is a gift for any little one to be able to have that attachment with his parents. The negative sleep associations were instinctual and needed to be corrected, but that's how we learn....it's all good. Fingers crossed we can all keep this up. Go Kaden!




~before starting the training, we went to the Los Angeles zoo with the fabulous Boceks! I carried Kaden around in his bjorn that he has WAY outgrown, and I was so consumed with the excitement of it all, that I only took this one pic of us, standing in front of a bear exhibit (you gotta look REAL close, but I swear he is there).


On Sunday we went to Travel Town, which is a railroad museum located in Griffith Park, and Kaden took his first "train ride"! He was so ridiculously excited, he was jumping up and down and making this sweet ayayay noise.





















~catchin some R&R in a patch of grass


~hanna clapping her hands afterward!


~group shot with the boceks