Odds and Ends

I have a bunch of random pictures this week and no theme to them, hence my blog title.  Our lives are a whole lot of the same each week so Kaden becomes the variety. Curtis studies 8-10 hours a day for the CFA on top of his graduate school stuff while I cook, clean, do laundry, run errands, figure out details for moving to Charlotte, teach Sunbeams, tutor and do whatever Kaden is in the mood for which is usually playing and more playing... This is probably a lot of what life shall be from now until June 1 when Curtis takes his CFA test. 

Before I forget, here is the link I mentioned last week about my friend Miranda being on the Channel 8 news from when we were at the park.  I have a guest appearance for the first 10-15 seconds at the beginning of the feature. Granted, my back is to the camera but hey, 15 seconds of fame right?  Oh yeah!

http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext/?nxd_id=382422

So someone FINALLY learned to sit up!!!  He could sort of do it before but was always tipping over or leaning way forward until he just face planted.  I don't know what happened but one day this past week Kaden just all of a sudden decided, "Oh hey, this isn't as tricky as I thought. Maybe these little squishy bum muscles of mine have a greater purpose in life- to help me balance and sit."

 

 Kaden loves music.  We invited one of Curtis' Indian classmates over (Shubham Sharma) for Sunday dinner.  Cool fact about Shubham: Not only is he a really good cook (he makes Indian food for us all the time and I must be the first to say that I didn't initially like Indian food so much but he's that good that I like it now), but he is left handed and taught himself how to play the guitar upside down so he didn't have to re-string his guitar! Crazy right? 

Curtis and Shubham were jamming on Sunday and Kaden just sat and loved every minute of it.  

 This is him "singing along" aka screeching at the top of his lungs. Anytime we sing to him he always follows up with his own "song" and it's always just so lovely... Please take time to admire the fluffy blonde mohawk that makes us friends wherever we go :)

The little Kaden bug is getting to be quite picky with his food.  He wants to feed himself all the time which is a nice thought, but he really doesn't have the dexterity or motor skills to do it very well yet so mealtime goes a bit like this: Mom tries to give Kaden a bottle, Kaden fights and flails the entire time.  Mom gives up, sticks the bottle out where Kaden can reach it, Kaden tries to put it in himself and usually ends up dropping it or spilling milk all over anything he can.  Mom tries again, Kaden fights her.  Repeat for 10-15 minutes until Mom gives up or until he drinks any quantity over 3 ounces, which lately is really great for him, whichever is first.  Then come the solids. Mom sticks him in his high chair and tries to feed him whatever is on the daily menu with a spoon.  Kaden fights and grabs the spoon, spilling food everywhere and closes his mouth and refuses to eat until Mom lets him hold the spoon.  Same with new foods.  We tried bananas this last week. If I put them in his mouth they were terrible.  But for some reason if Kaden could grab the pieces and shove them in himself, they were the best thing ever.  Here was the end result of his banana eating: I think maybe 1-2 of the original pieces actually made it into his mouth.  So stubborn... He also detests new foods with a passion lately.  Anything new I give him gets the stink eye and the grimace.  I'm starting to get worried this phase may just be beginning and never go away.  Any ideas from those of you who are more experienced at this than me?   Please.... Don't let this innocent face fool you! :)

Spring is Coming

Spring seems like it's taken FOREVER to come this year. This week has seriously been the first week of warm weather since October in Rochester so we've been soaking it up and going outside every day for as long as possible.  Today Kaden and I went to Highland Park with our friends Shadow and Miranda and their girls to have a picnic.  The weather was beautiful and the kids got to swing.  Kaden has never been in a swing before or gone down the slide but he loved both!

While we were at the park, we were approached by a Rochester Channel 8 news anchor to do an interview about our thoughts on changing the Lilac Festival this year.  Since Shadow and I had never been to it, Miranda got interviewed about the Lilac Festival and then they took some shots of us eating our picnic lunch so who knows, maybe we'll be on tv tonight? I'll watch the news and let you know.  

Kaden has finally learned to sit up! Even though this picture is not of his face I'm just so thrilled that at almost 8 months he has finally decided to sit up like a big boy. Anyone else want to squish his arms? Feel free to stop by NY whenever the urge strikes you. They are just as squishable as they look.

Kaden loves to be just in his diaper as much as possible. So I let him indulge sometimes. :)

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments on your thoughts about this or any post!

All About Easter

Happy (late) Easter to everyone! We had a great Easter this year but it was definitely different than what we're used to without all of our family around and family traditions.  I found the cutest idea online for Kaden's Easter basket and was so excited that it worked out. You'll have to let me know what you think of his tuxedo basket.

For Easter we got Kaden a new toy, one of those stackable rings toys and he loves it! He's getting much better at sitting up because of it.  We've been practicing...a lot.  I decided it was going to have to become a source of daily practice because of the excursion to Target the other day.  Normally he can sit up okay in the Target carts because they have a high back and the buckle goes under his armpits, which helps keep him upright better than the grocery store carts.  For some reason on this particular day he was having major issues.  He looked like a slippery fish sliding in and out of the belt, his feet sliding in and out of the feet holes, etc... He loves to grab his toes so he'd be in a V shape about every 2 minutes since he'd slide his feet into the cart and then grab his toes and lean back. Every time I'd stop the cart he'd either fall over or slide himself out of the belt or feet holes.  I even had one lady say, "Did you know your son is falling over?" It was awkward to say the least.  I finally just took him out, held him and pushed the cart.  Not ideal. So he's been practicing each day with me to sit up on his own.  I dare say he's gotten much better.  He sat in one of those wooden high chairs at Panera Bread all by himself yesterday! Progress...

Thanks to Dana for the cute rabbit and board book for Kaden, lotion, shoes and clothes for me and Curtis and thanks to my mom for the cute Easter outfit for Kaden. 

I know I'm totally biased since I'm his mom but doesn't this picture just make you want to squish Kaden's cheeks, blow on his fluffy hair and squeeze his cute little chubby baby arms? I think this is one of the sweetest pictures of Kaden.  There are moments like this for me where I want to freeze him at this age forever and never let him grow up.  But the older he gets the more fun he becomes so maybe I don't want to do that but I sure love to snuggle this cute little chubby boy!

In our Easter baskets Curtis got some new shoes and I got new headphones/armband for running! Yay! And of course no Easter (or any holiday for that matter) would be complete without Lindors and Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. Love.

We got invited to dinner with two other families in our ward, the McBeths and the Harts and had a great time.  They are super fun and the dinner was delicious! Rachel McBeth made the most awesome & simple cupcakes I've ever had.  She had a box of vanilla cupcake mix and just put a dollop of Nutella in each cupcake before she baked them and then frosted them with Nutella. It sounds so simple it couldn't be THAT amazing...but it is. And if you like Nutella I dare say you should try it! I may never fully lose all the baby weight because of said discovery.  Oh well....

Do you ever find after a holiday that you don't want to go back to regular life? That's how I felt when I spent ALL day Monday doing taxes.  Usually Curtis does them but he's so busy studying for the CFA and his classes right now that I offered to try and do them this year. Ugh.  I am not sure why anyone wants to be an accountant, even with something like Turbo Tax to guide you every step of the way. More power to those individuals that like that stuff but for me it was like everything I dread in life converging into one activity.  I survived (cue applause here) and by Tuesday afternoon they were done but let's just say the first day of the week I've done anything like cook, clean or make a meal has started today (Wednesday).  No joke, last night we had the most random dinner- pancakes, mashed potatoes and pasta.  All carbs. All leftovers.  Nothing else. How's that for mother/wife of the year? Did I hear a nomination from anyone??? If you'd like to nominate me please comment below and I'll graciously accept.

Sunday Best

This week we had a special Stake Conference and Elder Bednar came and spoke.  It was really a good meeting.  One thing that he talked about that I really liked is that the Savior always turned outward and did acts of service for others even when he was struggling.  After Gethsemene Christ healed the guard's ear, after the 40 day/night fast he sent angels to John the Baptist, and when He was on the cross He asked John to watch over His mother. In every instance he said that the Savior could have turned inward and helped himself, but he was always thinking of others. He mentioned that sin is selfish and makes us turn inward and it takes prayer to be more Christlike and turn outward when we're struggling and see who we can help or lift.  That has been a thought I've really liked thinking about this week.  I hope some of you will like it as we approach Easter this Sunday.

I had a few pictures of Kaden in his church outfit and thought they were cute and some of you might enjoy seeing them.  We have Nana (Dana) to thank for the cute plaid shirt and Grandma (Richelle) for the cute pants and my friend Kristi gave us the sweater vest.  

 Look how happy Kaden is to be sitting with Curtis...

Remember how I mentioned Kaden always seems mad to be in pictures with me? Yup....

This is just a random picture I took the other day. I mentioned that Kaden tries to put everything in his mouth right? No exceptions...

Show me some love. Leave me a comment to let me know if you're on my blog.  If no one reads it, no need for weekly updates right?

Kaden Turns 7 Months

Hard to believe my baby is getting so old.  Kaden weighs about 17 lbs and is fun as ever! Though he still can't sit up and still has no teeth, he is getting very good at manipulating things in his hands.  He can successfully take his pacifier in and out of his mouth and is getting better at putting other things in his mouth.  (As you may have noticed in the picture...)

Sitting up is not his forte right now. Ha!

Kaden still loves "flying"whenever he gets on his tummy

 So Kaden has absolutely no hair at all except for the very top, middle of his head.  He gets noticed everywhere we go since his blonde fluff sticks straight up.  The other day we were at the doctor's office and a little boy says, "Mom, that baby has a mohawk.  That's not fair. You said I couldn't have one, so how come he gets one?" :)

 This is his favorite face right now so naturally we had to include it in a picture right?

Kaden loves to stare at the food we are eating at mealtimes and since he can't eat any of it we sometimes will give him something he can suck on just so he feels apart of the family.  He is getting really good at picking things up and getting them in his mouth. 

 Kaden is so playful.  He loves to play, no matter what we are doing. Though it makes it very tricky to give him a bottle, he really likes to grab his toes and pump his legs in and out.

This picture has nothing to do with Kaden, but for St. Patrick's Day each year we do a Green Dinner where all the food is green.  This year we invited the Torres' to join us. They are in our ward and are our good friends.  Their kids are super cute too.  We had limeade, chicken pesto crepes, shamrock biscuits, green grapes, kiwi, green salad and green rice krispie treats.

Conquering the WInter Blues

Do you ever get lazy when it's been winter for too long? Well I feel like every year about this time I feel like I don't care about exercising, eating healthy or doing anything productive.  All I usually want to do is sleep in, watch tv (We are addicted to Psyche right now, thank you Netflix)  and hang out in sweats.  It is on days (and weeks) like these that our house begins to look disheveled. And of course I have no motivation whatsoever to clean at all. That is why I'm so glad that Curtis and Kaden decided to practice what they've learned at Hogwarts and cast a spell on our kitchen to clean itself.... too bad it didn't work!

Do you notice that these pictures all have something in common? Anyone spot what it is? Oh, yes it's this new weird face Kaden keeps making.  It seems to be the face for all occasions-for eating, for shopping, for playing.  I have no idea what it is or what inspires it, but I find it amusing. 

Mommy and son "swimming time"

Curtis and I eat our girl scout cookies different ways. I like to eat just a few a day and make them last as long as possible.  He would rather eat them all at once.  So to be fair we divided up our Girl Scout cookies (thanks mom!) and put them in our separate bags to be enjoyed at our leisure.

I teach the Sunbeams in our ward. They are so funny! On Sunday they were talking in sharing time about reverence and specifically at that moment, reverent mouths.  Sweet little Leah got out of her seat, walked over to Noah and Eliza who were whispering and says (with hands on hips), "Aren't you two listening? You don't have reverent mouths at all. You need to stop talking."  She then sat down and showed them what a reverent child would look like and said, "Now you try it." :)  I love it when I'm not the one who always has to tell the kids to be quiet, ha ha.

Oh winter. Go away soon! We need some spring in our lives...

The Results Are In...

For those of you who don't know, Curtis has been working hard for a few months to get an awesome summer internship for his MBA.  He had two offers back in January and decided to turn them down since he didn't really want to work long term at either of those companies.  We prayed about it and felt like it was the right thing to do but the last few months have been super STRESSFUL while he has looked for a new one and not had a lot of luck.  He got an interview and then a final round interview with Wells Fargo working with an Options Strategy Group.  (For those of you who aren't married to a finance major, that means something to do with stock trading and investing.... At least I think I have that right ha ha.)  We've been waiting and waiting and waiting to hear back and (drum roll please).... he got it and we are headed to Charlotte, North Carolina for the summer! Yipee!!! We are so excited! If any of you happen to want to visit or will be in the area for summer please let us know.  Congrats to Curtis!

Have we mentioned that Kaden loves to play? Well he does. That is all he wants to do.  He whines when he's eating like he's not hungry and then as soon as we let him out of his highchair he immediately wants to play and is happy as a clam.  I just know in six years from now he is going to be that kid at school who never eats his lunch just because he knows that the faster or less he eats, the sooner he can go to recess and play. 

 Kaden also has a newfound interest in our food at the table.  The other day he stuck out his chubby hand before I could stop him, snatched my oatmeal and shoved a bite in his mouth.  He constantly wants to sit on our laps at mealtime and grab at anything he can reach.  He got a hold of my empty soup bowl the other night and we thought it was pretty funny. He sucked on it for probably five minutes and seemed really happy about it. 

We have this running joke that I can never get a good picture with Kaden.  He always looks away or gets grumpy when Curtis is snapping shots, not me.

 So I just decided to make the same face as Kaden since we can't seem to look happy together...