Cade's potty party!

As of June 9th, we have been diaper free in this house!!!! (Well aside from pull ups at night) I guess the first time Cade told me he had a dirty diaper was when he was 18 months old. Shortly thereafter, I would put him on the potty every time I could tell he needed to go. About a month before the potty party, he was regularly telling me when he had to "poop". But, I could never catch him when he needed to pee. Until one weekend we had a sleepover with Ella. And after seeing her and Connor wake up and go to the bathroom, he wanted to do it too! And he continued to ask all weekend. So, on a whim, I just decided to have the full blown party on Monday.

I did the whole shebang, just like I did with Connor. I talked to Connor about it beforehand, because I wanted him to understand what was going on. He immediately asked if he could have a potty party. I told him no, of course. So he said, "Well, what about a coloring in the lines party? Because I'm not so good at that yet!" HA! That child is a mess.

I chose for Cade to teach Buzz how to go to the potty. He wasn't too thrilled with having to take time away from playing to make this happen, but once he started realizing that he got Buzz' treats, he was all about it. Even to the point of taking Buzz potty himself :). After he woke up, it was go time for him. He peed every single time I put him on (I also gave Connor treats when he peed and I'm pretty sure he used the bathroom more that day than he does in 2 days combined!) and had a great time celebrating. The first full afternoon went great!

It's that second day that always gets you, though. You are over it, they are over it. Connor wasn't. He was primed and ready to get some more candy! We had quite a few little accidents that morning and by that afternoon I was ready to throw in the towel. It wasn't the last time I thought that, either. He was still having accidents and didn't even seem to care that he had them. They weren't big ones, like I remembered Connor's being, either. Which kept leading me back to his bladder not being mature enough. And then, two days later, something just clicked. He started telling me when he needed to go and even holding it longer. He still sometimes catches himself about to go and will run to the bathroom, but I remember Connor doing that, too. I've heard it's a boy thing.. just not wanting to stop what they are doing. Either way, the fact that he does that at all tells me he was ready. I was nervous because it was quite a bit younger than Connor was, but I followed my gut and his signs!

Because why wouldn't using the potty require shades?!

He still sleeps in a pull up at night and will go back and forth on if he wakes up dry or not.  He just started going down for naps without one, though, and is doing great! I'm so so proud of our big, but still our baby, boy!

CADE WALKS!!!

My sweet baby boy is officially walking! He started right before his 15 mo birthday :) He is still holding the Frankenstein walk, which I love to no end. I can't believe my BABY is walking! 

As for the video, I totally stole this idea from AP @ I Love You More Than Carrots. I love, loved, LOVED it when she did it for her baby boy and knew I had to do it when Cade started walking. And, voila. Here we are! 

Valentine's Day 2013

I cannot believe that yesterday was Valentine's Day! How is February already half way over?! We had school yesterday, so I got everything set up the night before so that I didn't feel like we missed out on any celebrating! 

I was so excited Connor's cute shirt from Pumpkin Butter Kids (who is on maternity leave until the summer to have her baby boy, but you can have her shop notify you when she is back :) !!) fit again this year. Since I didn't have one for Connor's first Valentines, that means Cade didn't either, but I thought he looked mighty handsome in that red sweater! That boy can wear just about any color and pull it off! 

That little smile you see on Connor is his new thing. I love how he does that with his top lip. I can't even do it, but it is so sweet to me!

The mornings we go to school are HECTIC, so I made their pancakes the night before. I was a little worried that Connor would be hesitant, but brother gobbled them up before I could even put syrup on them! Cade, of course, never gets syrup and as you can see didn't even look at me for a picture before diving into his! I love doing things like this for them and that bottom right picture of Connor makes it all worth it. 

We had a long afternoon once we got home. The boys are STILL snotty and were not feeling good. Matt had something he had to get done after work, which put him home an hr later than normal. I called him telling him that that big white flag he saw waving was me. I was surrendering! HA! 

Thankfully, once Daddy got home all was well and we proceeded with the night. Isn't that how it always goes? While supper was finishing up, we gave the boys their little presents. 

Like I said last year, I am keeping up with the tradition of a Baskin Robbins Ice cream cake like we had growing up. I think it is just as much for me as them, though. Poor little deprived Cade didn't get any, of course, but his time is coming. He instead devoured an entire sloppy joe. The child loves to eat! 

Whew. I am tired, Cade has snot pouring out of his nose. Just keeping it real, huh?! 

My sweet husband did make my night soo much better by coming in with a sweet card and Starbucks gift card. He told me he thought I'd like that better than flowers. Truer words have never been spoken ;)  I totally was not expecting anything, so I was very surprised! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful day and got to celebrate with your loved ones! 

Eating like a big boy!

So yesterday morning I felt like something had gotten in my eye. I felt around and couldn't find anything and figured that it would eventually make it's way out. The pain progressively got worse, but I could find relief if I turned my head to the right a little bit (weird, much?). So, I just did everything with my head turned a bit. This morning I woke up with it matted shut. Whomp, whomp. I called the eye doctor at 8:05 (while still in my pajamas, mind you) and she asked if I could be there at 8:45. AND it was 30 minutes away. EEK! We quickly scarfed down our breakfast, brushed our teeth and out the door we went. Connor and I got dressed. Cade on the other hand? He rocked it in his jamas. 

They had a great play area for kids and Connor was in heaven. Another little boy came and played and I was so proud of how well Connor played with him. You could tell he was having fun, but wanted me to stay near, because he kept looking over at me and saying, "I wuv you, Mommy." 

Come to find out, I was having some very early symptoms of pink eye. Good thing is we caught it early enough that I wasn't contagious and it isn't all bloodshot and gooey (or burning or itching that bad for that matter!). 

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store to get some fruit/veggies and lunch items. Yesterday at Cade's doctors appointment he told me that he could start eating (3) 8 oz meals a day in addition to a 4 to 6 oz snack if I felt like he needed it. All that on top of nursing 4x a day, of course! He also said that he could pretty much eat anything we ate.  $50 later (seriously, why is fruit so expensive???) we were on our way home to eat lunch. He had been eating pieces of bread, cheese, banana, avocado, green beans and pasta here and there for a week, but today he entered the big leagues! 

His first big boy meal was grilled cheese and grapes for lunch. He did pretty good considering he only has two teeth! I was originally going to make meals just for him, but as of right now I am just going to try feeding him what we are eating while adding in some cubed veggies/fruit. 

For supper he ate 1/2 of a chicken breast (grilled and cut into the tiniest little bites) and 1/2 cup of boiled squash that I had diced up. It took fooooorever, but he loved the chicken. I think it was because it was so easy for him to pick up and keep in that sweet, chubby hand! 

The cutest thing he does while eating is kicking his legs. His little legs are going the entire time he is in that chair! Sweet boy!

Did you make special meals for your kids once they started eating table foods? Or did you just give them what you were having? Do share!!

Deja Vu

One of the greatest blessings about becoming a parent for the 2nd go round is that, for the most part, this isn't your first rodeo. You don't worry as much and you are just much more relaxed overall. It's funny to go through those same little things again and say, "Remember when Connor was doing that? He was about {insert age} when he started it." Whether it be that first smile, the first tooth or learning something new, it always takes you back down memory lane. 

Like I mentioned a couple of days ago, Cade has started pulling up on his crib. He hadn't been able to pull up to standing yet, but that all changed last night. He was fast asleep and all of a sudden I heard him crying and it just sounded louder. I looked on the monitor and there he was standing. I showed Matt and it instantly took us back to when Connor was doing this. It was right around Halloween of '09, which would put him at a week shy of being 8 months old. His entire nap that day consisted of him standing up, me laying him down, him standing back up, me laying him back down, etc.  In fact, I wrote about it here. Anyway, as you can see he eventually ended up just laying his head down.. while standing! Little did I know just how stubborn that 8 month old was going to be when he was almost 3!!! ;)

But, Connor never fell asleep like that. Cade, on the other hand, did. 

Seriously?! He is just the sweetest little thing. Tonight is not even the first night he has fallen asleep like this! Now, before you go thinking that I let him cry it out for a long time, this was after a mere 3 minutes of me getting Connor ready for bed. I knew if I went in there and kept laying him down, then it would just make it worse. I, begrudgingly, lowered the crib so that the visions of him flailing himself over the rail would quit dancing in my head. I just thought Connor was going to be a wild man. As soon as this one truly figures out how to navigate himself, I am toast! 

Did your kiddos ever fall asleep like this?!

The times: They are a-changin'

Sometimes it is hard to understand why people are reacting a certain way to a situation until you are in it yourself. Most of the time it is easy to not consider their feelings and just think about how they should be acting. 

It has just hit me that I have totally been doing that with Connor. I have been pretty frustrated with him lately. I felt like his misbehaving pretty much happened overnight and I just couldn't understand why. I didn't even stop to try to figure out, either. For that, I am frustrated with myself. It is easy to blame it on his age, but why?

He was explaining to Cade that this is "Your first wagon ride, Cade. You're going with me."

Why not take the extra time to try to understand? It's times like this that I wish he could have the comprehension for me to sit him down so I could apologize. Tell him that I'm going to try not to be so rash in my judgement anymore. 

But, actions speak louder than words. From here on out in a situation like this one, I am vowing now to take a minute and try to look outside him and see if there is anything else going on that could be affecting him.

In this case, I think it was this cute as a bug, makes me swoon with those big blue eyes and long eyeleashes, little brother. 

He is an avid fan of his big brother...and his big brother's toys. If he had a choice between his toys and Connor's? No contest. Connor's every single time. And now that he is *army*crawling all over the house, he has somewhat rocked Connor's little world. He no longer has the freedom to do whatever he wants, because within minutes of him putting his toy of choice on the floor Cade is there with his hands all over it. 

 Case in point: 

Don't get me wrong. I want him to share. I DON'T like hearing the "mine" word being thrown around so much. I know it is normal, but I don't want it to be constant. I want him to be able to share and ultimately I want him to understand none of this stuff is actually ours, but His. 

HE SWINGS!!! First time in almost a year! He kept saying, "I like it, Mommy! It's fun!"

I know we have a while before he will understand most of this...I'm not naive. But I also know that not trying to validate his feelings, even with his young age, is naive. He has never failed to surprise me in the things he understands and I have no doubt that this would possibly turn out the same way. 

So, boo on me. I was rash in judgement. I realize that now and Thank you dear Lord that tomorrow is a new day!

Side note: Tomorrow is a big day around here. Connor is having a big Toy Story POTTY PARTY!!!! Bye bye, diapers. Hello, so cute I could die, boxer briefs!! Say a little prayer for us. I know he is ready and so am I, but it's still a big day! 

Ready or not...

...here he comes! My sweet little Cade is trying his hardest to start scooting and crawling. This boy has not enjoyed being a baby his entire life! He has wanted to do things early from the beginning! I can already see how my world is going to change OH SO MUCH once he does start. He is already to the point where I can't leave him on the floor for long because he will finagle himself halfway under the couch or get a foot underneath the entertainment center. I can only imagine how it is going to be when he starts getting into things. I took this video last Friday and it is crazy how much more he is doing even today.

I think one of his biggest motivators is his big brother. He wants everything Connor has. We were in church a few weeks ago and Cade was sitting in Matt's lap and Connor was in mine. Cade was not facing us, but was arching and twisting his entire body around to try to get Connor's flashcards he was looking at. He is a little swiper! It already drives Connor crazy, and as much as my world is about to be rocked, so is his! In fact, I hear, "No, Cade. That is mines" quite a bit. We are working on that ;) 

A few days ago I put them both in Connor's bed to play so that I could prop Cade up and not worry about him falling over so I could take pictures :) It was actually Connor's idea, as he loves putting Cade in his "cwib" with him. He was all, "Cade. Come get in my's cwib. Come and pway wif me." (side note: the come and pway wif me?? seriously, my fav right now. Gets me every time!)

He was telling him about each animal and how that was Noah's boat. Essentially teaching him a bible lesson. He didn't even care that Cade was all up in his business. He was teaching and, well, Connor likes to teach/be the boss. 

That is until swiper went in for the swipe. Notice how Connor's hand is getting ready to block it. And notice how Cade's mouth is one of determination and intent. This, my friends, is only going to get more interesting from here on out! 

I feel so unbelievably blessed that I am able to watch this relationship between my boys grow. It never fails to make my heart want to burst out of my chest! 

Cade's first oatmeal

We were cleared at Cade's 4 month appointment to go ahead with feeding him cereal followed by veggies whenever we were ready. I was not. I was not ready to admit that he was old enough to be at this point already! I wanted to keep him as little as long as possible. This momma heart is much more aware this time around and I was just not ready. 

Cade, on the other hand, was. It was getting to the point where we couldn't hold him and eat or drink without him either completely knocking it out of our hands or him actually grabbing the spoon/fork or drink. As soon as we got back from Arkansas, I gave in and fed him a bowl of oatmeal. 

Connor thinks it is the coolest thing ever that Cade eats "oatmore" twice a day and has taken to wearing a bib, too. 

Of course, we have a video for the occasion. It is long, so it's not for the faint of heart. Also, I am dying at Connor. He is a mess! I promise we had fed him before this! 

So, I didn't stick to my blogging every day seeing how I missed yesterday. But, I had a good reason. We went shopping, instead :) See? I told you it was good!