Kitchen Helper

 I found a new trick to making dinner without any interruptions.  

Sometimes, I need a little help from my main man, Caillou.  

Maybe Kaden likes it so much because they are both bald.

Little Houdini

Kaden made a big mess in his diaper. Not only did he need a diaper change, but a change of  clothes too.  I set him down with a new diaper in his little play area and ran upstairs to get a new outfit for him.

This is how I left him. Perfectly content.

I grab a new outfit for him, and dash back down the stairs. When I walk into the living room, he is like this. 

HE IS WATCHING TV.

Regardless of how he got there, he seems fine, so I go into the kitchen to take my vitamin. I come back, and he is like this:

WHAT.

I'm onto you, kid. 

Lazy Boy

Who needs recliners...

... when you have Daddy!

We could potentially save a lot of money if he can keep this up.

Little Helper

Yesterday, Kaden had one of those days where all he wanted to do was be held.  By the end of the night, my arms couldn't take it anymore,  not to mention I wanted to make some frozen yogurt and chocolate chip cookies (I'm working on my sweet tooth). And nothing was going to stand in my way. I compromised with Kaden and put him in the carrier.  So he helped me bake stuff. But I couldn't get the carrier dirty, oh no. So I put my apron over both of us. 

Bakin' in style. Oh ya. 

Yes, the frozen yogurt and cookies were worth this picture. 

First Halloween

Ladies and gentlemen...

I present to you...

The fifth member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Flap those wings like it don't mean a thing

While we're on the subject, I found this little drawing from an 8 yr old friend (who is such a RIOT) in my previous ward. She drew this for me just after I had Kaden. 

I'm a "Nice Witch" who is holding a star wand and I am standing in my birth pool. Kaden is in my tummy about to be born and he is saying "I'm squish." 

Love the detail. 

TMI Part III

Chris wakes up early for school, earlier than Kaden and I. Yesterday, he got out early from his first class and made it back home before we had woken up. When he came into the bedroom to check on us, Chris found something quite new.

I was snoring. LOUD. Chris said he has never heard anyone snore as loud as I was snoring just then, which is saying something because he has heard my dad shake the walls with his infamous snores. He knew I wouldn't believe him, so he recorded it on his phone.  When I woke up, I was still a little out of it, and he had me listen to my snoring on his video.

I thought it was a  high powered public restroom toilet flushing over and over. 

Being a new mommy really takes it out of you!  

The best part: Kaden was sound asleep right next to me the whole time. 

The New Mullet

Mullets were SO last year.

Kaden is starting a new trend. It's all about the business on the top, party on the bottom.

I have high hopes for this kid.

You Almost Done?

This seems to be Chris's favorite thing to say lately.

I frequently ask help from Chris when he is home from school: "Hey, can you watch Kaden real quick while I go do this thing?"  Usually, Kaden is asleep. Other times, he is just chillin, so I don't feel too bad about asking a quick favor. I legitimately try and hurry most times, because I know there is no substitute for a mommy.  However, every time without fail, Kaden somehow becomes "unbearable" and I have to stop what I am doing to come and take Kaden from Chris.  Sometimes, it is his own dang fault, other times, Kaden mysteriously starts fussing. But sometimes, Kaden isn't fussing at all.

"Hey Babe, you almost done? Kaden needs his mommy."

"Okay, I'm coming." *rushes over*  "He looks fine."

"No, he is getting fussy."

"No he's not... he's smiling right now."

"Well, he was just making a frownie face right before you came over here."

*****

Every time, I know Chris is done watching Kaden by the same simple line: "You almost done?"  I could be doing things like:

Folding clothes... "You almost done?"

Taking a shower... "You almost done?"

Making dinner... "You almost done?"

Doing dishes..."You almost done?"

Getting dressed... "You almost done?"

GOING TO THE BATHROOM... "You almost done?"

Going grocery shopping... "You almost done?"  This happened today actually... I get a phone call half way through my trip telling me to hurry. So I hurry. Then I get another phone call while I am at the check out: "Hey, Kaden is asleep now, so you can take your time..."

The other day, however, I was addressed with a new line.  Kaden was sound asleep and Chris just got home from class.  I asked Chris to watch Kaden while I hopped in the shower.  "Ya no problem. You can take as long of a shower as you want. Take a nice relaxing shower."

"Really? Um... Okay! Cool!"


About halfway through my shower, just as expected, I get a knock on the door. He said I could take a long shower, could he possibly be asking me if I am almost done? Maybe he is asking if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean. Because, NO, I am not almost done."  


I cringe, waiting for him to ask the question. But it doesn't come. Prepare yourselves, because he did NOT ask me if I was almost done! Nope. Instead I was greeted with a very informative statement:

"You might want to start thinking about wrapping it up."

Mhm.... ya, I hurried alright...

Q.O.T.D.

My relaxing shower was cut short tonight. I heard knocking, Chris's voice, and Kaden crying. Then I heard more knocking. And then some more. And Kaden still crying. "Weird," I thought. "Kaden was sound asleep when I went upstairs." 

I open the bathroom door and there is an exhausted Chris holding Kaden. 

He starts handing Kaden over to me, "I will never sneeze near a sleeping baby ever again."

As I'm taking Kaden from Chris's arms, he pauses and says, "I bow to you. I don't know how you do it."

I take showers. That's how I do it. 

Questions

What baby pees twice during one diaper change?

Does he do it on purpose?

And did he know that even though I had him covered the first time, that I was without a second cover within arms reach, so I had to finish changing him with nothing to cover him (because once you pee, you generally pee out all you have, right?)?

How can his aiming skills be that good already?

And did he know that smiling and making cute baby sounds at me right afterward would make me melt so I couldn't stay frustrated?

Either way, he's dang good. 

Taboo

This weekend, I did the unthinkable. I have always been strongly against it. But when the offer was made to me, I went for it. Part of it was because of the pressure, although I'm afraid most of the blame goes to my weakness for the need for a good time and the need to do something beyond the norm.

Guys, I took a newborn to the movie theaters. (GASP!)

I KNOW.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I will be the first to roll my eyes at someone who would take a newborn to the movies.   I mean, why would someone intentionally bring a ticking time bomb of noise to a place that requires complete silence from its audience members?

Here's the deal, the husband is gone on a fishing trip with the men in his family, so it's just us girls at home.  Since having the baby, I have gone out of the house twice: once for a midwife appointment, the other to go grocery shopping. I was in need  of something to do outside of the house.  So when the offer was made by my MIL and SIL to go see a movie with them, my brain ran in two different directions.  I love going out and seeing movies, but I also love not being the center of ridicule from my own standards and philosophies. 

I was on pins and needles the moment we bought the tickets.  He could get fussy at any moment.  Once we sat down, Kaden made a face like he was going to cry, so I commenced "the mommy rock" in my chair. He calmed down immediately.  I was afraid that the loud noise was going to irritate him, but he actually LOVED it! 

I couldn't believe it, but he was great the entire time!  Although, I'm pretty sure I still got some weird looks after the movie was over because who wouldn't wonder where the loud snores and extremely loud poop sound came from?  Of course, those two events both occured at quiet moments in the movie. At the very beginning, Kaden fell asleep and began snoring very loudly.  Then, about half way through (while still asleep), he made one of the loudest poop explosions muffled only by the diaper on his bumb. I KNOW people heard that one.   Imagine the sound of a strike when a bowling ball hits the pins, now imagine it a couple octives lower. That is what his poop sounded like. Nice and long and bubbly and juicy. All during a quiet and dramatic turning point during The Help.

I'm still calling it a WIN night though. I think everyone would rather hear a giant poop explosion than a baby cry the entire time, right?

Race Horse

Today is the due date. That doesn't mean much though, especially for a first time mom, where it's common to go over 41 weeks.  So today is no big deal for me.  As the day went on though, I started to feel cramping more frequently.  So I asked my long-distance doula and aunt Amy what that could mean.

Her response:
"Wah hahaha! That is classic early labor, but don't too excited, it could go away. Keep me posted! Even if it's late, call me if you need to."

Alright so no big deal, it may just go away. I decided to inform Chris of my little conversation with Amy... probably a bad idea.

His response:
"Seriously?
......
Seriously????
..........
SERIOUSLY???!!!!??!"


Me: "Ya, but like I said, Amy says it could go away so don't get too excited just yet."

It was like he didn't even hear me... Chris began jumping up and down and clapping, running around the house, telling his whole family that "JULENE IS IN EARLY LABOR!!!"

And then, like a race horse out of the gate, he was off... making sure that the hose we had planned to use would in fact hook up to the sink.

The thing about early labor, though, is it can stop and the start back up again. So this is NOT an official post about me being in labor, because we are not 100% sure.  And by "we" I mean "I". I tried telling Chris that this might not mean anything, and he called me a Debbie Downer. 

I Feel Good, I Feel Great...

But Chris doesn't.  He has been quite sick this week. It is also the final week before the due date, which has Chris a little freaked out: "What if the baby comes and I am too sick to be around him?!!!?"   He has made a personal goal this week to get better at record speed, and to make sure that everyone else stays healthy so that Kaden can be born into the cleanest environment imaginable (other than the moon).  To accomplish this, the first thing he has done is to quarantine himself  in the basement of the house for most of his waking hours.  But that, my friends, was not good enough.  Today, he had the idea to post "Wash Your Hands" signs all over the house.  You know, just like they do during the flu season:

By the door...

On the fridge...

In the pantry...

And of course...

In the bathroom.

Luckily, I found someone he could relate with. 

I just hope he doesn't need to go as far as Death Therapy. 

He's A Natural

A couple days ago, the pool that I am going to birth in came in the mail, so we decided to blow it up and make sure it was good. But apparently that wasn't good enough... Chris had to "test it out"

Yep, you can scream in it.

Oh no! Here comes the baby!"

A proud father of an air baby. 

Good job, Dad, you did it! 

On This Father's Day

I wanted to wish a special Happy Father's Day to someone who will be a father in about one month.

Chris, I know you will be a good father because:

You are a very very hard worker

You can make people laugh even when they're not supposed to

 Kids already love you

You will teach our kids good manners

You sometimes take after your dad

You work hard at making sure your family is safe

You are patient

You play games with family even though you know you may lose

You make people laugh when they least expect it

You may have an idea of what you are getting yourself into

You love your God and your religion

You make people laugh when they least expect it

You teach kids how to fly kites 

You love your country

You will teach our kids good manners

You are sooooo strong

You like doing things with family

You like to explore

You make people laugh when they least expect it

You like doing things with family

And.....

You will for sure teach our kids good manners

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I LOVE YOU!