Growing Up

Bryce:



We love our Bryce Boy! He is such a sweet little boy. Other than the normal 2 month old baby activities, he spends his time looking around for mom, dad, or Caden to talk to.


Caden:


Bringing home Bryce, Caden suddenly looked huge to me. Like a little man. And in a lot of ways he is.

He learned his alphabet by memorizing ABC Star Wars book. Never mind that neither he nor I have ever seen the movies, he is fluent in the lingo. Every where we go he points out "A for Anakin, B for Bobo Fett, D for Darth Vadar, K for kamionians."

He laments to me almost daily, "I'm the only one without a dog in my life."

If he sees something unfamiliar he'll say, "What the heck of this?" And I hear the question, "Cause why?" at least a thousand times a day.

He calls me several names: Lady, Princess, Wonder Woman...mostly I'm just happy to be called his mom.

Chad:

On his first day of his third year. He's halfway done with vet school. It's definitely bitter sweet as we can't wait to move on to "real life" but have LOVED the last two years of life.

"Ooohhh."

A few times a day while I'm trying to get something done, Caden will call to me, "Hey mom, come look. Come see us together." And when I get there I see my two boys, snuggled up together.
"Say, 'Oooohhhh'" Caden then prompts, and I always oblige. Then he asks me to take a picture--I didn't realize how often this happens until I was looking over what I have on my camera. Here are a few of my favorites.






Though it's been a little hectic at times, having two boys has been a lot of fun. A few friends always told me they'd prefer 2 over 1 any day, and I keep repeating that to myself when trying to juggle Caden and Bryce.
Everyone asks me how Caden has been with Bryce. He's really pretty good. Although he still gets in trouble and has his fair share of time-outs, it's never for hurting or being aggressive towards Bryce.
One morning, Caden had just come out of time-out. He immediately went back to doing the same thing and I sent him back to the corner. "AGAIN?" He asked.
I had to laugh when I said, "I'm asking myself the same thing. Caden is doing that again?!"

Faster than a speeding bullet

Caden's friend Sean recently had a Super Hero birthday. I made both of the boys reversible Superman/Batman capes. We got to the party a few minutes early, which was really good because there were "bad guys" to defeat on the playground.






And the party? It was awesome. Kudos to Sean's mom, Veronica who put all this together being 8 months pregnant.










As Chad predicted, Caden now wants to wear his cape everywhere. Everybody has something to say to Superman. I can't tell if Caden likes every body saying "hi, Superman" as he walks by. Usually he just ignores the person, and I'm working with him on giving at least a polite hello back.

The other day Caden had to have his blood drawn. The room we were in was just off the crowded waiting room, and there was no door so everybody could hear how he SCREAMED while 2 nurses and I held him down. When we walked out to the waiting room, some people started clapping, while others called out, "Way to go, Superman!"

I told Caden he was a brave boy, and he said, "No, I was not brave, I was a crying boy."

All of the attention to Superman has its benefits. The sample man at Costco who was giving out chips told Caden/Superman that because he was a hero, he could have as many Doritos as he wanted.

Of course, it has its negatives, too. When we tried to sneak in a second grape juice sample that day, the man said, "Oh, Superman...you're back." Usually normal citizens can get away with sneaking a second sample. I guess Caden will just have to get used to the fame that comes with being the man of steel.

Happy Fourth of July

I had to post this last one simply because I love Caden's eyebrows--as many times a day as I see faces like this I have a hard time getting them on camera.

And Three Becomes Four

Bryce-7/2/11 8:29 am
Or "Bryce Lightyear" as Caden calls him
7 lbs, 18 inches

I still have ankles...and other good pregnancy news.

36 weeks, and baby is right around the corner! Though my feet and ankles are not swelling yet, my cheekbones have disappeared to a puffy, pregnant face. There's a good would-you-rather-question: Would you rather lose your ankles or cheekbones?

At Costco, a guy stopped me in the parking lot to ask how far along I am. I told him just about a month left. He told me I was "tiny" and that it looked like I still had 3 months left. I told my mom about this, calling it a "random act of kindness". She corrected me saying it was a "random act of genius comment by a quick-thinking man".

At the doctor today, he did an ultra-sound to confirm baby is head down and there is plenty of fluid. Everything is looking good!


Yeah, I definitely wouldn't call that "tiny".

Birthday Boy

While we were in Utah, we celebrated Caden's third birthday. He has talked about his birthday cake for months, and some mornings we sit and look at different cakes online. he finally settled on a spider-man cake.

Caden checking on his cake while it was baking.



Birthday party number one took place with the Schow family. Caden acted so funny while we sang to him--like it was his big moment and he couldn't believe it was finally here.









Party number 2 was with the Gourley family. Per Caden's request, we went fishing at a new, small pond in Alpine.

So exciting when a fish is on the line. I love the kids all running:



I love these pictures of my dad fishing with the kids. It is so much what I remember from when he took me fishing.



Sometimes I can't imagine having two kids (I know, it's time to start visualizing!) Because Caden has been such a big, solo part of my life, it will be a big change when the baby comes. Chad and I were saying today we've been a family of three for twice as long as we were a family of two.

Even though I know we'll love the next baby, and all of our kids, equally, it will be for different reasons. Part of why I love Caden is that he is my first. The first one I felt kick in my tummy, the first one I held and nursed, the first one I fell asleep with in the hospital, the first one to take first steps to me, the first I stayed up with all night curing throw-up and diarrhea, and the first one to call me "mom". I love him for it.

The next baby will have to be harder than Caden because Caden was just so good. He has been such an easy-going, fun, lovable kid.

Chad and I will forever be grateful for this little boy joining our family.