The Laytons

Welcome Home, Jordan!

2012-01-20T22:52:00.010-06:00

We were so excited 4 days after Christmas to welcome Jordan home from his 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! He served in Switzerland, spoke German, and now wears skinny ties.

Ahh, sweet reunion.

I think Cade just assumed he would recognize Jordan when he saw him, but he didn't so he was confused. In this picture, he is asking Jordan, "Where's Jordan?". Jordan laughed and said, "I'm Jordan". So Cade just said, "Oh".

This is what my adorable little baby looked like when Jordan left:

So then a hug was okay.

(What you don't get to see is how attached to Jordan's hip Cade was almost immediately after this. Literally.)

The whole fam together, finally!

Awesome sign that Cody made for Roxanne and Bryan's front yard.

Unfortunately, our much anticipated reunion was cut really short by Jordan having to go back to BYU to start classes for the semester. We had him for less than 3 days. This only adds to my aversion toward that school. But that's a whole other story. If it would stop taking all my loved ones one person at a time and keeping them out there to never move home again, we might be able to be somewhat civil friends. But since all you do is take, take, take, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Alas, we are proud of Jordan's honorable service and are glad he is finally home, er, in the United States (Jordan, Cody! Don't you dare ever call that home!). And even though we still don't get to see him, we can at least talk to him whenever we want.

"Merry Christmas, Baby"-ies

2012-01-18T14:48:00.032-06:00

I was SO excited for Christmas this year. SO. EXCITED. This was the first year Cade really understood what was happening and was anticipating all the fun things going on for most of the month of December:

December 7th- Nonni moved back from China forever!
December 8th- Cade's 3rd B'day and Chase's work Christmas Party
December 10th- Cade's B'day party
December 11th- Huntsville Stake Christmas Festival
December 17th- Papa and Seth moved back from China forever!
December 20th- Church Christmas Party
December 23rd- Layton Family Christmas Traditions Night
December 24th- Morning- Calderwood Family Christmas and Cody coming!; Night- more Layton Family Christmas Eve Traditions
December 25th- Christmas!
December 29th- Jordan comes home from his mission!

I am out of breath! So many fun things for a kid to look forward to that does not even include putting up the Christmas tree and fun 3 year doctor's appointments (until the shot was actually inserted into his leg). Oh the joy that Christmas time brings!

Chase's work Christmas party:

The best Santa picture ever.

Since October, I was giddy with excitement searching deals for toys for Cade (and Reece, but hey, let's face it, he doesn't know what's going on and I have PLENTY of baby toys from Cade so let's just be practical). I did garage sales, we (meaning Chase, too) did Black Friday (waiting in millions of lines ALL night in the freezing cold, mind you. Millions as in 5, but it felt like millions), I did craigslist and other random sales at stores diligently to make sure Cade had the best, most exciting Christmas of his 3 year old life. What excites him, excites me. When he is beyond happy, I am beyond happy. And that is the story of being a mother.

So we went along our busy and exciting month with growing and growing anticipation for all our Christmas festivities and Christmas day...

Our Layton Family traditions are always (don't mess with them in any way or the Layton boys will give you h-e-l-l for it) as follows:

the decorating of Christmas cookies, and ultimately trying to make a cookie look like something it is not intended. This year poop was even depicted. For obvious reasons that cookie will not be shown. That is just disgusting. (Chase).

One of Cade's masterpieces. Mmm..

Another Cade creation. Can't wait to take a bite out of that one.

The angel blowing her trumpet that turned into a Piranha Plant from Mario. For this is why we celebrate Christmas.

My beautiful Santa's head and hat turned into a face.

The creativity next year will be better. I already purchased some nice redneck cookie cutter sets in the 70% off Christmas at Kroger. (Sneak peak- what on earth does a bunny have to do with Christmas?! I guess we'll find out.)

the viewing of the Botanical Garden Christmas lights. Really, it's just sitting in really long lines of traffic for hours, and then driving 2 miles per hour to look at all the commercialized light displays of Santas, dinosaurs, and Humpty Dumptys set up throughout the Botanical Gardens. We make fun of it the whole time, but it's tradition and therefore, it is a must at Christmas. Let me save you 20 bucks and show you the best part of the whole thing:

Despite our mockery, we really do enjoy it.

the wearing of Christmas Jammies. Every year, Roxanne buys the whole family special jammies that we open and wear Christmas Eve. No one knows what they look like except Roxanne. Some years, we all match. Some years, there is a theme. This year, the theme was Super Heroes.

We have a Flash, 2 Green Lanterns (Hmm..), Captain America, Iron Man, every woman superhero ever known (because I am that awesome), and little Spiderman and Superman.

Goober

Finally- Christmas Morning! All of Santa's presents were set out for the boys:

I couldn't wait to hear squeals of sheer delight from Cade as he ran into the room. I was so excited. BUT, as he ran into the room, he merely glanced at the toys, and immediately got down on the floor and started playing with his new train set. Didn't look at anything else. Didn't even notice the bike. He was just calm and collected.

HUH?!! Big disappointment! Well, we still have tons of presents to open:

Even with every present he opened, he was calm. He said thank you for everything, but there was no freaking out in excitement. Booo. I think it may have been overload. Next year, we are going to do things differently and I will get that reaction I desire.

I wish I had taken pictures of the presents the boys opened. From what I can remember, Cade got tons of Thomas train tracks (aside from the one set up in the picture), trains, lots of books and movies, a bike, Sally from Cars (he wanted her SO bad for some strange reason), a doctor kit, rainboots, Toy Story figures, Don't Wake Daddy game (which scares the bejeebies out of me), and tons more. Reece got baby toys and clothes.

Family Christmas picture before church. My Reecey always has to be with Mommy.

Ahhh..can we just sit like this for awhile?? Please, for the love, they are actually being still! Cade has never fallen asleep in church, and if Reece gets tired we have to take him out in the hall to bounce him until he stops fighting it. So this was RARE. And although, it looks like a.)I decided to join in on this little slumber or b.)I'm cracked out, the correct answer is c.)I blinked at the perfect time.

After we got home and had naps, the rest of Christmas day was spent sitting around with the family and playing.

Uhh oh...Caught kissing on Mommy.

And that is how we did our Christmas in 2011.

First Hair Cut

2011-12-19T21:59:00.008-06:00

I thought this day wouldn't come for years and years. We lasted until shortly after Cade's 3rd birthday. I guess now that I have a new baldy, it's okay that Cade has big boy looking hair.

My friend Katie ("Wuby's Mommy") came over and cut his hair for me. Cade did so much better than I thought he would. I don't call him Crazy Cade for no reason. That boy just can't be still. But for his haircut- still as a statue. I think I need to pay Katie to stay at my house all day, every day and SLLLOOOWWLLYYY cut his hair.

Oh. My. Goodness. He looks so grown up now! I'm sure he's tired of me telling him over and over how cute he is. Actually, he's probably not, but Chase probably is. I thought his curls would be gone forever as soon as his hair was cut, but it started curling up right away. It doesn't always do that, though. Usually, when it's warm out.

So adorable. So big.

Great to Be 3!!!

2011-12-13T16:40:00.009-06:00

Cade had his 3rd birthday last week on December 8th. I can't believe my baby is already 3! I hate thinking about how quickly my boys are growing because all I can think about is how it won't be too long until they leave me (BIG crocodile tears). I want my babies to stay babies forever!

As for celebrating this occasion, of course, we did it Thomas style. Was there even a doubt?!

My first time making the birthday cake. Yeah...a huge headache. Thank goodness my sister helped me decorate it or there would only be the figures on top and nothing else. I vowed to never make another cake again, but I know when Reece's birthday rolls around, I'll think- It wasn't really that bad. And so I'll venture at it again and go crazy, get frustrated, and wonder why I thought this was a good idea all over again, I'm sure. Kind of like having kids. But, the end result is always amazing and then you're glad you did it. This cake, by the way, was incredibly delicious! Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Cade is still asking if he can have some Thomas cake, and we ate it up long ago! (And then he cries, so I wish he would just forget about it).

And what did he get?? Thomas, Thomas, and more Thomas!

He's not excited at all.

Of course Grandpa's in there playing with it all, too.

He had a great birthday! Now, the time can start going slower...

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

2011-11-20T19:57:00.022-06:00

WELLLLL, let's just say, I have no talents and no hobbies. That is why saving money and finding deals has become my thing. When you are young and married with small children and living off of one income, finances can be really tight. So stretching our dollar and purchasing things at extremely low prices (that we may otherwise never have been able to buy) gives me great satisfaction! It is rare that I pay full price for anything. This way of thinking has brought me to find a new love-- garage sales!

I will admit, I used to stick my nose up to garage sales. I mean, why on earth would I want to buy some stranger's used crap?!? Well, my friend, because there is a lot of "used crap" out there that really isn't used or crappy at all. For instance, it only takes 1 time to hit a garage sale given by a shopaholic who is selling massive amounts of amazing clothes (some with tags still on) for $1 each to get hooked. Now, I am picky about the areas I go garage selling (because I don't want to waste my valuable time looking at actual crap) and what I buy. It's got to be something I need or really could use, in excellent condition, and really well priced. It is so pointless and a waste of money if those criteria are not met.

Whenever I go out to garage sales, upon arriving home, Cade always runs to the door and asks, "Mommy, you find any treasures?!". Because usually I have found a little something for him. Last time I went he said, "Mommy, you find any treasures?! Thomas?!". One of these days I will hit the Thomas jackpot, just haven't found it yet.

Here are some of the treasures I've found at garage sales in the past month:

Eddie Bauer car seat in pristine condition. It really looks like it has never been used. Retail- $200; price paid- $20! Your welcome Reece:)

Closet Organizer brand new still in packaging- $5.

Cade has gotten into the show Little Einsteins lately so he was more than thrilled when I brought home this submarine for the bathtub and the plush characters below. Apparently, they don't sell Little Einstein stuff in stores anymore and it's all going for a fortune on eBay. I did see the plush rocket for $16 on Amazon. Price paid for these toys- 25 cents each.

He sleeps with them. Now, I'm trying to find the other 2 plush girl characters for Christmas, but not sure if that's going to work out.

Fake Gucci purse- $1.

I have been wanting a food processor for awhile now so I was excited to find this. The lady said she bought it but only used it a few times because she still preferred to do things the old fashioned way. $5.

I kept my eye on this shirt a couple years ago at Target, but even on clearance it didn't go low enough for me to buy it. Happy day when I found it at a garage sale. 50 cents!

This picture makes it look frumpy, but its actually a really nice Gap sweater. $2.

Really nice lined black skirt- $2.

$3

$3

Been looking for brown boots for church- $3.

This Express dress actually looks very nice and maybe worn once- minus the stain at the bottom that I need to get out. Just add a cute white cardigan and wallah!- my Easter dress. 50 cents.

Yes, I know pretty much my entire wardrobe is sweatshirts and t-shirts, but when you're getting spit up on 50 times a day, this is just what's practical. When my kids are all grown up, I'll dress nice again. Or not. Who knows. Anyways, representing the University- $1.

My sister and I found a killer garage sale a few weeks ago. The whole neighborhood pooled all of their stuff together and had 3 ladies in charge of selling all of it. That was the best for 2 reasons- 1.) 99% of it wasn't their stuff so they had no emotional attachment to it. Meaning- they didn't think things were worth way more than they really were. So, whenever we would ask how much something was, they would say, "I don't know. Like 50 cents?" or "Like 25 cents?". I got some great Christmas presents for Reece and Cade so check back later for those. (That is where I got the Little Einsteins, closet organizer, pink ruffly shirt, and dress from above). 2.) All the money they made was being donated to a charity so they really didn't care how much things went for. A big win for me!

I don't know about you, but all this talk is making me want to go search for more treasures!

"Hey, that kid was looking in my candy bag!"

2011-11-03T16:15:00.009-05:00

-If you came trick-or-treating at our house this year, that is what you might have heard the other kids exclaiming as they walked away (one kid did rather loudly).

We had a great Halloween this year! Holidays just become more and more fun as Cade gets older and really understands what is going on. Cade is constantly cracking us up with his friendly and goofy personality, and that certainly came out this Halloween. He loved trick-or-treating, but he sure loved passing out the candy to all the hundreds (yes, I said hundreds!) of trick-or-treaters who came to our door even more. He had to talk to everyone, comment on everyone's costume, help hand out candy, look in the kids candy bags as he put candy in (or just as they were standing there waiting for candy), and just bounce off the walls with excitement. Some things you would have heard from Cade if you came trick-or-treating at our house would have been:

(To everyone walking on the sidewalk), "Hey! Hey! You comin?! You comin?!" And as they walked up to the door- "Say trick-or-treat!".
"Oooo, you kind of scary!!"
"You got lots of nice treats!"
As everyone left- "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" or "see you soon!"

My crazy goofball on Halloween. Can't you tell he's beaming with pride because of his Thomas costume? He was so excited to wear that thing.

Cade did have a hard time with getting freaked out at times. He would cry when kids wore scary masks. He eventually somewhat got over it when one really sweet kid told him he wasn't going to hurt him and took off his mask. Then the wheels in Cade's head started turning. He also was scared to death when he passed by some motion censored scary thing in someone's bushes when he was trick-or-treating. Chase said Cade's reaction was pretty hilarious when he ran away and cried big tears.

Adorable boys

My precious pumpkin. He is quite the smiler:)

Our loot to pass out this year. We barely had enough. Because our neighborhood is so insane, I started shopping the candy deals at the very beginning of October and spanned my purchases out over the whole month. I saved over $90 on all of this. I also kept a piece of paper by the door to help me count all the trick-or-treaters this year. Things got pretty crazy at times so I missed quite a few, but from what I wrote down, we had over 340!!! Thankfully, towards the end my mom came over and was able to help me count, and we had 43 just in one door opening!

This big group made a big pirate ship on a trailer and all dressed up as pirates and drove it around trick-or-treating. I thought it was awesome. They were singing pirate songs and had pirate-y music going. Click on the picture and you can see the look on Cade's face as he was running away. He was scared because they had something making cannonball sounds.

And just for fun:

Now, Cade keeps talking about wanting to go trick-or-treating. Gotta wait a whole year to do it again, buddy.

Fun Saturdays

2011-10-29T16:19:00.017-05:00

Lately, the Layton clan has been trying to do some family fun stuff together on Saturdays. Since life is kind of crazy right now and Chase is busy with work and school during the week, it's important for us to spend this time together. Sometimes it's low key, and sometimes we go somewhere fun. There were 3 good Saturdays in a row that we were able to do something fun. Hooray for getting out of the house!

One Saturday it was Free Museum Day, so we went to The Space and Rocket Center. It's really sad that I've lived in Huntsville almost my entire life and had never been before. So what did I think? Eh- pretty boring actually. Maybe Space Camp and the IMAX are fun, but those aren't free. Cade didn't seem to care though. He had a great time!

He loved this kid ride the most. We thought he would get on it, get scared, and cry. NOPE. He laughed his head off and rode it about 10 times.

Chase tried to force me to ride the Space Shot ride, but it wasn't until after some man called me a chicken (which I am NOT. I just didn't want to mess up my hair because I was going to the Relief Society activity that night, and it doesn't get done very often any more. That's a good excuse, Chase!), that I walked my tail up to the front of that line and got on the stupid ride. Now, I am one to ride any roller coaster and have to sit in the front 1 or 2 rows, but oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die. It was glorious to get off of that awful ride! Chase, on the other hand, didn't even ride it- WHO'S THE CHICKEN NOW?!

Saturday number 2, we walked in the parade at the Madison Street Festival to support my brother-in-law Chris Messervy's campaign. He is running for Madison County District Court Judge (Vote for Chris!). I had never heard of the Madison Street Festival and didn't realize how big this event is. There were TONS of people there! Here are some pics of all of us getting ready to start walking in the parade. All of these pictures are taken before we reached downtown where all the people are so you don't get to see the masses.

Chris and Kim Messervy. Chris and Madison rode in the back of the car and waved at everyone. Chase and Pops walked in front of the car with a huge Chris Messervy banner. Kim walked alongside with Maisy in the stroller.

The kids- Jack, Kate, and Cade rode in the caboose of this train and threw candy out to all of the kids. They had a blast! And when we told Cade he was going to ride in a train, he was more than thrilled.

Cade rode in the airplane on this part of the train for a little while, but it didn't last long because he wanted to throw candy.

The caboose

Maisy

Kate

Jack

Walking alongside the train. It was freezing that morning!

Nice and toasty in his bear suit.

After the parade, there are over 200 vendors downtown, and everyone just walks around and has a good ol' time. We helped pass out popcorn and flyers at Chris's booth.

Saturday number 3, we walked in the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run. SEA (the company where Chase works) kindly paid for their employees and family members to participate in this event.

I had to put Reece in the sling because strollers weren't allowed (dumb rule). But when we got there, there were stroller everywhere. Oh well. This worked, too.

We walked the 5K with Charity and Matt Carpenter and had tons of fun. Cade was a hoot and kept everyone entertained. He walked/ran 3 of the 3.2 miles! It wasn't until the very end that Chase had to put him on his shoulders. That boy has more energy than any kid I have seen! (And only took a 45 minute nap later that day. Figures.)

All of downtown is blocked off for the run, and Cade was a goober and stopped at every stop light if it was red and waited for it to turn green before he would start walking again. Then, when we got to the first water station, we took a cup of water from someone and gave it to Cade. When he was done drinking it, we told him to throw it down on the side of the road. He was totally confused and kept looking at us like, "I'm not supposed to do that". Finally, he did it, and then laughed hysterically. So when we came to the next water station, he went up to the first lady who had a cup of water, took it from her, took one sip, and then threw it on the side of the road. Then he ran to another person with water, took it, took one sip, and threw it on the side of the road. We had to catch him before he grabbed the next cup. He thought that was the best. Crazy kid.

Hooray for fun Saturdays!

Hyperalert/High-Need Infant

2011-09-15T11:50:00.013-05:00

This is probably one of the longest posts I will ever write so if you don't want to read this dissertation then just skip it.

With both of my babies, sleep has been a constant battle and something that doesn't come very easily or often to say the least. My first baby was constantly fussy and never slept. I figured that was rare and that my chances of having a 2nd baby that way were slim. But lo and behold- my 2nd baby is an exact clone of his older brother. The constant frustration and sheer exhaustion just get to be more than I can handle at times. I can never quite understand what I'm doing wrong. I always thought babies slept a lot. The information page that my pediatrician recently gave me says that it is normal for a baby of Reece's age to sleep 16 or more hours in a day. To which I laugh (or cry, really) because neither one of my babies have ever even done half of that. And to add to the lack of sleep, my babies are very fussy and constantly wanting to be held while I move around-whether it be bouncing, swaying, or walking. I can't let the swing, bouncy seat, or car seat take my place because he will scream his head off for as long as I leave him there, it just gets louder and more intense the longer I let it go on.

I remember when I was pregnant with Cade, he was so incredibly active. I even asked my OB if that meant he was going to be a really hyperactive kid. He said no, but of course, that is just what Cade has turned out to be. So when Reece was just as active as Cade in the womb, I knew we were in for round 2.

A few weeks after Reece was born, I was looking up something in one of those Baby's First Year books that my pediatrician gave me. I came across a section about different reasons why a baby fusses. It listed the normal things like gas, being hungry, colic, etc. But there was a small paragraph titled "hyperalert or high-needs infant". What it said in that tiny little paragraph sounded just like my babies. So my research started and what I have found fits my babies to the T.

Here are some of the characteristics of a hyperalert/high-needs baby in a nutshell (keep in mind a lot of these words are not my own, but I have added some of my own comments along with as an example. I don't feel like taking the extra time to properly cite all the sources, but a lot of it comes from Dr. Sears who wrote the book, "The Fussy Baby".) :

They need a lot of help falling asleep and staying asleep. They have a really hard time reaching a deep sleep and often wake up in between the transition of sleep stages.- So I can't lay him down until I have taken at least a good 30 minutes to get him into a deep sleep state or else he will wake up. And even if I do get him into a deep sleep, it doesn't insure he will sleep longer than 15 minutes. Or if I misjudge it and try to put him down too soon, he will become wide awake and then I have to try to start all over again. It is extremely hard to take the time and energy needed to constantly try to get him in that deep sleep because I have another child that can't be ignored all day.
Awakens frequently. Will start falling asleep and then will jerk, open his eyes, and be wide awake no matter how tired he is.
Seems overly tired which makes trying to get him to sleep even harder
Persistent restlessness
Sleeps in short 15-30 minute catnaps, usually while someone is holding or carrying them.- Whether I hold him or put him down while he sleeps, it's only going to last about 15-20 minutes.
Constantly wants to be in motion and held. But he hates to be left in a swing, bouncy seat, car seat, etc. He craves human touch and movement. "Holding is not enough; the holder must keep moving."
Not a self-soother- "They want to interact with people, not things. Parents will often report, 'He just can't relax by himself.' High need babies need help to fall asleep. They must learn to trust their parents to help them."
Tend to cry more than other babies. Always fussy.
The muscles and mind of high need children are seldom relaxed or still.
Hypersensitive to noise- "High need babies are keenly aware of the goings-on in their environment. 'Easily bothered,' 'quickly stimulated,' 'like walking on eggshells' is how parents describe their sensitive babies."- Every single noise wakes Reece up. Which means any chance of him sleeping while Cade is awake is virtually impossible.
Don't transition easily- They don't go from arms to crib, or arms to car seat, etc. very easily. Most of the time he will wake up and be wide awake from then on.
Often have hypersensitive intestines (both of my boys have had acid reflux and have been colicky).
Hyperactive

This doesn't even explain it all well enough to where you get a full understanding. It's just a glimpse. Keep in mind that I did not come up with the term "high-need". I probably would have chosen another way to describe these babies. I feel, to a degree, that all babies have a high-need, because they depend on others to do everything for them. These babies just have a different kind of high-need than others. I feel that especially those with special needs have the highest needs of all. If that makes any sense.

All I've been thinking about is what causes this to happen? And how is it that I have two of these babies?? No one is really sure what causes this hyperalert-ness. Some think it's due to pain medication taken by the mother when pregnant or from high blood pressure. Some think it's due to a traumatic experience the mother experienced when pregnant to cause her to have anxiety, which in turn causes the babies nervous system to go into overdrive. None of those reasons may be true, but my theory is that if anxiety plays any part, then more than likely, my babies are hyperalert because of my constant anxiety (not accompanied with a traumatic experience). This also may mean that it is a good chance that all of my babies will be like this as well because I don't know how to just turn off my anxiety switch.

Although I'm having a really hard time, I feel the one who is suffering the most is Cade. I can't give him all the attention that he needs, and I can tell it is really affecting him. I can't help but to think that if Reece slept more, I could at least have that time to completely devote to Cade so he didn't feel so slighted. I put Reece down as much as possible and just let him scream so I can at least go to the bathroom, or maybe take a shower, get Cade dressed and fed, etc. But after awhile, the screaming gets to be grading on all of us, and even Cade will say, "Mommy, hold Baby Reece, please". So most days are spent pacing the house and bouncing Reece to try to keep him from being so fussy. Most of the time all I can do for Cade is just turn on the TV, which is awful and I hate it, and after awhile, so does Cade. He hates to be cooped up and has to be active. Cade has been acting out a lot, pitching fits constantly, being defiant, etc. which is so different from his normal, sweet nature. I know a lot of this is normal behavior when a 2nd child is born, and he is also getting into the terrible 3's stage. But a lot of the time, I really don't blame him because I know he's not getting what he needs. I get really upset because I don't have as much patience with him right now either. I can't help but to feel like I'm failing as a mother, and I just pray that this doesn't have any lasting affects on him. I have been trying to be as normal as I can, for my sanity, but mostly for Cade's. I try to take the kids somewhere, doesn't matter where, but just somewhere out of the house most days. But that can be really overwhelming, too.

After I had Cade, it was really hard for me to handle some of the comments made to me. People would try to tell me what I was doing wrong or just say that it's just because I'm a first-time mom and I don't know what I'm doing yet, but deep down, I knew that the problem wasn't just that I was inexperienced. My child did not sleep more than about 4 hours total a day! That had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not I completely knew what I was doing yet. I would get extremely upset and feel like maybe I wasn't cut out for motherhood. But in my heart, I knew that wasn't true either. But now that I have a second just like Cade, I've come to the realization that until one has a baby like this, that they aren't really going to understand, so I have to try to not take anything personally. Just like I can't fully understand someone elses situation because I have not experienced it. All I can do is sympathize with them and not judge what someone else is going through.

So my whole point in writing this is because I need everyone to understand. I'm not crying for help or advice or whining about my situation. I just need people to understand that I'm struggling and I'm not myself right now. I'm irritable, beyond exhausted, frustrated, stressed, feeling helpless, and a lot of the time at my breaking point. I need everyone to understand that I'm not trying to be a bad friend or seem awkward when you talk to me. I'm not trying to be distant or not be at someone's aid to help in time of need. In all truth, I'm just trying to keep my head above water so I probably am not noticing things that I should. So please don't get offended if I've neglected you or anything of that sort. I will eventually come around.

The good news about all of this is that it doesn't last forever. These traits (or "symptoms" some call them) lessen over time. For Cade, the fussiness seemed to gradually get better when he became mobile, and he started sleeping better at night when he was 8 months old. One night we put him down for what we thought was going to be his usual 30 minute nap. It was 7pm, and we hadn't put pajamas on him, fed him, or even changed his diaper. But he didn't wake up until 6am the next morning! Ever since then we put him down at 7pm and he would sleep all night. Hallelujah! He started taking longer than 30 minute naps during the day when he was almost 11 months. So knowing that it will eventually get better is what is keeping me going. And there are also some rewarding personalities traits that come out when they become toddlers and older.

Despite all this, I know we are very blessed because we could have it a lot worse. For one, I am very privileged to be even be able to bring these babies into the world. Who am I to complain if my babies are challenging when there are so many women who struggle with being able to have any children at all and would do anything to have a baby, even if he didn't sleep. For two, my babies are healthy. There are so many who are not and my heart aches for those children and their families who have a really hard time because of it.

It may be that the rest of our babies are just like Cade and Reece. And it may be difficult for awhile, and we may not be able to handle as many kids as we thought we wanted (more like, I thought I wanted), but we do not feel our family is complete yet. So struggle we will for the family we desire. It will all be rewarding in the end.

Getting Stronger

2011-09-15T10:05:00.001-05:00

Ain't Nothin Cuter...

2011-09-06T19:37:00.010-05:00

than brotherly love.

than a daddy cuddling his baby.

than a smiling baby.

than a naked little kid wearing the tiniest underwear you've ever seen.

especially his little tushie.

than a baby giving you the bird.

Reece's Blessing Day

2011-09-06T17:41:00.009-05:00

Reece was blessed at church about a month ago on August 7, 2011. We are so glad that many of our family members were able to join us for the special occasion, and especially appreciate those who traveled long distances to be there.

Like Cade, Reece also wore his daddy's blessing outfit.

Our family.
Normally, I would not include pictures of myself until all of my baby weight is off, but not lucky for you, I'm making an exception for such a special occasion.

The cake at our big family dinner after church

We are especially glad that my grandparents were able to come from Atlanta.

Cody and Bryan were also able to come.

All of Cade and Reece's cousins and two of their 2nd cousins. From left to right- Kate, Maisy, Jack, Madison with Reece, Deisen with Ivy, and Cade. Of course my kid is picking his nose.

"Would I be out of line if I said, I miss you..."

2011-09-01T16:04:00.005-05:00

Definitely NOT. Don't make me start boo-hooing because I will!

Earlier this month, I was FINALLY able to see my best friend again. Only after a whopping 4 years, the Megastanky and Kristanky duo were reunited. Those precious few hours went by way too fast. Why does Utah have to be so far away??

Megan with Reece's pieces
We had not met each others kids yet (and I still have not met her husband, dadgumit).

These 2 could not keep their hands (or should I say lips) off each other (notice the hand holding). No, really, Cade and Bailey enjoyed giving each other kisses a little bit too much, but it was hilarious. Even after the 500th time, still hilarious. Is it destiny?? No doubt. Bailey even cried and held on to me when it was time for her to leave. She loves me already. What can I say? It's a sign.

Alright, maybe I'm getting a little crazy, and frankly, I don't like thinking about me being an old woman just yet, but one thing I do know- IT BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER 4 YEARS!

Our Boys

2011-07-31T18:50:00.019-05:00

For those of you who are not on facebook and can't see the pictures I posted of Cade and Reece on there, I am putting some on here to share with you, too. This year for our 5th wedding anniversary, Chase and I chose to have some professional pictures taken of the boys instead of giving each other gifts. We are SO glad that we did! We are beyond in love with these pictures and will cherish them forever.

Reece Mark Layton

2011-07-24T16:04:00.002-05:00

The newest and current cutest member of our family:

Born July 5, 2011 at 3:26pm
8 lbs. 6 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Proud big brother

We are so very blessed.

Life is so much better at the beach!

2011-06-05T20:41:00.008-05:00

We ended up having 2 unexpected trips to the beach during the past couple of months. Our first trip was not due to good circumstances, however, and was very spur of the moment. We skipped town rather quickly in all my crazy pregnancy hormone freaking out after the horrible tornadoes hit our area at the end of April. Please don't judge. You try being told that your power is going to be out for at least a week (turned out to be 5 days) when you are very pregnant and very hungry all the time. With no way to cook my food storage (looks like I'm going to have to do some revamping and prepare better) is like a death threat. So, we headed south. After 4 years of not setting foot on the beach, we were extremely excited to go. Plus, Cade had never been, and we just knew he would love it.

WRONG!

This was him for the first hour- sitting in my lap. He did not want his feet the touch the weird "snow" (didn't matter how many times we told him it was sand, it was forever going to be snow), and he sure as heck did not want to go near that scary water.

Daddy tried to break Cade of being scared by forcing him to go in the water while Chase held him to show him it was fun. Nope, not fun. He screamed and was terrified the whole time. Then, when finally back on the "snow", he ran in the the complete wrong direction crying for me and tried to find solace in the arms of another momma who was definitely not me, which made him even more upset. So this is him finally running toward the right momma. It was all very dramatic.

After awhile he became more comfortable in the "snow" and started to play with his beach toys. But still keeping a very safe distance from the water.

Day 2 on the beach was MUCH better. He got over his fear of the water and would let it hit his feet. Afterwards, he kept saying, "That was fun!".

Trip 2 to the beach was due to Chase having a business trip to Ft. Walton, and Cade and I got to tag along. Yay! We had such a great time. We got to stay right on the beach and enjoyed a nice big room. Our hotel also had 2 pools which Cade loved. He loved being able to say, "Let's go beach" or "swimming pool, Momma?", and then just picking up and going to whichever one he pleased. It was really great, and he had a blast to say the least.

Cade was completely fine with the water this time. Daddy would take him out in the waves, and Cade loved it.

Coming back from the pool.

Family friends Marty and Christie were also there with us, and Cade was obsessed with going out in the waves and building sand castles with Marty. Here they are out in the water:

On the trip home, Cade had to stop and see the airplane.

Cade now asks almost everyday if we can go to the beach. We definitely need to take fun family trips more often.

Easter time

2011-06-05T19:38:00.012-05:00

I am way far behind in my blogging, although I'm sure none of you have minded. Yes, Easter was 2 months ago, and yes, I am just now writing about it. Let's not dwell on that fact. Just pretend it was last weekend. Moving on- we had a great Easter this year. I love that Cade is at the age where he understands holidays and gets excited about them. I think we are going to hear all year long about how the "snowmans" are going to come out at Christmas every time we drive down our street (several people in our neighborhood put the blow up snowmen in their yards). So I was really anticipating Easter and even started planning out what we would put in Cade's Easter basket a couple of months in advance. And sweet success it all was!

To start off the Easter festivities, we were invited to an Easter egg hunt at a very close family friends house- the Messervys. They have the best egg hunts filled with a bajillion eggs to find, a pinata, breakfast treats, awesome goodie bags, and tons of kids on sugar highs. The kids always have a blast.

Cade running out to start finding eggs.

There are eggs hidden all over the backyard.

His loot.

Blue Steel

Kate and Cade. I ask for a smile and this is what I get.

Easter morning we had our own basket hunt around the house and an egg hunt in the backyard.

Basket filled with 3 Chuggington Trains, 2 new trains from the Thomas collection, a Thomas shirt, a little Mickey Mouse, a football, some other things I can't remember now because it was 2 months ago (I mean, last weekend), and some candy eggs.

Daddy made getting some of the eggs too difficult.

I went way overboard on the eggs this year. I filled about 45 eggs and could have done tons more but figured that was enough for one kid. It took him about 4 minutes flat to run around and get them all. A major improvement from last year where he lost interest.

Playing with new Diesel and Whiff after church

And because I really love food right now, I took a picture of our immaculate Easter feast that I slaved 2 days over. Homemade chicken cordon bleu with homemade mashed potatoes and other stuff. Even the breadcrumbs were homemade (and that really makes a big difference if anyone cares). Chase helped me stuff the chicken breasts and bread them so he tries to take credit for the whole thing. I did appreciate the help:)

And best of all- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. Stop drooling.

Stock-up

2011-04-14T13:59:00.004-05:00

Anyone think I'm not prepared with diapers for the baby?? There's even another box of Pampers on the floor. Don't come break in my house now that I've shown you my stash.

I've been scoring great diaper deals the past few months and have been slowly stocking up for the baby. I only try to stock pile as many as I can when I can get them for half price or cheaper. One of those packs of Huggies only cost me $0.69:)

And even Cade has a stash:

+ another box in the car.

My best prices paid for diapers to date are:

my $0.69 pack of Huggies I just mentioned
4 packs of Huggies for $5 and change at Rite Aid (and still getting back $8 in Rite Aid bucks)
a box of Huggies at CVS for $4 (and still getting back $10 in CVS bucks)

I may still have tons of cleaning, organizing, bedroom switching, decorating, clothes sorting (with laundry), yard work, and plenty of other things to do before the baby comes, but at least I know I've got the poop covered.

Little Boy Under Construction

2011-04-09T16:36:00.005-05:00

Most of you already know that we are having another little boy! We found out a few months ago, so yes, I am late in posting this. Time is flying by with only 11 weeks left and still plenty to do to get ready. Chase told me a few weeks ago that I need to "hurry up and have that baby". I asked why, and his reply was "because I want him". (Secret: Chase has a thing for babies. That's one of the reasons he was so attractive when we were dating.) It is pretty safe to say we are anxiously awaiting his arrival. We hope our new little man will be just as loving and as sweet as this little man:

Best shirt ever. Federal Witness Protection Program.

And for one of those cute pregnancy pictures that I know everyone wants to see, here I am:

Literally. And this is why no pregnancy pictures of me will ever surface. And if anyone ever does without my knowledge, you better run. And probably not very fast since it may take me awhile to reach you, but I will and so help you when I do. And don't say "woah.." if you happen to see me around. Because I KNOW.

Now, on to the real reason why any of you even visit this blog- my crazy and adorable Cade (except when he's bad, then he's Chase's Cade). Cade's new thing is singing songs. He loves to sing songs. He loves primary songs. He loves the theme songs to all of his favorite shows. He loves songs on the radio that he doesn't even know. And he sings (or tries to sing) along to them all. There is a primary song app on the iPhone that Cade loves to use. He will sit there for like an hour and go through all the songs. Here's a little clip of him doing just that:

Need I say more?

POPCORN

2011-02-02T14:27:00.007-06:00

I LOVE popcorn. Mmmm popcorn. Really, there is no excuse needed to eat popcorn- want to watch a movie? Popcorn! How about just tv? Popcorn! Want to play a game? Popcorn! Paying bills? That's right, popcorn! Ok, maybe not so much on that last one, but you get my point. It's the snack of choice. I've even thought about finding the kind you can make over a fire to put in our 72-hour kits. On rare occasion we ever go to the movies, I can not resist that delicious, buttery, salty goodness. And yes, I literally inhale that heart attack in a bag. Last time we saw a movie, Chase gave me all kinds of looks as he told me to breathe in between bites and to let him have some for once. What can I say, it's sooo good, and there is absolutely no way you can stop with only a few bites. I don't have that kind of self-control. I almost always get a tummy-ache, but I still continue to eat. I can't help it. Mmmmm...

That only explains why as a child, I always loved this Popcorn book:

It's about a bear who throws a Halloween party while his parents go out, and all of his friends bring popcorn with them. And since he has way more friends than I ever did, his entire house fills to the top with popcorn....MY DREAM!! I always thought that would be the coolest thing, to swim in a house (or even a room) full of popcorn, devouring as much as I please. However, I do not want that house to be MY house.

Thanks to Cade, this is what I found as I came out of the shower this morning:

These pictures don't even show it near as well as seeing it in person. It was ALL OVER. Where did it all come from you ask? Because obviously the kid doesn't know how to open a bag of popcorn and use the microwave. In the picture above, the big Santa can that has the 3 different kinds of popcorn in it is the partner in crime. I should have known something was up when Cade kept coming into the bathroom saying, "Ohhhh nooo, Mommy". And when I finally come out to see what's up and why some popcorn had trailed into the bathroom, he says, "Mommy, mess!". Thanks Cade, I didn't notice...

Thanks for the cleanup help, Babe. And showing us all how to be the perfect housewife.

But I can't really be mad at the kid- just look at him:

Awwwww! What an angel:)

This Little Monkey is TWO!

2011-01-10T18:40:00.023-06:00

Cade turned 2 last month on December 8th! I can't believe how fast he is growing up (can't think about that too much to prevent the water works from coming). We had a crazy month of December so we didn't get to celebrate Cade's birthday until a week and a half later and combined celebrating his and my brother Matt's birthdays at the same time. I didn't even attempt at a cake this year since I was feeling horrible and we were incredibly busy. So boring, not cutsied looking cupcakes it was! At least they had a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling in the center.

He looks just like my baby pictures right here.

Good Job Madison!

Now, I love, love, love my baby. He is the cutest kid on the planet. I know every mother feels that way about their kid, as I believe every mother should. So I am not holding anything back as I brag about him incessantly because as every other mother, that is my right. After all, he is my whole world.

Cade is the sweetest, and I mean SWEETEST, boy. He is so happy, so friendly, and SO loving. He tells me "I lu you" all the time (I'm sure it helps that I tell him that literally 50 times a day). All day long he will climb up to me, get in my face and say "Mommy, kiss" and give me a kiss. He says "please" and "thank you, Momma" for EVERYTHING. He has to say "hi" (really loud, I might add) to everyone we pass. He knows no stranger. He gets very upset when we get upset with him. He immediately cries and wants to kiss and hug for like 5 minutes to make it better. It breaks my heart that he feels like he's disappointing us, but I do love that he wants everything to always be good between us. He has a lot of compassion for other people. I am so glad he has this trait. If you are crying, he's all over you. He gets in your face- "Mommy, crying" as he scrunches up his face pretty pitifully and tries to love me back to happiness. One day at the playground, an older kid about 8 or so was yelling across to his brother. Cade thought he was hurt or upset and ran right over to him and asked him what was wrong. The other day we had the show Wipeout on tv. The first girl started the obstical course and she got smacked really hard with something and fell in the water. Cade immediately started crying (really hard) and going somewhat balistic. It was very obvious that he thought she was hurt. Everytime that girl fell or hit real hard or anything (which was actually really funny, might I add), Cade just got worse. We just had to change the channel. The list of these instances goes on and on.

He is very easy to reason with, for just about anything. We can almost always get him to calm down by just talking and explaining things to him. For example, he knows he has to eat bites of all his food at dinner. He will whine about it, but we tell him he has to eat however many bites of each thing and then he's all done. He says a whiny "ok" and eats. It works for just about everything else he starts pitching a fit about (it wasn't always this way might I add, but we always stand our ground and he knows it so he learned quickly and is easier to cooperate. It also got a lot better when he started communicating really well). We always tell him "no crying, no whining, be happy" and he repeats each one and will give us a kiss and calm down. He is such a good kid.

He always wants to say the prayer when we eat. We have to help him of course, but he has the "name of Jesus Christ, Amen" part down pat. He has known all of his letters since he was 17 months and quickly after that, learned how to count to 14, forwards and backwards. Kudos to Sesame Street for that one. I don't know where he got those genes from, but he is extremely intelligent.

Cade loves most vegetables. Chase and I have debated whether his favorite food is broccoli or green beans. Here he is chowing down on raw broccoli as he watches a show.

Cade's Christmas Jammies.

All of our Christmas Jammies this year.

Papa sporting them a little better in this pic.

Cade loves Sef.

I go into the bathroom and this is what I find. Cade looks up and says "Mommy, potty. Wiping."

Cade has the worldest greatest Daddy. Really. We had to get a new water heater, and Chase made the box into a train for Cade. Cade is really obsessed with trains.

Wearing Sef's pimpin hat that Jordan sent him for Christmas from Switzerland.

It snowed 6-8 inches in Huntsville last night and today! We spent hours playing outside and had a blast. Cade cried everytime we went inside.

Mommy, Cade, and creepy snowman

Another greatest Daddy moment. It's a snow fort!

Entrance

Going in the entrance

Inside

Daddy and Cade

Hanging in his long-john's, eating a grilled cheese at lunch time.

Grandma and Grandpa took us sledding in their neighborhood later that day.

Cade going down with Grandpa.

And then there was lots and lots and LOTS of nausea..

2011-01-06T13:18:00.006-06:00

As most of you know by now, we are expecting our second child! I figured since having a baby is a big event, it should probably warrant an official post. We are excited to have another as our first has been an absolute joy (yes, some of you may be gasping at this statement since you know what a difficult baby he was for a long time, but if you are around him now, you know exactly what I mean). So hooray for a sweet, little baby and a sibling for Cade!

However, having a baby is not all smiles and butterflies, especially the first half of pregnancy (we will get to the insanity of the first several months after birth another time). What's wrong with the first half of pregnancy, you ask? WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT?! How about feeling like you want to puke your brains out every second of every day but no relief ever comes so you lay on the couch crying all day because you feel like you are going to die and you don't know how on earth you are going to take care of your child and feed him and give him any attention at all except turning on the tv for him all day, all the while all food makes you feel even more sick, but if you don't eat, you feel even more like your life is coming to an end, so you eat and want to puke the whole time, and to make matters worse, you have to eat that food you don't want to eat every couple of hours to try to control the sickness, and I am not just talking crackers every couple of hours, FULL MEALS...which then comes to the problem of how am I going to cook and prepare this food when the look, smell, and thought of EVERYTHING makes me sick and even just standing up for more than 5 seconds makes me want to die, so really, how am I supposed to survive when this is going on EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY?!?! And then try getting strep throat on top of that. So please excuse me when I strongly dislike you when you tell me that you don't get sick with pregnancy.

Luckily, I have finally gotten over the "I'm going to die" hump and have just been in the feeling yucky hump for the last few weeks. Last time, it all lasted until 16 weeks, so I'm hoping just a handful of days more.

I know there are some women who may think this is crazy and wonder why anyone would subject themselves to this awful state over and over. And the answer is so simple. It is because of this:

And this.

And so, so much more.

To say that I LOVE my baby (and yes, I will probably call Cade my baby his entire life) doesn't even come close to describing it. I never really understood real love and sacrifice until I had Cade. I would do anything for that boy. So I'd have to say that we want to add another joy to our lives because of the great blessing they are and the love our first baby brought to our family can only grow with the addition of another. Now, I would be lying if I said I'm not scared to death about being able to handle two kids, but I want children more than anything so I can't justify letting my fear and lots of discomfort and craziness get in the way of my dreams.

And so, we really look forward to this summer when we will meet the newest member of our family around the first of July:)

Halloween Festivities 2010

2010-11-06T18:37:00.023-05:00

Just some pictures of Cade's Halloween this year.

We went to Tate Farms in Meridianville. If you aren't from Huntsville, it's a great pumpkin patch to take your kids. There are so many activities for them to do.

Playing in the big bin of corn

He loved this cotton trailer.

I love pictures like these.

Tractor ride for the little kids. Cade LOVED this. He screamed his head off when we took him out after it was over.

This is the one!

Hayride

At the Trunk or Treat at church. The Hearne's decorated their van for the kids to go through. Cade kept going through it over and over and over. He would go out the exit door and then run right back to the entrance. He did it about 75 times in a row.

My little elephant and his stash.

He loved trick-or-treating, but he really loved handing out the candy to the kids. He would put it in their bags and say "thank you!".

Our neighborhood is crazy on Halloween. A lot of the houses decorate their entire front yard and even do haunted house type things. We get so many trick-or-treaters you would not believe.

Notice the line.

I bought about $135 worth of candy this year (thank goodness I only paid about $35 for it). We saw about 350 kids and were only left with the 2 M&Ms bags.

I just love this time of year!!

The Crazy that is Called CHINA

2010-10-30T14:19:00.052-05:00

Let me first start out by saying, this is the first trip I have ever taken out of the country, so I was immediately put in ultimate culture shock. And boy is China a heck of a different country to first experience. Although, the first words out of my mouth when asked about China is that it is absolutely crazy, it really was a great trip that I am very glad I was able to experience it. I only say that China was crazy because you are put WAY outside of the comforts of home, and basically everything that is somewhat familiar to you is nowhere to be found. Although I have always been grateful to live in the United States, my gratitude and love for my country increased 100 fold after this visit. My favorite phrase during my visit was, "Thank God for America".

Now, so all of you can get a little taste of our trip and maybe a better understanding of my introduction, I have posted A LOT of pictures and will explain things as I go along. So beware, this is going to be a long post.

This first picture is of The Great Wall. We rode an overnight train from Shanghai to Beijing to be able to see The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, and many other places. The Great Wall was absolutely amazing.

We took a ski lift up to a part of the wall. From there, you can walk on the wall as far as you like.

Notice in this picture, the steps are extremely slanted. You feel completely off when walking along these parts. The entire wall isn't like this, but a lot is.

There are a lot of places where you literally have to climb because the steps are so steep. This isn't really a place you would want to take your kids or elderly relatives.

So steep. Have to hold on to the railing.

All of us with our tour guide, Emmy.

To get down from The Great Wall, you can choose the option of taking a toboggan. You MUST take these. They are so fun! You can make them go as fast or slow as you want. The best is to let it go as fast as possible the whole time.

All of us kept having to slow down because the guy in front of Chase was going so slow and ruining our fun.

At the end.

This is our room on the night train. All the beds in China are hard as a rock.

Temple of Heaven

Chase and I riding on one of those carriage bikes. This is right before the man driving us dropped us off at the completely wrong place on purpose (but he told us it was the right place and we didn't know any better). We were lost from the Laytons for an hour with no money, no cell phone, and no clue how to speak the language. It was the longest hour of my life, and I was so close to losing it. Finally, after 2 trips to a tour guide booth and 2 attempts at understanding broken English, we finally came across a girl who spoke better English who showed us the way to the Forbidden City where we were supposed to meet up with the Laytons.

Here is that stupid man who totally took advantage of us. I so badly want to kick him in the face!

Forbidden City

Our authentic Chinese meal after visiting The Great Wall. What you see here was actually very good. Our tour guide ordered everything for us, and she did a very good job at choosing dishes that Americans will eat. Now, as far as everything else the Chinese eat, it is straight NASTY. They do not eat the kind of Chinese food we eat here in America. It is completely different, and it looks and smells HORRID. And that smell is everywhere. There is no escaping it. And they eat all that weird, nasty stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even at our hotel in Beijing, the continental breakfast had all that nasty food and the look of it makes you want to vomit.

The Birds Nest from the Olympics in Beijing

The Chinese Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai

Seth playing in his school band during the parade at the Expo.

Ok, so, being a female, I do not do well with the Chinese way of toilets. They are squatters. I am not. This is the bathroom on the night train to Beijing. Be glad I am showing you this cool looking bathroom, and not the straight nasty bathrooms that are everywhere else in that country. Every time I entered a bathroom, the smell was absolutely overwhelming. It is purely awful. SOO much worse than the worst gas station bathroom you have ever been to. They also do not have any toilet paper so if you want to use some, you carry your own. And it is very rare if the bathroom has soap. So germ freak as I am did not cope with this very well.

Right outside of the Layton's townhouse in Shanghai. I don't know why we forgot to take a picture of the front of it.

The living/dining room. This place literally is the haven away from the storm. I think one of the things that really surprised me about China was how poor most of the country is. This townhouse is the complete opposite of how normal Chinese people live. It is more westernized and is more comfortable to those living in China from other countries. It is also very expensive to live here, which is why if you are Chinese and live here, you are pretty wealthy.

The townhouse is 4 stories: basement with pool table, laundry, and storage, 2nd floor is living room/dining room, kitchen, and bathroom, 3rd floor is 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, 4th floor is another bedroom and office. We stayed in the bedroom on the 4th floor. From the basement, there are 60-70 stairs up to the bedroom (I counted, but now can't remember). Chase always joked about having to climb the Great Wall just to get to our room.

Kitchen. Very rare to have an oven in China.

Here is one of the places we went shopping. Shopping in China is awesome (except grocery shopping. I'll get to that.) Mainly, it is awesome because you bargain for everything. It is just a big game. We were told to offer 1/4 of what they initially ask for, and then don't raise from that price very much. Although, they would put up these big charades about how crazy we were for wanting to pay those low prices, not once did we not have them yell after us as we started walking away and give in. It's great because you are in total control (if you are confident and do it right). Always be prepared to walk away. It works like a charm:) This place was packed with a million little shops down every street. You just get turned around and lost in all the shopping.

The World Financial Center. We went all the way up to the very top- the 100th floor. It scared the living tar out of me. A lot of the floor is glass so you can see through the bottom onto the street. I just hugged the wall for a couple minutes and then had to go back down. And it didn't make it any better that you could feel the building slightly swaying back and forth.

Looking out from the top. And this is even zoomed in as far as the camera would go so that shows you how high we were.

Now, I'm getting to the part about the shopping- the good and the bad. First, we are starting with the bad- grocery shopping. The things in grocery stores are completely different than what are in ours. If we had to live in China, I would be completely stressed out as how to feed my family. You can find some stores that do sell some Americanized products. But you have to be willing to pay big bucks for those items. For example, a box of Chex cereal is 10 American dollars, a bag of chocolate chips is 7 American dollars, etc. It is outrageous.

Here is a grocery store with all Chinese stuff. There was not a single thing in here that I would buy for my family. Also, one of the worst things about the grocery store is the smell. It smelled of decay if you ask me. Just looking at this picture makes me sick to my stomach because I remember the awful smell.

Notice how none of the meat is wrapped. And would it surprise you if I told you that none of the workers cutting the meat wore gloves?

And how about the customers buying the meat? Nope, no gloves either. Everyone just starts digging in, touching everything, and picking out what they want. All the while coughing and sneezing all over everything. SO, SO, SO disgusting. And when they get what they want, heaven forbid they use sanitizing wipes to clean their hands, but no, they have to go around touching everything else in the store too. That was something I really had a hard time with is how dirty and unsanitary everything is in China. It's just how they live.

Ew. I don't even touch meat when I'm preparing it at home.

The smell of whatever all this stuff is was completely, overwhelmingly rank.

None of the food ever looks normal there.

This is the kind of stuff that's all over the place. And for some reason, they love it.

I can't look at these pictures without being sick to my stomach. I really wish I could adequately explain the smell.

I wish I had taken a picture of the tank of fish in the store where you get a net and fish out the fish you want to take home to cook. They just sit there with the net, scoop up a fish, pick it up, look it over, throw it back, scoop up another one, decide if that one looks good, and so on. And still no sanitizing wipes!!!

There are diapers for sale at the stores. Do many people buy them? No. Therefore, they need a dummy to show what these are used for. Even when I asked our tour guide at the Great Wall why the babies don't wear diapers, she did not know what the word diaper was. But she did tell me that they don't like to use them because they think it is bad for the skin and that the skin should be able to breathe.

So this is what the babies wear instead. Everywhere you go, you see babies butts. The entire crotch of the pants that kids wear is cut out. So the entire front of the child is exposed as well. I still don't understand how the mom's holding the babies aren't covered in pee and feces constantly. Somehow, I guess it works for them. But the reason they wear these pants is so that the child can squat down wherever they are and use the bathroom. Kids on the side of the road just start peeing (and grown men but that's a different story). We saw one mother holding her small child (I am guessing about 6 months old) in the grocery store over a trash can trying to get him to pee in it.

That is another thing about China that is difficult to get used to- the horrible smell. If you aren't smelling the nasty food, it reeks of sewage. The entire country (or at least Shanghai and Beijing because that is all we got to see) smells like sewage. And I'm sure people going to the bathroom everywhere doesn't help it. Another thing is everyone, and I mean everyone, smokes in China. And you are allowed to smoke anywhere you want. There is no getting away from it. I really think that just from 2nd hand smoke and all the pollution I breathed in from my week stay, I lost about 5 years of my life.

Now on to the good part of shopping- the bargain shopping. I already explained somewhat how to get a good deal. Here, I am going to show the coolest place- the Fabric Mart. This place is heaven. There are 4 floors of hundreds of booths just crammed in next to each other. Some of them specialize in different things, such as suits, dress shirts, coats, etc. They all display some of the things they make so you get an idea what they specialize in. The best part is, these people can make anything you want. You can bring in a picture and say "I want this", and they can make it. First, you tell them what you want and pick out your fabric. Then they measure you and you start talking price. We got some great deals.

Some of the shops specialize in ties, pashmenas, cuff links, etc. We got Chase several 100% silk ties (paid $1 for each) and several 100% cashmere pashmenas (I won't tell my dirt cheap price because some I am giving as Christmas presents).

Here is Chase's suit we had made. It's all wrinkled from being shipped to us. It is wool and super nice. Bargained and got it for $70.

Here is my beautiful houndstooth cashmere coat that I had made just for me. I can't even describe how nice and high quality this coat is. I am so excited about this purchase. I paid $60. And I even got a crimson cashmere pashmena to match:)

Trying to show how nice the cashmere is.

This is my "Coach" purse that I bought in the underground market. Let me say, we followed a few people back to their random hideouts where they sell bags and things, and you go back through some pretty scary alleys and such before you are lead into this random room with the goods. In one of the rooms, we ran into this man from Mexico who was in his 40's or 50's. Really nice. But he was hiding in the back while his wife looked. He told us he was so scared to be there because he knew the police were going to come any second. This purse we bargained down from 1250 RMB to 200 RMB, which is $30. I was so proud. I got a black one for my sister Kim, too. They have this exact same purse at Dillards for $500, and I still can't tell how mine is fake.

Another thing that is everywhere are real freshwater pearls. You can get them for next to nothing. I got several pearl jewelry Christmas gifts so I won't share my prices, but let's just say you will laugh.

Well, now that you've been reading this post for the past hour. That is basically a quick sum-up of our trip. I could go on and on about the weird stuff we saw, how crowded everything is, how there is no personal space and everyone is all over you, how insanely packed the streets are with cars, scooters, and bikes (don't get me started on those), and all the cool things we experienced. So glad we had this once in a lifetime opportunity!

Maisy Lane Messervy

2010-10-28T21:52:00.002-05:00

My precious new niece was born today, October 28, 2010, at 7:45 am. She weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz. and is 19 1/2 inches long. She looks just like Chris and exactly like Kate. We are so excited she is here! She is the first out of my nieces and nephew that I have been able to go see in the hospital.
(This is the only picture I got of her before my camera died. Grr. I'll have to post others later.)

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Matt Calderwood

2010-10-23T15:01:00.009-05:00

I am very behind on posting a lot of events that have happened recently. I plan on trying to get them all posted within the next couple of weeks.

The first event happened last month. On September 18, 2010, my brother, Matt, and my new sister-in-law Julie, got married. It was a very joyous occasion and one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. The details to everything were outstanding. I did not get a lot of pictures on my own camera so I stole a few of the professional pictures and hope that's okay!

The groom's cake was amazing! It was so,so moist and the icing was so creamy. Literally, one of the best wedding/groom's cakes I've eaten aside from my own. I won't tell why I'm biased.. And, yes, that is a chocolate computer on the top for Matt.

I loved these napkins. Julie only has a couple more years until she is an opthomologist so these napkins represent her very well.

Taken away on a carriage. So pretty.

These are some videos we took of Cade at the reception. When the DJ turned up the music, down the lights, and opened the floor to dancing, Cade automatically ran out to the middle of the floor and went nuts. When he first ran out, all eyes were completely on him wondering what on earth he was going to do. He excitedly started dancing and having a good ol'time. It was hilarious. Currently, his dancing is mainly jumping up and down to the music. The first video was taken after he had already been dancing about a minute. The second is after he was all tired out and enjoying a dance with Momma.

Mark Forester

2010-10-10T20:06:00.012-05:00

Written by Chase

This post is breaking from our normal updates about the Layton household. In fact, we have held off on the normal updates and our trip to China post until a week or two from now. We didn't feel we could do any of that until we had properly expressed our feelings about the passing of one of our dearest college friends. Mark Forester was killed in combat in Afghanistan on September 29. He was a Senior Airman and Combat Controller, which is considered Air Force special forces.

On the night of Sept. 29, Kristin was out, and Cade and I were home alone. I had put him to bed, and I was in our room watching TV when Kristin came home. Kim (Kristin's sister) had called Kristin while she was at the store, and she immediately came home and delivered the bad news. When Kristin came into our room from being out, she gave me the bad news while crying. To be quite honest, I had a feeling for a couple weeks that this was coming. On Sept 11th, I heard a public service announcement come on the radio that suggested contacting and sending packages to our troops overseas. I felt it was a great idea, and so I decided to do that for Mark, since he is the only close friend I have that was currently serving actively. I have always been extremely proud of Mark for deciding to serve, and I always wanted to express that to him, but being a guy, expressing feelings seems to be hard I guess. Although I told him several times I was proud and grateful for his service, I never really felt he understood HOW grateful I was. So upon hearing the PSA on the radio, I decided this would be a great time to do that by sending a small package and a letter expressing those feelings. So I got on Facebook that day and Mark just so happened to be on at the same time. I needed his address, so I asked him for it. Here is the conversation that followed:

Mark: I'm still in Afghanistan. You wanting my address over here? How are things buddy?

Chase: Yeah what is your address over there. Things are good here. Big football matchups today so I am parked on the couch.

Mark: (Gives address) I'm pissed I don't get to watch hardly any football over here. I'm gonna try to watch some bright and early my time, which means it will be evening ya'lls time. hopefully I can catch the last part of the Bama game.

Chase: Yeah should be good. So if I wanted to send a package to that address, would it get there? You gonna be there awhile?

Mark: It's funny you ask. I was supposed to go home in November, the exact date I'm not sure. But literally 5 minutes ago, I got a message saying I may need to extend for 3 months, so I have no clue. Not sure how many bullets I can dodge, so I may be home much quicker, haha. Yeah, packages get here. We have to have helo's bring them to us, so sometimes it takes a while. Thanks tho buddy.

Chase: Cool. Well you better stay safe.

In Mark's last message to me, it is hard to explain, but I had an impression that something would happen to him. It was more than just a thought or worry. So going back to when Kristin broke the news that night, the first thing that came into my mind was an uneasy, "I knew it". I consider it little tiny miracles that lead me to have that last conversation with my dear friend. Even though he did not receive my package, he at least knew that we were thinking of him back home, and were grateful for what he was doing. I hope it brought a little comfort to him.

We met Mark quickly after moving to Tuscaloosa, but it was when our friend Michael put together an intramural flag football team that we really started to get to know him, as well as many other friends, much better. We will always be grateful for how that team started so many strong friendships. Kristin told me a story recently about something Mark had said to her room mate Debbie soon after we arrived to Tuscaloosa. Kristin and I were dating at the time and just broke up (which only lasted for the semester). Mark noticed us not sitting together at church and asked Debbie if we had broken up. When she told him that we had, he said something along the lines of "Aw, thats too bad". Contrary to what Debbie thought he was going to say next, he paused, and said, "I bet he needs a friend, maybe I should hang out with him." And he did. For the next 4 years. Mark was a great friend to me and to Kristin.

The last time we were able to spend time with Mark was at the beginning of 2010. His brother was flying into town in Huntsville, and we coordinated with him to come up early to visit before he had to pick him up. This was his first time to see Cade in person. It didn't take long for Cade to be comfortable around him, and before you knew it they were throwing a ball back and forth. We hung out at our house and then went out to eat at BridgeStreet in Huntsville since it was on the way to the airport. We are grateful we had that opportunity.

I just want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mark's family, and to the rest of our armed forces who put their lives on the line daily for me and my family. I think with being so advanced technologically, and the way that we fight wars now, that we as Americans can easily forget what is really going on out there. We sit here safe in our homes with somewhat little cares, and seem to forget about those out there fighting for us to enjoy that safety and freedom. I feel truly blessed to have had a friend in Mark through college and beyond. He was and still is an example to me. We had so many great times together, whether it was playing video games, sports, working out, practicing to try-out for Alabama's football team as punters, or just hanging out at each others houses. He is a hero to me and my family, and we will always remember him. I cannot wait to see him again on the other side.

Here are a few pictures of his funeral services that our friend Michael took. If you haven't already, I suggest you visit his website to see a more detailed post of the services, and a ton of great pictures.

Here are two direct links. One for his tribute to Mark: http://www.michaelthemaven.com/?postID=1586&tribute-to-an-american-hero-mark-forester. The other is his post about the funeral services: http://www.michaelthemaven.com/?postID1597&mark-forester-air-force-burial.

This was a sight to see. We showed up right as it started at 2:00 and it was standing room only and we were in the doorway shown in the far corner of the gym. The placed was packed.

It was very touching upon arriving to Haleyville to see every single sign in town stating something about Mark. And then after the funeral we were moved even more by the vast amounts of people standing alongside the road that the procession was taking to stand with their flags to show support and love.

These signs were up EVERYWHERE. From local businesses to people's yards, there were hundreds of them.

Mark received full military honors for his burial. I was really proud to see how our country takes care of their own, especially when paying the ultimate sacrifice. I held it together fairly well up until the flyover. Four F-16's were in formation to fly over us, and then right as they came over our location, one broke off formation and went straight upward. My guess was that it was to signify a team-mate leaving and ascending up heavenward. The remaining 3 jets continued on, still in their perfect formation but now missing a man.

Here are some older pictures we dug up. We hope you enjoy them. The first two were taken in Mobile when we were down for Daylyn and Jill's wedding reception. Kristin and I were freshmen in college, so this was taken in the fall of 2004.

Intramural basketball. I want to say this was in 2007. We played against Tyrone Prothro's team and got spanked. It was a good time though, and we were all excited to get this picture with him.

This was at our wedding reception. Mark actually caught Kristin's garter.

He was quite pleased as you can see.

I love this picture.

Typical Mark. He probably wore that for the next couple of months. He told us that he had it hanging on his bed post for a while.

We love Mark and will miss him dearly. We cannot wait until we get to be with him again on the other side. Until then brother...

August Happenings

2010-08-19T20:26:00.020-05:00

This month so far has brought on a lot of changes. First off, Roxanne has officially moved to China and we are now Nonni-less. The day she left was really rough, and I know the next 2 years are going to be pretty lonely without everyone here. When we were at the airport saying goodbye to Nonni (and as she was bawling her eyes out), Cade was very concerned about what was wrong with her and just kept staring at her with his very distressed, scrunched up look on his face and saying "wa-wa" over and over as he pointed to her eyes. He asks for her all the time so he is really going to miss her. We are very glad, though, for her going-away present of Hallmark books. Each book has recording of a different member of the Layton family reading it. Cade LOVES them. He would sit there and flip through them all day if I let him. He gets mad at me when I put them away.

Cade and Nonni. I told him to cheese and this is what he did.

Some other new things that have happened this month:

Cade and I can go out and about as we please now. Our misery of being stuck in the house (for 8 months) is now over. We have a wonderful Honda Pilot to drive for the next 2 years (thanks Laytons!) We will take great care of it:)
Chase started school this week. He is going back for his MBA. He is still working full-time at his regular job and is taking 2 classes each semester at night.
I received a new calling at church this past Sunday- 2nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

Onto my favorite part- my little goober munchkin:

Always walking around in Mommy or Daddy's shoes. I hope he doesn't become too fond of mine..

Yogurt anyone?

Cheese!

Every weekend, Chase has been making make-shift blanket tents for Cade, and he LOVES them. He will just grab your hand and say "play" and lead you to the tent.

So, thanks to Nonni, Cade now has a real tent to play in and it's huge.

Woah. Give this guy my number, PU-lease!

My poor baby's boo-boo. He touched the pan on the stove and screamed for 2 hours straight. It looks worse in person.

Who he wants to be when he grows up- Mr. Potato Head.

Jack and Kate's Fruit Loop necklaces

And Cade's.

He wears this out until it dies. No lie. I just love how much he tries to do what I do...when it comes to housecleaning.

Billionaire material.

Surprise! and Goodbyes:(

2010-07-12T13:11:00.019-05:00

Pa Pa (Chase's dad) made a surprise visit last week. He has been in China since January so everyone was more than thrilled to see him. Cade especially loved his visit and still cries to go see Pa Pa at least twice a day.

Here's the duo together on the 4th.

Our small fireworks display. Most of the time Cade was distracted with our neighbors much better fireworks so that must tell you something.

Sad day. Pa Pa left to go back to China, and Seth and Cody went with him. Cade's favorite person is Seth so this change will be hard for him. We got to see Cody for a total of 2 1/2 hours. He flew in the night before they left for China. We hadn't seen him since Christmas, but Cade warmed up to him really fast and ran around calling "Tody, Tody, Tody" for the 2 1/2 hours. See you guys at Christmas!

Chase had his 10 year high school reunion a couple of weeks ago (what an old fart). Chase decided that he only wanted to go to the family picnic that afternoon. Sad we didn't get any pictures with his best friend Joel, his wife Desiree, and son Jax, who came in from Louisiana. It's always good to see them. We did, however, seem to only get pictures of Cade (since apparently that is the only thing we take pictures of) jumping around in this big, blow-up, bouncy thing outside.

Cade and Jax.

Our little baby bird. It's really cute when he does this so we kind of do it often.

Creepy Daddy...

Cade's favorite shirt on the planet. Sesame Street is his crack.

Is that a girl? Na, just Cade playing dress up with his friend Sarabeth. She insisted that Cade (or rather "Kristin" is what she called him most of the time) wanted to play dress up and that he wanted to wear this dress. So why not just have fun with it and send pictures to Chase to make him mad? It's what any mother would do.

Dress like a cow for free Chick-Fil-A day? Yes, please! Since we don't own real cow garb, we all put on a bunch of homemade spots, headbands with ears, and an "Eat More Chikin" sign. Madison, Jack, and Kate are sporting their spots. Kate, I don't think it goes there....

Bridgestreet. Just strip him down and make him happy.

He always gives this dog big hugs and kisses and says "Aww".

And then sits on him??

So, Cade's favorite thing to do is help me unload the dishwasher. No lie. If he hears it open or if I say, "Do you want to help me with the dishwasher?", he comes running full speed. (I even have a lock on it to keep him out). He loves putting all the silverware in the drawer, stacking up all the bowls and plates and handing them to me (only had one accident so far), shaking all the water off of the tupperware, and getting distracted playing with everything else.

I hope he becomes this excited about doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom when he's older because he can have at it!

I think I've learned that my style for this blog is pretty much random pictures with random descriptions. And I'm okay with that.

Alright, already....

2010-06-03T08:30:00.022-05:00

It has been 2 months since my last update. Honestly, I've been neglecting blogging because, well, there is just not a whole lot happening lately that I feel is worthy to report. For the most part, things have been pretty uneventful at the Layton household. I'm not really sure if that is a good or a bad thing. Eventful or not, however, Cade is still growing and learning new things every day. So basically this is yet another post of just a whole lot of pictures. It must be apparent by now how obsessed we are with our kid. But how could we not? Just look at this face-

His favorite thing is to be outside. We can't even say that word around him because he will freak out and run to the door. Whenever anyone comes through the front door and shuts it, he freaks out because he wants to go outside. He is 100% boy.

His favorite person in the world right now is Seth. It's always "Se" this and "Se" that. He even cries for Seth.

Out on the Norris's boat. Cade's first time on a boat and he loved it. Didn't get an actual picture of him on the boat though because I was too distracted with Chase jumping in the lake with his IPhone in his pocket! Don't worry, somehow, he managed to fix it:)

We took Cade to feed the ducks one afternoon. He had a blast. When he first started to feed them, he would laugh his head off when they gobbled up his bread.

Cade wanted too badly to get the ducks in the water, so we had to keep him in our grasp. He sure is a quick one.

I love it when I walk into a room and catch Cade doing something cute. This particular day, I came into his room and found him looking at a book. He looked like such a big boy sitting up there all by himself.

Handsome all ready for church.

Always a goofball.

One morning I was out in the family room and I hear Cade in our room saying "shoe" over and over. I go in to see what he's up to and found him in his daddy's shoes. It was adorable.

And again. He thinks it's so funny. And then he tries to walk in them. That's not too funny. For him that is.

I've been watching Jack and Kate whenever my sister has her doctor's appointments. Hooray for her 4th baby! Due at the end of October! This day we made pancakes into cute critters. Don't you just love my retro counter tops? Yeah, don't worry, I don't either.

We also stripped them all down and let them loose outside to play in the sprinkler. Extremely entertaining and quite hilarious.

Cade had his first day of nursery on Sunday! My little boy is growing up way too fast!! Here he is with his nursery teacher, Sister Callahan, who is WONDERFUL.

My little Russian.

For those of you who don't get a chance to hear a little one jabber non stop all day long, you are sure missing out. One of the things I really love about the toddler stage is how Cade is learning to talk. He does say a lot of actual words, but for the most part, he says a whole lot-a-nothin. It's so cute to see him try to communicate. Here is a little video of him jabbering his head off. That's always the best.

Family Pics and Easter

2010-04-05T10:06:00.019-05:00

Family pictures at last! I was so excited about a month ago when our friend Mike (who is a wonderful photographer) came back to Sweet Home Alabama and offered us some family pictures. Cade was now 15 months old, and we had yet to get any family pictures taken so you can imagine how ecstatic I was. I am so glad to have these pictures. I have already posted these on facebook and never know the rule of putting the same stuff on the blog and facebook so if you've already seen them, here are a few of our favorites again.

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I love the joy that kids bring to holidays. We decided to hide about 50 plastic eggs in the backyard for Cade to find. Since he can't really eat candy yet (nor do I really want him to), we filled his eggs with his usual favs of goldfish and teddy grahams. We had a few that did have some chocolate candies and some with some real fruit kind of snacks/candy. Then there were some big ones that had Sesame Street figurines inside. Cade had a blast.

Had to take a quick stop for a go on the slide.

His Elmo Easter basket filled with little toys and books.

The Easter Bunny brought all the good toys to Nonni's house this year. Cade got a 4-wheeler, a lawn mower, and a big stuffed bunny. How kind you are Easter Bunny:) I always wanted one of these battery powered plastic things when I was a kid and never, ever did my parents give in. Now my kid isn't even 16 months and he's got one of his own. I guess you are entitled to these things when you are the cutest little boy around or when you have good grandparents.

Even makes a Vroom sound.

We played with this bubble machine for a long time.

And, still, outside playing. Pretty much the best day of Cade's life. He is obsessed with being outside.

Daddy forced him to wear his other Easter basket on his head because he looked like Mushroom Head (Mario Brothers anyone?)

Mr. Personality loves to make silly faces. He always gets me rolling.

Crazy.

Only 16 months and already likes to kiss the ladies, especially his cousin Kate. He is relentless when she is around, constantly going for those big smack-aroos. Kate informed her mom that Cade gave her LOTS of kisses while she was gone.

Finally- Videos!

2010-02-18T19:48:00.015-06:00

We finally got the software to upload videos! So now if you already didn't get enough Cade overload, you're going to get real annoyed with me. There's nothing like capturing real life moments. Nothing excited has really happened lately for us that is really post worthy. It is going on 3 months now that I have been without a car so Cade and I have been going stir crazy being couped up in the house most of the time. However, it seems like we have been enjoying each other more and more and are creating a pretty tight bond.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how quickly Cade has changed over the past year. With all the lamenting, of course I resulted in melting all over the videos we have of him. I just can't help it. Here are a couple of videos to show you a little bit of that drastic transformation. The first is when he was about a week old. Do not pay attention to me. That was a very hard time and I was still sporting all the extra weight. But his little tiny body is the cutest thing in the world.

(If you are wondering why my little baby is clotheless it is because when I was still trying to nurse, the doctor told me to undress him to feed to try to keep him from falling asleep. I'm not that cruel just for the fun of it.)

This is a video of Cade now. He is so big. I love how he is trying to communicate more every day and how he actually understands a lot of what I say to him.

Here are some random pictures of him the past month:

He loves toothbrushes. Maybe that will mean good oral hygene in his future.

Poor thing still has no hair so we were trying to spike up the few strands that are there.

Cousin Madi's glasses. I think he is actually pitching a fit in this one.

Cousins Jack and Kate celebrated their birthdays together last Saturday. They are 1 year and 1 week apart. Of course, Kim made an awesome cake. So since she only updates her blog like once a year, I'll show it off for her.

Jack wanted an Alabama cake. This is Jack's side.

And this is Kate's.

Jack and Kate.

Having the time of his life playing with a computer at Staples. We never let him play with ours and he gets so mad.

As of the past week, Cade's favorite word is "no". I hate it. He tells me no for everything. Can't blame him for learning it so quickly though. With all of his mischeviousness, he sure hears it a lot.

Things are pretty uneventful for us now. Hopefully, things will warm up soon, and we will have some good things to post about next time.

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas

2010-01-02T11:19:00.012-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. Christmas just seems more enjoyable or "fun" when there is a kid around. Here are a few pictures from our holiday.

Our Fisher-Price Nativity Set that Secret Santa left on our doorstep:)

We didn't take Cade to the mall to see Santa this year. Santa at church is sufficient enough. No crying, just strange looks.

Christmas Morning. One of Cade's gifts- his own little chair.

Cade and Daddy- with some ridiculous facial hair going on.

Jordan and Grandpa sporting this years Christmas Jammies.

Roxanne in the girls Christmas Jammies.

The boys put a curly ribbon bow on the back of Cade's head and called him "little black girl" the rest of the morning (no racial offenses intended).

We are excited for another wonderful year in 2010!

One Year Old!!

2009-12-08T14:09:00.017-06:00

Look who's one!! I can't believe my little baby is already one! Oh what a year it has been, but never would I trade it for anything in the world. I am so grateful to have such a precious little mess in our family. A year ago today he came into this world, and it's incredible how fast they change. I always think about how he will grow in all the years to come and what he will be like, but really I wish he would stay little forever.

Oh, what a stud you are.

Here are some pictures from Cade's birthday party that we had on Saturday:

Elmo cake.

Gives Dad the- what is going on look.

Decides to try for a touch.

Grazed the top of the flame and decided he doesn't like it.

This is the most he touched his personal "1" cake that he is technically supposed to trash. He has never been one that touches food or puts anything in his mouth. I have only seen babies put anything and everything in their mouths so I don't know what his deal is. The only food I can get him to feed himself is a cracker.

Presents.

Yet again, doesn't want to touch the presents. Madison (his cousin that he LOVES) had to show him, but still no interest in tearing the paper. Luckily, we had Jack and Kate more than ready to finish the job.

Way too many presents from all the family. Spoiled? I say yes. A brat (Jordan), I say no.

Cousins

Cade has reached another milestone this past week- walking! He has been wanting to walk for months and months and would be very frustrated that he couldn't get around like us. Therefore, he would result to extreme whining and constantly grabbing our fingers to help him walk everywhere. But now, this big boy can do it all by himself!

He laughs the entire time. He thinks he is so awesome.

Can't you see the pride beaming in his face? And don't dare not give him praise once he reaches his destination because he will get angry. Oh, I love little boys:)

Trick-or-Treat

2009-11-07T21:06:00.005-06:00

For Cade's first Halloween, he went Duck-style. Here are a few pictures from that evening.

Trying to get a picture of his whole costume. Not wanting to cooperate.

At the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. He was real clingy and not in the best of moods.

How we found him when arriving home. Poor baby.

As for our Halloween, it was spent handing out candy to the hundreds of trick-or-treaters that rang our doorbell. And yes, I said hundreds. Apparently, our neighborhood is the big hot spot for all the kids. Maybe it is because almost all of the houses decorate their front yards just for the kids, many of them having haunted house type deals in their yards. There were lines and lines of kids waiting at all of those houses. It was so packed that it was quite the ordeal trying to drive down the street! I now have a new respect for our neighborhood and think it is awesome that everyone has great holiday spirit. Next year, I need to do better decorating and buy a lot more candy.

Fall Cheesin'

2009-10-03T09:11:00.011-05:00

I absolutely love this time of year! The weather starts to get cooler and the jackets come out along with the fun decorations and yummy fall food. And so the holidays begin with Halloween- my favorite (tied with Christmas). Therefore, the camera also comes out. Cade looks so cute in his Halloween clothes, and I can't resist.

This goober has also started to cheese for the camera, and it is the funniest thing in the world.

This is starting out.

Here I go.

Full-blown cheesin'!

He knows he is so funny.

Cheesin' another day when I was taking pictures of his first day to wear jeans.

Cade also gets in these bubble blowing modes where he will stand there for about 10 minutes and make this "mwaaa" sound while he blows bubble after bubble. Here's a nice one that I finally caught on camera before it popped.

Works up quite the saliva.

In his adorable glow-in-the-dark Halloween jammies.

More acting funny while cheesin'.

Crawling at Last!

2009-09-19T09:53:00.024-05:00

At 9 months, my baby is finally crawling! He very quickly went from only sitting, to scooting around on his stomach, to full out crawling. For those of you family members requesting to see more of Cade, I have including tons of pictures.

Grunting and pushing so hard to move around on his tummy.

Venturing into one of his favorite places- the laundry room. Loves to watch that laundry go round and round. His other favorite- to go into the bathroom and stare at the tub. Giving me hints.

Learning that the knees are supposed to be involved.

The cutest thing ever.

For real crawling.

Cade has also started to babble a whole lot and I would by lying if I said that I didn't absolutely love it. There is nothing sweeter than to hear the sounds of a precious baby. If you try to get him to say something, his response is always Da-Da. Unless he's mad, then it's Ma-ma. What's up with that? Momma is the one with him 24/7!

Helping Momma get ready in the morning. He has 6 teeth now. 4 more on the top.

Love it when he talks to himself.

His favorite- Daddy's toothbrush. It vibrates.

Helping Momma look through the ads.

Bath time is the ultimate fun.

Climbing up to stand.

What a big boy!!
And yes, in almost all the pictures, he is in his jammies.

Coupons

2009-08-18T14:43:00.005-05:00

So, as of a few months ago, I am absolutely obsessed with coupons and getting extremely amazing good deals with them at the supermarkets. Literally, I eat, sleep, breathe coupons. And if you don't think coupons do that much to your total besides take a few cents off here or a dollar there, you are WRONG! I know that many of you are already actively saving extreme amounts of money like I am so this is not news for you. But for those of you who don't do this yet, you have to start because it is amazing!

To get started understanding how this process works, go to: southernsavers.com and click on "getting started guides" at the top (that is if you live in the South. Other regions, I believe, have their own websites, I just don't know them). She will explain everything.

The 2 places where I usually use all my coupons are Publix and Kroger because they have by far the best deals. That's right- I did not say Wal-mart. I have learned Wal-mart is only good for those things that you can't get on sale at the other stores. This week Kroger is having ridiculous sales and I purchased $115 worth of groceries for $35!! There weren't as many deals at Publix last week so I only got $28 worth of groceries for $6. However, that is still incredible savings. I usually save an average of 60% or more on my bill. This has really been a great way for us to start building up our food storage a lot quicker than we thought we would be able to. We are able to get many items for just pennies or for free.

My mother-in-law and I always do our couponing together and always joke about it being our mormon version of a high!

Cute Shoes

2009-07-24T14:10:00.006-05:00

I absolutely love this pair of shoes that Cade wears. He always looks so adorable with them on his feet.

Cade must like them, too.

July 22, 2006

2009-07-22T12:41:00.002-05:00

Can't believe it's already been 3 years! We sure don't look like that any more! That's just what love does to you I guess...or in other words, children.. Oh, sweet love.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T22:07:00.003-05:00

Today, we are grateful for our wonderful country, freedom, and family.

Sss..Ssitting and Sswimming..

2009-06-26T22:32:00.009-05:00

Yeah, yeah the title is stupid. I just see all you guys with these clever, witty titles and I got nothin..So, since I turn on PBS and enjoy all the wonderful learning cartoons with Cade pretty much everyday, you get to enjoy me practice saying my letters. It's great when I wake up in the middle of the night to try and get Cade back to sleep and in my head I hear all the lovely theme songs to these cartoons. I think I'm becoming less of a normal person everyday.

Which leads to the first Ss in my title- Cade is sitting up. Still a little wobbley, but will be up with no supervision in no time.

Cade's new favorite toy...a half empty water bottle. Hmm.. And NO I did not buy my boy a purple Bumbo. It is my sister's. Appreciate your concern though.

Now for our second Ss.. We took Cade swimming for the first time today! He was scared and cried and held on the Chase for dear life at first, but after awhile I think he started to enjoy it..although his face would never show it.

Starting to get into it.

Worn out. He feel sound asleep on Chase while in the pool. Poor baby has not been feeling well the past couple of days.

Ew, unpacking..

2009-06-21T21:48:00.024-05:00

We finally moved into our house 3 weeks ago. It is apparent that we are MUCH happier here. No pics to post yet as we are not completely unpacked (hard to do w/a baby that wants to be held constantly and only sleeps 30 minutes at a time). Hopefully, we will finish soon and can post some. For the most part we have finished all the painting and fixing up. So far we have painted every single last bit of wall, baseboard, and door, tiled the laundry room floor (thanks to Chase's dad), refinished the hard wood floor in the family room and the hallways (thanks to my dad), and other little things here and there. We have really appreciated all the help we have received from family throughout this whole process. We could not have done any of it if it weren't for all of your help.

We had a pleasant surprise last month. Chase's brother, Cody, flew home and surprised everyone with a short visit. No one had any clue he was coming, so needless to say everyone freaked out. His last visit was at Christmas time, and he wasn't supposed to come home again until this coming up Christmas. So of course there was much excitement, and we were happy that Cody got to see Cade since we didn't think he would see him until he turned 1.

Cody and Cade

Another of Chase's brothers recently left to go out to school at BYU. He is playing on BYU's soccer team, and we are all really proud of him.

Sad goodbye's between Jordan and Cade. Cade really loves Jordan.

We are excited to see both Jordan and Cody sooner than the planned Christmas visit when they come home in August!

About a month ago, Cade had a weird tongue fettish where he seemed to constantly have his tongue hanging right out. He is always doing something else that is hilarious.

AND... We have TEETH!! Cade cut his first 2 teeth about 3 weeks ago. We couldn't figure out for the life of us what on earth was wrong with the kid because he was 20 times more fussy than usual. Now we know.

And if you can't see them well enough here..maybe this will help:

Now, Cade always has his bottom lip sucked in. What a goober.

I know I'm prejudiced because he is mine, but he really is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Even though he is such a terrible sleeper and I get so frustrated, it is really hard to get mad at such an adorable face.

More to come later.

All work and no play

2009-05-11T15:41:00.004-05:00

This week we are working hard to get all the painting done in our house so that we can move in as soon as possible. Every single square inch of the inside needs to be painted. Since the previous owners had pets (which is not my thing), everything is pretty dirty and needs a good paint job. Since we were busy last week and were unable to start doing a whole lot, we have not gotten as far as we would have liked. However, progress is being made. So far, we have painted all the closets, the doors, and have done one coat on the main big room. We still have everything else, plus all baseboards, and changing out the floor in the laundry room. I can't wait to be done and moved in! It's going to be great!

Last week, we had the priveledge of watching Jack and Kate while my sister was out of town for 4 days. Let's just say it was a little crazy. But I triumped and am proud of myself. Yes, I am admiting that I am proud of myself. I think I did a pretty good job handling a 2 year old, 1 year old, and 5 month old all at one time. Good thing Chase was there to help most of the time. I have learned that I want my kids to be spaced a part a little more than that. I wouldn't be a pretty sight if I had a child every year. I'd probably have some sanity issues. Plus changing 5 absolutely disgusting poopy diapers in one day is no fun. Jack and Kate's were by far the worst.

Cade's new favorite toy. He is hilarious to watch jumping up and down in this thing.

Squash this week. MMmm..

Cade started rolling over about a week and a half ago. My little boy is getting so big!!

Lots to update

2009-04-25T19:55:00.015-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile so expect a long series of "events". Not much is really new, just little updates here and there along with pictures. So this post is going to be random and scatter-brained.

We are closing on our house this Thursday, April 30th, and we are SO, SO excited to be getting in a house! No more noisy (and I mean noisy!) neighbors at 3am. No more horrible apartment management. No more extremely cramped space. No more cigarette smoke coming through the walls. No more climbing up and down stairs. No more suffocating heat when getting in the car because of no garage. No more paint fumes and pounding from the apartment downstairs. The list goes on and on. Can't you tell that I just love our apartment? :) Below is a picture of the outside of our new house. I will post inside pictures once we move in and get everything painted and situated.

We celebrated Cade's first Easter. Can't you tell he is so excited.

His Easter basket from Nonni and Grandpa.

Easter basket from Aunt Kim. Thanks to Daddy, all the candy is gone.

Easter outfit.

Cade has now begun eating rice cereal as of a couple of weeks ago. He only eats it once a day for now. It's quite a task trying to get him to eat it. I think he just prefers the comfort of sucking on his bottle.

This is his first go at the rice cereal. Every week I get to add a new flavor of baby food to it. This week it was applesauce. Next week, bananas. What should I add after that?? Oh, the excitement.

For those of you who know about woot.com, you may or may not know about their "bags of crap". Seriously, that is the name. Well, let me just tell you that "bags of crap" are a luxury that everyone fights for. Let me start at the beginning. Woot.com sells one item a day at a discounted price. Sometimes, they have really cool stuff. But what everyone waits for are the coveted "bags of crap". These bags consist of just random items that the company is just trying to get rid of for some reason or another. The price of these bags is $3 + $5 for shipping. It used to be $1 for the bag, but they have raised the price (I'm sure it's because of this lovely economic time). Some people post the grand opening of their "bags of crap" on youtube. Some people get some really cool stuff like Roombas, cameras, and flat screen tvs. Others just get crap. Well, we FINALLY snatched up a "bag of crap" before they all sold out in like a minute. We anxiously awaited for the arrival of it and dreamed about what cool things might be in it. Well, here are the contents of our "bag of crap":

3 of the exact same Brothers in Arms action figures, some hand-held video game thing, a camera case, and 3 lame DVDs. Truely, a bag of crap. But we still will try every time they come up to order another. The anticipation of what you might get is exciting. We are so cool...

AND: Cade loves to be naked. Baths are the highlight of his day, and if he gets fussy (which is most of the time), I just strip him down and he is happy for a little while. Who woulda thought?

Cade has also started losing the hair on the top of his head again. I swear he is destined to not have any hair until he is 4 like his momma. At least he won't be mistaken as a member of the opposite sex.

Look at that head action. Sure ain't pitiful anymore Dr. Powell. At Cade's 4 month appointment, he is 50th percentile for weight and 90th for height! He's quite the long little boy.

My little goofball just talking away. It's rather funny listening to him in person.

And 3 is the magic number...

2009-03-17T15:35:00.006-05:00

Well, since our last post, several things have happened. I will start by apologizing because this might be a long post. First in the news- Cade updates. Cade is now a little over 3 months old and has been sleeping much better! Let's just say I am a very happy person. Now this doesn't mean everything is perfect. He is still very fussy, but he is also happy more often now as well. If only you could see him play and talk...I'm not one to brag, but our little man is the cutest little stinker. One of these days we will get the software to be able to post videos.

So, we have learned that Cade likes to bury his face when he sleeps; therefore, stomach sleeping is what he prefers. And how long did it take me to figure that out... I was just too paranoid to let him sleep on his stomach before, considering what all the doctors say now about stomach sleeping and SIDS and all. But since he can lift his head up, I feel better about it..and also considering the fact that we have a monitor that detects his movement and breathing while he sleeps. I know, I know- some of you are thinking that is kind of extreme and ridiculous, but no ma'am I disagree. I worry about everything so much that now I can sleep and not worry. If anyone is interested, the product is called Babysense V. It has 2 sensors that you put under the baby's mattress which hooks up to a control unit that you hook on to the outside of the crib. When you put the baby to sleep, just turn it on and a little green light will flash to let you know he is breathing. If he stops for more than 20 seconds, a loud alarm goes off. Pretty nifty, huh? The only time it has gone off for us is when we forget to turn it off when we take Cade out of his crib. It is one of the best baby inventions ever made. That and pacifiers..and bear suits..and diapers, but that is a given. Can't you tell that baby is what consumes my life right now?

This is what it looks like.

And this is Cade's bear suit. It is WONDERFUL. Whenever it is freezing cold outside, we just stick him in this before we leave, and he stays nice and toasty.

In other news:

Cousins Jeffrey and Amber Stifflemire had their baby almost 3 weeks ago on Feb.25th. His name is Deisen Kent and is so cute and little. Sorry, I have no picture to post. My camera was messed up when we went to visit.

Stephen, Jill, and the girls came to visit a week and a half ago. We had fun just hanging out for the day. Jill and I caught up while the boys bonded by doing their favorite past time- video games. We forgot to take pictures of all the kids together (since we have one now too), so we just took pictures of Cade later that night:)

And here he is. If you couldn't tell, I just can't get enough.

And for the best news of all...........drumroll...................WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE!!!! We are so, so excited to be buying our first house. We found one that is in a good location and that we absolutely love! I never thought we would find such a good house in our low price range. We are closing April 30th. There will be more news and pictures to come! Hooray!

Mr. Frog Man

2009-02-21T15:49:00.003-06:00

There is not much more to report this week. The big things Mr. Frog Man and I did this week were to go visit his cousins Madison, Jack, and Kate at Aunt Kim's house and take a trip grocery shopping at Wal-mart all by ourselves. Woohoo! Isn't it funny that these are big accomplishments these days? The first day that I was able to take a shower when I was home alone with Cade, I thought I had conquered the world.

I thought Cade's sleeping was getting better, but turns out that he just had a couple of random good nights. This week I almost felt like his sleeping had gotten worse. Most of the week, he averaged about 4-5 hours total during the night and a few 5 minute cat naps while holding him during the day. How does he not just go into a coma from exhaustion you ask? That is what I have been trying to figure out for 2 1/2 months...

"Lucky I'm in Love with my Best Friend"

2009-02-14T13:44:00.007-06:00

I feel that today warrants a very special post, not just because it is Valentine's Day, but because it is the anniversary of Chase and my first date. Five years ago today, Chase asked me to spend the day with him in Birmingham to watch the Grissom soccer tournament. Some of you may not think of that as a date, but I was extremely excited that he asked me to go as I thought he was beyond beautiful. I also thought it was a pretty bold move because if I had turned out to be really annoying and he didn't like me, he was stuck with me the entire day. But we had a great time talking (yes Chase did talk quite a bit) and having those wonderful butterflies you get when a relationship first starts. In between games, we went out to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and spent time at the galleria. I particularly enjoyed the very last game of the tournament where Chase put his arm around me "because it was cold". Sigh. And that is the beginning of my happily every after. Ever since that day we have been inseparable and very best friends. It also stopped my Valentine's tradition of wearing black, terming it Singles Awareness Day, and spending Valentine's night scarfing down brownie batter with my girl friends.

This is the first summer after we started dating. I couldn't find a picture closer to the actual time so this will have to do.

As for Cade, he had his 2 month doctor's appointment on Monday. He now weighs 12 lbs. and is 23 3/4 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for his weight and 75th percentile for his height. He also got his first shots, which many of you mom's know, is a terrible, terrible experience. He just lay on the bed, looking around and unaware of what was about to happen and then bam- he screams and screams bloody murder. Being his mom, I was in charge of holding his arms down. That is not something I want to be a part of again. I turned my head and closed my eyes and tried my hardest not to cry. I vote that Chase gets to do it next time.

My cute jammies.

This looks like Chase's half smile.

2 Months

2009-02-08T18:07:00.013-06:00

Well, since I (Kristin) was informed yesterday that Chase sucks at updating the blog, I am taking the liberty (or wifely duty as Chase states) of doing the updates from now on. I provide more details than Chase anyhow.

Today, Cade is 2 months old and life is slowly getting back to normal. I honestly can't say that these first couple of months have gone the way I envisioned having a child would be like. That is to say that our baby has not been the "normal" newborn that sleeps 15-18 hours a day. Although Cade is such a blessing and fills my heart with more love than I ever thought I had, we have had a bit of a rough time as he struggles with colic and acid reflux. For a long time, Cade had only been sleeping about 6 hours total in a 24 hour period, but he is now starting to do better since being put on some medication almost 3 weeks ago. He is supposed to grow out of this when he is 3 months old, and hopefully he will. Then, maybe I will feel like a sane person once again and be able to do normal day to day things. I want to apologize to all those who have called and sent messages without receiving an answer. It is not that I have not wanted to talk to you. I have just been unable to do anything but tend to Cade and try to hold myself together.

On a better note, when Cade is feeling well and isn't fighting sleep, he is an extremely happy and funny baby. He has started smiling and tries so hard to talk to you. It is so much fun interacting with him. He especially loves his daddy. As soon as Chase walks in the door and says "Hey Buddy", the biggest smile comes across Cade's face. He is constantly growing and changing, and Chase and I really look forward to all the new experiences we will have with him as he grows.

Here are a few new pictures. Note that he lost all his hair a month ago except along the back. It is starting to grow back so he doesn't look so much like an old man with his slick bald head anymore.

Irritated to be going in his car seat. For the most part, he hates that thing.

He loves sleeping with Daddy. This is one of the only ways Cade will sleep when his tummy hurts.

Trying to talk.

I just think his face is funny in this one.

Bath time. He is so stinking beautiful!

A little smile:)

New Pics

2009-01-07T21:11:00.007-06:00

Here are some more pictures of our Cade. We know it has been a couple weeks since our last post, so here are a lot of pictures to make up for it.

Cade was blessed this past Sunday at church and all went well. We will be back later with more updates.

Cade is here!!

2008-12-12T17:02:00.004-06:00

It has been five days since Cade was born, and we have finally got settled down and are getting used to things at home. Cade was born 12/8/08 at 10:53 am and weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He and Kristin are healthy and doing well.

Here are some pictures we have taken so far. We will be back later with updates...

Welcome to our new blog!!

2008-12-07T21:12:00.003-06:00

Kristin and I finally decided to start our own blog! It took us a long time to finally turn to the dark side, but with the soon arrival of our first child, we decided that this would be the best way to keep everyone updated with all the Layton happenings.

Right now Kristin is sitting uncomforatbly in a hospital bed watching "Anchorman". As of two hours ago, she started the induction process. We are both very nervous and excited all at the same time. We are both excited to think that at this time tomorrow, we will be holding Cade!

Well, that is it for now I guess. We will post an update tomorrow with the official good news!