All work and no play

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

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...

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

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"

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

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

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.