the office collection

So today we went our first mommy and me class! I have been looking for a mommy and me class for MONTHS, but it seems like everyone ctaers to the Stay at Home Mommy when it comes to these classes. Working mommies need special time too! I found this class through a friend, and it is exactly what I had been looking for! It's taught by a child development specialist, it's small and intimate, and serves as a mommy support group as well as a spcial mommy and me playtime, and God knows I need at some new songs to sing to the poor little nugget. He is so tired of itsy bitsy spider!

He absolutely LOVED this class. He is not used to being around so many other babies his age, since his daycare is mostly older kids. He just stared and laughed at the other babies, and he appeared to want to do whatever his new little friend that sat beside us was doing. If he was eating, he wanted to eat too. If he was sitting by himself, he wanted to try that too. If he was on his tummy, he decided he needed some tummy time as well. We are going to miss next week as we will be in NY, but we are so looking forward to the next class!

We also went to say our goodbyes to Gina and James today. They are moving to Fresno and we are going to miss them so very much! This was Kaden's first meeting with their amazing doggie Oscar! Kaden loved him so much.





In other news...kaden finally like an orange food! He loves carrots! Unfortunately, as a result, HE is turning a lovely orange color as well. His bootie is stained a lovely shade of orange! I had never head this, and even though I know it is normal, I think I will hold off on the carrots for a bit.




Jena took so many amazing shots during her last few weeks in California, and to celebrate her arrival back to New York, I thought I would post some faves from her "office collection". She always has a way of capturing so many amazing expressions. I can't pick a favorite!

toes in the sand

So yesterday we all had a play date with the Pacific Ocean! It was Kaden's first glimpse of this big ol playground, and we were really excited about it! Of course, we were both worried about different things...Chad scared thast the sun would "melt" kaden (for those of you that don't know chad, he wears SPF 80 even if it's 8pm), and I was worried that we would be stuck in traffic on the ride down there and he would have a horrible meltdown (one of my greatest fears, especially getting stuck on the freeway, with no way to console him).

He seemed to enjoy the beach, though we are not too sure...he made a weird little groaning sound everytime the wave crashed near our feet...not sure if he didn't like the sound, or if it reminded him to much of the "baby crack machine" near his bed where we sometimes play the ocean wave sound, and he may have thought we were getting ready for naptime. As a whole, he seemed to enjoy watching everything and soaking up the sun, or what you can soak up when you are slathered in sunscreen and you have an umbrella held over your head.



dipping his toes into the sand for the first time....







this was our first time trying out our rad hiking carrier, given to us by my work peeps! thanks everyone....he LOVED it! we changed him from carrier to carrier to make sure he got different views...







This was a neat little aquarium under the pier called Heal The Bay aquarium that was sadly closed for a school visit. We peeked in the windows and it looks super cool so I think it will be a must see for next time, and it's only 2 bucks!




Here we are with our stylish umbrella (insert sarcasm here) out in front of Bubba Gumps, where I will be sure never to take the nugget ever again, until he is of age to enjoy very loud things. I was deperately looking for a good place to change his poopy pants, and we stumbled across Bubba Gumps and thought the restroom was sure to have a changing room. It did in fact, and the bathroom was bustling with lots of people. As we waited to use the stall with a changing table, someone had turned on one of those hand dryers that have the hardcore air blower inside, and Kaden had let out a lil whimper. I bounced him up and down and consoled him, and kind of thought that might be the end of it. I was very wrong. Apparently Kaden thought that sound, as well as the powerful toilet flushers in the bathroom, sounded worse than the scariest thing he could have possibly imagined. I had already put him on the changing table and had his diaper half off when he started to scream bloody murder and his eyes grew ENORMOUS, I have never seen him so scared. I tried to console him, but there was no calming him down. Everytime the dryer would turn off, he would try to catch his breath, and then it would start again. I rushed as fast as I could to put his clothes back on, but his flailing arms and his scared eyes made me have a complete panic attack and I completely forgot how to get his clothes back on. Meanwhile, I heard some girls talking about how it must be the dryer that was scaring him, and there was a pause for a few seconds, and I scooped him up and tried to rush him out of there, but of course not without running past the three dryers that seemed to be a million times louder as we passed. poor nugget.

and here he is on the walk back to the car crashed out in the bjorn. what a day!

lions and tigers and bears....oh my!

We spent the morning of the 4th of July at the zoo! The little man had been with Chad on one of his daddy days, but this was my first time taking him, and I was so excited. We met up with the Boceks and got an early morning start, which was a good thing because the zoo was MOBBED! We only stayed a few hours, and only saw a few furry friends, but Kaden was most enchanted with the flamingos. I had him in the Bjorn so it was hard to tell his reaction to seeing the animals, so I knew when he started waving his arms and kicking his legs all around that he was a smitten lil boy. I snapped that pic above of his expression while he stared those pink amazing creatures down....

bye bye TT Gabeen!

My JenaGabinahead (translates to my cousin Jena)started her journey back to NYC today. We were so sad to let her go, but so happy she was able to spend the last year with us. It was hard to say goodbye, but most of all, Kaden didn't want to let go of her shades...



Kaden also is soooooo excited about Mamaw and Papaw getting a house in Vegas. He would NOT take off Jena's visor as it reminded him of all the fun trips he is going to take out to see them!

Happy 6 months Kaden!

Dear Kaden,

You are 1/2 a year today! I can barely even take a moment to catch my breath...it all seems to be going by so fast, and I'm starting to want it to slow down a bit! This past month has been amazing, you are starting to do SO much! You started to roll, which is wonderful and scary at the same time. Mommy has a hard time seeing you sleep on your tummy! I can't help but come in and peek at you 35 times to make sure you are breathing! You seem to sleep for a longer period on your tummy, which makes for a happy mommy! It's crazy that only a month ago, you despised tummy time, and now you absolutely can't get enough of it.




You are starting to sit up, with a little help from mommy and daddy at this point, but you are getting so close to doing it all on your own! Eating bananas and avocado and sometimes we get crazy and give you bananacados, which seems to go over BIG...so far you are so not a fan of sweet potatoes and squash as evidenced below...



You LOVE to laugh, whether you are being tickled or thrown in the air, or daddy is making a crazy face at you, you have so many different laughs, and every single one makes my heart burst right out of my chest!



I get a little misty when I look at you and see my little BOY, and not the little tiny baby I held in my arms so just a few short months ago. Now I get a little bit winded when I hold you in my arms for long periods! I love seeing you grow, but it is all happening so fast, I just want to slow it all down a little so that we don't miss a thing!



Your sixth month birthday was a busy one, and we didn't have a chance to get our usual birthday shot of you smiling and laughing and being your goofy self. You came to visit me at work today, you flirted with all my co workers and mommy had so much fun showing you off! Then you went with Daddy for your weekly Balboa Park visit and had so much fun looking at all the trees and waving to the ducks! The crazy traffic jam that you got stuck in on the way home made you VERY mad, and you were not so much in the mood to party for your birthday when you got home. Your amazing Auntie Jena is only here for a few more days before she moves back to NYC, and we are all going to miss her SO MUCH! You got to spend some time playing with her today and listening to gangsta rap, which she says you absolutely loved. She took some fun photos of you and mommy and daddy too, to document your half a year celebration!




You, little mr kaden redwood, have made my world more incredible than I ever would have imagined, and I am so grateful. You are an amazing little man, and I just can't wait to see what is next for you!!!!

Love,
your mommy

Happy Fathers Day!!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing daddys out there!!!!
I have so much gratitude toward my wonderful husband, he has amazed me in so many ways on this journey called parenthood, and he continues to be someone I truly admire and strive to be more like everyday! Watching him with Kaden truly makes my heart skip a beat, and nothing makes me happier than seeing his face light up when he sees Kaden. Coming up with new and fun games to play with him everyday, making sure that his outfit looks SWEET before heading out the door to daycare, cleaning the house and doing the dishes, making dinner and cleaning up after messy mommy just so mommy can make the most of her moments with Kaden after long work day.....just some of the many considerate and wonderful things daddy does each day.

So we were so excited to celebrate Daddy's first fathers day and of course, wouldn't you know it, he gets scheduled a double at work! We celebrated the night before and nugget and I surprised him at work to give him a burst of nugget sunshine in the midst of his long day. I also got matching Mr Rogers (Daddys favorite, and nuggets favorite-to-be shirts) tees for the boys....pics to come!


this is a shot of the card that kaden and I made for daddy...


and this is the precious card Margaret (his sitter) made for daddy....



and in other news....

Kaden LOVES avocado! BIG change from the sweet potatoes and squash, no likey orange food!


he absolutley LOVES his office!


he is completely smitten with everyone's boobs....


and eating everyone's hair....


and prefers his hair to be in a mohawk....

saying goodbye and random wednesday

I think I'm going to make a habit of just posting fun random pics on wednesdays. I like that. I am so random myself that it helps me to just see a random blur of some of his sweetest moments from the week right smack in the midst of the long work week. And so random wednesday it will be....

We had to say goodbye to a wonderful old friend yesterday. My friend Janet died in her sleep at the young age of 35 Monday night, and she is survived by her loving husband and her two year old little boy. It has been years since we spoke, we had a silly disagreement, and Janet being one of the most wonderfully stubborn people I have ever known, would not budge. I sent her many letters and b-day cards over the years, so in the end, I know she knew that in my heart she was always there, and that I cherished our friendship.

I met her on the first day of school on the bus going to the junior high and we had so many good times over the next 14 years. I will neve forget "camping" in her camper next to the cemetary, hilarious sleepovers, fun trips to canada, and the way we both obsessed over River Phoenix for so many years....we used to cut out pics from BOP magazine and frame them for each other...

My mom absolutely adored Janet...so I can only assume that they are happy to see one another and they are sharing quite a few laughs and hugs while watching over the rest of us.