Laundry room Re-do.

I'm blogging this so I don't forget my inspiration.

Our wash machine went out this week...during the middle of hubby and 2 kids puking sick as well as the ever present 3 month old laundry... not.good.

Before I move on..let me show you why a broken wash machine results in a complete laundry room makeover. Words just don't do justice.

But first, a confession: I teach my son's preschool co-op tomorrow. And I should be prepping for that. But now that I've confessed I feel that it is ok to keep going with the blog instead. So...without further adieu....

Please notice where the dryer vent attaches to the wall. Because, obviously, you should make it go through the wall where EVERYONE will see it, instead of down low where a dryer actually sits. This will change.

These doors are metal, on a track that is caked with dirtiness, and they barely slide. And they are horrendously ugly, in case the picture doesn't show you that.

As if my laundry room isn't bad enough, you walk through the teeny laundry room, to an equally teeny guest bathroom. Because, of course, if you have a teeny amount of space you should definitely make 2 SEPARATE teeny rooms out of it. It just makes sense. Which is why we bought this house. Because..well.. ok. Sometimes I do wonder... but I digress.

In this picture, if you look reaaaaally closely, you can see a small hole in the wall behind the toilet. That's from our kitchen/dining redo which you can look at here . I'm not gonna lie... a room re-do is never as perfect as those other blogs want you to think... this particular "not easy" was a fridge leak. Also, notice the lack of paint color, or wallpaper on the walls... here is why:

(Please let me know when you are done gagging so we can move on.)(By the way...this paper came off within a few months of moving in... 4 years ago. And is still off. And "still off" is still better than the original wallpaper on!)

Last but not least... the flooring. There.are.no.words.

Now that I have officially drawn you in by the pure disgustingness that is my laundry/guest bathroom... let me invite you into my ideas. Then, when it's done (in 2 years) I will share the "done" photos and see how close we came. Ready? Ok!

We will begin by tearing out the wall between the bathroom and laundry rooms. This scares me for two reasons. 1. We have never torn out walls before. 2. The rooms are not even. The back of the laundry room is about 6 inches deeper than the bathroom. I do wonder how this is going to "flow" but my hubby assures me it will be ok.

Next we will replace ugly flooring. I have no picture of it, because I haven't actually chosen the exact flooring, but I do know it will be the new waterproof vinyl. It's expensive, but worth it in a room centered around water and leakage concerns.

Now..here's the exciting stuff.. since our laundry room does not actually have a door on it (and we are taking out the bathroom door) I have been stumped as to what to do. I don't want to put a door in for two reasons. 1. I think it will make the family room that is outside of the laundry room seem more crowded and blah. 2. We would have to frame in a door..which means mud/tape/mess in my family room. not just the laundry room. this, to me, is overwhelming. Thank goodness for pinterest:

We have the space for this..and I love it.. annnnnd my hubby can make it. (he just loves my projects....) I haven't decided color yet..but am strongly considering red washer/dryer and red doors/walls... you can let me know what you think in the comments..but only if you promise to read the rest of this blog first.

Next, remember those ugly doors in front of my furnace? Here's the solution:

VOILA! Love. I probably won't do chalkboard (I know, it's the "thing" right now, but it won't always be...) I will consider making them magnetic... so then I can do this idea on it:

But, that is still to be decided. Plus, with a new wash machine, I won't NEED this idea. My current one eats socks. Don't believe me? It spits them back out about 2 weeks later when it eats another. It leaves black chew marks on them. Truth be told, it's probably the socks that choked the thing to death. I want to take it apart to see... I'm not kidding. It.eats.my.socks. And you always blamed a dryer.. check you washer!!!

As for those walls..and that hole in the wall...here is my inspiration to keep with the theme of wood barnish doors and small spaces:

Again, I'm *considering* red. But that is still very, VERY, up in the air. (I'm NOT a red person. I actually can't believe I'm even considering red. I think the real truth is I just have no idea WHAT color to do. So I throw out red. Hey, I have a green bedroom, orange dining room...why not a red laundry room?) I just love this idea. I borderline ADORE this idea. Also, where that hole is we could put a nice little hatched door so we can get to the water pipes without another hole someday. I know, genious, right? We did that behind our fridge too... again..digressing.

Then comes the expensive part...the shelving, machines, sink, etc.. and I love this one.

I do think we will do white for the cabinets... with, of course, some fun hardware... My tall cabinet won't be able to be quite as wide, I don't think. But still, I hope to fit all my towels and sheets in there instead of in my son's closet. The sink will be a tasteful mix between bathroom sink and utility sink. The toilet will stay where it is at the end of the sink. I just love the idea of a big long countertop to fold laundry on and that flows right into the sink. We do have a corner shower that is opposite the toilet that we will also need to replace, but that was kind of boring.

Another of my favorite parts was this find:

In case you can't see it well, it is a ceiling drying rack on a pulley. You can lower it to hang the clothes on, then raise it out of the way. I air dry a LOT of clothes (as you can tell in previous pictures) and this is a small laundry room miracle. I got almost giddy when I found this gem. My hubby- the engineer- doesn't like how it is made and wants me to let him make one. I think by the time he's done making everything else, he'll be happy to let me just buy this. Tee hee.

So there you go! That's my inspiration! I do think my hubby hates pinterest. It wasn't around when we did the dining room. I searched google images... and then saved ONE picture to my computer. ONE. I do love the turnout...but man, I love pinterest. I have no fewer than TWENTY-SEVEN saved laundry room ideas. He just shakes his head. At least I've narrowed it down to these, right?

And while I was writing this blog, these were baking. Mmmmm!

Double Chocolate Pomegranite yumminess. Anything to avoid what I should be doing.

Life... a long "nutshell" of what's been going on.

Almost 7 weeks have passed since my precious youngest boy was born. My how time has flown! I have enjoyed every single snuggle, and made a point to remember them. He is growing so fast. In fact, last night, as far as I know, he slept through the night (10pm-5am)!!! If he didn't, I didn't know. He is growing like Kaden did.. FAST and furious! Can I just say I am in love with my little family? (Some would say 5 is not little. I feel it is little. Just sayin'.) Kaden and Kate have adjusted to Kamden so well. Never once have I seen even a hint of dislike, jealousy, or meanness. Kaden has loved to hold him from day 1. It can be so helpful if Kamden just wants held and I have something I need to do. I can usually buy about 5 minutes with Kaden holding him. Kate isn't as "into" holding him, but she loves him just as much. She adores rocking him in the swing and giving him kisses. She still refuses to try to say his name. He is "baby" to her. Kamden fits in so well. I would say for the most part he is an easy going baby (however, when hungry, he will not be pacified!). He likes to be held to sleep during the day (I blame company for the first 4 weeks of his life!) but sleeps well in the bassinet in the night. (As I type, however, he is sleeping well, in the daytime, in his bassinet...so I am hoping this is a good sign!) He has just in the last few days gone to, what I would call a real schedule. Eats around 7 or 8am, then at 10:30am, 1:30pm 4:30pm, 6:30pm and 9:30pm..and sometime in the night...lately, 4am-5am. I love it! His "grouchy" times are between 4:30 and 7pm when he usually goes "to bed"...it does make dinnertime a struggle, but as my third, I remember this is a phase. And I can handle it! Kamden started smiling at 6 weeks old! He definitely reserves them for special moments. The first one I caught on camera was him looking in the mirror where his changing table is. The next night I was holding him and I would say "Kamden, where's your daddy?" And Luke would say "Hi Kamden" and he'd arch his back and turn his head to see his daddy who was behind him, and grin. Melted Daddy's heart! He smiles 10x more for Luke than anyone else at this point! Kaden started "preschool" in the beginning of October. It is more of a co-op with 2 of my friends wiht boys Kaden's age. We rotate teaching/houses and have 2 1/2 hours of preschool on Tuesday and Friday mornings. We are working out the kinks, but have settled on focusing on learning letters/sounds (they all know the sounds fairly well already) and writing the capital letter. They are all at different levels...Kaden definitely needs to work on writing his letters, where one of the other boys is already very good at writing and controlling his pencil. It makes it a challenge to keep them all learning what THEY need to learn and working on the things they each need to work on. It has been SO good for my boy. He sees the other 2 working hard and wants to do the same (when I tried to teach him at home he just didn't want to, or got discouraged quickly). They have a bit of playtime during that time to (whatcha gonna do when we all have younger ones to tend to as we "teach") and overall it is just a blessing. This means that 2 out of every 3 preschools I get to drop Kaden off and run errands or do housework with just Kate and Kamden. Who knew that would be easier??? Also, to update on Kaden's arm (which he "broke" the day before kamden was born and was in a cast for 2 weeks.) He had his 2 week xray and they discovered it was not broken after all. (They did know this was a possibility, as the kind of break it appeared to be can only be diagnosed after healing occurs or doesn't occur, as was this case.) He had just sprained it good. So he is cast free for 4 weeks now... dare I say it??? Katelyn began limping sometime back in May-ish. It was just randomly, but by August had become almost constant. I finally took her to see the Family Doctor in mid-September and was referred to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon with concerns that one leg was shorter than the other. She also ended up with a referral to the ENT for her tonsils because she had a fever and big tonsils. We have gone to both surgeons. Her leg is fine, (PRAISE the Lord!) and we just have to watch it to see if she is ever in pain, etc... but wouldn't you know it, her limp dissapeared the day of the appointment. I could swear this kid does things by the "power of suggestion." But, at least our minds were at ease! Her tonsils are another story. She has had large (touching) tonsils since January. The ENT confirmed that although her tonsils are not "diseased" or unhealthy, she will never "grow into" them. They will eventually become a problem, either by causing sickness or sleeping/snoring/breathing problems. We elected to go ahead and have them removed now while she is young, before the problems come, and while our deductible is met. It helps to have been through this with Kaden (AFTER his caused many problems) and we know what to expect. Her surgery is this next Friday (Oct.26th). We are looking forward to I am praying htat all we have to face next year are "well child" checks! In other news, Kate is talking very, very well! We might be the only ones who can understand her, but we'll take it! She talks as if she can say every word she wants, and we understand a lot of it...unless she's lecturing, and then it's just a bunch of jibberish...until the "NO NO Deh-deh (Kaden)". She is very convincing with her lectures, even if we don't understand a word. We will try to video her talking here soon before her surgery so we can hear if her voice changes as drastically as Kaden's did! We have been helping her memorize a Bible verse with her Sunday School class. It is "God made me." When I first helped her with it, she must have thought that since I was the one saying it: "God made me" that she should say "God made Mommy." A-DOR-A-BLE. Now she says "God made MOMMY! and daddy, and Deh-deh (Kaden) and BABY!" One day I asked her to say her verse and she got a gleam in her eye: "Goooooo.... Maaaaaaae(she doesn't say the "d)......POOP!" she was so thrilled with herself for making such a funny joke. Oh.my. Her brother has rubbed off! Currently she is attempting to give up naps. As I type it is 3:15pm and she has not gone to sleep in the 2 hours she's been in there. This momma is NOT okay with this!!! Well that gets you up to date with the kiddos..so much goes on I can't keep up. In the last 5 months we have AVERAGED 2 dr appts (including xrays, well child, OB, etc) a week. A WEEK, people. Also, we will have checked into the hospital every month for 5 months after her surgery next week. If nothing else, we will remember this year! Here's to hoping for a splendid WELL Nov-Dec! As for me, I'm feeling GREAT. I had my 6 week OB check and checked out fine. I STILL have not wrapped my mind around the fact that Kamden is HERE and it was that easy. I was blessed with this delivery in so many ways. I started a diet one week ago today. I had lost all but about 3lbs of my pregnancy weight gain, and as of today have lost 4lbs. Hurray for being back to pre-pregnancy. Now, I am hoping to get to pre-pre-pre-pregancy (AKA before kids)... on step at a time. I have gone about my "diet" a different way this time, and I know I can be successful. I am NOT giving up my coffee. Not one ounce of it. And I am not giving up any of the stuff I like in my coffee. Although, today I bought a sugar/stevia blend to see if I liked it as much as sugar. I then *had* to have a 2nd cup of coffee to try it. So far, I loved it! I made the mistake of trying a different creamer on the same cup (which I also liked), it would have been smart to try one at a time. I also am trying to eat more like 5 times a day instead of just 3. I start out with my (horrendously good) coffee (horrendous in diet speak, and good in non-diet speak) and a yogurt. About half the time I miss the yogurt (such is life with 3, I suppose.) Then around 10am I have a snack. If i missed my yogurt I throw that in too. My snack is usually a fruit. Banana, or apple/peanut butter are my favorites. For lunch I try to have a salad or extremely healthy something. My salads always include a hard-boiled egg and either a slice of lunchmeat (ham or turkey) or chicken if I have leftovers. Then, of course, lots of veggies. I have a few lower-fat dressings or go sparingly on the good stuff (like ranch or honey mustard)! For my afternoon snack I have some pretzels and a cheese stick, or a thin bun with Laughing Cow cheese (um. yum.) or something more carbish (altho sometimes I switch those snacks around.) For dinner I just make a normal dinner for the family (last night was Hamburger Helper...maybe not normal, but you get the idea, definitely not "diet" food) and eat it sparingly. Maybe I shouldn't say sparingly..I just eat a healthy portion, and if I'm still hungry go for the veggies. After about 3 days of this routine (and feeling like my stomach was stuck to my ribs) I am no longer hungry at all. I often forget at least one snack, and feel very satisfied. If I get the evening munchies I'll eat my forgotten snack, or if I've eaten all day and still feel hungry I will eat air-popped popcorn with cheddar seasoning salt on it. That is filling! So far I feel so good and like I could eat like this forever. Some of my favorite diet discovery foods so far (as far as healthy, GOOD CHOICES) are: Tuna mixed with 1% cottage cheese and eaten as dip for pretzels Thin Bun toasted with a package of Laughing Cow cheese spread between as a sandwhich. Popcorn with seasoning salt Apples with peanut butter. Cottage cheese (1%) mixed with ranch dressing mix as a dressing for salad (cheese and ranch, yes!) I am avoiding buying things advertised as "low fat" as I see that many of them just have artificial flavoring which can't be any better than sugar (in my opinion). However, I have always done reduce fat sour cream, and 1 or 2% cottage cheese and skim milk. Some things just make sense! Luke's busy this month with his work project "wrapping up" (that usually takes 1-2 months, so i'm not sure that "wrapping up" is an honest term for hit.) It means they do a lot of paving, pouring, and other things that keep him on the job site longer, miss lunches and sometimes dinners (as was the case last night) and causes overtime. We have had a good summer though, with him only having to work a few Saturdays (as the case is tomorrow). He's tired, but doing well. Welp. That's it. I will try, try, try, to update more, for my own sake if nothing else!

Just for some perspective...

The first picture he's a few days old and about 6.5lbs. The second picture he is 6 weeks old and about 13lbs. (and it's as close to a smile as we've captured yet)

Kamden Daniel...in like a lamb, out like a Kanon

We woke up Saturday (the 1st) to a normal Saturday. I was still having contractions every 15-30 minutes and had basically just gotten used to it. It was barely different from my pre-term labor, except a little more painful. A friend had offered to cut/color my hair (ironically, the last time she had cut/colored it, was the day I found out I was pregnant)(I know, I should get my hair done more, but that wasn't the point.) So anyway, I went and did that, after starting a ham in the crock pot. After the haircut/color I headed to McDonalds, because for some reason I just couldn't get a greasy burger out of my head (and Burger King was WAY busy.) Then headed home, did some laundry, went to Walmart and Smiths...you know. Typical day. Obviously these contractions were nothing to stop me... just maybe annoying. (Not going to lie... I was starting to feel like "ok, if this isn't going to turn into something then i could really handle it if they'd stop!") So, just to brag... let me recap. On the day I was in labor and had Kamden I went grocery shopping, made a ham dinner, and got my hair done. I'm that awesome. ;) At 7:30ish I went in to lay down while Luke put the kids to bed. When Luke came in the room after kids were in bed I said "Man, these contractions are really feeling strong, but still not regular." That's when he told me that when the kids went to bed, Luke took Kaden downstairs to bed and prayed with him. Kaden's prayer: "Dear Jesus, please let momma have the baby tonight." (is that not sooo sweet?) It was about an hour later, when I was SO sick of random, somewhat painful (gaining momentum in the ouch department, but still extremely irregular) that I decided "I want to KNOW if this is doing anything at all." I just wanted to know if I should have hope, or not! Now, doctors always say to wait til the contractions are 5 minutes apart for an hour to come...but we called the hospital and they said come just in case. So we called a friend to come watch the kids (THANKS BRENT AND CLAIRE) and arrived at the ER (since it was after hours) entrance at 9:30PM. Side story: In the ER there was a young girl with a young 10 day old baby. After I checked in we had to wait for a security guard to escort us to OB... so this girl decided she needed to be miss chatty and asked if I was inducing. No. So then she decided that I needed to know how to have a baby. She assured me that I would need an epidural and that it would be my best friend. She warned me it might make me throw up, because that's what it did to her. Oh and she named her baby Zaidon because she couldn't have a popular name. And then her mom joined in to tell again how much I really needed to get an epidural. I was trying so hard to be a good listener...but I really couldn't care less what they thought. Finally, as a strong contraction hit, I turned and asked if the security guard was here yet... and that's when I heard the mom and daughter say to each other "OH, I THINK SHE'S IN LABOR!" (um... what DID you think I was there for if I was not inducing?) Anyway...the guard went to take us up and then realized she had to have the ER receptionist open a door for us. (At this point I was wondering how someone who works nights could NOT know that?? And was a little annoyed. This night was not starting well...not how I hoped labor would go!) ANYWAY. By the time I was checked in and up to my room (not a delivery room)around 10pm I soon realized this was the real thing.Partly because it felt like my water was leaking, but mostly because the contractions were so painful I couldn't talk through them anymore.This was what they say you should have for an hour before going in. My contractions were still about 7 minutes apart, but when she checked me she said "You're not going home tonight." (It's that moment. The one you hope for and dread. You want the baby out...but the labor/delivery?????) I was a 5.5, so nothing crazy or exciting. When she asked if I wanted an epidural, I was ready to say YES. I'm not sure why but when she told me that I was a 5.5 I suddenly realized that with Kate I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in about 1/2 hour. So I mentioned it to the nurse, all the while thinking "She won't believe me" and "why would I think it'll go like that without an epidural?" But she did believe me and kicked into high gear. Within a few minutes she was ready to move me to a delivery room, but I was in so much pain I realized I needed a wheelchair. (Never thought that would be me!) By the time we got to the delivery room and up on the bed I was shaking. Luke asked if I was cold, but I wasn't. I heard the nurse say to anther nurse "She's presenting signs of transistion!" (which means you are about 8cm). Sure enough she checked me and I was a good 7.5cm. I kept telling them I might be wrong about how fast it might go, but they stepped it into even higher gear to get the room totally ready. At that point they called the doctor, and started begging me to wait til he got there to deliver. I told them I trusted them completely to deliver, and if I needed to push...i WOULD push. It was 10:30 (only 1/2 hour to go from a 5-10!!!) At some point in those 30 minutes I realized there would be NO time for an epidural and that was the biggest mental block for me to get through. After I got to an 8 and the pain was more pressure than contractions I realized the epidural had never helped that part anyway-it felt exactly the same. I had just THOUGHT it'd be 10 times worse. The doctor made it on time, much to the nurse's relief) and after maybe 7-10 pushes he was born! While I was pushing the doctor had told me that he could see hair. At that point, I was convinced it was a BOY (if I hadn't been convinced before!) So when he was born the doctor had to remind me to look and see what he was! I was SO sure... It definitely makes me laugh to remember the doctor saying "Are you going to look to see what it is?" and my inward realization that I really didn't KNOW, and I better look! It was a fun surprise, even if I wasn't very surprised! He was born at 11:03PM (Only one hour after I even realized I was having a baby that night!...I remember saying to Luke at 10:30pm "Do you think we'll have a Sept 1 or 2nd baby? I laugh now, at the thought.) Kamden Daniel was 7lb 2oz and was 19.5inches long. Except it would be a full 24 hours before we named him that! We struggled between Kamden and Kannon. Afterall, he came into this world like a Cannon (hense the title of the blog)...And we struggled between Daniel and Truth for his middle name. Somehow we named him. I couldn't tell you how... but we love it and it fits him! We are so blessed. And he has been a super easy baby so far. Except maybe the run to the walk-in at 13 days old... but that's a story for another time.

more "normal" life for us...

I think in the last 3 days we did more than a normal (busy) week! First, last Thursday (Aug 30th) Kaden had his last x-rays of his arm and was given the go-ahead to go without his splint/cast. Can you say HAPPY BOY??? He was so excited, and I'm not gonna lie, I was too! On Friday (31st), we went to a friend's house before my OB appointment to play. The kids were riding bikes outside on the somewhat sloped driveway (more sloped than ours) and suddenly we heard a scream. I wasn't sure immediately if the scream was a happy squeal or a bad scream...it didn't help that I was sitting at the top of the driveway and the scream came from the bottom- behind our van. Pretty soon, as I got up to go check, I saw Kaden coming toward me silent from a lack of air... he was hysterical. From that point on he held his arm (same arm) and cried off and on. I debated: was this real? Did it just scare him since the cast was off? etc... and I couldn't do much because by the time I had him calmed down it was time for me to go to my OB appointment. So i headed to that, leaving the kids with my friend (thank you Lauren!) and was informed that I had not grown bigger, gained weight etc, and so they needed to do an ultrasound and if there were low fluids we would be inducing. Also, the Dr went ahead and stripped my membranes and told me I was a good 3 and almost fully effaced. I was a little nervous. I hadn't told them I had a kid back home with a possible broken arm and for the life of me couldn't figure out how I would be induced AND get his arm checked out. Thankfully the ultrasound showed my fluids to be a 7.5. If it had been a 7 we would have been sent to the hospital to induce! I was relieved. Meanwhile, Kaden was still babying his arm, so I made an appointment with his pediatrician (seeing as it was friday before a 3 day weekend, of course!). We knew she would send us to the hospital for xrays but wanted to avoid the wait of the ER. Luke came with me to the appointment because, being 38 weeks pregnant, I was not sure I would even be able to go help with the xrays. It turned out to be so good that Luke went (thank you Sherilyn for coming to stay with Kate for us!) because as brave as Kaden was and as hard as he tried to do what they wanted, there was one position that just hurt him soooo badly. He would become almost hysterical, but they HAD to have an x-ray... My heart hurt for him. But Luke was able to stay with him for each xray, and I wouldn't have been able to. side note: when we checked into the hospital for his x-rays, the lady checking us in did a total double take. She looked at the orders for x-rays, back to her screen and back to the orders and said, "Diiiiid....he just have x-rays yesterday?" Yes.. he did. They were for a better reason. She was totally amazed. Then when we got to the radiation wing the x-ray tech came to get us and was like "Hey buddy... didn't I just do x-rays on you?" Oh my. It was then that I started praying that no one turn us in to family services or something!! It is just so crazy. Also, I told Kaden he is not allowed to get popular at places like hospitals and jails! ANYWAY... Meanwhile, I start having contractions. Nothing big. Just more notice-able than normal. not too regular...not to painful...nothing crazy. Didn't think anything of them, except that they were there. We finally got all the x-rays needed (not as easy this time around, this break seemed to be a lot more painful than the last one) and were never actually TOLD his arm was broken, but were told that we needed to head down to the ER to get a splint. They almost made us check in down there, but thankfully they just treated him as an out-patient (the ER was FULL... we were glad to skip that wait.) By this time it was almost 5pm and he was tired of being at doctors, and hungry, and we weren't in much better moods. (Even though on the way home Luke commented to me that he was glad I was handling it all so well.. all I could do was laugh. It was just too crazy.)He ended up with a cast from his wrist to his underarm that is not removable this time. I'm just glad we are past the hottest time of year, for his sake. So that evening Kaden (while praying with Luke), before bed, prayed: "Dear Jesus, Please let Momma have the baby tomorrow, because she wants to. Amen." Sweetest prayer ever.... see next post for answer to his prayer :)

Wow, it's been a while. and the last post was barely considered a post. It was more like an "I got half way through and pooped out" kind of wanna-be post. Sometime around the end of July (27th-ish, maybe?) Kaden went back to the surgeon for more x-rays of his arm. I had hoped to be done, but instead we were sent up to Physical Therapy where they could make him a better cast. After an hour up there (and 2 little kids who were VERY ready to come home for lunch) we had a new "splint" for Kaden. We do like it better because he can use his arm, and it stays (no more re-doing ace wrap 16 times a day!). It can also get wet as long as we have time to let the strap dry out. (It straps around the trunk of his body.) When I have my computer back, I'll have to post some pictures. Anyway, he was sent home with an appointment for 3 weeks later. That is this Friday. Today i haven't even remembered to put on his cast, and yesterday I forgot to take it with us to the pool... I am pretty sure we just need to be DONE with this whole broken arm fiasco. Kaden is really sick of the splint, which makes it harder for me to want to make him wear it when it seems like after 7 weeks it should be good!! Katelyn has really begun to add words to her vocabulary. The latest are "towel" "bottle" (as in, her nalgene bottle,...as opposed to drinking out of ANYTHING else.) "drink" (WITH the K at the end, as opposed to whatever sound she used to make for that word) and many more. Of course, most of her words don't actually sound like the words, but I'm just happy to understand more and more! She went through a phase (a couple weeks long) where she wouldn't give Luke hugs or let him kiss her. If he did manage to kiss her she'd get mad and "wipe it off" violently! He was so sad. Now she can't give him enough hugs and he has to trick her to get out the door, basically. I tell him, this is a girl for you! Today I'm 36 weeks! I'm getting more and more ready to face labor, and meet this baby! I am sure enjoying the last few weeks of relaxing though. A few times now I've taken afternoon naps. I keep reminding myself that in 4 weeks this will all be different...I should probably start setting an alarm for every 2-3 hours just to remind myself what having a newborn is like!!!!! For now, I'll let myself enjoy the peace...and try to ignore this ginormous belly! The pool closes at the end of this week, so the last 2 weeks we've been trying to make use of it as much as possible. The kids love it. If I even show them their swim suits Kate is the first to throw her hands up (like touchdown) and yell "POOOOOOO!!!!!" (she hasn't quite mastered the L sound) and then it's all over... we BETTER be going to the pool. Today we didn't go because it's only in the 60s. Of course, next week, after it's closed, we're scheduled to be back in the mid 90s. I don't really feel like there is a lot more to post about. We have been keeping very busy, but not really doing anything of note. I'm so thankful that the month of August has been so much better than July. By the last day of July I was ready to throw up the white flag... it was filled with trial after trial. August has been a much needed "normal"! Oh, I have cleaned out most of the closets in the house, and our bedroom got painted, and we have been very productive lately. Now if i could just convince myself to mop the floor or finish Kate's scrapbook!

Kaden informed me today that "When I turn 5 I want a tractor on my cake" (holding up John Deere Tractor) "with a road" (we gotta get this kid to a farm...lol) "and this time could you cover the road so it doesn't dry out so we can eat it?" I just assured him we could probably do that if we remember. He is NOT impressed that when I covered the cake I didn't cover the road and it dried out...and that was my excuse for not letting him eat it.

We had Kaden's birthday party on Friday the 13th. That morning we took him to the surgeon for his arm. They took more xrays which showed that his arm had displaced slightly since the first xrays (don't know how you avoid that when they make him go 2 weeks without a cast). Also found out his break is up so high on his arm that he can't have a cast. Instead he has a make-shift splint that goes on the outside of his arm and gets ace-wrapped on around his body. In some ways it's nice because we can take it off to bathe him, or let him cool off in the pool, and let him have a break from it during movies. (Which is ironic since he broke his arm while watching a movie!) In other ways it's a pain because he knows it can come off and that we won't let him have it off every time he wants to, and because it takes 2 ace wraps to get it on right which is just plain hot in this 100 degree July weather! He's been a trooper though. He gets to have this on for 2 weeks, then go back for more xrays to see if we are good to let him go without. Anyway, back to the birthday. We just did a very small party with my parents (Gramma and Boppa, who had him the previous 5 days in Lewistown and brought him back to us) I wish I could post some pictures of his time with them, but my computer broke again, so I do not have them available. As you can see in the above picture, I made him a Cars themed cake this year and he loved it. He go tons of good stuff for his birthday, but his favorites were definitely the legos. He has played legos every day without fail since his birthday! He also loved the remote control loader, and the cars toys he got. We had his friend Cheyanne over along with Matt and Laura (her parents) for the evening. It was a small party, but very fun! Kadenisms: "I have LOTS of cousins, and uncles and aunts! But, i like to stomp on ants, but probably not ants like Auntie Rose ... she wouldn't like that." Watching lightning and hearing thunder..."Hope Daddy doesn't get thundered away!" Watching the UPS truck drive away: "Kate! That's the toy truck, but it didn't stop at our house today." (Apparently he distinctly remembers when they dropped of the water table for Kate's bday.) Kaden and Kate sitting at the table coloring/cutting. Kaden: "Kate, do you like your fingers?" Kate: "Noooo." (favorite word) Kaden: "MOM! Katelyn wants her fingers cut off with my scissors!" Mom: "When you are done with your fruit loops you can have something else, like fruit." Kaden: "Mom, the people at Walmart put fruit in the cereal, that's why it's FRUIT LOOPS. so we can just have more cereal." Kaden to 6 month pregnant Mom: Does your baby like chocolate milk? Mom: I guess so. Kaden: Did you drink chocolate milk when I was in your tummy? Mom: Yes, I did... Kaden: Yah, and I opened my mouth wide and tried to catch it! While Kaden was finishing up lunch he was watching Luke and I peel/slice potatoes and throw them into my large pot to boil for mashed potatoes...then he went down to play. Later as we were sitting at dinner Luke got up and got the same big pot (this time boiling corn) and drained it. Kaden saw the corn in the pot and got the biggest look of pure amazement and exclaimed, "MOM! you made corn out of mashed potatoes!" Kaden as I'm pouring cereal for breakfast: "Mom! Here's a clean spot for me to make a mess." (My suspisions are confirmed.) Kaden: "Mom I changed my mind and it's a boy. Now I just need to think of my favorite name...because Cassie is a girl name." Kaden: "MOM!!! Katelyn's turning on the water!!" (hose) Mom: "well, would you go turn it off please?" (a little annoyed that Kate figured out how to turn the hose on...) Kaden: "BUT MOM! Every TWO SECONDS she turns it on then I turn it off!" Mom: "I love you, Kaden, night night" Kaden: "I'll love you forever, mom." Melt my heart. (not really a kadenism, but too cute not to remember forever): We were going to see Curious George at the library on morning. For the event (which he was UBER excited about) Kaden donned his curious george socks, and even got me to dig out his too-small curious george shirt from when Kate was born, and his monkey backpack. He told me on the way that he "hoped that Curious George wouldn't "throw pancakes at his face," or he'll be "really mad." I assured him that wouldn't happen...but he is sure that you never know with a monkey like that. Kate-isms: At first it was cute: Katelyn will start "sing-songing" to herself.. completely wordless songs. Then Kaden will try to talk to her and she will just slowly get louder and louder as he repeats what he's saying to try to communicate to her. They will go on for about 5 minutes until she is humming at the top of her lungs and he is overly frustrated.