Our Surprise Trip To Utah

My mom called last week to tell me that she would not be able to go on a trip that she was supposed to go on with her husband and would be home without him. Naturally my response was to tell her to come on out for a visit. She had other plans in mind, so now here we are in Utah visiting our family. (Thanks Papa Ron!)

We only had four days to wait and get ready. The night before we were supposed to leave Caden spiked a temp. I took him to the immediate care first thing in the morning. (Thank goodness we did not have an early morning flight.) The doctor said that his ears were fine but his throat was very red. The strep culture was negative and we would just have to wait it out. She said that he was fine to go on the trip and to have fun. We arrived safely and were so excited to see everyone. I was concerned about him being contageous and being around everyone. We decided to take it easy and hang out around the house to give him a few days to rest and recover.

We woke up the next morning and I noticed some little red bumps on his feet and hands. I had heard some of the gals at work talking about their kids having hand, foot, and mouth (a very common childhood illness). So I Googled it. I'm thinking that is what we are dealing with here and my sweet little boy has been so sick.

My heart just hurts for him when I see him feeling so crummy. His tongue hurts because there are big sores on it and he hasn't eaten much of anything for a couple of days. Yesterday was the worst and his fever was high. He seems more like himself today which makes me relieved and oh so glad. I was worried about him.

Things like this bring you to your knees a little more often and make you really look at all the things you are grateful for. I am grateful that I am Caden's mom and that I help him feel safe and secure and most importantly loved. I am glad that I am the one he wants when he needs help or needs someone to help him feel better. That is the best feeling in the whole world. I am also glad to be here with family while we are waiting this thing out. It is definitely better to be here with all of them then home alone and board.

So needless to say, we are staying at home with Nana so as to not expose everyone to this really fun virus. We are glad that some of our family was able to come to the house to see us that are not little kids, well at least not physically! :)

Santa Here in the Summer?

The other day Caden and I were waiting at a stop light and saw an older man with long white hair, a long white beard, and round full belly riding his bike. I asked Caden who the man looked like and of course he told me Santa Claus. This spurred on a conversation of whether we thought he was really Santa or not.

We decided that it was definitely a possibility that Santa Claus was here checking on all the kids to see if they were being naughty or nice. What do you think? (And yes, Santa wears a helmet when he rides his bike!!)

Our Adventure to Toys R Us

Today I was feeling a little down. Caden has been sick and we have been tied to the house. I felt like I really shouldn't run him all over town with a cough, congested nose, and ear infection. I have been feeling a little stir crazy. He seemed to be doing better this afternoon and it has been hotter than blazes so I decided that we were going to wander the isles of Toys R Us and find some water guns.

We found some really great deals. I actually got the water guns (super soaker water guns) for $8, regularly marked $19. They were supposed to be 20% off, but someone screwed up and marked them down way to much and then they still gave me the 20% off of that. And guess who got the awesome deal right before the manager went and took the rest of them off the shelf. Sweet!!!! I love a good deal. We then found some great clearance items regularly $ 60, I got them for $16.
We began this shopping adventure by stopping by the gumball machine. Caden decided on the ginormous fruit shaped gum. We put in our quarters and turned the crank. As the gum came tumbling down I thought that it sounded kind of big and heavy. Once Caden got his hands positioned under the machine I opened the little door for the gum to fall out into his hands. We were both astonished to see not 1, but 3 huge pieces of fruit gum come stumbling out of the machine. I just burst out laughing as Caden began jumping up and down cheering with great excitement.

I am also pleased to report that as we were walking into the store my phone rang. I was very glad to see that it was one of my favorite friends to talk to. She's one of those friends that we usually feel better after talking, venting, and laughing with each other for a while. I am grateful for her. So I enjoyed a great conversation with her while I gave Caden a chance to look the whole store over while I followed him around. He was in hog heaven.

We decided to skip the library and the one return I needed to take care of to go straight home and have a water fight with our new water guns. Caden couldn't wait. We had a blast and Caden thought it was hilarious to watch me run from him squealing. I had him laughing so hard that I had to stand still in order for him to hit me with the water. It was great fun and felt really good to get out and laugh a lot.

Mom, Can I Have a Pickle?

Caden was watching a Word World episode where they were talking about trying new foods. A pickle is one of the things that they tried and decided that they liked. Caden decided that he would like to try it too. When he is trying out new foods he licks them first. His face was so funny when he licked the pickle. Too cute. He didn't really care for the taste of it, but still decided to try a bite. He pulled that "this is so nasty" face and said with great delight, "I like it mom!". He carefully placed the pickle on the counter and told me that he was full.

That day I ate 2 pickles. I am anti waste!

Our Dog Dusty

This is our dog Dusty. He is a Wheaten Terrier that we rescued from a dog shelter. This happened to be back in February right around Mike and Caden's Birthdays. Caden and I were driving in the car one day when we had this conversation:


Mom?


Yes Caden?


I think Grandma is going to get me a dog for my birthday.


I don't think she is love. I think grandma would have talked to me about that first.


(a quiet moment to ponder his thoughts...)


No one that cares about me will get me a dog! (this was said with all the sadness he could muster)


This is the day that we went to the animal shelter and found Dusty. I didn't really intend on getting a dog that day. We had gone and played with the puppies at the pet store many times knowing that we just were not getting one. I guess there was just something about Dusty that we liked. I felt that he would be a good dog and he really turned out to be just that. So now we have our little boy and his dog.

Every little boy should have a dog. Don't you think?

CADEN

This is our sweet little Caden, or not so little. He just turned 4 in February and looks like he could be 5 or 6 years old. Caden is a happy little boy with lots and lots of energy. He is a very curious little boy too. He loves to learn new things and is always trying to figure something new out. He went to preschool this year and absolutely loved it. We are definitely looking forward to next year. Caden is also very social. He loves to be around and play with other children. He tells me that we need more kids at our house often.

Caden loves to play all different sports, he is on a soccer team right now. It is so much fun to watch all the kids chase after the ball. He really is pretty athletic. He also enjoys playing with his toys, play dough, and all other art projects and supplies. He enjoys going outside where he can ride his bike, walk his dog, and play in the backyard in the sandbox or on the swing set.

Caden also enjoys listening to music and reading books. He likes to watch movies and is getting to be really good at his video games. (He doesn't always love when mom limits the video game time, but is always happy when we find something else to do that involves running and playing.)

Caden is a really good kid. He is a very loving little boy. He loves babies and is good to be gentle. He likes to help his mom and dad around the house and is quick to get involved in that. He loves to play in water, whether it be in the sink, the tub, or outside with the hose.

We are grateful for Caden. He brings so much joy and happiness to our lives. He is a great blessing to us.

Our Journey to Our Family

Mike and I had been married for about a year when we decided that we were ready to start trying to have kids. This started a long and emotional, but character building journey for us. We found that we would have to take the route of infertility treatments due to some fertility health issues on my part. So we met with the good doctor and got started.

On our fourth cycle we got the exciting news that we were pregnant. You can't even imagine how excited we were. Unfortunately a little less then a week later we learned that I was having a miscarriage. After that we kept trying. This is probably one of the hardest most heart wrenching experiences I have ever gone through. It was long and hard and every cycle seemed to end in heartache and frustration. It had been just under two years of the infertility treatments when I decided that I needed a break.

Mike and I talked about taking the summer off from the infertility treatments and set some goals that we wanted to accomplish during that time. One of those things was to take a trip to Hawaii. Sounds romantic doesn't it? Well, I was just hoping that I would cycle on my own so I continued to chart my cycle. It seemed that I was going to cycle. I was just excited about that. Weird huh? I don't think there are many women who can say they were excited to start their period. I never started. And then I started feeling really awful. I called the doctor and had some blood drawn. Yes, we were pregnant!!!

Now, do you remember that romantic trip to Hawaii that we had planned? Well, I was 12 weeks pregnant and sicker then I have ever been before. I spent a large amount of time in my air conditioned room on the bed sipping ice cold water. I told Mike that he owes me a redo on that trip! :)

My pregnancy went well and now we have our sweet little Caden. He is now a very busy 4 year old preschooler. We love him and enjoy having him in our family. He makes my heart happy. He is anxious to have more kids at our house and talks about wanting a baby often.

We have been trying, through infertility treatments, to have another child. We unfortunately have not had any luck with becoming pregnant. Sometimes it is hard to understand the plan that God has for us or why things happen the way they do. I try to be patient, but the heartache is still there. This time around is different than before because I have been blessed with a special little boy. We have a strong desire to have more children in our home to raise and to love.

The topic of adoption has been on the table for quite some time. I have felt that this is the direction we should go in trying to grow our family. I am so grateful for the blessing of birth parents who have such a great love for their child and are so selfless. Our lives will, one day, be so blessed because the option to adopt is available to us.

I know that God has a plan for our family and that brings me peace. I hope and pray that as we go forward with the desire to have more children that there is someone out there whose heart will be touched and they will allow us to raise and love their very special baby.