12 Month update

Well, Kade was walking about two weeks before his first bday. I will just say in those few weeks he learned to walk really fast. It is now almost two weeks after his bday and he is running now. It is so funny to watch those little legs trying to go as fast as Madi. It won't be long he will probably be out-running her. Kade has been progressing alot lately. I tell you there was one point where I was beginning to worry because he didn't seem to be "on target" when compared with Madison. I am happy to say he has almost conquered all the things she did at about the same time.. or maybe slightly later. So, it isn't as "off" as I thought it had been. At one point in time Kade use to say "mama". Well, he stopped all of a sudden. He use to say "mada" for Madi, and he stopped. Now everything was Dada. Thought it was just him being a daddy's boy.. but then one day I realized he forgot how to say anything he had said before... and "dada" was the only thing he would say. I figured this out b/c I use to tell him to call Madi and he would yell (looking in her direction) "Ma-da". Well, I finally realized he was saying "madi" just couldn't pronounce the "m" sound anymore. He was then saying "da-da" for Madi. "dada" for Daddy.. and even when I was saying "say mama" he would say "dada". This made me sooooo nervous. All I could think about was autism. I began researching online (which I know you shouldn't do) and finally realized that he is supposedly fine and there is nothing to worry about. He points to things... he grunts and babbles.. so that is good enough for now. Apparently they aren't suppose to really "talk/talk" until closer to two years old. My daughter was speaking in short sentences (still hard to understand sometimes) by one years old. And now that she is three- she talks ALL the time and never shuts-up. So maybe this is a sign that he cares more about being a boy and doing boy things.. getting into everything... than talking and we won't have to worry about him too talking our heads off all the time. Hoping anyways. LOL. One is enough. Well, I also thought maybe his pappy was causing some of this delay. So at 11 months I took his pappy away. He did really well with it except for at naptime and bedtime. We caved in and gave it to him, but would only allow him to have it at these times. I really wish I would have broke him from the pappy completely before I put him in his own bed in his own room... This is going back a bit to update his 11 month too. Once we moved into our home, I decided to put the crib in our bedroom to try to get him to sleep in his own bed. Yes until this point he was still in the bed with us. Well, the first few nights I gave in and in the bed with us he went. Finally I put my foot down and threw him in his bed after he was long asleep. He slowly started getting use to it. We let him cry it out for a bit. We would stand in the room at first and tell him to "lay down" everytime he would get up. Once he stayed down- we would leave and let him cry. He didn't cry long until he was asleep. Finally he was out of our bed and in his own!!!!! And amazingly in no time at all he was going to sleep on his own and sleeping all night long. Just before he turned one, I decided he was doing so well, that I was going to move him in his own room. So out the crib went and Kade's room was set up! He didn't like it at first and cried a good bit. Steve gave in and put him back in the livingroom with him and held him. He was so tired from the crying it took him no time to fall asleep watching TV with his dad. We put him in his room, but he kept waking up. It took a few nights, but he again got the hang of going to sleep and sleeping all night. Just recently Kade developed a really bad facial rash. I am not sure what is causing it. He has had it on and off for most of his life here on Earth. We asked the doc at his last appt (9mo) and he said it was from drool and told us to put hydrocorisone on it to help. Well, a friend of mine told me not to put that on it it thins the skin per her dermatologist.. so we stopped. It didn't seem to help anyways. I started putting baby pertroleum jelly on his face. It didn't seem to help, so I used the regular kind. Still nothing.. getting worse. It seemed to bother him from time to time. SO, I start thinking it is from his pappy at night all that drool from sucking on it being right around his mouth and causing that horrible rash. So I decide to take his pappy from him at naptime. The first day was pretty bad- but he did eventually fall asleep. Usually while someone was holding him was the only way we could get him to sleep. The second day was about the same.... until bedtime that night. Kade cried for HOURS straight really loudly. I was beginning to think he was in pain b/c of how he cried. We picked him up, he would fall asleep, but wake right back up screaming. If we did get him to sleep- he woke up screaming within a min. It was horrible. I finally caved and gave the pappy to him. The next day I realized his gums are again swollen and lumpy. Feels like he might have some teeth coming through soon. Maybe that is why he is so irritable. I will wait until we see Dr. Patz on Tuesday of next week to see if he sees some teeth coming through. If there are no teeth, then I am taking it from him. If there are teeth, I might let him wait until they come through since they say babies that don't cut any teeth before one usually cut several at one time when they finally do cut teeth. He might be in a lot of pain. I have noticed even with the pappy- he wakes during the night numerous times. He is even crankier than usual... he poops bunches lately. Drools alot- as can be told by that horrible rash on his face... so maybe he is finally about to cut that first tooth!!!
Kade has been exercising with me. When Madi and I go to do "jumping-jacks" he does them with us. He throws his hands up and down in front of him and laughs his little head off. He thinks it is hilarious. It is super cute I have to get it on video.
He also has a new dance he has learned.. squatting. It reminds me of my brother how he use to dance. He can't keep his balance though. He does a few squats and winds up falling over laughing. Too cute!
He finally is talking more without the pappy. I still don't know whether or not he is "on-track" we will find out Tuesday. He goes around saying "Dada" alot still. He also goes around saying "MA....MA....MA.....MA" over and over, but I can't get him to say it together "mama". He pointed at a ball the other day and said "all".. so apparently he can't say the "buh" sound yet. He pointed at his high chair the other day to let me know he was hungry. HA. I tried to get him to say "bite" but he refuses. He sit in my lap for the first time the other night and actually let me read him all four of the Elmo nursery series. And laughed at them. He usually tries to get the book and won't pay attention. It was nice to see he will let me read to him. Now I can start doing it more often.
Today he said "atch". I realized after he said it a few times that he was repeating me when I said "catch". So I told him to say "catch" (we were playing ball together) and he said "atch". LOL. So, he can't say the "cuh" sound either.
I just heard him clearly say MADA yelling at Madi through the bathroom door. So, he is back to saying that one too....
It snowed today. He had a blast watching me run through the snow trying to put some stuff up before it froze. he seemed to like the snow!!!

Kaiden's first birthday

Happy First Birthday to my baby boy! I can't believe how fast this year went by! His birthday was on Jan 18th. Even though school was out that day, my family had to work... and I work weekends, so we decided to throw Kade a small party the Friday before his bday. The theme was Baby Sesame Street. Kade seemed to love it. He has grown to love Elmo. I got him a cake that had Elmo and Big Bird on it.. two cars riding down a road. It was really cute. I decorated with blue and red balloons taped on the doorway/windows of the dining room. I got a table cloth that had Elmo & friends on it and put it on our dining room table. I used the banner that Madi had for her first birthday and put it up on the wall. We had a red and blue balloon blown up, then a red and blue "1st bday" balloon blown up, along with an Elmo's 1st bday balloon all blown up with helium. It was cute enough for this little guy. I also got Kade a seperate cake. It was white icing with chocolate cake. They put flowers on it.. which I thought was crazy.. but then I noticed they were just matching the bday cake which had flowers on it. I hadn't noticed that. I had him a candle with big bird on it with a "1". My mom and dad, Pat, Lance, Nina, Hayley, and Carson, Jerry and Andrea all came. We had a good time sitting around chatting. Ate hot dogs/ chips and dip.. etc. Then sang Happy Bday to my boy. He just smiled.. Steve helped him blow out his candles. Then it was time for him to dig in. He put his hands in it.. and cried! He did NOT like the mess on his fingers.. We attempted it several times and still the same thing. I finally picked the cake up and put it to his face. He dug right in and made a mess all over his face! It dropped down on his chest/neck. lol. Then I instructed him to put his hands in his hair.. he did! HE was such a mess. Nanny took him and gave him a bath while everyone else ate cake and ice cream. Kade loved the cake and also loved the ice cream.
After Kade was cleaned up. we moved into the LR and opened his gifts. I should say Madi and Hayley got a hold of them and opened several for him before I could make them stop. Kade got many nice gifts. He got a piggy bank and money from his Nanny. He got some toy CARS and clothes from Maw-maw and Paw-paw. He got a toy ambulance and some other toys/clothes from his Granny Andrea and Paw Jerry. Lance and Nina got him a CARS ride on toy which he loves. We got him a guitar, a spin toy, and several other small toys.
I finally see how my parents felt having a kid's bday so close to Christmas. I had no idea what to get him since he just got tons for Christmas.
He had a great bday party. On his bday we didn't do much special... just sang happy bday to him!!

Kaiden is walking...

Kade is walking! He finally let go and started walking across the room at 11 months! He moves faster and faster every day!

Housing situation....

Well, as some of you may or may not know, we had decided to put our home in New Hope up for sale on the market in hopes of selling and purchasing a new home. We sold our home on September 18th, 2009! We had already found a home for sale by owner just down the street from my mother-in-law's home. It was in Owens' Crossroads. Even after being pre-approved at first for $180K, then bumped up to $200K, and after we invested over $2000 in the home we were purchasing, and MOVED into the home, the financing fell through! So, on October 6th, we packed our stuffed and moved it to a storage builidng and moved in with my mother-in-law. Our plans were to get some stuff paid off and try to sell my Armada to rid us of a high car payment. Strangely, within days of us moving in with my mother-in-law I began getting multiple calls on people wishing to purchase my Armada. One week later, I was on my way to Pensacola, FL to sell my vehicle! We freed roughly $650 every month in payments by doing so. I didn't think it would be too bad with us having only one vehicle. After all, I only work two days a week and Steve is on disability, and we are home-bodies.. so it wouldn't matter. I found it does matter! It seems like he would need to go somewhere and we would need to be somewhere else.. we made it work though most of the time with the help of my mother-in-law allowing me to use her car on the weekends.
We wound up staying longer than planned at my mom-in-laws. We tried every means possible to find a home in the New Hope school district. We thought about buying land and building a home.. have to have a big down payment which we didn't have. So that was out. Then we thought about buying the land and putting a manufactured home on it. We went to several manufactured home dealers and found many nice homes we liked, but decided to get one from the dealer in Alexandria, AL. So, we payed a "down payment" or whatever of $100.. they ran our credit and called us a day or two later telling us we were approved. So, then it was off to find the land. We searched the MLS listings.. and didn't find much. We got all the physical addresses and for one reason or another ruled out several of them based on location. We were down to only ONE listing in the MLS. I posted and add on Craigslist only to get spammed with stupid e-mails. I also posted an ad at work. We hunted down one guy I had talked to in the past that had some land nearby. It took a lot to track down who owned the land.. and even more work to find him. I basically pulled the phone book out and started calling people with his same last name asking if they knew him... finally someone told me they did. They gave me his name and phone number. It was one I had tried calling before, but the line stayed busy. We loaded up and drove to find his home since we had mapquested it. Found him and talked to him- he wanted WAY too much and we had to do WAY too much work to the land and had to haul off some old trailors on the land... so that was out. Then I got a call from someone at work. We checked out his land.. very nice. Liked the location, the only work we would have to do is move a shed and trailor. Which by the time we added that in with his price, it wasn't too bad high, but we decided we didn't want to invest that in a manufactured home. The MLS listing was too high, and had to have a ton of work. So, manufactured home route was out! It took us forever to get that place to pay us our money back!!! But we did finally get it after many phone calls!
Then we moved onto the house thing- there was only one house that fit our needs. It was also in the subdivision as my MIL. It was too expensive and the owner wouldn't budge on the price.
The only other option was a hunter-home type house and you get what you pay for in those.. so I wouldn't consider it.
So, off we were house hunting in other places. I searched the MLS.. and came across a listing in Hazel Green. I told my hubby I wanted to look at it before we put an offer in on another house we had looked at in Hazel green. We pulled up.. and I was in love. It isn't the newest home.. and by far the nicest.. but it felt "homely".
It had a nice BIG porch which is hard to come by these days. It had a green roof- which at first I wasn't fond of- but hey- you can pray for hail storms..lol. Then as we visited more often I realized there were green in the bricks. The green shutters and roof matched perfectly and it made it look kinda cute. May still change that in the future. It needs a fence. The back yard look onto a field which is filled with deer alot. So, as tacky as it might sound, I figure a privacy fence down the sides and across the back put a chain length fence so we can still see the field/deer.
Then we walked into the front door into the foyer. It was nice. Real hard wood floors.. looking into the livingroom which had a huge bricked ventless gas fireplace! And a GREAT brick mason I might add! The livingroom had a triple trey ceiling and nice ceiling fan which was beautiful! The floor had the hardwood around the edges of the room with carpet in the middle. We found this different.. and we liked it! The foyer was a greyish color while the livingroom was a mint green color! YUCK! The trey parts got darker (green) as they went up! Then to the right we found the hallway.. again the greyish color with carpet. First to the right would be Kade's room. It was very big! Had an out-dated ceiling fan. Big closet with the bi-fold doors which I hate! And carpet! The room was a blue color- but a funky pastel kinda blue. Then the second door to the right off the haul would be Madi's room. It too was very big! It was a darker green color (I think from the color of one of the trey parts in the livingroom.) Had a nice big closet with bi-fold doors, out-dated ceiling fan, and carpet. Then at the end of the hall was a full bath. Ugly beige colored tub, sink, and toilet, outdated- vanity, counter-tops, light fixtures and flooring. It was an ugly peach color. It had a closet which was really nice!!! The only door to the left of the hall was Becky's teen suite. It had a large room which was a bright yellowed color. The fan was white- but obviously something was wrong with it and would need to be replaced. It had a large walk-in closet with and out-dated light, and a on-suite full bathroom with again same outdated beige tub, toilet, sink, vanity, counter-tops, and light fixtures. Ugly outdated wall-paper and flooring. It had no closet but the toilet was recessed so that you could put one of those over-the-comode shelves for towels and such.
Just off the livingroom (closest to the foyer) to the right is the dining room. It too was roomy. I loved the color of it. Very deep rich brown color. Had chair railing around the room and bead-board which was not installed correctly. Again- outdated lighting. It however, was the only room which had the faux wood white blinds like I like! All the other rooms have blinds- just all out-dated!!! The dining room has carpet. Then from the diningroom (and there is an entrance from the livingroom also) is the kitchen. NEEDS TON OF UPDATING. The sink is little and stainless steele with outdated faucet. Dishwasher is black, but out-dated. The fridge is a smaller fridge and beige or whatever color you call it. The microwave is black and out-dated. The stove was updated. It was stainless steel and didn't look very old at all. The cabinets were an oak color- needs to be updated, but maybe just a change of hardware will make it work. That or paint/stain them.. which will be tons of work. The couter tops are outdated and need to be replaced or painted.. The floor was hidious and the lighting is outdated! Has a nice eat-in area with bay windows. It is that hidious yellow color! There is no pantry which is bad- but there are plenty of cabinets. Then off the kitchen is another small hall way with outdated lighting and that same hidious flooring. To the right there is a door which leads into a garage. Pretty big, but can't fit two vehicles in it. There is a drop down ladder for storage into the attic which is nice. From the hallway straight ahead kinda to the left was the laundry room. It was pretty big and roomy with a cabinet for storage. The light didn't work very well and was outdated. It too had that hidous flooring. Then to the right of the hallway was the master suite. A HUGE room! SOOOOO big! It was a navy blue color. Very dark. Trey ceiling with outdated ceiling fan. There was a door to the right that lead to the deck. There was a door in the livingroom that lead to it too. The master suite had a huge walk-in closet! Then there is the bathroom. It is kinda long. Outdated lighting, double vanity, counter-tops, sinks, toilet, shower, and seperate tub. To the right is a bi-fold closet which had several shelve and is rather big. Same hidious flooring as the kitchen. Wallpaper and boarder are sooo old. Green and red mix stripe with white in it.. and flowered matching boarder.
Even with all the updating that needed to be done.. we saw so much potential. The house was already listed at a great price of $169,900. Most are listed in the $180Ks up here. It was 2500 sq ft. We loved it. Put an offer in and after countering- got the house for $165K with them paying all our closings. It passed inspection with flying colors! They fixed the few minor repairs that we asked for. And the home appraised for $174K as it is now!!! We closed on Dec 17th. But couldn't move in b/c we had to paint and get rid of those hidious colors before we moved in.
I cleaned the carpets well and cleaned the house., We kilzed and painted.. and moved in on Dec 29th, but didn't start staying there until the next night.
We love it here. Still have tons of work to do.. but it will be well worth it in the end. I will post another blog with what all we have done to the house when it is complete.. and include pics before and after.

Kade's first Christmas

Kaiden had a GREAT first Christmas as did the rest of us. He is still in that "I don't really know what to do stage.." We first opened gifts Christmas Eve at Pat, Steve's mom's house. He would barely rip the paper.. but thoroughly enjoyed playing with it for sure! I think by the time he was opening his last gift he was finally starting to catch on to the ripping it open part. He got a lot of good stuff that night! A nice warm coat.. and bunches of toys to play with!! That night, I put the kids to bed... and Santa did in fact come even though I thought for sure with all the fussing and whining he was sure to pass our home by! LOL. He brought the kids tons of stuff! Kade was pretty good at opening his gifts with help of course. He still liked playing with it more than ripping them open. Madi tore into her presents going to town! Should have seen her massive pile! And still when she finished.. she wanted more! OMG! Well Kade racked up! He again got tons of toys!! Balls seemed to be his favorite! He got some stuffed animals and clothes.. He didn't really play with them much as he was too busy trying to get some of Madi's stuff! HA. Madi got a lot too! She got barbie dolls galore! She got all the Princess Barbies.. tons of books, a bike, a scooter, table/chair, sandbox, and a princess piano... among much more! She was so happy. We got Becky my old laptop, some books, IPOD touch and that's about it. That cost ENOUGH for her. LOL.
We had a great Christmas. Becky had staph infection and was being quarantied from my kids- and well everyone. She and her daddy stayed home while Madi and Kade and I loaded up and headed to my grandmother's in Geraldine. We had a good time there. Spent an entire day there visiting with family and friends I don't get to see very much. It was nice. Kade didn't want me to put him down for anything though. He is such a mama's boy.. and the seperation anxiety is really kicking in lately!!! Still no teeth for Kade. He is growing so much. He spent Christmas night with Mom and Dad along with Madi since I had to work the next day and Steve had to take Becky back to the doc in a box. He did well. He ran out of formula since I wasn't planning on him staying. Mom gave him whole milk (even though it was a bit early for it) and he drank it just fine. Actually acted like he liked it!! So, after he ran out of formula, we decided not to throw tons of money away on any more of it! We started buying him whole milk.. and saved us TONS of money! ha. That's about it for his first Christmas....