Springtime!

Here are some pictures from my walk the other night. If you look at the fence posts closely you can see a little robin perched on top. I tried to get a better/closer picture but she flew away when I did...shocker. All the wildflowers are so pretty and all of the chokecherry blossoms smell delicious! The chokecherry bushes are just teeming with bug life. I got close to one to check out the blossoms and the bush was just covered in bees, butterflies and buzzing bugs flying from blossom to blossom. It has been so nice out. I love the 70's. Any hotter than that and I think it is just too hot.

Home Alone!

I am home alone! It is so quiet it seems strange. I was on call last night and got called in for a quick case at 11pm so I thought great I will be home around 1 to 0130 in the morning, still get some sleep and have a nice quiet day off with the kids. (We don't have to work after a call day if we work past midnight. something about a lack of sleep can lead to errors in nursing) So I went in and we did the quick case super quick and were just about to close up surgery when the dreaded phone rang and there was a case in the emergency room that had to go now. Great! No sooner had we hung up the phone when it rang again, there was a patient in the ICU that needed to come over the the operating room STAT! So we had to call in another crew and run two rooms until four in the morning. Needless to say the thought of being home with the kids got a little scarier. They weren't going to be sleepy all morning like me! We all slept in until about 8 then Rance took the kids down to Landa's as they were scheduled to be there today anyway! And I slept and slept Hooray for sleep. Except the darn phone kept ringing. Rance even got to get up twice while I was gone to feed Avery. He had got home just before I got called in last night, which I am sure Wynne is happy about since she was my backup plan until Rance got home. Rance was pretty worn out this morning too. He has had a long couple of days helping breed some cows. So my immediate plan to get the kids out of the house early didn't quite happen. Cade helped me make super cinnamonny waffles then off he went. I even got to take a real shower today without worrying about the kids waking up. What a luxury!

Cade and Avery almost four month Comparison

I took this picture of Avery sitting up with the help of my boppy pillow then remembered I had a picture of Cade sitting in it too. Turns out they are almost exactly the same age in the pictures when it was taken, both about a week and a half from turning four months old. Funny! Cade sure has grown since then. I have a picture of Cade being super smiley but I decided to post the serious one since I couldn't seem to get Avery's smile captured in the picture, I kept missing it!

More Avery!

Avery took a bath last night and I put her in her little princess bath robe. She looked pretty darn adorable in it, so her Dad had to snap a few pictures to show off on the blog. She really likes her baths. She gets all quiet and smiley. Sometimes CAde helps out with baths. i usually end up about as wet as Avery when he does, but he really likes to help. "I do, I do" he says all the time now.

I know I have a few of her doing tummytime, but none where she was smiling!

What is Blue and Messy?

A peanut M&M! Cade apparently doesn't like the peanut flavored ones only the plain! The blue he got all over does match his socks though!

Rainy Days

What is better on a rainy day than a good time in the water where it is warm! Cade loves being outside so the last couple of days cooped up in the house were pretty rough for him. I let him out on all his gear and go out a couple of time and he lasted longer then I thought he would every time, but in the end he would decide it was better to be inside for once. So I broke out some new bath toys I had been saving. Bath crayons that just wipe off and alphabet letters. Cade and I were having a blast with the crayons until Rance wondered if it was smart to teach him to draw on things other than paper... maybe not but it is fun. I have since then reinforced several times that they are only for the bath and nothing else.

I love the rain but I can't say as though I love to be out in it getting wet either. The first night it rained I laid in bed wondering what was that noise? Were the darn cats into something? Was Cade making noise in his crib? ?? Oh yeah it's rain hitting the windows. I would just about be asleep and then think..What is that noise?

The frogs outside are really loud. It is fun to hear them croaking and fun to look for them as I did yesterday with Carter for a while. Robert and Jami were over cleaning up their old home site and digging up any trees that had managed to survive since they left last year. Those are the ones you know are hardy and can stand to be thirsty for a while. They didn't get much water after they moved.

Avery Takes a Ride On Cactus

I put Avery on "Cactus" the horse for her first ride. Cade thought it was pretty funny and thought it was even better to get to take a ride with her. He is such a good big brother when he wants to be! He never was said "No Me!" Although I am sure once the novelty of seeing Avery on his horse wears off he won't think it is as fun.

Avery

Avery is all about sucking on her fist. Cade was the same way. He never found his thumb so it will be fun to see if she does or not.

Here is a video of Avery right at the end of her tummy time when she was getting tired, but as you can see she is getting big and strong! Tummytime is some hard work!

Cade likes to "brush" his teeth or rather he likes to suck all the toothpaste off of the brush so Rance helps hims brush his little chompers before he goes to bed. Cade thinks the battery powered toothbrush is pretty cool. He is all about watching himself in the mirror. He makes faces, smiles, turns his face this way and that. It is funny.
Cade had to take his blanket outside with him never mind that he trips over it every ten steps or it is too hot to possibly need a blanket. Cade loves to be outside!

Here is Cade eating his toast that he just had to have for supper with butter and cinnamon sugar plus a slice of pepperoni that he found in the fridge. MMMmm no thanks for me! He is also demonstrating where his ears are.

NO! ME do!

Cade is getting such a large vocabulary, it seems like it is just growing exponentially. Sunday he was helping me make pancakes and he told me for the very first time "No! ME do!" My boy is growing up! Later in the day Rance was going outside so he put on his boots. Cade was watching and he decided he would go outside with Dad. So he put on his boots, grabbed a hat. Then he ran over to where I was sitting and looked up at me with his lips all pursed up for a kiss. I bent down gave a kiss and he said "Buh" (bye in Cade speak). He turned around and ran off after Dad, but Dad had left without him. Poor Cade. He had me completely melted with his little bye kiss so I took him out for a little while since Avery was sleeping. He is such a sweet little boy!



Sunday night he was playing with a little jingle bell he found. I showed him how to shake it and sing jingle bells. Christmas is coming eventually, right. I gave the bell back to him and he tried to sing it too! "Ingle bell, ingle bell, all way" I even got him to do it again later for Rance.



Last night I brought him home a little bag to put his lunch in when he goes to the babysitter and he took one look at it and proclaimed "OH MY GOSH". He ran around with the bag on his arm for awhile and then was on to the next thing.



Avery continues to be a very "talkative baby". She coos when she is happy and coos when she is mad. She has started to giggle a little. Cade and I were laughing together and she giggled with us which Cade thought was totally hilarious. Her sleeping is a little hit and miss. Some nights she sleeps pretty good and other not worth a darn! She is holding her head steady when pulled to a sitting position and has rolled from her tummy to her back once while doing tummy time. That surprised her. She had a confused look on her face after she did it. Cade still tries to poke at her occasionally but thankfully has quit trying to bite her. Her really wants to hug and hold her. I let him hold her on his lap bu his hugs get a little carried away.

Friday Fun

I liked the contrast of the wildflowers in the sippy cup verses the miniature roses in the shiny paper. The roses look so sophisticated and elegant while the wildflowers look relaxed and fun. Too bad my kitchen window wasn't looking a little cleaner. sigh.
Cade and I went outside this morning while Avery was napping and I pulled a small portion of the gobs of purple mustard I have invading my yard. I never understood why dad called it a weed when we picked pretty bouquets with it when I was younger, now I do! what an invasive weed. At least it is easy to pull and it gives my hiney a workout while I am bending over to pull out one after another. Cade even wore his sunglasses for a short time. Usually he pulls them off right away.


I tried to hook up one of the hoses and give my trees a little sip of water since it hasn't been raining nearly enough. But when I turned on the water the dang hose had small leaks all over it. The one you can see in the picture above is the worst one. Plus it was all kinked up and knotted. I guess it didn't winter so well. I didn't have time to try another hose however since Cade played in the water, got wet and then was cold. So we went in to change into dry clothes and little Miss Avery was awake.

cade spent the rest of the morning at my parents house running around outside with Carter. By the time I went to get him he was ready for a nap. (Crabby!) So the kids are both sleeping and I am getting caught up on other things!

Toast!

Cade likes toast for breakfast. I ask him every morning what he wants for breakfast and he says "TOAST" He is starting to get really helpful making it too. He is no longer content to sit back and let me make toast for him he has to help. Independence! Sort of. He gets mad if I don't let him get the bread out of the bag and put it in the toaster. Of course the best part is getting to push the handle down. We watch the bread toast and Cade reminds me it is hot.

Once it comes out he makes sure we get plenty of "booder" on it and cinnaman sugar. Yummy.

More from Mother's Day

I forgot to post this picture of Avery and Grandma Betty together. I thougt they were so cute together since they are matching in pink and white. Avery had been discovering her hands lately and just how yummy they are to suck on. She will not take a pacifier but her fists do nicely in a pinch.

Cade thought this basket was a great place to snuggle up in and of course play a little peekaboo.

Here is Cade all proud of himself for sitting in my chair when I wanted to feed Avery in it.

Mother's Day Weekend in Review

Cade thought all of the dandelions on my mom's lawn were pretty and was picking as many of them as he could and collecting them in the wagon. He had a great time playing outside most of the morning, plus getting to go to the branding and help his dad hold some calves. By nap time he was a tired and worn out little boy. He took a three hour nap and still went to bed early. I love how the sunshine seems to wear out little kids.
Avery is starting to play with toys a little or rather she is starting to put them in her mouth. So far Cade hasn't grabbed any toys from her and screamed "MINE!" but I am sure that will be coming. He has been good about bringing her toys and must not think she is too horrible because he still likes to sit and have her put on his lap for about twenty seconds while he slobbers (kisses) on her face.
Notice Cade in the background in the picture below. He is so helpful to Avery when she is doing tummy time. Sometimes he tries to climb on her back. My mom had a birthday on the 7th and Rance's mom had one on the 9th so Happy Birthday to our Mommies as well as Happy Mother's Day!

I was on call Mother's Day weekend and only had to work a little bit Saturday Afternoon. I think they were being nice to me because everyone else worked quite a bit more than that. Saturday was a very busy day for them. The people who were on first call worked about 17 hours. I was only second call Saturday. First call on Sunday, but we have a day shift on Saturday and Sunday now and even a night crew so that has really cut down on the hours we work on call. Believe it or not some people even complain about not getting in enough call hours anymore. The money is really nice but now that I have babies I would rather stay home with them! All in all I had a pretty relaxing mothers day and even got Rance to do the dishes for me.

Thursday

Avery isn't very impressed with tummy time so sometimes Cade gets down on her level to help her out a little. He is saying her name really good now and "Avry, AVRY!" He like to try to beat me to the chair if he knows I am headed towards it with Avery o sit down and feed her. He thinks it is so funny when he does but usually he is laughing so hard he can hardly crawl up into the chair. When he does beat me I act surprised and say " Who is in Momma's chair" Cade gets a real kick out of it.
Cade and I snuck outside while Avery was napping Thursday to enjoy the beautiful day. Avery napped for a good three hours so Cade and I got to really take in the sunshine. My lawn is starting to green up. In another couple years it should be a pretty nice lawn, hopefully! That is my plan anyway. There are still a few patches that need to fill in, but who wants a perfect lawn right away.

Cade is getting to be quite the busy boy. Thursday I had the joy of vacuuming up a pantry full of pancake batter mix and a table full of salt. I am still finding salt crystals everywhere.
Rance fixed my car today! Hooray. It has been leaking engine coolant since December, but it started to get bad this last month. He fixed it just in time for me to get called in to work. (I am on call this weekend) so he was probably relieved I didn't have to take his pickup in to work. Call isn't very fun, but the nice thing about a call weekend is that if I don't work much we get a lot of great family time in. I just love my little family!

Lots and Lots of Kisses!

My Dad keeps a stash of Hershey Kisses in a drawer in the mud room to bribe grand kids with. He made a couple of critical errors in doing this. 1. He takes the grand kids with him to retrieve them. 2. They are kept within reach of little fingers. 3. He underestimated Cade.


Everyone was outside eating after the branding Tuesday except Cade, Avery and I. I was sitting in a chair feeding Avery and Cade was playing with some toys behind me Then it got very very quiet....


I got up to investigate, warily, and found this!

Notice the guilty ring of chocolate around his mouth! He was very pleased with himself as you can imagine, but seriously who doesn't like chocolate kisses?

Peekboo with Cade

I was busy cleaning and doing laundry one day last week when I could hear some pretty funny noises coming out of the dryer. So I opened it up and found my sweet little boy playing inside just as happy as could be. In fact he was a little cross at me when I opened it and asked if he would like to come out. The picture above is him telling me he wanted the door shut thank you very much!

I did get one cheesy little smile out of him before he insisted I close the door again in a very toddler manner as you can see. He was saying please not so so politely. I did finally get him to laugh when I started playing peekaboo. He likes "peekboo" right now. He covers up his face with his hands and peeks between his fingers at you then drops his hands and yells "Peekboo!" To which you are supposed to act quite surprised!

Grandpa Harlen comes to visit

Rance's dad Harlan came down last weekend for the horse sale so he also got to get in some good grandkid time with Cade and Avery. Here is little miss Avery checking out her Grandpa Harlan!

Babyshower

I had Jami email this photo from the babyshower yesterday. With all the commotion of two kids I never got a picture of us all together. I was a little bummed about that because I had the kids all dressed up. Avery looked so cute in her little cowgirl shirt and skirt. I also loved the little headband.

It is fun to post pictures of Avery because she is growing and changing so much right now. She is getting so much funner! It is hard to believe she is already three months old. It goes so fast.

Rance and I took the kids in grocery shopping this afternoon. That is always as adventure. It makes me miss the days when Cade was happy to sit the grocery cart. But with Avery's car seat there isn't room for him in it anyway. I am still not ready to try grocery shopping alone!

Both of the kids are sleeping. It is a rare moment. I thought I would try to blog quick since I haven't for a while. The rest of the week at work was uneventful except that by the end of my third and final day working I was tired!!! I slept in Friday morning till 630 and that felt good. I like to get out of the house and work but at the same time it sure wears me out now with two little ones! Friday morning it snowed so I put off going to town for groceries and took the kids down to mom's house instead for a little visit.

Today was Corinne's baby shower so I got up early to shower before the kids woke up and then made a coffee cake for the baby shower brunch. I did great and got everyone and everything out the door a little early. About the time I pulled into the parking lot of the building where the baby shower was I realized I didn't have my diaper bag! AAaaack! I briefly considered going without it, then got real, ran in and borrowed a phone. Luckily Wynne was still home so she brought me the diaper bag. Hooray for Wynne! Cade had a pretty good time at the party trying to grab all the jelly beans he could, but he didn't want to eat them just give them to me. He kept trying to eat them, then would decide yup still didn't like it and hand it to me to eat. Ohh the things we get to do as mothers!

Here is Cade looking cheerful by the time we left both of my kids were screaming. Poor Cade just wanted to play outside. I took him outside for a little while but I think all that did was fuel the fire. It was so nice out! I don't get to take him outside nearly as much as he would like to be outside. They both cried nearly all the way home. It is so fun to drive with two screaming mad kids in the car. I can't believe no one wanted to ride home with me. I carried them in the house and put them to bed two hours later I got to have a nap and they are still sleeping!