A rare treat for us in Oregon; substantial snow! I was very doubtful that the weatherman's predictions would come to fruition, but I was proved wrong when it snowed all day Sunday and accumulated a good couple inches. Kadin was very excited and we took him out to play for a few minutes (not very long because it was very windy and very cold!). He loved to make "no-balls" and would have probably stayed out there until he froze if we let them. It's fun to see everything all white and frozen outside, but I forgot how miserable the cold is!



The other big happening here was Kadin got one of his Christmas presents early when Jeremy decided to build his big boy bed on Monday. Since the weather was nasty, Jeremy stayed home and decided that it would be a good time to tackle that project (I think he didn't want anything to get in the way of his video game playing during Christmas break). So Jordan came over and they dismanteled the crib and built his new bed. Kadin was so excited and couldn't wait to climb up and jump on it. And surprisingly he did great when we put him to bed for the first time in it. We tucked him in like normal and he looked a little nervous as we walked out the door. He cried for a while, which is unusual for him, but he never got up and once he was asleep, he didn't wake up until morning! And nap time went pretty smoothly too; I only had to go in and put him back to bed once! Yeah for him!
I have to say, I have been excited for Kadin to make the transition from the crib to a big boy bed, but once the bed was up and I looked at his room without the crib, I had a pretty emotional moment (like I stood in the middle of the room and cried). My baby isn't a baby anymore and this was a concrete reminder that he is growing up fast! I am excited and happy about everything, but I still miss all the sweet baby moments (isn't is funny how we only remember the good and forget everything else).

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Lots to catch up on!

So much to talk about, so little time (literally; I have until this episode of Curious George is over and then it's back to being Kadin's playmate).
- We have a new addition to our family . . . no, Kylee has not been born yet (although I am really wishing she was right now because I am tired of being pregnant!), we got a new car. Unfortunately it was out of necessity rather than planning; Jeremy got into a car accident last Friday and completely wrecked our Honda. Thankfully he is fine, but we had to figure out what we were going to do about a second car (sharing a car would be crazy with Jeremy having to drive different places for work meetings and me starting to have doctor's appointments every week now). Jeremy did the research and decided that he wanted to look into getting a Honda CR-V. So after working with our insurance (thanks to Jeremy's amazing salesman skills, they ended up giving us more money than we anticipated), we were able to take the money from the old car and put it into a 2000 Honda CR-V. So a stressful situation that turned out pretty well!

- I had another ultrasound (I think this is the 5th or 6th one . . . it's been really fun to watch all the changes) to measure Kylee and make sure that she is doing alright. She gave the ultrasound tech some sass, throwing out an elbow or a knee when the tech pushed down a little harder to see something specific. Everything looks great (I had them check AGAIN to make sure she is still a girl; I think I will be paranoid about that until she is actually born!). She is small, about 50% on the growth estimate chart, but still within the normal range. Jeremy is worried that she is going to be too small, so he is constantly reminding me to eat A LOT! I just tell him that I was not built for big babies! After my next appointment, I start going every week, which means I am getting close! I am getting anxious and excited the closer we get!

- The last and most exciting thing is that my brother Jordan got home from his mission yesterday! He has been serving for 2 years in Cordoba, Argentina and it was so amazing to see him come home and see what a change has been made in him. Kadin and I got to go to the airport with my parents to meet his plane and as soon as I saw him, I was amazed at how grown-up he seemed. This mission was such an amazing experience for him and I can tell that it made such a difference for him in becoming even more of a great person.
When Jordan left, Kadin was 8 months old, just learning how to sit up by himself and eat solid foods. Now he is 2 1/2 and Jordan was absolutely amazed at how different he was. Kadin took a little while to warm up to him, but once he did, Jordan had to hide in the bathroom to get some space because Kadin didn't want to leave his new friend! My mom and dad asked Kadin if he knew who Jordan was and after thinking for a second, Kadin said "Jesus". There must be a pretty strong spirit around Jordan and Kadin probably recognizes that. It was really fun to see him interact with Jordan and just to see Jordan again.

It was awesome to see Jordan again, but it was also really surreal. It seemed like it was always this thing in the future, "Jordan is coming home" but now that it is "Jordan is home", it is just weird! It also makes me panic a little more about the holidays and getting ready . . . just another reminder that time is going faster than I am!

Full of surprises

The last couple days, I have gotten a few surprises from Kadin such as . . .

"Mommy, done with cookie!" It was one of those chocolate-covered mint ones, and I figured he would eat it quickly enough that there would be nothing more disastrous than some crumbs. But he decided to play rather than eat so the chocolate coating melted all over his fingers. I do have to commend him for obedience. I saw the mess while I was driving and couldn't do anything about it, so I told him to put his hands together and not touch anything. When we got home, there wasn't a spot of chocolate anywhere on his carseat or his clothes!


"I don't know my shirt got down around my waist!" I always prepare myself for odd little surprises like this when I go to get him up from his nap.

"Rub in my chin. Make Kadin feel better" As Jeremy said last night when I told him about this, "At least he knows it is supposed to make him feel better. The only thing he messed up on is which set of cheeks it belongs on!"