22 months

Started throwing tantrums
Breaking eye teeth
Said :green, yellow, ewwwwwww (with a face), mmm-mmm (as in "no way"), nice, yucky,
letters "C" and "T" recognized
Loves the incredibles
36 inches, 30 lbs
Not sure about thunderstorms, likes playing in the rain.
Found out about allergies
Enjoys throwing toys into Gaby & Conner's yard
Started putting toys away
Lovesssss markers & drawing.
Shows some interest in writing and prewriting skills (repeats "CDE" while making squiggly shapes)
Enjoys "sword fighting" with golf clubs
Favorite app: nick jr draw & play
Loves tickle wars

Eczema baby

So after two weeks I've been trying to keep Kade away from the allergies the doc told us about. Haven't seen any great improvements, but we'll keep trying and see what happens. She wants him on Zyrtec every day, but I hate giving him medicine so I've only been giving it to him on days when I know he'll be around dogs or anything else on the list.
Maybe for the next two weeks I'll try it every other day and see what happens? Wish me luck!

Terrible twos

They're upon us. I have to admit I enjoy putting on my daycare hat and remembering how I dealt with this stuff while I was working at the CDC. Makes it easier & helps me to remember that all this is very normal. Kade is realizing that mom isn't such a pushover and screaming doesn't get you anything but more upset. He's so smart already. I can see more of him needing interaction lately. Before I think he just wanted mommy. Lately he's eager to find anyone else to observe and learn from. He said "Kaylan" today as she walked by his room as I was putting him to sleep. He likes to say "AJ did it" too. No matter what happened. AJ did it :)
It helps to focus on how he's growing and changing. Scrapbooking might be slow going, but it's keeping my mind busy as I wait for answers from my doc. Apparently I have a large blood filled cyst (TMI? Sorry) on my left ovary. Everything on my pap came back normal except I was feeling pressure and during my cycle was incapacitated in pain. Thank God I got it checked out! Now to make sure it's endometriosis or whatnot, then hopefully they can give me some sort of prognosis and we can decide if we want another child or not. If we do, it will probably need to happen sooner rather than later. It scares me to know that I could never have another kid. I don't like feeling so helpless, but Josh has been amazing with encouraging me most of the time. I don't think he understands how worried I am, but I also don't think he realizes how much pain I've been in and for how long. I'm glad to finally know that it isn't just me "being a baby" and there's a cause, but the cause scares me.
Oh well. Trying not to worry anymore. I I can get one more baby they're welcome to take all my lady parts and I'll be done with it. And if not, it will be okay. Worse things happen to better people. Trying to keep my head up and focused on the future. School starts in about 6 weeks, and I have a feeling it's gonna be a whirlwind after that.

July so far...

It's hot and I'm tired.  

that about sums it up, no energy to do anything because I feel like I live inside a hair dryer.  Kade is potty training, so there's been much steam cleaning and vinegaring of the house.  He's decided that everything is a sword, and he looooves sword fighting and faking dramatic defeats.  He likes it when I fake dying even better :P

Tomatoes are rockin, everything else in the yard is hanging on for dear life until we get some rain.

For the most part just hanging out trying to tie up loose ends around the house before school starts.  I have yet to conquer the notorious baby book.  Still stuck on week 2.  Looks like that will be happening this week!

It's so hard to figure out what I want to put in there. I didn't make it a point to write down certain days or events because he's such a gradual learner and just does everything when he's ready.  
 Also, his baby milestones weren't like phenomenal events for me.  Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing him roll over and walk, but toddlerhood is more on my level.

Like the time he wanted Josh's attention but he was walking away, so instead of "dada" he yelled "JOSH!".

Or when he started saying "Awww shiat".
(I'm not proud of it, but for some reason these are the things I find stuck in my head as moments I'll remember forever)

Maybe I'm not a sentimental person.  Assuming that Josh's proposal came on the phone and went something along the lines of, "hey, sooo, would you like...wanna maybe get married so that way you could come to Alaska with me?"

I'm thinking that wasn't something written by Nicholas Sparks.

So, my kid's baby book might not be something of the marvelous.  I want to finish it so I can start on a toddler book :)

Summer lovins

and they have been the best months yet.

We are POTTY TRAINING!!!  Big boy pooped AND peed in the potty!

We found out that Daddy is probably heading to Afghanistan next year.  Until then the cuddles will be bountiful in this house!

Mom's new favorite - black bean salad w/avacados

watermelon ice cubes go great with lemonade!

Little K & her fourth - themed beer bottle cap windchime :)

preparing for the 4th- the girls wanted to microbead our nails, the boys just wanted to watch the Incredibles, Momma made red white & blue pancakes and we blew up poprocks all over the house & yard

Daddy got momma and early Birthday gift :D

This spring there was a lot of...

waterbeads
(here used to sprout seeds)

window painting
for Daddy

sensory boards

and of course more window art
(crayon shaving art & pointillism heart)

small group discussions

cuddles when the weather wasn't great

stalking Daddy's Honor Guard posts so we could get pictures for Grandma

watching the jets during the DM airshow

pudding painting

mmmmmm 

random art ideas mommy came up with

Blarney stone crafting for our grandma McCoy!  We used salt playdough, colored sand, marbles, sequins, macaroni, googly eyes and sparkles.  Whew.  What a mess :)

weird snack experiments 

SHAVING. CREAM.

waterbeads in the water table!

Even a redneck pinata!

We learned that mommy likes markers in the bathtub a lot better than on the couch

and more shaving cream

Easter stamp making!

followed by "LET'S TURN EVERYTHING INTO A CHALKBOARD!!!"

We found uses for all that crud mommy doesn't want getting into Kade's belly or sticking to her butt!

We made our own easter decorations too :)

I hope someone finds these kiddo craft ideas useful for their own kids!  Table time is my favorite part of Kade's day - even if it does require massive cleanup overhaul afterwards (Le Sigh...)

Now I'm off to pinterest for summer crafting inspiration!