What? Two Posts in 24 Hours?

I know, right? Are you as shocked as I am? Don't get to used to this. I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon once again, but at least I can say, "Remember when I posted twice in 24 hours?"

Today we went to Heath's aunt's house to celebrate Easter. Before we went, I took the proverbial Easter photo on the couch. I'm telling you. If Thanksgiving is for Turkey dinner, and Easter is for ham...We have a big ham in our house. His name is Cayden. 

 See that look? He does this often. He ducks his head down, and peers at you over his nose. Most of the time it doesn't have a smile with it, but lucky us, this one did.

 I think this could be an ad for Easter Peeps. I may feed my kid junk like Chickfila, but one thing he has been sheltered from is candy. An occasional marshmallow here and there, but nothing really to where he recognizes what it is. He was really intrigued with the peeps. Maybe because they were colorful? Once we fed him one though, he knew. He was hooked on their sugary goodness.

 Donald Duck getting a quick snuggle and a rock. Cayden rocked back and forth with him on the couch.

 Who doesn't love a good slide!?

 Cayden was having a great time swinging, until he fell off and hit his head. It was one of those where it sounded really terrible, but turned out just fine. Boys...

 The loot. Of course he needs every single bit of it.

 Remember these balloons? I can remember getting these all of the time. I'm not sure my luck was as bad as Cayden's though. He popped this green one in about 3 minutes.

 Derek was kind enough to give his blue one to Cayden. Literally, 45 seconds later, he popped this one too!

 I've got a golden ticket!! or Egg. Whichever. This find was a little guided, in that out of the picture are Ya-Ya and Aunt Debbie pointing him in the right direction.

 I mentioned before that Cayden isn't too interested in finding eggs. He found two and chucked them to the ground. As a good mom, I followed behind picking up the eggs and putting them with our stuff. I see this same routine with laundry in years to come.

 No, this is not an ad for Garanimals. What's Easter without a pinata? Cayden took a couple of good whacks at it, but then was distracted by other things.

 Once the candy was out, he became fixated on these little eggs. Like I said, he really has no idea what candy is, so he picked them up and hoarded them.

Easter Chick anyone? Debbie has a funny sense of humor. Like we would actually take a chick home. Cayden had the same idea. She tried to get him to pet the chick and he literally came out swinging. Anytime it got near him, he threw a punch or two. No worries. No actual contact was made.

It was a great day. It really crazy to think about how far you come in a year, and what the next year will bring.

Growing Up!

The past few weeks seemed to have been so busy! Between Spring Break, work, and just being pregnant, I feel like I hardly have any time!

Here is a quick pregnancy update:

Weight Gain: More than I care to mention. I haven't been quite as "aware" of my weight this time around as I was with Cayden. Last time it seemed like I weighed myself at least 3-4 times a week. This time, I have actually gone weeks without stepping on that thing. It's probably not for the better. The very last thing I want to do is make dinner. I really just want to eat sweets, which really isn't like me. I crave everything sweet. Girl Scout cookies. Yup. Popsicles. You betcha. Candy. Cake. Cupcakes. I want it all. 

Feeling: I really feel pretty good, other than it feels like my stomach weighs a ton, and sometimes that feels exhausting. I'm starting to get a little defensive when people ask me my due date because when I tell them, it feels like they are judging me. Example: When I say, "Oh, I'm not due until the end of June." My mind thinks that they are mentally sizing up my belly, and thinking that I am huge! The pregnant brain is a crazy and powerful thing.

Name: Beckham Connor. I probably should do an entire post about his name. It's taken us much longer to decide this time. And by us, I mean me. Heath named Cayden, and wouldn't take no for an answer. So, I joked about how he gave up all rights to naming our second child (Thinking it would be awhile before this point). Well...My turn came. And I felt a lot of pressure to come up with a good one. Not to mention that I had Heath come up with a list, and we didn't see eye-to-eye on any of them. Finally, I saw Beckham, and really liked it. I have no ties to soccer, although I do love Victoria Beckham's tattoos.

Good News: I had my glucose test. Once you have gestational diabetes you have a 40% chance of getting it again. Let's face it. The odds were against me. Between having it once before, and then my family history...It was inevitable... However, I got the all clear signal. Maybe the fact that I can eat sweets is the reason I want them so bad. I'm sure I can blame that darn pregnancy brain.

Okay, on to the more interesting person. Cayden. Boy, is this kid charming? When Heath and I get on to him for various things, he can just look so cute. We often find ourselves saying something like, "If you weren't so cute, you'd be in big trouble." Not that we don't tell him No and such, we do.

We got to spend all of Spring Break together with not much of a plan. My mom came over and stayed for FOUR days! It was great! I'm here to tell you, that boy loves his NeNe. When we are in the car... "NeNe?" When we see a red vehicle, "NeNe?" Although the weather wasn't that cooperative, we still got to get outside and visit the square and other things.

 He loves his shades. And the outdoors. His allergies are terrible. Part of me wants to just keep him indoors, but I know that this is cruel. I'm not sure if you can build up an immunity to allergies, but we just keep going out.

We went to NeNe's house today for a quick day trip. The weather was rainy when we got there, but by the afternoon it was really nice. The fields were green, the cows were grazing. It was perfect.

 We had Cayden practice his egg hunting skills. As long as they are in the open, he's good. You really only have to hide a few because once he finds one or two, he just throws them around like tiny footballs, and he's done. It will be interesting to see how this goes tomorrow.

 The weather was so nice, his belly wanted a first hand experience of the sun! I have no idea why he showed us his stomach.

 Cayden loves dogs. He's never really been up close and personal with one. Socks was more than willing to give him that experience.

 Photo opportunity by the flowering bushes. Check.

Not only did he enjoy running wild. He took a ride on the four-wheeler and swung in the hammock. He loved that hammock.

Quick Cayden Update: The past two weeks he has probably doubled his vocabulary. Is it all plain and clear? No. But he is trying, and for the most part we can decipher what they are.

New Words: Park, Cat, Dog, Biscuit, Bye-Bye, Night Night, Nick.

He can also identify all the letters in his name, and most of the alphabet. His favorite number is 8, although he can identify 1-8.

Entertaining Cayden

My mind has been wandering a lot lately. I think about the new baby and how we will manage with a new one and a two year old. I think about all the stuff I would like to get organized and cleaned out before he gets here. I think about the summer and what I can do with Cayden so that he doesn't get bored, but also things he can do without much help from me. I know I'm not going to be able to give him all the attention I give him now, but I also know that I never want him to feel neglected. My mission is to find ways to entertain him that don't involve the TV. There are times that Pinterest can be a detriment. It can be exhausting, without even having to do anything. But I have found a great list of activities for toddlers. Bingo! 

A couple of weekends ago, I busted out the shaving cream! I wasn't sure how Cayden would handle it. My first fear was that he would eat it. He does like toilet paper, so shaving cream may look like whipped cream and then it's down hill from there...

He loved it!

 He figured out that if you clap your hands, the shaving cream will splatter every where. This isn't a daily activity. I want to keep the novelty of it, so I probably will do this every now and then. But it does entertain him for a good 15 minutes. Which is quite long in my world.

 Boo. This game comes in a lot of different forms. Really anything he hides behind becomes a game of Boo. He recently started covering his eyes with his hands and saying Boo. I was washing his sheets the other day, and I went to put it in the laundry, and he insisted on playing with it. Okay? He drug it into the dining room, sat at the table, and basically hid under it. The cute part is when he says "Boo" it comes out in a quiet whisper. Boo.

 He likes to color. Heath has fears of markers on the furniture and walls, so when I first introduced coloring to him, I made him sit on a towel. This is our art place. He knows that he can't take the colors off the towel, and if he does, he's good about taking them back when you tell him to. We have been working on circles and colors. There was only one incident where he colored on the tile, and all I have to say is thank goodness for Washable Crayolas.

 He liked the chalkboard too! I was jotting down possible names and he decided to give his input. I'm not telling what the verdict is yet.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will be bombarded with photos of Cayden and his crew. The crew being characters from Winnie the Pooh with Mickey Mouse thrown in. On the weekends, they are every where! In the kitchen. In the chair. In our bed. Under the fort. He loves them, and I love that about him.

Boys are boys. Sometimes you just need to dump stuff out. And then not play with it.

Heath has been working a lot lately, so Cayden and I find ourselves eating for two. I cannot mention the number of times where I have thought to myself sarcastically..."Wow! I'm racking up the parent points here!"

Case-in-point: Cayden loves Chick-Fila. He calls it Bock-Bock (chicken noise). Earlier this week, we went to the mall, where he got a cookie (point #1). On the way home, he got Bock-Bock (point #2). I wanted Taco Bell. I have had some serious cravings for Mexican food lately. Not that Taco Bell is really Mexican, but anyway. As we were sitting at the window waiting for our food, Cayden is in the background saying, "MMMMmmmm" and pointing. I look around for the cows...and I can't figure out what he's doing. And then I see Dairy Queen across the way. Where he is pointing. Point #3. I swear, I have been there twice with him. And he now knows what it is. Crazy. And let me tell you, it makes you feel like a whale. What does my kid recognize? Fast food and the mall. Help me.

He has been working on his words lately and is getting better. We definitely don't have the S or C sounds down. But he's trying. His letter recognition is insane. I thank Elmo for that. He can recognize upper and lower case of a lot of them. I'm going to make him some flash cards to put around the kitchen.

Everyday I just think about how blessed we are with him. He's not the perfect sleeper, and I don't think he will ever sleep past 630am, but he loves to hang out in the bed with us in the morning, and I know one day he won't. He loves nose kisses and giving "knucks." And he screams for joy when I pick him up in the afternoons. I can't really ask for much more!