Dreams

So, if you know Michael you know his dream of flying. If you really know him you know he frequently actually dreams of flying. Since he's gotten older, married, had kids, (grew up...), his dreams of doing this aren't quite as likely to ever come true, but for his birthday I did give him a certificate from this website to go paragliding! (If you haven't been to that website, it has some AWESOME gift ideas.)
So a couple Saturdays ago we piled the kiddos in the car and headed out to the coast to watch another of Michael's dreams come true.

This is what Caden did the whole time...

Getting all suited up

Getting ready for takeoff

So normally in paragliding you take off from a mountain of some sort. This husband and wife team engineered a new kind of take off that pulls you along from a starting ground position and once you hit 3000ft you drop the tow cable and glide down like normal paragliding. Much safer because you don't run the risk of getting blown off a mountain, or getting slammed back into a mountain, or finding out your sail isn't working quite right once you've launched from the mountain, etc... It was pretty neat. Plus we got to watch the whole thing!

Taking off! It was pretty darn windy.

Up, Up, and AWAY!

My view of his ride - he's there, right in the middle by the cloud.

Gliding down - in the middle of feeling some serious G's as they took some crazy twists and turns

Safely back on the ground!

This is for all those California friends...they drive on the beaches here! Imagine having to watch your kids in the waves AND make sure they don't get hit by cars - it's crazy! BUT it was cool to drive on the beach, I must say.

Happy belated birthday present Michael. We had a great time watching you fly :)

A Year of Dating - May

So, needless to say, May was a busy month. We had company without a day's break (they each overlapped one day) from the last week in April until May 28th...then we had a week and a half off and then Michael's mother came for a week to help with the baby. We were in heaven having such familiar faces around us each day for a month...even if they got bored of sitting around a two bedroom apartment and going to playgrounds with a one year old. We can't thank all of them enough for their help! It was wonderful having so much help the last month of pregnancy too - holy cow did that make a difference in my energy level once the baby came. I wasn't completely worn down before he arrived. So, so nice! Totally gonna try to rig it up like that again next time (in the far, far future when there's a chance of being a next time... ;D). Michael's brother David came first to visit for a week and also be available to help with Caden if Tadd came early. Then my sister Alyssa came for a week and a half. Then my mom came for two weeks. Somewhere in there we had Michael's birthday, our anniversary, Mother's Day, had a baby (yay Tadd!), and my birthday.
With all of that hullabaloo, we didn't take the time to do our May date. It was planned as a small one anyway, because I knew it'd be a crazy time; but since we didn't get around to it, it just means we get to do two in one month! And August is that month!
Here's the card (I need to take a picture of each of the cards...some of them are plain and some are fancy and decorated. This one is simple, just like the date.):

So this past weekend we officially got a babysitter for our TWO kiddos (I get so nervous about leaving them both!) and headed out for 3 hours of uninterrupted date time - yahoo! We swung by the mall and picked out shirts for the boys - we have family pictures coming up when we head to California next week. Then we wandered through Barnes and Noble for a bit and strolled around the mall. After that we headed over to McMenamins - a simple pub and burger joint common around here. Their burgers are pretty good! Michael says he'll take McMenamins over Red Robin any day now. Stopped by the grocery store to pick up some dessert (dairy-free ice cream for me and the good stuff for Michael) and then were back to the kiddos in time for bed time. Sadly, turns out Tadd didn't want to take the bottle from the babysitter. I seriously hope he doesn't stop taking bottles - that'll be such a big bummer! Hoping it was just a fluke...
All-in-all it was a perfect first date experience to ease us back into post-baby #2 life!

A Year of Dating - July

July's date was the main date/gift of the year of dating - indoor skydiving! I knew we'd be traveling to Utah around the 4th to see Michael's family, so I figured we could slip away for a couple hours and head up to Odgen to the iFlyUtah indoor skydiving place they have there. We didn't have anyone to take pictures of us while we were in the tunnel, but here's a snap of us in all our gear beforehand!

And here's a video if you want to see what it looks like. 

It was so cool! You only get a couple of minutes, but honestly, that's all you need for your first time (plus, I found it hard to breathe, so I was glad I wasn't in there for longer at one time). They suited us up, gave us a little instruction, and then we flew! Michael went first, then I went - the instructor just let us figure it out for our first time around. Then Michael went again and the instructor hooked his arms around his leg and arm in like a skydiver formation and sent them spinning together as they turned up the fan and went flying up to the higher parts of the tunnel and all around. Honestly, I've never seen Michael look like he was having more fun!! SO WORTH IT! Then it was my turn to get to do some tricks - it was a blast! The force while spinning was so strong and I'm sure I spit all over the place, but some of the stuff you can do is crazy. After we were done, the instructor did a little showing off to show us what you can do once you have enough experience. Crazy! He would fly 30 ft in the air, flip backward and dive straight down until about a foot from the bottom where he'd spread out and the air would cause him to stop and hover. All kinds of flips and spins. It was definitely a a fun time with my Michael. So while I'm not going to be in a mood to let him jump out of an airplane anytime soon, indoor skydiving definitely fit the ticket of a fun time together. 

We picked up a little Cafe Rio on the way home to satisfy our craving since there's been a dearth of it in our lives since we moved to Oregon and headed on home to our kiddos. Good memory!

Readers Digest

Things Caden has ingested this week (that I caught, who know what I didn't) that were not meant to be eaten:

Shampoo

Conditioner

Bar of soap

Sunscreen stick

Bubbles

Lotion

Desitin

Lanolin

Watered down Johnson and Johnsons 

baby shampoo

Most kids would think it's disgusting and then not eat more. Not this kid. He still fixates on anything he can get in his mouth. 

The only thing he said, "Yuck." to was the watered down baby shampoo (as bubbles came out of his mouth)...and then he proceed to try to drink more. 

When does this phase end? Pretty sure he's been in it since the day he was born. 

On a side note - things I've found Caden feeding to Tadd:

Toothpaste

Honey

Cheerios

Grapes

Peas

Fishy Crackers

Baby shampoo

Pretzels

Raisins

He's such a good sharer. 

He also refuses to let Tadd suck on his hands (because we don't let him do it). 

Poor Tadd. 

The Fun Has Arrived...

So Mr. Tadd is 2 months old now, and it seems that I have stuff under control enough that I can take a moment to write down his birth story...even if it is for my own sake. Tadd was due on May 12th (Mother's Day!), but decided, just like his older brother, that he wanted to be late. My money was on May 14th - but both the 12th and 14th came with no sign of him coming into this world any time soon.
Funny thing is, with both pregnancies I started progressing early. I had contractions starting at 34 wks with Caden and about 32wks with Tadd. They'd always go away in about an hour and a half - but the doctor checked me at 34wks both times and both times I was 1cm. Then the contractions would pick up - about 35wks I'd get the "flu" feeling along with them, and I'd go into the doctor at 36 wks. With Caden I was 85% and 3cm and with Tadd I was about 80% and 4cm. The doctor would say, "Well, I'll probably see you again sometime later this week - if not tonight!" and I'd head home slightly worried about having a baby before 37wks (esp. since they were both boys and the lungs typically take longer to develop on boys). Then the contractions would stop within 24hrs, the flu feeling would clear right up, and I'd sail through (er...trudge, be dragged, suffer through...) another 5-6 WEEKS of pregnancy (Caden was 6, Tadd was 5).
So, May 17th came around - 5 days post due date and I started worrying that I wasn't going to have this baby before my mom had to head back home to San Diego. I decided to call my doctor and setup induction for Monday (May 20th) so that I'd at least get a week of mommy help postpartum. We got that all setup and then went about our day as usual. That night was a Young Women Fundraising dinner for Girls Camp, and since we hadn't had the baby yet, we hopped on over to the church about 6pm for yummy ribs and an auction. 7pm came and we decided we needed to call it an early night and get Caden home to bed. I went to pick him up from the nursery and just has I bent over to put his shoes on him, BAM! first contraction hits much stronger than anything I'd had up until then (and I hadn't had a single contraction for 5 weeks). I get him all gathered up and start walking to the car and another one comes. We load up, go to pick up the Red Box we had for the evening, and another one hits me so strong that all the painful memories of Caden's labor come flooding back and I know we're in for it! We get home about 7:45, get Caden fed (apparently he doesn't like ribs), bathed, and put down for bed (Ever try to do that between serious labor contractions? Let me tell you, it's quite fun.) and we get on the road to the hospital about 9pm (they'd been coming ever 2-3 min for almost 2 hrs).
Once at the hospital we get all settle in and they say they want to monitor me for a half hour to make sure I'm in labor before they admit me. While I love this hospital (I really, really do), that really ticked me off because 1) I was already at a 4 before the contractions started and I was afraid if they put off getting me my epidural too long it'd be too late and 2) it's RIDICULOUSLY obvious my contractions are real. Anyways, they monitor me for a half hour and ask me crazy questions  like "Did you bring a blow dryer with you?" that I can't physically answer because of the contractions. After a half hour she checks me and I'm at a 6. "You're staying!" she announces, like she's some sort of surprised. And I plead for the epidural. Again. (I'd done the whole 'try to do it natural' thing with Caden and made it to 10cm, but then they wanted to me labor down for a couple hours and I was done - and after I felt the relief of the epidural I swore the only way there would be siblings for that little kid was if there was an epidural involved). The nurse then tells me that I have to have my blood drawn and tested by the lab before they could order the epidural for me. WHAT?! I didn't have to do that last time. Why couldn't they have done that first thing...why did we have to wait an hour to even let the lab know to come up?! So...we wait.
Michael is great during all of this. Answering all the questions for me, helping me keep my shaking under control, acknowledging the especially big contractions on the monitor... :) And we get through the next couple of hours together as we wait for lab to come up and take my blood, test it for platelets, and then give the okay to the anesthesiologist. Through each contraction I just visualize my favorite moments with Caden - out in the grass at our nearby park, swinging him around while he giggles uncontrollably in the sunshine. I'm doing this so I can have more of those moments I tell myself.
 About midnight the anesthesiologist comes in to be my favorite person on earth. They raise the bed high up so he can put the needle in at his eye level, and just as I'm sitting up high on my throne, all in one moment my doctor walks in to say hi and I lose my rib dinner and ice cream dessert. He, not so discreetly, says he'll come back in a little bit. Well we finally get me all setup with the wonderful epidural (which always works fast on my right side, but takes about an hour and a half to work on my left - and even then I still get a spot that never numbs completely), and we settle in to wait out the next couple of hours (I was at a 8/9 by this point). The Reglen they gave me for the nausea knocks me out and I get a good nap from about 1:30-2:30. At 2:30 the nurse comes in to give me my second dose of antibiotics needed for Group B Strep. Before she hooks it up she checks me and says, "OH! There's his head! I said to tell me if you feel any pressure!!" (I had told them, but whatever.) And she pumps the antibiotics in me and calls the doctor in one fluid motion. Then the flurry of getting the room ready ensued and at 3am exactly the doctor broke my water, at 3:02 he said to start pushing, then the baby's heart rate started dropping and they scurried to get me on oxygen, but before they could get it going Tadd Kevan Root was born at 3:07am!
He was 8lbs 9oz and 21.25 inches. Instantly I could tell he was a calm baby and I was hit all over again with the, "Who on earth are you?! I'm your mom, but I don't know you at all!" feeling.

Here's the little man:

Then we enjoyed him the rest of the wee early hours together. 

The next morning, Michael left to go get Caden and my mom and Tadd and I were left to our lonesome to rest for a bit. Of course that's when we have to have our little scare. I still hadn't quite gotten my legs under me all the way from the epidural and Tadd was asleep in the bassinet at the foot of my bed. I wake up to him gagging and see him throw up several ounces of amniotic fluid. He then aspirates it back in and starts choking. I try not to freak out and just pick him up and hit him on the back. He proceed to continue to not breathe. I push the call button for the nurse and tell her in my best calm voice that my baby is choking and I need help. Tadd starts going from red to blue to this freaky gray color. I lose my cool and freak. Man do they make those rooms sound proof! No one could hear me yelling for help! I smack the call button again and clarify that I need help NOW. He's. NOT. BREATHING! Well that got them in there lickity-split. Got the whole dang nursery staff in there. They scoop him up and in one fluid motion asked permission to stick tubes down his throat while they're sticking tubes down his throat. (Of course I said yes.) 

So this happened with Caden too. Not so bad, but he did the gaggy thing, as we called it, for about the first week of life. The nurse asked if he was born fast (like I didn't have to push for very long). Apparently, the pushing time is when the majority of the amniotic fluid gets pushed out of their lungs. So if you don't push for very long (Caden was 15 min, Tadd was 5 min), it doesn't give them enough time to get all the fluid out and often those babies end up needing their lungs and stomachs suctioned a bit after they're born. Good to know. Anyways, they get him all cleared and breathing again, Michael comes back with Caden and my mom, and now we're a happy family of 4!

Welcome to the family little Tadd man - we love your sweet little self to pieces!

A Year of Dating - April

In April us suburban folks braved the city. Both Michael and I haven't spent much time in the downtown of any city (minus the fact that Michael served pretty much his whole mission in downtown areas in Korea) - so when it comes to traveling any big city we're pretty intimidated. Mostly it's trying to find parking...and the one-way streets - they completely throw me off! And I don't know if this is the norm in big cities, but in downtown Portland there are lanes that only the public transit buses are allowed in. Not like I don't have enough to think about (Don't hit the pedestrians or the crazies. Don't go the wrong way on a one-way street. Where the heck am I going? Where can I park? I've never used a parking meter before...), but then I have to worry about which lane I'm allowed to drive in on that one-way street?! It's just a bit overload. Not to mention that I stick out like a sore thumb. Anyway, long rant cut short: we braved the city for some downtown fun. I was so proud of us.
Powell Books is a fairly well known used book store. It's huge...takes up a whole city block, with their 2nd location for all their textbook-like books across the street.

We perused the store - all the different rooms are color coded by genre. It's seriously like a maze in there, and it doesn't help if you're colorblind. ;)

After picking up a couple fun reads for myself and a Curious George book for Caden, we sauntered out onto the city streets in search of some grub. Back in Provo we loved The Pita Pit. We've really missed having one nearby (and Chilis, and Kneeders, and Zupas, and Macaroni Grill...guess we like to eat out), but low and behold there was one not two blocks from the book store! We enjoyed our pitas like the good old days as we sat in the store front and people watched (even better in Portland...you REALLY never know what you're gonna get). 

We meandered the city streets for a bit longer and ended up at this little gelato shop for dessert! 

Then we headed home to the little muchkin to deliver the beloved Curious George book. It was a low-key date, but then again, that's what you do when you're due any day!

Easter

Easter was good, low-key fun with our little family this year. Caden woke us up cheerily Easter morning with this little face!

 Then Daddy and Caden got their egg hunt on while mom snapped a few pictures. 

 

 Checking out his spoils...not really sure why we're doing all this instead of just eating breakfast like any other morning.

 Enjoying his eggs full of cheerios, raisins, Quaker Oatmeal Squares, fishy crackers...and I may have slipped in an egg or two of Lucky Charms. He was in heaven when he found those!

The Easter Bunny also left Caden a new book that plays primary songs! His favorite is now "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" - which we play over, and over, and over, and over...while jumping on the couch of course.  Here's a video of him checking it out and enjoying his treats. 

And that about sums up our Easter celebrations as far as a 17 month old is concerned! We enjoyed church that day, watched "Jesus Returns" with Caden after church (Sadly, it's not nearly as well made as the original Living Scripture movies, in my opinion at least.), and had a nice little dinner. It was nice to have a low-key day to reflect on Jesus's resurrection and what that means for us - I'm very grateful for that knowledge!

A Year of Dating - March

Up for March on our year of dating was good old fashion bowling and drive-in burgers and shakes. I knew from previous experience that Michael would crush me at bowling so part of his gift was the sweetness of that victory; but dates are always fun when you appeal to the competitive side - so I gave it my best 8 month pregnant shot! 

By looking at this beautiful form you'd think we were pros ;)

 

 And the results...

Game 1 goes to Michael!

Game 2....drum roll please....JANELLE!
It is possible ladies and gentlemen - he can be beat.
(He swears he didn't throw the game - although I have my doubts.) 

And game 3 declares Michael the winner!
(Thank goodness he didn't loose to my 8 gutter balls - that'd be embarrassing.)

We had a great time and were both shocked by how tired our hands/arms were by the end! Pathetic. Not to mention how sore we were the next day. Bowling definitely gets to those muscles that my pregnancy routine of walking, p90x Cardio, and the elliptical don't seem to target so much :) Guess we'll have to go more often!

Next, Michael relished in his victory at none other than:

Thanks babe for accompanying me for another fun time!

As Of Late...

We can always start off a post with a good belly pic. Here's 31-32 weeks! These last 10 weeks go by the slowest. Don't tell a pregnant woman she's "almost there" when she's 30wks...it's torture for her if she starts believing it! Can't wait to meet this little spastic man. 

Side-note: If you ever hear a pregnant lady say her belly 'clicks' or 'snaps' or makes a sound like a static electricity ball snapping (yes, like in science class) - I can verify that this is TRUE (and so can Michael, Susan, and Aubri)! And I PROMISE it's not coming from me. It's the baby. It's not hiccups, he's not 'sucking his thumb' - it's a completely different sound. I'm NEVER moving when I hear it - but the baby is (but let's be honest, when is this child NOT moving?). My best guess is it's the baby's joints - like a knee, hip, or shoulder. Whatever it is, it completely freaks me out and is starting to give me the creeps - and it's started happening more and more! Thank goodness for bogus google forums or I'd think I was the only person this has ever happened to. Unfortunately, no one's ever been able to pin down what it is. 

 In other news, Oregon has been kind this winter. Oh so very kind. We've been able to spend many a day out at the park or jungle gym or just going on walks. Sure we gotta bundle up, but at least it's dry (for the most part) and I don't think a week has gone by that we haven't seen blue skies and sun. MUCH better than last winter - hands down. However, at least a couple times a week we've been forced to stay inside all day due to the weather and this is where forts come in! We have fun seeing what concoctions this little man's momma can come up with before he wreaks havoc on them. Simple in design, but perfectly suited for their purpose. :)

 Also, recently we were lucky enough to have Grandma Root and Aunt Aubri come to visit! We were lame and didn't take any pictures except for this one as they left for the airport; but we had a great time with them.  Caden was in heaven that people came to HIS house to play with HIM and readily taught them all the rules of jumping off the coffee table, reading books, and giving cuddles to anything and everything cuddly! Normally Caden needs an adjustment period to anyone new, but he's never been shy around these two - he's loved them from the get-go!

 We loved having them here and enjoyed lots of yummy food and relaxation. Saturday we took them downtown to ride the OHSU tram to give them a bird's eye view of downtown. The deal is they built this beautiful, fancy hospital up on this hill, but there's not really any parking up there. So they built a fancy tram for people to park down below and commute up to the hospital. Not really the most cost effective way - but something unique for sure! Since we didn't take any pics, I stole some off google to give you an idea (obviously these were in the fall - so just imagine sticks and blossoms :D):

 

 It was something short and sweet and cool to do...and Michael said it was completely worth the money just to see his mom freak out about heights. :) I'm not gonna lie - the angle they have you going back down at freaked me out pretty good! And forget about looking over the edge at the top. Caden, Susan, and I stayed far, far away!

So glad they came for a visit - love having family nearby. :)

A Year of Dating - February

Second date on our "Year of Dating" was great! We already had a trip planned to San Diego to visit my family, so we took advantage of the free babysitting and headed out to the coast for an early dinner at none other than:

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day at the beach in early February. Seriously - it was absolutely perfect in every way. :)

Waiting to be seated - not too bad when your wait consists of watching the waves from the end of the pier
and  messing with seagulls!

They ended up seating us on the second floor balcony - beautiful view, sunny and warm. It was so nice, in fact, we didn't realize until it'd been over an hour that our food still hadn't arrived...they'd given our order to another table and then kind of forgotten about us. Normally I'd be a little irked, but it was seriously that nice to just sit and talk and watch the waves that we didn't mind a bit. :)

 After we ate, we went for a stroll along the beach - and took some quick shots by the pier just to relish and glory in the sunshine (at least, I was relishing and glorying...Michael, I'm sure, was just playing along like a dutiful husband).

There was also some really cool looking sand art off the south side of the pier - a big mural drawn in the sand about half the size of a football field, maybe bigger. I took some pictures of it, until I realized what exactly the art was depicting...let's just say it was quite well done and 'artistic'!
Good food, good weather, good place, good company - February's date is deemed a success! :)

The Swan Song

"'Swan song' is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song in the moment just before death, having been silent (or alternatively, not so musical) during most of their lifetime." - Thanks Wikipedia. 

View from our deck - what everyone should get to wake up to each morning

Well, the first part of February we took a "get away from dreary, gray Oregon" trip - which also doubled as our last trip before baby brother comes in May. Not that we're never going to travel to Grandma and Grandpa Butler's house ever again, but flying alone with two kiddos just isn't going to be as feasible as it has been with just the Caden kiddo this past year (we took 6 trips in the last year or so just to San Diego alone - not counting 3 trips Utah or our 1 trip to Arizona!...I'd say we've been putting some pretty good miles on this kid in his first year of life). Not to mention that I'm going to have to buy Caden a ticket and that doubles that cost of us flying if Michael doesn't come with us at the same time. So, a here's a little photo journal of our Swan Song trip of traveling back in the 'easy days' :)

A little Birch Aquarium:

Caden and Daddy in front of the HUGE fish tank!

A little kid lost in the sea...

A little too much fun in the shark...

 Grandma and Caden playing on the water bikes:

 And Daddy and Caden putting their brains together to come up with some great engineering so the boats can travel down the current:

No matter what he says - I know he wishes this was where he lived, regardless of the politics and prices :)

Trying to escape to play with the starfish

 One thing we did many mornings was head down to the duck pond at Kit Carson Park - Caden just couldn't get enough of the duckies and loved feeding them (and tried every possible maneuver to join them in the pond):

 And in the evenings and weekends when he was home from work, Caden enjoyed every possible moment with his grandpa. Mommys and Grandmas are great and all - but there's always a special place in a little boy's heart for his Daddy and his Grandpa. They played together, changed the car tires together, cuddled, and climbed the stairs. From the second he walked in the door Caden just followed Grandpa around!

 Oh and a special treat - Curious George! We love, love, love Curious George, but we don't have cable so we're often stuck to watching the same 3 episodes on pbskids.org for our 15 minutes of calm time/Mommy wants a break. However, Grandma has TV with DVR which = new Curious George episodes to discover!

  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Butler (and Jared - whom I'm sorry to say was sick a lot of the time we were down there so didn't get to play with us as much as we wanted, bummer) for a great trip! We miss you bunches already!