It's Been Awhile

So I realized it has been a long time since I posted anything here at all. A blog isn't very useful if it isn't posted to.
I cannot even begin to think where to start. I am back in school. Third Grade is different from kindergarten in a lot of ways but then in other ways not as different as I would have thought. I am having trouble getting into my own groove of things and realizing that I need to just trust my judgement and everything will be alright. Sometimes it takes a little time to adjust to new things.

We went on vacation in July. We went to Kansas to see my Aunt and Uncle. Richard went with us and we carpooled on the way there with Chris' mom, dad, and sister. It was wonderful carpooling with them. It helped Caden be less bored and it helped us to be able to get a break from being with Caden in the car the entire time. He was actually surprisingly good considering his usual attitude towards cars and let me tell you about this wonderful trick Chris' parents use. It is called the car fairy. The car fairy leaves you a toy in the car at random stops along the way and then you have something new to play with. Caden had a blast with it. I always remember getting to my Aunt and Uncle's house in a day and we could have made it in a day but we chose to stop in Wichita because it was getting close to the dinner hour and that evening time when Caden is not always at his most charming. Considering how he behaved that evening we were glad that we stopped. Side note, you would not believe how wonderfully funny Richard is now. Once we got him to let loose he had a wonderful time singing along with the music and he helped entertain Caden right along with the rest of us. He has a wicked sense of humor. It is very dry. Once we got to David and Ellyn's we had a wonderful time. I forget every time how relaxing and how quite the farm is. There is just no pressure to do anything at all. I love it. Caden had so much fun climbing on the lawn mower and the day David got out the Catalina he had a wonderful pretending to drive it. I love that car. I can't imagine ever going to the farm and not going out in it. I did get the pictures I wanted of Caden and David together like the one I have of me and David together. I also got one of Richard and Caden together. Richard also saved Caden twice. Once when he fell in the pool and once when he fell when we were going out the door. I am sure that by the time we left David was ready for the peace and quiet. (I talk a lot when I am there. Probably even more than I do normally.)

When we came back not much happened. We went back and forth to Dallas a couple of times. I had to have surgery but it was not a big deal and then it was time to go back to work. Chris had inventory at his store so he was crazy busy for awhile and the last week or so he worked over night because he had to train a whole bunch of new people and he was implementing a new system. I think he enjoys his work a little more right now. At least he feels he has more time to do what he feels he is good at. he is thinking about taking the GRE and going back to school. He just doesn't know for what exactly yet. He some ideas but he isn't sure. My advice was to just take the GRE first and see how that goes. I think I will go buy him a study guide for it soon.

My parents have redone their kitchen completely. I still have not seen it but I am going up there in a couple of weeks and will see it then. I am very excited for my mom. She has been wanting to get this kitchen redone for years now. She sounds so excited by it every time I talk to her.

Caden has just been growing by leaps and bounds. I have missed making him his 18 month check up and so hopefully will be able to schedule that for this week. Between Chris' and my schedule it just hasn't happened. He will be 19 months old this Saturday. He seems older somehow. I don't really know how to describe it. He is taller and bigger. He always walks around so purposefully. It is funny sometimes. He has an absolute fascination with the moon and the sky. He loves to read books about the moon. He loves to just sit in a lap and be read to. He loves Puff the Magic Dragon. He will ask for Puff and then when you sing it to him he just grins the entire time. He will even sleep with the book. He talks up a storm. I don't even know how many words he knows now. It seems he learns a couple every day. He went from being a little behind to way ahead. Now some of those words are hard to understand until he uses it in context and then you get it. Like Puff. He kept saying Puff Puff and we had no clue what he wanted until he went and brought the book to us. Today he was saying something else and then we realized he was saying fish because he wanted the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Once you put two and two together it is easy to understand him. He still climbs on everything and would rather be outside than inside. He has a laugh that makes you want to laugh right along with him. He can throw a wickedly awful temper tantrum. I am not sure where he has learned that but I hope it ends quickly. They do seem to occur when he is tired or very hungry. So we try to be more careful about what is going on around those times. He does not like to be told no, but then again who does. It is just frustrating because logic and reasoning doesn't work right now. It does no good at all to explain to him why the answer is no. He loves to say no to us though. He understands a lot more than he can speak. I don't know what else I am forgetting. I need to add some video footage I took a couple of weeks ago but I haven't even uploaded it on the computer yet. So I guess I will do that later. Well, the kid is awake now. So more later.