Flowers and Parks

Would you believe these beautiful flowers are a week old?! B gave them to me last week as a welcome home from my visit to MN. He keeps swearing he didn't buy fake flowers!! LOL!

So today I took Caiden into Redmond for a visit to the sensory park at the mall. There are all sorts of neat music making items there! He was a little on the young side to really appreciate them, but he still had a ball running all over the place and checking it all out! The hour we spent there seemed to fly right by!

A Day at the Fair

For the first time since we've lived in WA, we made a trip up to the Evergreen State Fair! It takes place in Monroe which is about 30 min north of us, so that made for a nice easy trip. :)

We spent the day wandering around the various 4-H animal displays/exhibits. There were cows, rabbits, fowl, dogs, sheep, goats and horses to be seen! Caiden REALLY enjoyed seeing all of the animals! He spent half of the time in his stroller leaning way over and swiveling his head from side to side taking it all in! He even got to pet some bunny rabbits!!

There was also (what I am coming to understand as "the usual") a bevy of vendors hawking their wares. It's as if you are stuck in late night infomercial hell. Displays to the right! Demos to the left! Try me try me try me!!! Fortunately we were able to resist the allure and walked away with our wallets intact. We did indulge in a bit of fair food, but nothing too crazy there either.

We took a little break over by one of the rides. It is the kind that looks like a gigantic 360 degree pendulum with a car on each end. It sends the riders several stories up as it swings around and around with the cars doing their own individual loop de loop as well. Caiden thought that was just the coolest thing and kept exclaiming over it as he watched it go round and round.

Overall it was a fun day spent outdoors wandering around and enjoying some good people watching! I'm glad Caiden is getting old enough now to be able to enjoy these kinds of outings. :)

Wee little pygmy goats

The Clydesdale Show

Little Update on Caiden

I don't think I ever posted the updates from Caiden's 15 month appt. I know I usually add those notes to the CWJ, but, well you know how well THAT has been updated recently.

So at 15 mos, Caiden weighed in at 25 lbs, 6 oz and is now 32 inches long! He is at the 50/75% for weight and 75% for height! All told? He's a big kid!! We frequently see kids who are several months older than he is and much smaller!!

He is starting to add more vocal words to his vocabulary: cheese, teeth, car, cat and dog. When you ask him how old he is he will show you one. His signing vocabulary continues to grow as well. In addition to all the rest, he now also signs: cold, hot, fan and gentle (there are a couple more, but I just can't think of what they are), communicates that he has poopy pants, points to his bottom when asked where the poopies are, knows the snacks are in the pantry, blows kisses, and he routinely uses his manners by signing please when he wants something. In fact he often signs more, please whenever he asks for anything whether it is food, another book, to hold a toy, you name it. It's often up to us to figure out whatever "more" is. :) Funny side story - we were at the grocery store and he saw the balloons while we were at check out. He started signing more, please and saying da-oom (balloon). Once I translated for the cashier she just about swooned over how adorable she found his request. She didn't waste anytime in blowing up a special balloon just for him! I tell ya, he is a heart breaker in the making!

We have also been lucky that he has been exceptionally well behaved (for his age anyway) around other kids both younger and older than himself. He adores watching the older kids and actively shares with the younger ones. He often likes to hug and kiss them (the babies) too!

Of course life isn't rosy all the time. A particularly vexing habit he has picked up involves pitching his food off his tray at mealtime when he decides he doesn't want anymore. Breakfast tends to go pretty well, lunch is hit and miss, and dinner has typically been a disaster. What happened to our healthy little eater!? This new behavior drives both B and me positively INSANE. We are working very hard at controlling our responses to this behavior and sincerely hope we can figure out how to better manage it. Our latest effort includes displaying no overt response when he tosses his food and instead we ask if he is all done. If he signs that he is done, we offer a different food or end mealtime as long as we feel he's eaten enough. When he is released from his high chair, he then is required to pick up the food he has thrown off and throw it in the garbage. So far it seems to be working. Keep your fingers crossed it continues to help!

For the most part he is still his happy little self. His grins are positively adorable, and I just love any opportunity I get to make him giggle and laugh. I am saddened by how quickly the days and weeks are flying by. I wish I could slow the clock down!!

Date Night Spotted on the Horizon

I am so frickin' happy to report that we are at long last one step closer to getting some regular date nights on the calendar!!!! We finally got our butts in gear and got ourselves a babysitter. She lives a few neighborhoods over from us and is in high school. She came over today and spent a few hours with Caiden while I was still home so that I could see how Caiden related to her. This also gave her the chance to ask me any questions while I could observe how she worked with Caiden. Overall I was pretty pleased with how the whole afternoon went and look forward to having her watch Caiden more often!! YAY!!!!

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

...or else I'm just lazy!

Near Heart Attack

Well, my paranoia about keeping the crib rail up whenever Caiden is in it finally became realized. (Ug, I hate sharing these kinds of stories because I feel like it makes me look so negligent!) Anyway, I went in to visit Caiden after his morning nap. He wasn't quite ready to be picked up just yet as he was having far more fun rolling around on his mattress. :) So I put down the crib rail and sat down in the glider to watch him play and wait for him to be ready to get out.

Of course it wasn't long before he was standing against the railing. He was leaning up against it and grinning at me from behind his pacifier. Well, he kept leaning further and further and almost before I knew it, he was on his way to going head over heels out of the crib! Lucky for both of us, I saw it coming and was able to grab him before he completely fell out. WHEW! Still, my heart nearly stopped for a moment there.

At least now I know that my insistence over ensuring the crib rail is up when he is in there unsupervised is not due to sheer paranoia!!

Cheese?

Caiden now knows the spoken word for one of his all time favorite things - CHEESE!! :D He says it in just about the cutest possible way. You'll have to see it for yourself.

Cheese?

This word seemed to have come out of the blue. He started saying it on his own without any prompting from either one of us. I just about died from the cuteness when I first heard him say it! Then, while I was in MN visiting Summer, I did a video call with Caiden and B. It was in the middle of dinner in WA, and I kept inadvertently sabotaging dinner by relentlessly encouraging Caiden to say cheese. But he is so cute when he says it! How could I resist?

Caiden's New Friend

Caiden made a new friend today. His name is Aiden (yes, funny, I know), and he is 5 years old. He lives right across from the neighborhood playground and came out to play with us while we were there. He is a very sweet little boy and very friendly! He shouted out a hearty "HI THERE" as he was entering the park along with a big wave. We introduced ourselves, and Aiden introduced us to his baby stuffed animal Simba (from the Lion King). He asked how old Caiden was and told us he had a little sister who is not quite a newborn anymore. He was very sweet about sharing his little stuffed animal with Caiden and showed him how to hold it just like a baby. Then he asked me to tell Caiden that he should be quiet when playing with the baby stuffed animal so that he wouldn't startle him. Tee hee!

Caiden of course was endlessly amused by this little guy. Aiden was running laps around the playground and Caiden just kept laughing and laughing at him! A few times Caiden accidentally dropped Simba and Aiden would come over, pick him up and brush him off. Caiden would then start signing more, please as his way of asking to hold Simba again. I explained to Aiden what that meant, and Aiden very patiently asked Caiden to wait just a few moments while he brushed off Simba and then gently placed him back in Caiden's arms. So cute!

I'm sure we'll be seeing lots more of this little guy as we make more trips back to the playground!

Weekend Wrap Up

Why is it that time seems to fly by when you least want it to? My weekend trip to visit Summer and Reid ended all too quickly. I had such a great time and couldn't believe Sunday was already here, and it was time for me to go home. :(

We did enjoy a nice lazy day for my last day in MN. I enjoyed sleeping in again (happy sigh) and then watching Epitaph One from Dollhouse. Later that afternoon, Summer and Reid's friend Josh stopped by for a short visit and to share some delicious home baked brownies! Yum! And then we rounded out the day with a trip to Summer's soon to be new stomping grounds - the University of Minnesota. She starts classes there for her major in Early Childhood Development. I really enjoyed walking around the campus and getting a sense of where she will be spending much of her time in the upcoming months. It is a beautiful campus in the heart of downtown Minneapolis complete with lots of old collegiate looking school buildings. We even got to squeeze in a quick visit to the art museum on campus!

Now I am sitting on my flight headed back home to Seattle. I am very eager to see B and peek in on my Caiden (as he will be snoozing for the night by the time I get home)! Luckily my flight left early, so that will make up a little bit for my late arrival into MN on Friday.

I grabbed a few more snapshots of the mountains during my flight home. (And how random that my iPod picked the song "Mountain" by Tonic just as the mountains were coming into view!)

Thank you to Summer, Reid and Sammy (& baby Nimz!) for being such wonderful hosts! I had a ton of fun hanging out with you and can't wait to see you more often once we get back to the midwest! Miss you so much already!!

Fun in MN

Yay for best friends! :) I am having the best time hanging out with Summer here in MN! Of course I miss my boys back home, but I am handling it way better than I thought I would. Caiden is being a good little boy for B, and he found a way to tell B this morning that he misses me. He strung together the signs for all done, bye bye and milk which B interpreted to mean that he is finished with me being gone and wants me home. Aw - my sweet, smart little guy!

Summer and I have been keeping plenty busy here! I flew in Friday afternoon and enjoyed riding in first class. I sat next to a really nice woman and we chatted for almost the entire flight! She lives in Alaska and is a meteorologist. It was fascinating to learn about the work she does and hear about life in Alaska!

View of Mt. Rainier while in flight

Summer met me at the airport and brought Sammy along for the occasion. Sammy is her adorable little puppy who I had only seen pictures of up to this point. He is the happiest and sweetest little dog, and I got to snuggle him the whole trip back to their house! Speaking of her house, I finally got to see it! They've lived here for a little over a year already. I absolutely love everything they've done to it so far. It's also in a great location - close to the city, airport, walking distance to parks, the library and pool! (Yes - I am super envious!) I can see Summer, Reid and their family to be all being very happy living here for years to come.

Sammy

Later Friday afternoon we decided some pampering was in order and treated ourselves to a mani/pedi. My fingers and toes are so much happier! We came home and enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal and then met Summer's friends to see the movie Julie & Julia. I really enjoyed the movie and just love both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams! They are such great actresses!

Today has been a great day so far too. For the first time in 16 months I enjoyed - no, savored, 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Heaven!!!! Summer had promised me that I could sleep in as late as I want. She knows me so well! :)

We enjoyed our afternoon at the Renaissance Faire and lucked out with perfect weather! It was so nice to go to an actual REAL faire and not the lame 3 weekend ones that WA offers. I've really missed the Bristol Faire, and the MN faire is even bigger and better! I managed to not break the bank and walked out with only a full tummy and cool pair of earrings. My Utilikilt also drew some attention which is always fun. :) Tonight we are going to a Thai restaurant for dinner and then will be playing some Wii. Yay!

Yes, that is a turtle!

Summer and Me

First Weekend Away

I am headed to Minneapolis to visit my best friend Summer today! I am very excited to be spending the whole weekend with her! I haven't made a trip out to MN in way too long, and I am very much looking forward to girl time, meeting her dog Sammy, touring her house and having what I know is going to be an excellent time!

Of course, I'm also dealing with conflicting feelings of missing Caiden and Brian. This is the first time I'll have been away from Caiden for longer than a few hours. I'm worried that he'll miss me or forget about me or that this will cause him to forget about nursing anymore. I kept telling him all day on Thursday that I'll miss him and how much I love him.

It's hard dealing with these feelings. I'm trying to keep my irrational fears in check while looking forward to a much needed break (and the opportunity to sleep in for the first time since before Caiden was born!!). I know this will be a great chance for Brian and Caiden to enjoy some father/son bonding, but I know I'll miss them both terribly. It's good there is such a thing as video conferencing!

At least Summer did promise that I could cradle Sammy when I started missing Caiden extra badly. :)

Yay Summer and Reid!

I am very very VERY excited to share some wonderful news! My best friend Summer and her hubby are expecting their first baby!! They have just passed the first trimester, and baby and mommy are doing very well! You can read all about it (and see an ultrasound pic) on her blog.

I am actually flying out for a visit to see Summer and Reid on Friday - all by myself! I cannot wait to see them (and to finally see their house and meet their puppy)!! Caiden and B will be on their own for the weekend. I hope they don't get into too much trouble!!

Congrats again to Summer and Reid - we are so happy for you both and can't wait to meet your little addition next spring!! You guys are going to be fantastic parents!

My Sister Rocks

A few days ago I shamelessly posted a photo of Caiden in one of my blog entries in an effort to entreat friends and family to book a trip out west to visit Seattle.

Here is the photo for reference:


Well, my clever sister Cathy sent a "response photo." This photo had me laughing out loud for a good five minutes! I love all of her attention to detail in the picture!!

Thanks Cathy for making my evening! :)

My Lil' Bedhead

I couldn't help but laugh my butt off at Caiden's expense yesterday morning when I saw the extreme case of bedhead he was sporting. His hair took on a life all its own and was just flopping around in the breeze even when he was practically sitting still!!

Of course I took some pictures to share the laughs. *evil grin*

I so wish this one wasn't blurry! He's got this look on his
face that is like "Seriously Mom? You're taking this picture?"

Love his froggie footie jammies!No second guessing that red hair!

Longing to See Seattle?

Are you craving the many sights and wonders a trip to Seattle can offer? Do you miss those crazy Ducheks? Can you not go another day without smooching Caiden's chubby little cheeks?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, now is your chance to fulfill that desire! I just learned that there is a crazy fare war going on for flights to and from Seattle. Wanna come for a visit?

Click here to check out these awesome fares!

Grasslawn Park

We took Caiden to Grasslawn Park in Redmond today. We had some extra time on our hands and figured we should get out and enjoy some of the gorgeous summer day! So we jumped in the car and away we went!

Grasslawn Park is this cool park near the M$FT campus. It has had some recent upgrades and is a really nice place! There are ball fields, soccer (gag) fields, tennis courts and two separate play areas along with a huge grassy picnic field.

We started off spending time at the smaller of the two play areas. There is a little splash park there where we thought Caiden might enjoy playing.

As it turned out, he was far more interested in courting the signs around the splash park.

We didn't have a lot of extra time to spend there today, but with the nice weather forecast for this week, I will definitely be making a trip back with Caiden!!

Oreo Cupcakes w/ Milk Shots

I made these cupcakes tonight. :)

I found the recipe for these glorious built-in-cookie-dunking wondrous Oreo cupcakes at The Cupcake Project. (Thank you for the link Summer!!) Yes, that really is milk in the middle of this cupcake. There are these nifty little chocolate cups you can buy at Sur La Table (lucky for us, we have a local store!) that fit into cupcakes perfectly. Insert them into your cupcake and voila! Instant opportunity for dunking cookie bits or pieces of cupcake.

You can see the chocolate cups in this picture.

Cupcakes with milk shots

Obsession cont'd

We decided to get Caiden his own vacuum cleaner of course!! You should have seen his eyes light up when we got it home and out of the box! He couldn't wait to try it out! This vacuum is much more Caiden-sized, and he LOVES moving it all around on the floors.

This little Dirt Devil Jr. just cracks me up. It's got little styrofoam balls in it that bounce all around as air blows thru. It whirs just like a real vacuum, has a light on the front of it and even sucks up little items! (We need to keep cleaning cat hair out of it!) The little canister even pops off the front like the real thing does!

Caiden w/ his vacuum

Obsession

It is official. The boy is addicted to vacuum cleaners. (From what I understand, this might be a direct genetic inheritance from his father!) He cannot stop talking about the vacuum cleaner! Seriously - he knows the sign for it!

Here are a few snippets of a typical day with Caiden:


[enter Caiden's room after waking up in the morning]
L: Good morning Caiden!!
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!
L: Yes, vacuum. The vacuum is sleeping right now.
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!
L: Maybe we'll see the vacuum in a little while. Let's go change your diaper.

...

[going downstairs]
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!
L: Yes Caiden. The vacuum is sleeping in the closet. Now let's get you some breakfast.

...

[going into Caiden's room after his morning nap]
L: Hi Caiden! How was your nap?
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!
C: VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!!

...

I think you might be starting to understand just how serious this obsession is. It all started several weeks ago when Caiden saw the vacuum in action for the first time. Normally we take care of vacuuming while he is asleep, but I was short on time this day. Let me tell you, he was riveted! He followed me all around the kitchen and family room watching intently just what the vacuum did. I kept telling him what it was, and showed him the sign for it too.

Fast forward to a few weeks later. We haven't talked about the vacuum nor has he see it out and about. Well, as we came down the stairs he spied it sitting there in the hall. He started signing vacuum which surprised me cuz I didn't think he remembered it!

From that point on it became all he could talk about. He wanted to look at the vacuum; touch the vacuum; play with the vacuum; push the vacuum around; watch me vacuum; do some vacuuming himself. He just couldn't get enough of it!

Caiden's vacuum encounter

Caiden vacuuming

But then he started to get mad at the vacuum. It's pretty heavy and unwieldy for a little guy like him. He'd move it around a bit, and then it would get stuck. This would lead into endless spirals of play, get mad, and cry. What to do?! Luckily, B and I figured out a solution. We decided to ---

To be continued...

Silly Sleeper

I had totally forgotten I took these pictures until I was browsing through my phone tonight. Seems Caiden can fall asleep in just about any position!!

Another Brick in the Wall

I swear, if I wasn't "cursed" with good ethics and a healthy concern for preserving my credit score, I'd be sorely tempted right now to say, screw it and mail the house key to our mortgage company. I really thought we were on a solid path to a refinance where we weren't going to be charged an exorbitant amount of money. We've been working with Chase for a couple of weeks now and thought we were set to re-fi into a 30 year fixed for the same rate we have today. We considered that acceptable given the current market conditions and concerns over actually being able to sell this stupid house before the end of 2010. But given our string of crappy luck, that just would've been too easy. I just got off the phone with the loan officer and learned that because of our second mortgage, our loan to value ratio knocks our new proposed interest rate up over what we currently have.

Seriously, where is the help for responsible home owners?

Chicago '09? Probably Not...

After some heavy soul searching, we have decided to make some changes to our plans to try and move back to Chicago this year. I wish I could say we found a way to get out of this house, and we'll be home this fall, but alas, the powers that be just aren't seeing things our way.

That means we are moving on to the next plan. We have decided to focus our efforts on refinancing in the event we are still stuck with this house after our ARM resets at the end of 2010. They don't look real favorably on homes that are considered investment properties, so turning this house into a rental would not be in our best interests. As it is, we've had dismal success trying to get the dang thing rented anyways. So this week we are pulling the house off of the rental market.

Once the refi process gets rolling and we have our appraisal completed, we will be listing the house for sale. It is highly unlikely that we will get a contract this year, but the service we are investigating is good for a year. Plus, it can't hurt to try and capture any traffic that might come through as a result of the $8K government incentive plan, and that expires at the end of this year.

To make our home a little more appealing, we've decided to spend a little money and upgrade the appliances in our kitchen. For me, this is the most exciting part of our new plan! At least we'll get to enjoy some nice new appliances while we are here, and it will complete the look for our kitchen. Everything else about it is so nice, but yet we've still got the builder stock appliances. We need to do everything we can to make this place as appealing as possible. We started doing some shopping today, and I am the most excited about getting a new stove!! We are looking into getting a duel fuel stove (gas range and electric convection oven). As we were looking around I kept exclaiming, why didn't we do this sooner!?!?

So that's the current state of things here on the west coast. I'm resigned to the fact that we are going to be stuck here for at least another 6-8 months. I don't like it, but it does finally give me some more solid footing on which to make short terms plans. I can get Caiden enrolled in the next Kindermusik class, I've got our flights already booked for Christmas, we're interviewing babysitters so we can actually have a few date nights (um, yeah - last time we had a date was on Valentine's Day.), and the list goes on.

I will remain hopeful that we'll get lucky and find a buyer that makes us a reasonable offer. It feels like a long shot these days (especially when I watch stupid and depressing shows like Real Estate Intervention), but who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky.

PS - that flight sale is still going on over at Alaska Airlines. You've got until Friday to book a cheap flight! hint hint! ;)

This Just In...

the boy loves black olives. There is absolutely no doubt now that Grandma Rusti's blood runs strong in him!

And Now for Something Completely Different

I don't usually use this blog as a political forum. We all have our own opinions and views, and I respect that. But from time to time, I do believe it is important to raise awareness, and I believe we should all be educated on the matters that can and do directly impact us.

I will be the first to admit that I do not always take the time to learn both sides of a matter, nor learn enough to form my own opinion on various topics. In fact, on one issue in particular I've taken a fairly blase stance: Public Health Care. I *do* think our country is severely lacking in an effective and efficient national plan. I *do* think we are in desperate need for health care reform. Is Obama's plan the right way to go? I don't know. This is where I've become lazy in learning and understanding the pertinent details of the proposed plan.

But I did just finish watching a very enlightening 30 minute interview from the Bill Moyer show. His guest was former Cigna VP Wendell Potter. Mr. Potter shared what was to me, a startling look into the world of health insurance companies. I think it would be very worth your time to set aside 30 minutes and watch this too.

Before you watch, I want you to think about where you stand on the issue of public (ie: government run/assisted health care). Then after you watch it, tell me if your thoughts have changed. I am very interested in hearing your opinion on the matter both before and after watching the interview.

Interview with Wendell Potter, former Cigna VP.

Too Smart for His Own Good

We thought it was time for Caiden to have his own little table and chair set, so off to Craigslist I went a-querying and stumbled across a nice find for $20. I got it home, set it up and Caiden couldn't wait to check it out!

Of course, I do think he has a bit of Grandma Misura in him as he insisted on doing some furniture arranging with his new set after indulging in some coloring.

I love this cheeky little grin of his. Finally got it on camera!

But what truly took the cake was what happened when I turned my back for less than a minute! I was startled to suddenly hear the water dispenser on the fridge go off. I spun around and discover my crafty little boy ever so quickly figured out how to turn his chair into a stepping stool!

What a little stinker smartypants! This is only a sign of things to come, isn't it? :P

Come Visit Us?

Anyone wanna take a trip to Seattle and come visit us lonely west coasters?

SEATTLE--AUGUST 4, 2009-- Alaska Airlines just launched a
new sale on flights from Seattle and Portland. Fares have
been substantially discounted.

The sale includes travel from Sept. 14 - Dec. 16 on
Monday-Thursday and Saturday flights. Tickets must be booked
by Friday, Aug. 14.

From what I've seen, travel between Chicago and Seattle is only $99 each way!

Maybe this cute picture of Caiden will help sway you.

Sneak Peak into Caiden's Day

Boy I sure to love reading my
CAT book in my cool reading chair!
Time to flip the page!

This page has the squeaker on it. My favorite!

Open the flap - muddy cats hate to take a bath!

Caiden Calisthenics

Ever wonder how your baby could help you get fit? Call now and you could lose fat and build muscle in just 30 days! ;)

Brian's Alternate Personality

Those of you on Facebook have already been made privy to the unveiling of these photos. :)

A few weeks ago, B took part in a Rock Band competition at work. While he had mad skillz on the guitar, sadly his band missed out on first place. However, he DID snag top honors for his costume!

Lucky for me, he posed for a few killer rocker photos. Every time I look at these pictures, they bring a smile to my face. I love that he is willing to get out there and have some fun when the opportunity presents itself! Thanks for making me smile, B!!