Introducing...

In late January, our second son arrived!

Meet Samuel Joseph, 9 lbs, 2 oz, 21 inches long.

His birth story is a bit long- we'll get to it in another post :)

His older brother, born in a Florida summer, was 4 months old and traveled 4 states away before he saw his first snow- which was a light dusting.  This little guy, born in a Pennsylvania winter, was 4 days old, stepped outside his house and had over 4 inches on the ground!

Isn't he adorable?  Even when he looks like a little drunken sailor!

We haven't gotten a lot of great family photos yet. 

I'm working on it.   I'm also working on thank you notes, but then lost the list.  

And my brain is mush from sleep deprivation, so that put everything on hold until I found the list (which I did, earlier today!).

Kaden is thrilled to be a big brother.  There's a good many posts in the future about how sweet and gentle he is (and some of the funny things that come out of his mouth!).  Perhaps the next one we'll recount as much as I can remember of brotherly love from the last few weeks...

It is life with a newborn, though- so it's not all roses.  Like all new humans, he's a bit squirrel-y.  

True to his genes, he also has stomach/gas issues. Poor guy.

The good news is that his lungs are just fine, thankyouverymuch.  Very strong lungs, indeed.

Another "odd" thing (not really bad, just.. an adjustment) to having two BOYS in the house... all the nicknames I have for Kaden have to be adapted.  Because if I say "What's wrong, little buddy" - Kaden answers "nothing, why?".  Or if I say "are you hungry, goose?"  Kaden answers "no, Mom".  So we're adapting:  littlest buddy, baby boy, littlest man, littlest brother.  Geesh, I hope Sam doesn't get a complex.  Maybe we'll have to adapt those nicknames again!

One of the most fun side benefits is that we've recounted a lot of "when you were a baby" stories to Kaden.  I almost forgot what fun he was.  Especially when he hit the older baby - toddler phase. And the preschool phase.  And... oh, really, he's just a fun kid... a good son to have in the family.  

And now we have two of them :)

The gig is (almost) up!

So, it's Christmas, more or less!  And our five year old boy is thinking.  A lot.

The other day, he tells me he "just knows" that Santa will bring him a specific toy.  "Hmm," I said, "but you just wrote him a letter, and you only asked for ONE toy, and that wasn't it.  How can he bring you a toy if you didn't ask him for it?"   He thought about that, and then explained to me (!):  "Well, Mom, doncha know that Santa watches me all the time?  He knows if I'm bad or good.  So he knows what I want, too!"

This Santa business- I don't know how long it can last, if he's thinking like that.  At FIVE.  We were with some good friends the other day, and I loved watching their 3 kids write their letters to Santa.  The oldest started with "I still believe in you, even though I'm 10 and some of my friends don't."  Heartwarming, yes?  Then she closed with "and I know I've been good, so I deserve some presents."  I had to snort my coffee so I didn't laugh out loud.  She really is sweet, and the rest of the letter was not demanding at all, which made the ending so surprising!   Her younger brother, on the other hand, was not demanding at all in his gentle suggestions for toys.  He ended the letter with "and I hope I've been good enough."  Clearly aware of his areas for growth :)

Last week, the kids had a *scheduled* 2 hour delay, that I missed the memo on.  So after walking to the bus stop, then driving to school, then standing outside for 5 minutes... someone clued us in, and we decided to head to Starbucks for a treat.  Today, we had a *winter weather* 2 hour delay- and I totally got the memo on this one!  So we bundled up and carefully trudged out to the bus stop.  The girls were more or less lined up, chatting with each other.  The boys found a pile of snow/ice to destroy by stomping or grabbing and throwing.  On the way there, Kaden mentioned how walking on ice "was kinda like skating" and how he couldn't wait until recess, so he could throw snowballs.  "Hey bud, I don't know if they let you do that at recess.  I've never had a snow recess, so I don't know how it works."  He looked at me very seriously.  "I've never had a snow recess EITHER."  Then he smiled, "so I guess we'll find out TODAY."

This weekend was also the feast day of St. Nickolas.  Kaden was thrilled to see him, even before he realized there was chocolate coins involved.  We were around most of the morning, long enough to see St. Nick 3 times. One of those times, it was his dad playing St Nick.  When St. JimNick entered the room, Kaden stared at him for a minute, then started stroking his own imaginary beard (no lie, he does this often when he's thinking).  HEY! (he jumped out of his chair and yelled) YOU REMIND ME OF SOMEONE.   "Santa Claus? I'm the original one, you know."  Kaden shook his head, "no, that's not it.." and thankfully his teacher jumped in and moved the class along.

Later that day, Kaden told me he thought Jim was dressed as St. Nick.  "He had the same shoes, Mom."
Jim piped up:  Just a coincidence.  
Kaden:  "And the same voice..."
Jim:  a lot of people sound alike, buddy.
~ pause ~
Kaden:  and the SAME GREEN EYES, Dad!  (then he smiles and starts nodding his head)
Jim: (flabbergasted)
Me:  well, the way to tell if Daddy is St. Nick's special helper, is to go see St. Nick again.  If you see St. Nick and Daddy *together*, then they can't be the same person, right?!
Kaden:  hmmm.

Thankfully, I knew we had one more St. Nick sighting to go- and it wasn't Jim.  So we were sure to have Jim in the same room with Kaden and St. Nick.  We haven't heard any further arguments, but we're not sure he's convinced either!!

Time for some FUN

It's time.  Cabin fever has hit this hermit mama... I spent a little time last week looking up oodles of fun things to do around here.  I knew it was time to find structured things for Kaden to do after these two exchanges:

Me:  Hey, Kaden, do you want to go to a class with me for-

Kaden, jumping up and hugging me:  YES! YES! YES!

Me:  But I didn't tell you what it was for.

Kaden:  That's okay, Mama, I'll go.

Then yesterday, Grandma said:  We haven't see you this week, Kaden.  Whatcha been up to?
Kaden:  Watching TV.

Grandma:  That's nice, and what else?

Kaden:  Nothing.

Er.... ahem.  The now-Pennsylvania boy is ready, yes?  Jimdad took him to one of those kid-build things at a store, and both had a great time.  Tomorrow we've got a Moms group meeting- I've only been to one other, but both of us enjoyed it, and the other moms have been helpful through the online group too.  There's another playgroup thing on Tuesday morning... and then a smallish road trip at the end of the week.  Plus, I've filled the Google calendar with a LOT of options that (hopefully) will get us through the rest of this winter!

Photo from a few weeks ago:  the Florida boy's first sled ride was in the dark!  

He loved it... of course.

Traveling Baby... and postcards too

Hey friends! Thanks for weighing in on the last post.... so yes, I'll mark this as Kaden's first snow. It's not as impressive as the Midwest snow, but this morning we even got a visual memento of the flurries:



Notice how unimpressed he looks. Earlier tonight we went to the Dixie Stampede... and Kade decided to forgo his late afternoon nap in order to watch the lights and fake snow. The funniest moment? When Dolly Parton appeared on a huge screen, our babe literally dropped the bottle from his mouth and pushed himself upwards to watch her. TWICE! We laughed, of course, but mine was a nervous laugh, covering the anxiety I felt over the possible implications of a 4 month old adoring Dolly. Then I remembered that there's a perfectly adorable and mainstream toddler who loves all things Lawrence Welk, so maybe Kaden will be okay after all.

If you haven't discovered Postcrossing yet, but you love mail/postcards/geography/other cultures/random people... you need to check it out. Basically you send a postcard to a randomly generated member, and once they receive it, you get on the list to GET a random postcard from someone else. I've only been a member for about a month, but have learned a TON. Like about the UNESCO World Heritage list, and various Eastern European countries... oh, and also received some good tips for historical fiction books (add any of your favorites in the comments section, pls!).

First Snow?

Yesterday morning, there were snow flurries... but Kaden napped right through them. It didn't seem right to bring a sleeping baby into the snow.

Today, we took an 'auto tour' through part of the Smoky Mountains. Much fun! I love this area. We pulled over at a scenic overlook to take some photos and a short walk... and found the other side of the mountain had LOTS of scattered snow that 'stuck'. See?




My husband (a PENNSYLVANIA native, who wears Tshirts in 50 degree weather that clearly calls for knit hats, scarves and jackets) refused to let me feed Kaden a taste of snow. Or put it on his little cheek (the only flesh we could see!). So my question is: if the baby technically SEES snow, but doesn't touch it... and if we DROVE up to it instead of letting it fall down on us... is this a first snow? Help me out, friends, because I've got a baby book to start!!