Wonderful Nights!

I don't think I have had a day like today in quite some time. Aaron was simply amazing, because after working a night shift last night, came home and stayed with Coen until I woke up, in the mean time cleaning our entire house and starting the laundry! Superman!

Then we went out to Jason's place and picked up some firewood for our fireplace. We got to bundle Coen up in his snow pants, boots, toque and the whole kit 'n' caboodle! He was so cute! He loved running and falling on his bum in the snow. It just made me so happy to see him truly enjoy the snow! When it was time to go home he was so devastated. It broke my heart, but after I left the car door open, he climbed into the front passenger seat, sat on his bum, and said "Go Go!" made me giggle. We scooped him up and put him in his chair, which he wasn't too keen on.

We spent the day playing cards and lining up Coen's cars to make a "choo choo". Next Aaron made a wonderful supper, and we sat down to watch some favorite Christmas movies. We started with Charlie Brown Christmas which I had never seen before and absolutely fell in love with, and then we watched a new Christmas show called "Prep and Landing." If any of you haven't seen it I highly recommend it! It was soo cute! Coen sat through the whole thing, and was so sad when the elves had to say buh bye.

Then we put our monster to bed, and got to watch the hockey game. Wow. Don't think I could top tonight. Great family, great memories, great traditions.

Victory is mine!

I realize that I have already posted a video under this but words really can not describe the joy I feel. I have successfully (hopefully) introduced drums into my home and , for this week at least, they seem to be a hit. (haha no pun intended.) It all began with getting Coen out of the tub. He wiggles and runs around every time we have to dress him. So I asked him one day if he wanted to listen to the drums. I turned on a Josh Groban song that is my new favorite, and he sat still as long as the drums were playing!

Two weeks later, I asked him if he wanted to hear the drums again, only I decided this time to show him the real drums that I knew and loved. I turned to DCI 2004. haha. He sat infront of the tv pointing the the bass drums in the front over and over saying boom boom boom! Loved it! So then (thanks to DCI's little knick knacks) I put the show on the "drum cam" and oh my! He ran around and lots of "OH WOW"'s later, We brought out the pots and the wooden spoons. I wish I was exaggerating when I say this, but he sat through the ENTIRE Blue Devils and Cavaliers performances playing his little pot. I am going to be honest and say I cried a little. Not so much because he was watching DCI, but mostly just because for the moment, I have a little guy that loves something that I loved so much. I may not get a lot of say in his looks, but I sure can try to pass down my passions. So now everyone can say how identical he is to Aaron all you want... I got myself a little drummer boy for Christmas!

Cah... Hah!!!!

Oh Dr. Suess!!! How I love you!!! So probably about a month ago now, my mom called me and was so excited to see that PBS had a cartoon of "The Cat in the Hat" and that it was actually animated like the book. Naturally I was so excited to show this to Coen. I turned it on, and immediatly Coen was GLUED to the tv. It was hilarious. Now he goes around the house asking "Mah Cah Hah, Mama." (More Cat Hat Mama) He dances when they tell him to, and answers the questions they ask. It is so funny!! He also takes the hat from his Mr. Potato Head, puts it on his head and says " Cah Hah!" I think he is convinced that as long as he is wearing a hat, he is the cat. It would just be nice if he was that enthusiastic with his toque!

Coen's other big accomplishment this week has been saying I love you. It is really tough to understand, but it's there. Everytime he drives away on his dump truck he says "Bye Bye Mama," Blows me a kiss, and says "I L OOO!" I leave the L by itself because this is be biggest L I have ever heard. It is like he is flipping his tongue as hard as he can. It is so fun! Made my heart melt the first time I heard it!

So like I always say, I am pretty sure I am biased but I LOVE boys so much!! There is something so special with a mom and son! Just love it!!

Christmas is around the corner!!

I can't really explain why, but this year I was bitten very early by the Christmas bug. I was so excited to get the tree up, and get the house decorated. I wanted to dive into baking ginger snaps, sugar cookies, brownies, cinnamon buns, spice cakes, apple crisp. Oh man. You name it! So our tree was up the middle of November thanks to a great husband who allowed me to win this battle. I still stand strong on my opinion that Rememberance day is a very special holiday. I refuse to decorate until after then, but let me tell ya, it was not easy this year.

Coen was so much fun when we put everything up! He immediatly started to say HO HO HO every time he saw santa. We wrote a letter to santa, and he couldn't really believe that a couple of weeks later, when dad pulled out the mail, he got to open his very own letter! We also have a train that goes around our Christmas tree... it is kind of hard to invision unless you have one. But Coen absolutely loves it! Every night before bed we have to say "Nigh Nigh Too Too!" And every morning the train is greeted with a "Oh WOW TOO TOO!"

I just can not get over how much he is growing up! I mean here is this little boy who two years ago made me sit in the ER in Cardston with my wonderful mom beside me, and had me convinced I was having a baby the night before Christmas! Then the next year, we couldn't believe how much he was walking! And now, he is talking with all his might! it may be mumbled and the endings aren't quite there yet (eg. Chee= Cheerios, Upple= either temple or apple, and Unn= orange.) But hey he so close I can almost taste it!

Aaron is doing amazing. Last night I was talking to him on the phone when a resident came up to talk to him. He set his cell down and I got to overhear what he was saying to said resident. It was just amazing how well he communicates with them. They never feel dumb or stupid. He just goes right along with whatever they tell him is happening. Whether it be rats in the hallways, police at the door or last night it was snakes! Dementia is such a terrible disease. It breaks my heart. But I am so happy to hear that those people have wonderful workers who instead of pointing it out and saying that they are crazy, just go along with it. In short, I was very very proud of my husband that night. It takes someone special to do that kind of work day in and night out!

Well that's about it for me!! Love you all and stay safe this holiday season!

Kaci

Oh fall... i missed you! Don't get me wrong... I loved and love summer. But there is something so awesome about fall. Crunchy leaves, jacket weather, yellow school busses. Love it all!

This fall, it seems my little baby has blossomed into a real boy! Cars are the center of his world. He feels the need to inform me every time we pass one. "VROOM VROOM MAMA!" He is also so high energy! He is climbing up anything he can get his feet into, opening any drawer that prompts his attention, and diving off the coffee table into the couch. I LOVE BOYS!

We also have started putting him in his own bed. I can honestly say it was harder on me than it was on him. Or so I thought. The first couple of nights I was so exhausted, that we just crashed. I woke up that morning so proud of my little boy for sleeping through the night in his room. That night I didn't sleep too well, I think it hit me that my boy was all grown up, and I learned the real truth. He never did sleep through the night. He woke up every 2 hours in a screaming fit. I had just slept through it all. I felt so bad. So now, he starts in his bed, until 12, then if he wakes up after that, he comes to our room, if not, then he wakes up in his room!

His favorite visit was having Auntie Sharon and Baba and Gigou down. Baba and Gigou are Aaron's grandparents. He loved them so much. He still picks up the phone and says "Hey0 Baba!" so much fun.

Halloween was a blast. Coen dressed up as Leo from little Einstiens and we took him to Cardston. He had so much fun. i think it just amazed him that he all he had to do was walk up to a door and they gave him a treat! We went to Grandpa and Grandma Wilde's house, then around Grandma C's neighborhood.

That is our fall so far! Hopefully i get better at updating this. Love you all!

I realize it has been forever since I have posted. It is just so easy to get caught up in doing every thing else ya know? The last 4 months have been full of a lot of fun and memorable moments.

In July, my brother came home from his mission. It was so neat because he had actually never seen Coen before. We got to go up to the airport in Calgary to see him. Coen had to bring his teddy just for safe keeping. Then we went to my Grandma Wilde's house. We got to roast hot dogs and it was Coen's first attempt at riding a quad. He hated it. Which really surprised me. But If he's scared he's scared right?

In August we got to see the parade in Cardston. It was hilarious. My poor little boy got hit in the head twice by flying candy. I think he was traumatized. We also found out that he is terrified of horses. Not just the crying scared but the crawling up mom or dad and trying to get as far away as possible scared.

September was awesome. We took Coen to the zoo where he entertained not just us but everyone around him. We took Auntie Sharon and Uncle Don and Devin with us, and really just loved watching Coen. We went to the Canadian part first where he was kind of indifferent. The coolest part for him were the moose and the bears. Then came africa. WOW. he loved the lions. Lots of ROARS! Then came the hippos. All you could see were their butts, and coen let out a big "OH WOW MAMA!" We were giggling so hard. Next we went to the dinosaurs. Coen did so well... until about half way through when he decided that he was scared of the dinosaurs. He clung onto Aaron or I the rest of the way through the park. And let me tell you... packing a 35 lbs kid through the dinosaurs is not easy. Every dinosaur that moved or talked sent him into a clawing up mom screaming panic. By the time we were done walking through Coen let out a big ALL GONE.... NO NO NO!"

That was pretty much our summer! It was so much fun and I am so sad to see it go. Coen has learned soo much! He is talking so well and climbs on everything and anything. He is in love with the piano and LOVES music. (It's my kid.. come on.) He is so good with other kids and loves his cousin amelia so much. We are having an awesome time with him!!

17 months

So today my little man turned 17 months old! I can not believe how fast the time has gone! He knows so much and is learning so quickly. We went swimming a this weekend and Coen got very attached to the slide and in no time he could crawl out of the pool, walk over tothe slide, climb the stairs, and wait for me to catch him! His other new thing is knowing how to put his Mickey DVD's into the Bluray player. It is so funny.

He is also learning more about his body! He knows his hair, eyes, ears, teeth, toes and GUTS! Haha. Thanks for the idea Carla! It is so funny. And if you ask him " Coen, how do you eat a cookie?" He bites and chomps his teeth!

We also got to meet a cow last week! We went to the farmers market to see what the big deal was, and actually it was a lot of fun! There was a Cow Auction (I think that's what it was) and Coen was just in awe with how big they were! It was so cute!