Music to my ears...

I love to sing!  I can't carry a tune to save my life but I still belt it out at the top of my lungs anyway, much to Erik's dismay (and anyone else who is near enough to hear me).  In my mind, I sound like Celine Dion but in actuality I probably sound like a cross between Miss Piggy and a dying cat. 

I also love music.  More specifically, I love Christmas music.  I try to hold out until the day after Thanksgiving to start playing it but I have to admit I've been secretly listening to it much earlier this year.  Included in our cable package is a whole bunch of music stations.  One of them, called "The Sounds of the Season", plays just that--seasonal music.  For the beginning of my maternity leave it played that weird New Age stuff you'd hear in a massage parlor or an acupuncturists office (I know, because I tried acupuncture to get pregnant--it didn't work and the music sucked).  Apparently New Age music is seasonal for summer?  Then, once fall came, it started playing Halloween music.  I didn't even know there was Halloween music!  FYI, it isn't just spooky, it's down right creepy.  As in "old-van-with-no-windows" creepy.  However, the day after Halloween the channel started playing Christmas music!  It was probably about 60 degrees on November 1st but I had Christmas music on!  Erik came home that day from work, shook his head, grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.  Kade and I were right in the middle of singing along to, "Walkin' In a Winter Wonderland".  Even I'll admit it was a bit early for that.

I want Kade to love music as much as I do so I always have something playing.  I'm also curious about the whole "nature vs. nurture" thing.  Lady A had mentioned that she likes to sing and was in the choir.  So, that must mean, unlike me, she's good at it.  I figure if I nurture Kade's musical abilities then maybe his natural musical talent will shine.  I hope so anyway!  I also want Kade to take guitar lessons because then we can sing duets with an accompaniment!  Besides, what could be cuter than a little boy playing a guitar??

Happy Thanksgiving!!  And let the Christmas music begin!!!

Of course, no post is complete without a couple of pictures of the Kade Man:


He's not a huge fan of this chair yet but he looks so darn cute in it I had to post the picture!



Good morning, Sunshine!!



Love those blue eyes!!

That's my boy!

Kade is a "man" on a schedule.  You can pretty much set your watch by his naps.  Whenever he wakes up I make a mental note of the time because exactly 1 1/2 hours later he'll be ready to go back down.  If it's any later than that we'll have one unhappy baby on our hands for the rest of the day, and maybe even the next day!  At exactly 5pm he's ready for a 20 minute nap in the swing.  Try to put him anywhere else and he'll scream but once he's in the swing he'll calm right down and his eyes will slowly go shut.

He's also never been a very independent baby.  What I mean by that is you can't just lay him on the floor for a minute or two while you go try to do something quick.  He likes to be held up by your shoulder so he can see what's going on.  Try to prop him up on a pillow on the floor and he gets mad, pick him up and he's immediately calm.

I've been excited for Kade to be able to hold his head up so he can start hanging out in toys that allow him to be sitting up and seeing the world.  He's been holding his head up for awhile now but his legs haven't been long enough to sit in his bouncy toy...until today!  And, ladies and gentleman, he LOVES it!  He can bounce, turn (with my help) and see everything that's going on.  Unfortunately for him, what's "going on" today is me doing dishes, sweeping and picking up the house but he seems entertained by it.  

He's a boy after my own heart--he loves schedules, I love schedules; he loves to be held, I love to hold him; he loves to watch me clean, I love to clean!  I think, with any luck, he may even be a list maker when he grows up!


I don't have the time imprint on this picture, but I'm willing to bet it's right around 5:00!



The cutest Little Cowboy I've ever seen.



The first time he could actually use this!  Granted, he can't really reach anything on it yet but he immediately figured out how to bounce!

 

Kade...the ladies man???

I'm officially back at work which means Kade is officially at daycare.  Normally, there's only one other kid there, a 4 year old girl.  However, on Kade's first day there was no school so the little girl's 6 year old sister was there too.  Apparently Kade is quite the little flirt!  I had no idea!  The girls would read to him and he'd just smile and giggle at them.  They would talk to the daycare provider and he'd smile and giggle.  Heck, they would just walk by him and he'd smile and giggle at them!  Erik and I got a couple updates that day from our daycare provider and we had no idea what baby she was talking about because we couldn't believe he was smiling and giggling that much!  Which made us wonder, now that we are parents have we officially become uncool and boring??



Kade wore his newest outfit, a gift from Aunt Jenna and Uncle Jay, to his first day of daycare!



Big smiles at 5am, how is that even possible?!?



He's practicing his wink for the ladies.





Chicks dig motorcycles, right?  Well, those daycare girls aren't going to be able to resist Kade when he pulls up on this...in 20 years! :-)

Kade did NOT get his "ladies man" skills from this guy!  Looks like Kade could probably teach his Uncle Jeremy a thing or two!



Baptism and Halloween

Kade was baptized this past Sunday which also happened to be Halloween so he did a lot of dressing up that day!  He was a champ during his baptism although he did let out a few good screams right into the Pastor's microphone.  He just wanted to make sure the congregation was awake and paying attention!  We were also lucky enough to have Erik's uncle and cousin, Warren and Caleb, sing a duet which made Kade's day that much more special.  After the service we had family over for lunch and of course, cake and ice cream.  According to Erik's family, it just isn't a party if there isn't cake and ice cream!

Then came the Halloween portion of the day.  I had gotten Kade a sleeper with pumpkins all over it and he got a "My 1st Halloween" bib as a gift, so we figured that was a good enough costume for a 3 month old.  My mom ended up finding a Pooh costume that was on clearance and I'm glad she did because we had so much fun dressing him up!  Of course, he couldn't have cared less and actually wasn't all that thrilled with it but Erik and I smiled and laughed so hard our cheeks hurt!  Especially when the neighbors came over, Michael was dressed as a spider so we plopped the babes down on the couch and had a photo shoot.  Then, Erik and I took Kade trick-or-treating to both sets of grandparents.  It was definitely more entertaining for us this year since we got to eat all of the candy as well :-)

Here's a bunch of pictures from the big day:



I made them dress alike!  Luckily, Erik played along but that probably won't happen again.





My brother, Jeremy, and Erik's sister, Erin, are Kade's Godparents.





I love this picture because Kade has the cutest frown ever!  We always say, "All he has to do is smile or frown and he'll get whatever he wants!".  It's hard to resist a face like that!  Maybe he's scared of spiders?? :-)