So, things are changing.

Well, times are changing for everyone. Some not so good. 

Kayden is growing up so much! She's crawling like there is no tomorrow. She loves food and playing with it, but what baby doesn't! She really likes it when we go on a walk to downtown. Oh, and attention! 

I am currently trying to find a job, which is proving harder than one may think. Part time is rough to find. But i shall keep trying while also seeing if I can figure out selling bags and hats and things! 

Now for the bigger news. Sadly things just didn't work out. Me and Josh are getting a divorce. Things just didn't work out. I will not get into details but everything will be okay. I will be working on finding a job, waiting on lease to end and just slowly getting things together. Things will be figured out by us for the most part so that we can keep lawyers out of it and get things they way we both agree. Don't get me wrong. I didn't see this happening, but everything will be okay. We will both pull ourselves back up and move on with our lives.

On another note, SNOW! and negative tempatures... not my dream but its nice!!! 

We are Moving....

We are moving! 

No no no, not in that way!

Miss Kayden is crawling now! She has been attempting it for some time now. She first tried by going backwards, then laying on her tummy moving forward and laying down again.

Now that I may have scared you into thinking we were actually moving again, I shall blab!

SNOW! 

Yes we got snow in October. The NC native in me was cringing and twitching Sunday evening while we were waiting on it to start falling. Come 11pm we had a light dusting on the ground and cars. We had to laugh, since that "dusting" would have shut down the state of NC. We woke up Monday morning to even more snow and it still slowly falling. Lets have a little comparison!

This is the NC snow of 2013, in February. 

This is the 2013 in MT, in October at 9:30 am.

and again at noon!

Needless to say this is normal and nothing in Montana. Thankfully tho it is melting and the temps are slowly creeping back up a little. A high of 20 and a low of 10 is just stupid! Mojo is loving the snow tho, all you see is his red collar and the black around his eyes and mouth. Husky + Snow = Perfect Match! Amani on the other hand would rather pee inside like us than going outside, thankfully she knows better! 

And now on a final note!!! 

This is my first month in the MME! I am VERY excited to have my match for November and starting to get to know her! MME is where a group of moms (pregnant, stay at home, working, etc) can get to know each other and make friends! US and Canadian moms can sign up, currently US gets matched with US and Canada gets matched with Canada. Theres a $30 limit to include shipping. Once you get to know your match you send a package with some gifts which can be bought or handmade. The matches just came out and i have to say from the first email i received and scouting a bit on Instagram, my match is perfect for me! 

If you wanna check it out head over to Mom Mail Blog. On her blog she has a link to the Facebook and Instagram for MME! If you wanna sign up just shoot her an email and you will get matched next month! 

Now I am off to wrangle the crawling baby! 

Enjoy!

28 Weeks and some other nonsense.

Kayden is becoming such a big girl! 

She has always loved bath time. Usually the best and easiest thing to do was take one with her. Two birds one stone kinda thing. She loves bath toys, especially ones that squeak or squirt water. We found a pack of 10 toys for $10 at target one day and we cant separate them from her, she will play with them outside of the tub too. 

We also got her the toy thats the colored plastic rings. 

Which also found the bath.

We also have gotten to try new food with her! Since she has her two little teeth now she has learned to bite bits off of food and she gums them trying to chew. 

We still eat our baby food but she LOVE graham crackers! she would eat a box if we let her. 

We like green beans too.

Nom Nom Nom!!!

Now that she can sit up by herself we have found it easier to NOT plop her in  a stroller at stores. Once less thing to drag in. So we have been off and on putting her in what we call the "big girl seat". Its handy and easy to pick her up when she gets upset or makes her grabby hands. She seems to like it too.

Recently Mojo, our cute little fluffy husky pup, has found it nice to "get out" for a little bit. He jumped the fence many times and wandered off. Not sure if theres a female in heat or he is trying to be an alpha male to the dog on the corner. Well we thought a leash for outside would work. He just pulled his collar off. So off to Lowe's we went for fencing!

She loves those car carts. She was steering with her wheel, and there wasn't a horn but she was honking it. She would stick out her left arm, so in the spirt of things we only made left hand turns! She was so happy. We will be going for these carts where ever we go! 

27 Weeks.

27 Weeks

This week Kayden is 27 weeks old. The weeks isn't even over and i feel like its a Sunday and we really need a fireplace. 

We love the camera

She loved the after bath photo shoot! 

Must Clean... Must Organize!!!

So its official, I am on an cleaning and organizing kick! 

My hopes are to get a whole lot of bins, crates, and containers. Just so that everything will have its space. Unused clothes will go to goodwill or be stored in the spare room. The garage will finished being cleaned so that (since winter is here already *sigh*) we can park the car in there. So on and so forth through all the rooms in the house! 

I have many plans! Maybe even to many! 

I may even clean out the car... 

I do know one thing... that once I am done or almost done with this cleaning and organizing thing, it will make preparing for christmas a whole lot easier. I have so many things to make for gifts! 

I am really hoping that i can get a lot of this cleaning/organizing out of the way in the next couple weeks. Some of Josh's family should be visiting soon to see all of us. Last time they saw her in person was well when i was still pregnant, then his mom saw her when we had her. So its been a very long time! 

So I am off... Off to make a list of my to-do's, to-get's, must haves, etc! 

OH.. on a side note... 

Montana is true to its "seasons" (if you want to call them that)

When we arrived at the end or March, it was still snowing. That ended about April-ish. So May-August was the "spring - summer" which was very nice to my surprise! August - Mid September was filled with a lot of construction. Which compared to North Carolina seems to start and be done almost on one day! Over night we hit fall.. literally. Sadly unlike NC it does not linger and slowly decline into winter. Nope, that hit two weeks later. Snow... in September. A "snow shower" in MT is about how much NC gets in its whole winter! So while I was really looking forward to this while white christmas things. It looks like a white thanksgiving and maybe even halloween will be in store. 

So im going to go keep warm and organize! 

6 Months

6 Months

Or 26 Weeks

Miss Kayden is now 6 months old! 

Shes such a big girl now.. or should i stay still! 

We had to go to Great Falls for some clothes shopping at Old Navy, so we bumped up her appointment (what good that did us) we still have to go back on the 27th to get her shots BLEH! 

She weighs 18 lb. (85th %)

Is 27 1/4 in. tall (95th %)

And head is 17 in. (85th %)

Thanking Mom for these wonderful pictures! 

Kayden had a runny nose for a few days which is getting better but it made for some funny pictures! 

Such a happy baby!!!! 

Mojo and Kayden :)

And we have made a breakthrough! 

Her tooth has finally cut through! 

5 Months

5 MONTHS

I cant believe it... Kayden is 5 months old now! 

5 months ago today Miss Kayden made her entrance into the world! Not in any of the places we would have liked her to have been born, but I had NO control over that! 

She's a special baby! She learned recently that she can grab her feet, and that it helps her roll over better! She also has learned sitting up grabbing her feet and face planting onto floor isn't the smartest idea she has had. Along with the feet grabbing has come with feet eating. She doesn't seem to like it to much.

Kayden now talks to us too! She will tell you all about what she is thinking and all about her day! 

Even when you know shes just not feeling good at all, she will smile and just be the happiest baby ive never seen! 

When she got sick the doctor suggested we start her on the baby cereal. We used to put rice cereal in her formula to just thicken it up a little bit, so she would get a little bit fuller from eating. We had stopped that, now shes a big girl and eats her oatmeal cereal and baby food. She loves bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, apples.... Well all the baby foods minus prunes she likes. She does NOT need prunes.

She has also fallen in love with spoons! I had some homemade chocolate ice cream and she took my spoon every time I went to take a bite. Now it has turned into this...

"Mommy I can feed myself!"

*hits head with food cover spoon*

I may have to start feeding her in the bathtub! 

Normally she sleeps through the night and not napping in the day. As of recently she's been waking up in the middle of the night and napping throughout the day. Unless it is bed time she loves to just lay on you (or in moms bed) and take her naps. She will nap forever if you let her! 

For 5 months ive had the pleasure to have this wonderful little girl in my life! Me and Josh could not be prouder! 

We all love you Kayden Bay Sanders! We can not wait to see you grow up (just maybe do it a little slower)

Job...

So good news, Mom got the job at the library! Hell I am kinda jealous actually! Actually, I was looking for a job myself. Two things hindered my ability to do so, and some minor things as well. One, i dont drive. (I will be getting on this soon, Josh still has to teach me.) Two, my "previous" work experiences ended bad. Being told i didnt have to work getting fired for not showing up cause my name ended up on schedule and my fave excuse "being allergic to cinnamon." So since those ended bad I do not put them on my applications for job since they would end up reflecting bad on my. I usually put my volunteer work with the Ren Faire, which was for years. Not only as an actor but as set and props. I loved doing that! But the NC Ren Faire fell apart BIG TIME!

Anywho, I have accepted and am okay with being a SAHM. Once we moved to Montana I was doing some crafts here and there and figured they can be pumped out fairly quick and shipped off and it kept me entertained while Kayden was asleep or more interested in doing something else. So I figured I would make an Etsy store and sell my things! If it went well, it would bring in some money and I would have fun doing it! It would also be nice on the cold Montana winter days, while we were locked in the house.

There are MANY ideas of things that i could sell. 550 cord things like keychain, bracelets, lanyards, dog collars/leashes. Can make yo-yo dogs and monkeys, sew some bags, and some cute baby things. Im sure theres more I can think of! Regardless, with all of those things If it goes well i could make a good amount. 

Between setting this up, getting it going, and christmas gifts for this year I will be a bit busy.

Wish me luck

Icky Sicky...

So for those who have been following Kayden and whats been going on with her, you know shes been sick recently, but also trying to figure out whats causing her to break out. 

The picture above is from last Sunday at the fair in Great Falls. If you can see her face the red blotches... Well thats a minor version of what her face looks like when she break outs. Bad but still its not the worse we have seen. Usually it is ALL over her body and its bumpy and itchy and she is just in a fit. 

We have changed formula, used meds, and creams. Possible milk allergy/sensitivity? Well recently it maybe is reflux and dry skin, and she break out when she gets irritated by new cloths (forgetting to wash them first due to a rush or just forgetting) 

Currently, we are trying new bath routine. No soap in water (so no bubbles), then using sensitive body wash so that we don't remove oil from her skin, then aveeno baby lotion to lock it in. She is also on Zantac for the reflux. 

She also is getting over this viral thing, which she so kindly passed on to me! So her nose i still very runny, and she does cough a lot. Her eyes are still a little puffy and she still has more color around her eyes. And she has block tear ducts in both her eyes (which will not go away until shes about 18 months old.)

All in all I really fill bad for her. Shes been through so much in the first 4 months of her life. I just hope its over soon so she wont have to change things so much, and she can just go back to being her happy pterodactyl self! 

Montana State Fair 2013

Day 1

Kayden and her crazy baby hair less than thrilled to go, but was happy to see daddy!
We went Friday which was opening day. Josh had been there since thursday to work and get set up. Coming from NC where the state fair is held in October instead of July/August. It would have been packed in NC. If they said they opened at 5 pm, there would have been a line at noon. There was hardly anyone there!

As a joke mom asked Kayden if she wanted mommy to win her a fishy... She said yes. Because i have a very smart 4 month old who can nod for yes and cry if she doesnt get it and shake her head no. So we won her a fish! She liked the name George, I wanna name him Trike since hes tri-colored, but again she said no.

In the wildlife building they had fish that they caught just for fair. I wanted them so bad. We talked to a guy who was happy to hear we were from NC and had gar, but got sad when i advised against catching them. The are scary looking for one and they make this horrible screeching noise and would eat you if your not careful.The had a rattlesnake in a tank, first time seeing one in person and I hope to leave it that way.

Day 2

We went again on Sunday, because moms camera didnt save her pictures from Friday (card was on lock), and we missed Josh. We wanted to eat our way through the food too, which we pretty much did. We had some curly fries that were so amazing!!! Had some more of the twisted lemonade which was something to kill over!

We saw the sheep and goats this time. Kayden seemed to like them, she got a lot of goat kisses! Had to leave before mom shaved down the sheep for their wool.

One thing i really wanted to get Kayden was one of the airbrushed shirts. For 20 bucks it wasn't that bad! We got a youth xs so that she could wear it longer or as pjs now. 

We laid miss, 15 pounds I want to be held the whole time, on the grass to wiggle a little which she loved! I got Josh his mt. dew and we got packed to leave and we found ourself walking to first aid for hydrocortisone cream for Kayden. He face, belly, and back broke out pretty bad. Luckly they had some and she started feeling better. We talked to them for a bit and mom had pointed pout the dogs in the next building over. So we went to look, Kayden loves dogs! Great Pyrenees, and boy were the beautiful. Kayden pet one without me holding her hand! Cried a bit when we walked away.

We were heading home now, sad we didnt go see horses and cows but we needed to head home for Kayden. She slept most of the way home. We got home washed her off and since she wanted to be nakie baby we let her.

So the monkey wiggled and squirmed around for a while!

We all had fun! But after walking as much as we did, we are pooped!
Now to just get Kayden feeling better!

4 Months!

Kayden is now 4 months old! 

Four months ago my wonderful daughter was born. She has grown up so much and to see that bubbly ray of sunshine daily is just the greatest thing ever! 

Yesterday was a little hard for both her and myself. She had her 4 month wellness checkup at the doctors. The doctor she sees is amazing!! We are known as the North Carolina family (for obvious reasons.) 3 shots and she was not happy about it, i almost cried! 

We have seen her growing up fast as of late. Grabbing onto things, including my hair. She is still doing well with sleeping through the night, but shes not much of a nap baby unless we take a ride in the car or stroller. Which isnt that bad of an idea since me and mom want to start walking more. She tends to "fight" sleep, we are thinking that she thinks she is missing something if she falls asleep, but shes not cause we are just that boring! 

Coming home from the doctors, after her shots. Monkey is giving her a hug to make it all better!

She loves her hands in her mouth, partly because shes kinda teething we believe and well because she can. She also used to be big on the pacifier. Now... not so much, she just wants he bottle and or someone to just look at her and give her 100% attention. Its hard to take her seriously when she's "crying" while smiling and drooling everywhere. 

Kayden has also been a very but spit upper. Well we are trying to control how much shes taking in at one time to prevent her from doing it as much as she has. Though her most iconic time spitting up isnt the projectile like most would probably think. Infact she was crawling up on my shoulder so i sat her there and as soon as i said she shouldnt spit up... BOOM! all in my hair. It made me flash back to when I was a kid and i got pooped on by a seagull (which is why I hate them as much as I do.) Josh took her while I washed my hair. I had to wake mom up to get a towel and they both were just laughing away. Haha... Not Funny! 

But no matter what she does or doesnt do I love my little monkey to death! 

She also upgraded to a Big Girl swing with a tray so she cant wiggle her way out of it like she does in her lower swing. 

She also does impressions. Shes a pterodactyl on a daily basis. We like to call her our terriable-dactyl!

Cant wait till shes talking and crawling! 

I LOVE YOU KAYDEN!

My Town Monday - Books and Babies!

So i guess you can say I have finally done something in Helena. Me and mom found the library finally, we got our cards and started on our long list of books we wanted to get.

They have a nice little children section with a small selection of board books for the younger kids. I checked out a few for Kayden, but she could care less right now. They also have some event weekly for kids and their parents. Books & Babies and Story Time. One is called Books & Babies. Its held on Mondays twice a day. 10:30 - 11:30 am and 1:30 - 2:30 pm. You sing, read, and the kids play with toys. Its really cute, and i know once Kayden gets older she will love it.

They have a welcome song at the start, you introduce yourself and your child and say that you want to say hello by waving, jumping, clapping, rowing, etc. Its cute. We chose jumping  since she was in a jumpy/bouncing mood. 

 For us it went.

" Jump hello to Kayden, to Kayden, to Kayden. Jump hello to Kayden, Jump hello! " 

and you go in a circle and do that for all the kids and the kids jump and clap along. 

After the welcome is done, the lady read a book! Kayden was less than impressed she was more interested in pulling my hair and staring at another little girl.

Next was singing some songs. Today we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Patty Cake. While we sang All Around the Mulberry Bush we played with the parachute. I remember playing with one of these in elementary school and running under it while it was in the air and playing dodge ball under it.

After all the singing, the kids had toy time and the parents got to talk. In my case i cleaned up spit up, held a 15 pound sleeping baby and talked to people. All of the parents almost died laughing. A little boy was being a brat and kept taking a girls toy that she was playing with. She was so grown up she kept telling him he had to share and that it was her turn and she would be done soon and then he could have it again. Well ignoring her, he took the toy and went to go play. She picked up a wiffle ball and threw it at him pegging him in the head. Even his mom was laughing. That girl has good aim!

Kayden also has Monkey! She LOVES Monkey!!! A kid tried to play with monkey and she was NOT having it! Kayden screamed and cried till the girl put monkey down! That is HER monkey! 

All in all it was nice! We will be going next Monday. They break in August and December, but we will be going a lot! 

Lewis and Clark Library is VERY nice! Much better than all the other ones I have been too! 

Fairies and Flowers

Tuesday was a fun day. Kayden, mother, and I went to Tizer Botanic Garden & Arboretum. I have to say it was just lovely. 

 We took the stroller with us, but it ended up being a bag holder. There were stairs and hills, and since i was showing her the flowers and he was happy and "talking", we brought the stroller to pretty much hold our bags.



She was just in love with the water. That is actually Prickly Pear Creek that flows right through the garden. It reminded me on the Salmon River that ran next to the camp at Challis. Ice cold!

Kayden got her feet wet and wiggled her little monkey toes in the sand and small rocks. She liked it until she realized it was freezing then she got a little upset. She was just as happy as can be if you would just hold her and let her watch the water. 

There was a cute little wishing well where you could toss in money and make a wish. Cute little handmade and hand painted bird house. String with pieces of mirrors hanging on them. It was set up in the Fairy Garden. A cute little fairy house was there with fairy statues scattered around. When the sun would hit the mirrors and the wind would blow then little flickers of light would fly around like fairies. Kayden was mesmerized by the fairies, I told her they were fairies and she would smile and just follow them around! 

She was a pretty happy baby UNTIL the end. By that point it was nap time and she was ready to take her nap. She cried so we made our way to their picnic area and she had lunch! After a short fuss she fell asleep and she was out for the count as we finished our walk and made our way out.

With the upcoming Renaissance Faire coming up at the end of the month, she needed an outfit for when we go! After volunteering for so many years, and all our my sister, mothers, and my own garb littering my mothers closet, it was time for Kayden to start hers! Since she will be only 4 months I cant dress her up like a noble (though what is cuter than that.) I was a pirate towards the end, but I knew everyones comments would be "what a cute little boy!" So that left me one option. FAIRY!

Seeing as she is growing so fast, we needed something that could grow with her. Homemade tutu, wings, and headband. All i needed were wire coat hangers, tights, ribbon, and embellishments. It was fun to let my creativity flow!!

The end result was this!! 

We are ready!!!!