Kellan Seymour, The One Year Old

Gah! I know, I am incredibly behind! Life has been insane so we will just gradually build up to get us current. This is Kellan's birthday post:)

Our little man turned one on April 28th. The day was a normal day, we just hung out, napped, played, and got the house ready and food ready for his birthday dinner. My parents, sister and her children, Duane's brother and his family, and my best friends were there to celebrate with us. We made Kellan's favorite, Whole Wheat Penne with a Homemade Spinach-Pine Nut Pesto sauce and chicken. We had parmasean asparagus, and broccoli and mmm pineapple! I made red velvet and s'more cupcakes(a la Bakerella...love her!!!) I had planned on doing an actual birthday party, but with all other parties around the same time, we just didn't find a weekend that worked for us. But it was ok, the important people were there.

Here's a short little acheievement list of things he did by his 1st birthday:
-Walking
-I stopped breastfeeding on his birthday(woohoo! one year! hardest thing ever!)
-He started drinking milk from a sippy, skipped the bottle
-Saying "mama," "dad," "dog," "hi," "kaaaaade!", "gurt" for yogurt haha
-He had mastered the stairs and started trying to get up on the couch
-LOVES cars. LOVES. he will push anything andeverything around the house like its a car...funniest thing EVER.
-sleeping through the night still, since 8 days old:)
-4 teeth!

That's pretty much it! We had a fabulous dinner with family and friends, and we are so so so SO thankful for our little Tellies who lights up our every moment of the day with his bright smile, beautiful green eyes, and bald little head:) We love you Kellan Seymour!!!

Surgery Number 3

I forgot to make a post about this, for the people who keep up with us. For those of you who don't know, I will add a quick explaination.

December 11. 2007, Duane was walking the warehouse at his then job and his steel toe boots caught on a 1/2 inch bolt sticking out from the cement. He fell onto his left knee and dislocated his knee cap. After being out on Workman's Comp for 3 months, the doctor felt he was ready to return to work. After a month or two of being back, he started having severe pain in his knee. He was told to get an MRI to check and see what else could be wrong and with the waiting period for Workman's Comp to approve the MRI, then the surgery, it took another 4 months for the surgery on his torn meniscus to be approved. Duane was laid off October 2, 2008 and had his surgery November 12th. Exactly one year to the date, on December 11, 2008, Duane tripped over his grandparents blind dog and fell right on the knee, 2 weeks before he was able to bear weight on it again. Through more MRI's, he was approved for surgery number 2 to repair the damage done to the meniscus again, which happened in March of 2009, right before I had Kellan. Because I was in my 9th month and bed ridden and suffering from crippling allergies, Duane being the way that he is jumped up and started putting weight on the knee as soon as he could so that he could take care of everything around the house, from Kade to cleaning. He ended up putting himself through a lot more damage. He had another MRI which showed a torn meniscus and possible hole in the cartilege and through the cycle or waiting for approval once again, he had his surgery April 14th.

Ok, so that was kind of a long explaination. But it's been a long 2.5 years!

Going in with a lot of uncertainty for what they would find, he had the 3rd surgery and the surgeon found lots of fraying of the meniscus, an obscene amount of scar tissue(which was causing the majoity of the pain) and thankfully NO hole in the cartilege. IT was really best care scenerio for the surgery and we are really thankful for that. Now, two weeks later, he is off of the crutches and using a cane. He has been approved for phycial therapy and starts this next week, I believe. We are really hopeful for a smooth healing process and excited at the possibility of no more excruciating pain. It also comes with a concern and a lot of stress about what happens when the pain is gone and workman's compensation stops. Duane is currently going to school full time taking 16 units, so him working is something hard to consider so we are trying to figure out the next couple of months.

Very stressful, but through it all, I must say this: I have found that this injury has been a blessing is disguise in a lot of ways. If he were still doing the work he was doing, he would not have gone very far and everything that he was trained to do or ever wanted to go back to school for was very physical work. Having to look past those things and discover something that he has a true passion and talent for, being the IT field, has been so fabulous to see. He would've never found it if he hadn't been forced to. Also, he has gotten to spend a lot of time with our boys that I know they will look back on and so will we for the rest of their lives and be thankful for. Not every child gets to spend that really crucial bonding period with both of their parents. It has made us a really close knit family unit and I am so thankful for that.

Wow, this is such a rambling post, but its been that kind of event in our lives:)


Here is proof that Duane is the nicest, most helpful man alive. Hours after surgery, he is on the phone with my mom, bascially hacking into my moms computer to help her with some problem she was having. I love this man:)

The 3 Year Old

There is something about this 3 year old phase. It is touch and go with Kade. One moment, I want to rip my hair out from the attitude, overly active imagination(aka turning everything into a GUN!), tantrums, back-talk, and dawdling(aka taking 5 hours to get out the door!).The next I am so full of love, joy, contentment, and pride for his sweet disposition, vivid imagination, affection, love of learning, and how good of a big brother he is. We get a lot of "Mama Kade-A Time." I love sitting and listening to his stories, the explainations he comes up with, the general funny things he says, and of course the cuddles. Here are a few pictures to just better illustrate for you:)

I am always very hesitant to buy building blocks or legos or anything like that for him, because he tends to turn things into guns right away. I know, its in the blood, the genes, but I am still trying to delay the gun obsession. We are in the thick of it right now(more like the downhill side). Because of the police officer obsession, the gun obsession manifests itself quite often in an aggressive way(I think he walked in on someone watching cops or something and now thinks that police officers are loud and aggressive, which nakes for a fun day when he decides he is "Officer Bob Kade Liam Handsome." See what I mean by a wild imagination!)


At least there is a balance. This is my favorite picture of him right now. He is telling me a police officer story:)





I just love this picture too. He is such a sweet boy. Be still my heart!


He loves school! I had to pull him out a couple months ago because we were sick for so long and workman's comp cut our income down IN HALF(that is a whole other issue and post in itself!) but with the swim school doing so well, I am able to work a lot more and put him back in. He is a happy camper. I snapped this photo for an Appaman post I did over at In The Know Mom, as we were walking out the door to go to school.


I love watching my sweet big boy grow up and learn more and more about life and watch him develop. I am so increidbly blessed to be this little boy's mama. It is no joke when I say that when I look at him and John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" plays in my head and I am always near tears with an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude. It those stress hormones, I swear!