my favorite In The Know Moms

When I first became a mom, I heard about the site, cafemom through my sister-in-law. It is basically a networking site for moms where you can join different groups and talk to other women just like you. I joined a group called January 2007 Moms and Babies. Through that group, I joined another group called Fendi Moms, which was all about product obsession:) Basically we would discuss new and exciting products for mommy and baby and share our feelings on the products and go to each other when we had questions like,"Which double stroller should I get?" or "I'm looking for a dress for a wedding, I'm pregnant and have this body type, HELP!" We all formed friendships and a little community. The creator of the Fendi Moms group, Sarah and another mom from the group, Erin, branched off and created a website doing what we were doing, discussing the best, safest, and eco-friendly products for our babies, but on a much grander scale. The called the site, In The Know Mom. You've heard me talk about this site and my little blurbs I write every once and a while there. I am the only one with boys and basically asked to participate in the site, because I felt it was missing that perspective.

Since I've had so many questions about how it came to be, this is how I became connected with the site. We live all over CA and AZ and I love having them as friends! It's such an unlikely friendship and such a funny story how it all happened but I am really thankful for it. These ladies are basically my sounding board when I am sad or struggling with something and I trust them all with my deepest secrets and feelings. I hope to meet them all personally soon and spend some time together, because I love these ladies!

I have met one of the mommies, Jennifer. She is sweet, silly, and sarcastic like me and Kade and her oldest daughter are the same age and then her youngest and Kellan are a few months apart. We both have had similar struggles recently with life, which for me, at least has helped me a lot. Her hubby was working in a nearby town for a couple of months and her and her 2 girls came up to visit him and we got the opportunity to go to our favorite place, Superfranks! Of course I didn't get any pictures of the two of us(next time Jenn!!!) but I did get a couple of the kids. I have boys, she has girls, sooo needless to say, they ignored each other for pretty mucht he first couple hours we were there haha. Kade is pretty crazy and bouncing off the walls and her girls are silly and sweet, so I think they were a little confused at each other. BUT, just for proof to the world that they did briefly stand within a few feet of each other, I am documenting:)

I love this last picture, because of how Kade is holding onto her waist haha. It was so cute. Miss Maya is obsessed with mermaids, so Kade went around the Fish Tank room and got all of these little mermaid dolls for her. She had a huge arm full but mommy rained on her parade and told her she could only hold a couple haha



Look, photo op!!!! hahaha


I can't wait to visit again soon!!!

Fourth of July

We had a pretty calm June, so were gonna skip right over the the 4th!

We had planned to go to the Oregon coast with my best friend for the holiday to her families home there, but Duane had jury duty on Tuesday and we didn't want to have to speed back home. So we stuck around and, what do you know, we got sick. It started with Kade on Friday with the flu. I had been babysitting my nephew who was sick, so we knew it might come at some point. Then Saturday morning, it was my turn. Devastatingly sick and violently so. Then that night, it was Duane's turn and Sunday we were all really weak so we took it easy.

We started the day with Duane sleeping in and the kids and I going to the park here for the 4th of July breakfast. We then went home and I made the boys some shirts with the freezer paper stencil technique and then went to the parade that is held downtown here in Tracy. After some lunch, we headed out to Sacramento to visit my brothers, Scott and Shawn and their kids for the day. We swam and saw the fireworks together, which was super fun!

The only picture I took were at the parade, so once again, just the boys:)

Memorial Day!

Every year for Memorial Day, we like to go camping. The last 2 years just didn't happen because of life and having a newborn. This year, we did it! My sister and her kids, her dad's side of the family, my best friend Rachel and her daughter Hailey, and us went up to Whiskeytown for a weekend of camping fun!

However, on the 3.5 hour drive up, about 1 hour from our destination Duane got a call that his Dad, who recently had a difibulator put in his heart, was in the hospital because it had become infected and he needd surgery to have it removed. His dad has congestive heart failure, so we decided the best thing to do was to go up to the campground, spend the night and Duane would go home in the morning. My dad was amazing as always and drove up and picked up Duane and left us with our car.

So that being said, the trip was challanging camping alone with 2 kids, one of which was newly mobile and realized he could actually walk away from me, but I wasn't really alone, I had my sister and best friend so it was ok. It was just a little bit difficult to contribute to camping duties and still keep a close eye on the babes.

We lounged around, drove up to Shasta Lake at Silverthorn resort, spent time there in Whiskeytown at the "beach" and had s'mores and campfires and made some awesome memories. It was such a fun trip, but kind of stressful. Safe to say, the next trip will be with Duane!

I didn't take really very many pictures except for when Duane was there, otherwise I didn't have a spare hand! haha. but I love the pictures I did get:)

Promises, Promises!

I PROMISE this week I will be updating my blog...starting with Kellan's birthday...Yeah I know, that was 3 months ago. I fail:)

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!