Kindi is 10 Months Old

 So I'm sure there are some of you out there wondering if All is Still Wells.  Well let me put your minds at ease.  Yes we are still here.  And everyone is doing well, for the most part.  We all went through this nasty bug that's been roaming around.  Kaden got it first and I spent most of the night up with him while he threw up.  Poor little man.  Is there anything worse than watching your babies suffer, when they want so desperately for you to fix it and there is nothing you can do?  Kindi had it a few days later.  She only spit up hard a couple of times one morning, but then she developed a nasty nighttime cough that kept us up most of the night for several days.  I got it next and had to miss church to make an appointment with my toilet.  Yuck!  Gosh I hate being sick, and the whole day I felt like I had terrible morning sickness only I'm not pregnant.  It stinks to feel that way even when it is for a good cause, but when it's for nothing...  GRRRR  Jeremy had the most mild version I think, but his also lasted the longest.  Today though I think we are all better, maybe a lingering cough or two here and there, but the kids have been doing a great job playing together in their rooms most of day without the excessive whining that had been permeating my home.  Ahhhh I even had time to get Kindi's pictures posted.  WOW!

 Stop to smell the roses.  (Alright so she is really eating it, but it's still precious.)

 How did my baby get into the double digits already?!  Look at her looking like a big girl.

Kindi Kae is totally getting into giving kisses these days.  The only problem is that there really isn't anything pleasant about them.  If you have spent anytime around Kindi you would see that she is always drooling.  Not just a little bit, but a constant stream, maybe even a waterfall, is running down her face at all times.  Now pair that with the classic wide mouth baby kiss...  Yeah, it's kinda nasty.  And she not only kisses she is practicing her french techniques.  She plants a big slobbery one on me (I try to deflect her to my cheek, but she prefers my lips) and then waggles her tongue around too.  When she is done I need a bath towel to wipe up the slime!  And yet even in the midst of all that unpleasantness...  I love each and everyone of those kisses!

 She has enough hair for a ponytail!  Isn't it stinkin' adorable!

 Kindi is walking.  I have mixed emotions about this.  It's so exciting to see her reach that milestone (2-3 weeks ahead of Kaden) but she is my last baby and she is growing up so fast.  She definitely isn't proficient in the walking department, averaging 4 steps or so, but she is getting there and on occasion can walk all the way across a room.  Most of the time she finds crawling to be more efficient still though.

 My children adore each other!  They are the best of friends.  If one wakes up before the other they anxiously wait for the other.  Kaden begs for 'My sissy.'  And Kindi points and stares at Kaden's door with anticipatory squeals.  You can just hear her begging him to wake up.

We've had our ups and downs just like any other normal family, but let me tell you...

I wouldn't trade this crazy, busy life I have for anything in the world.

The Mischief Maker

This post is dedicated to the daily mischievous moments of Kaden Raymond Wells.

"There's nothing behind my back."

Kaden, wanting desperately to go outside to help his daddy with the rototiller, pushed an end table in front of the door and crawled up on it to try to open it.  Luckily he hasn't figured out that you have to turn the knob yet, although if he had, he wouldn't have been very successful as he had the table pushed up against the door and the door opens in.  He did enjoy looking out the window and watching Daddy though.

This is the lovely cradle that Max made for his boys many years ago.  Now Kindi gets to sleep in it, just like her Daddy did.  The only problem is that it is low to the ground and Kaden loves to crawl in with her.  At least we hope it is with and not on!  If he isn't crawling in it with her he is rocking it viciously into the wall!  So usually we only use it at night.

Jen's kids came over to play in the sprinklers one hot day this summer.  Kori and Kaden found a hose that was watering the watermelons and used it to fill up a bucket...

...which Kaden turned into a swimming pool!

I turn my back on him for one minute while tending to Kindi and he crawls into Jeremy's experimental potato pit.

"Cheese!"

One of Kaden's new favorite games is to take all of the toys and pillows out of Kindi's room, one at a time, and throw them under the kitchen table.  I guess he is making a nest or something, because then he crawls under there to play and lay down. 

This game also translates well to outside, where he strips my swing of all of it's pillows and piles them next to the sandbox.  They make a great trampoline.

So I don't think you can read that lid, but can you guess what's in the jar?  

If you guessed chocolate chips you'd be right.  Their home is in the cupboard right behind him.  But if you leave the door open, or even open it too wide, Kaden swoops in and snatches them away.  He may not know how to turn a door knob yet, but unscrewing the lid to the chocolate chips is no problem at all!

A Blast From the Past.

Okay so you probably can't really classify it as 'the past' when your son is only 20 months old and your daughter is only 4 months old, but... I did anyways!  I uploaded the pictures from Jeremy's camera the other day.  That doesn't happen nearly as often, so some of these are fairly old.  (You know, like 4 months!)

Jeremy chaperoned a field trip to the Civil War Reenactment here in Lebanon at the end of last school year.  Because it was here he just met the bus there and was able to take Kaden with him.  Kaden went on his first horse ride... okay so he sat on a horse and promptly begged to get off!  Jeremy said that when they shot all their big artillery cannons Kaden didn't even flinch!  What a brave little man.

One of the first few days of Kindi.  Kaden desperately wanting to touch and play with her!  This was when she would actually sleep on Jeremy's chest, although she never liked the tummy to tummy position.  Much to Jeremy's chagrin.  

Kaden on the other hand, still loves to sleep on his tummy!

Me and my precious babies!  (Yikes!  I may not be losing it very fast this time, but thankfully I am losing some of the weight!)  Kindi cracks me up with her hands by her face.  She almost always sleeps like that.

Kaden checking out Daddy's new car with Grandma, Papa, and Lily.

Oh how he loves to give his sister kisses.  He is always crawling up next to her or squatting on the floor beside her, while I am warning him to be nice, just to give her kisses!  I've got him trained to give me kisses now too.  I get three!  One on each cheek and one on the lips.  I love it, he is so sweet!  (Sometimes I have to bribe him to do it though, he is always willing to kiss me for an Oreo!)

Kaden snagged my cell phone and then took off running.  Well feeling kind of aggravated that he was running away with my cell phone I followed only to have my aggravation melt away into smiles of adoration.  He needed to sit in his rocking chair so he could 'talk' on the phone.  It was too cute to stay irritated!

Apparently wearing Daddy's shoes is hilarious!

I don't get to play out in the sand box with Kaden very often, so when I do I am sure to teach him important things.  Like how to bury his leg in the sand, you know, crucial life lessons.

Kindi discovered she has a tongue.

And she is adorable when she smiles with it!

Gangsta rap star?

Please, no pictures!

Jeremy is making it a tradition to take Kaden to work with him on the last day of school.  Everyone knows that the last day is basically just a big party day anyways, so Kaden just adds to the festivities.  The kids love him.  And as you can see he makes himself right at home...

...Getting into everything!

Kaden loves to make 'forts' under the table and barricade himself behind all of the chair legs.

Kindi's first trip in the belly pack.  She did great!  She even managed to make it all the way to Grandma's house!!!  

(Okay, for those of you who don't know... Grandma's house is the blue one behind me and I am standing by my fence exactly one block away.)

Look at that poor face!  If I remember right the long scratch and bruise on his forehead was from falling and hitting a book that was standing up open.  And then the cut under his lip I think came from the coffee table... but it's hard to remember what owie is what!  That boy gets new bumps and bruises almost daily!

Luckily they don't effect his attitude.  He is still full of smiles and laughter.  The sunshine in our days along with Kindi!

The Playland Returns.

This was Kaden's favorite place to play until he started crawling.  Now it is Kindi's turn to enjoy it.  I didn't get it out as early for her as we did with Kaden, because of Kaden!  Laying her on the floor in such a vulnerable position didn't seem like the wisest idea while Kaden was learning how to be a big brother!  He still gets a little clumsy and bumps her around some, but for the most part he tries to be careful with her.  Once in awhile his aggressive nature comes out and he wants to poke her belly or show me she has eyes, and gets too rough.  His latest is trying to move her from point A to point B.   The other day she was laying in the playland watching Kaden play with his toys and I went to wash my hands, or something like that.  When I got back to his room Kaden was backing out with Kindi's shorts in his hand.  The problem was that her foot was still attached to them!  He had tried to pick her up and instead grabbed her shorts to drag her out but the shorts pulled off, almost!  He'd pulled her a couple of feet or so!  You'd think Kindi would have been upset by this, but no.  She was grinning up at him. 

The stages of Kindi's development are so exciting.  At first she just stared at the pretty colorful toys above her, contentedly sprawled out.

Take my picture too Mom.

Now it is so fun to watch her learn how to grab toys and play with them. 

Kaden makes sure to get his play time in still!

Sometimes, in fact quite often, he just crawls right in with her and they have a blast.  Until he starts kicking the bars and toys start bumping into her face.

Kindi has a death grip on that poor frog's leg!  That toy was designed very smartly (Is smartly a real word?).  Kaden always liked to grab it too.  When it was Kaden's it sang though.  Since then the batteries have died.  I just tore it apart and am going to try replacing the batteries, but it was a pain.  I had to rip the seam and will have to sew it back together again.  I hope it works!  If not at least she has two other toys on there that will sing to her.  I don't know what happened to most of the original toys that came with it, so we just substitute other fun things!

Big Bath Time!

I found this great little bath sling at Walmart.  It is compact so it fits great in the bath (or a sink) and still leaves plenty of room for Kaden to play in the bath too.  Both of my kids love it.  Kindi watches Kaden intently, kicking and giggling at him, and he helps me wash her.  He gets the washcloth and rubs her tummy or the empty bubble bottle in his hands and dumps water on her legs. 

The only down fall to it is that as Kindi kicks she slides farther and farther down into the water.  But since she isn't big enough to take a bath unsupervised anyway it isn't really an issue.  I just slide her back up periodically.

Mom's of little boys, see that empty Mr. Bubble bottle in Kaden's hand?  Guess what fits just right in there?  Sheesh!!!  Do all little boys do this?   

We Do Randomness Well(s).

This is Kaden's 'I don't know' look which I received when I asked him why he was sitting in Sissy's chair.  He loves to sit in the bouncy chair.

Already trying to fill Daddy's shoes!

Kaden loves to play with his sister, but he has a hard time understanding that she can't play the same ways he can.  He thinks it is hilarious when I bounce the ball off of his head, so why wouldn't siss love it?  :)

Probably Kaden's favorite time of the whole day.  When Daddy comes home from work and they go out to the garden to water.  If Jeremy sets the hose down for even a second Kaden has it in his hands and is walking around the garden watering plants just like Daddy does.  He really does a pretty good job too!

Kaden and his cousin Kori love to look out the windows, but only if there is a blind to hide under!

My silly little Kindi girl is always pulling her skirts up to suck on.

If she doesn't have a skirt to suck on her fingers will do!

No, don't worry we didn't kill anybody and do a bad job of hiding them...

Kaden just thought that would be a good place to drink his milk.  :)

My beautiful girl enjoys her tummy time these days, her brother hated it!

Kaden and his blankie!  Well actually this is half of a blankie in progress.  I have froggy fleece to put on one side, but he loves to find this silky and carry...

or wear it around!