Yesterday.

Sometimes Khage treats Baggera like a horse

And I don't think she minds at all.

This toddler and that aloof dog make a pretty fetching pair don'tcha think?

Fedorable.

This picture does silly things to my heart. The look on his face is so him, looking like the little goon that he is. Just playing around with Mommies fedora and being adorable.... fedorable! Ah thank you. He looks like quite the little charmer here with his shirt unbuttoned just so and the natural way in which his cheeks look flushed. Those girls will have no fighting chance... but their Daddy's might... lock em' up Dads. Lock em' up.

The Memory bank.

I am sure most parents have that thing they do with their children that feels like their own special thing. The thing that maybe their kids will always remember and maybe eventually when the time comes adopt that thing as a tradition to then do with their kids. This thing doesn't have to be a big, and it doesn't have to cost much money to be meaningful. In fact yesterday it only cost me .$56 in change.

That thing for Khage and I is adding money to his piggy bank. Like I said its no big deal and yet I think as he grows up he will love that we do this together. We started our thing after Khage turned one and got his first piggy bank from Santa. I remember the first time his little fingers squeezed a penny and tried with all his might to place that coin in the little slot on the piggies back. With a few failed attempts he soon learned how to successfully drop the coin in and smiled with delight as he heard the clink of the coin as it fell to the bottom. A few times a month we do this together and it makes me beam when I see that smile plastered on his face as he watches me walk into the room with his bank and those few measly coins. Brad and I have plans to give Khage an assortment of coins, equaling his age in years, for every birthday and when he gets old enough explain to him the importance of saving money.

I love these moments with Khage. Bonding over a construction working pig and imaging that someday I will be doing this same thing but instead with a child old enough to distinguish one coin from the next and then eventually counting as he makes his deposits.

By then, he will be rounding up the coins himself from underneath the couch cushion or from Daddy's pockets. Our thing will no longer be some petty thing I chose to do with my child but instead something I look to when I'm feeling nostalgic. Its not about what thing you choose to do with your child but instead about sharing a moment during all the hustle and bustle.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
-- Charles R. Swindoll 

  

BooBoo Baby

(Warning: this Mom overreacts and has a tendency to over dramatize small situations)

Another milestone was reached yesterday by little Mister Khage. He got his first booboo. He has had others before, but this one you see wasn't like a usual toddler bruise, bump, nor scratch it was a seriously bleeding chunk of skin taken off his hand.
To get the full affect I included a picture.

I told you I overreact.

But in all seriousness it did bleed a lot. Verdict is still out whether it was deep enough of a gash to cause so much bleeding or if instead the Mommy holding the thrashing crying child may have been squeezing the injured hand too tightly releasing more blood then necessary.

I should probably get used to injuries happening around here

He is a boy.

A rambunctious boy.

And Brad's boy to boot.

Ya, were gonna need more SpongeBobs.

They Never saw it Coming.

Last week was such a good week. The three of us drove to Arizona all stealth ops style and popped in on our family. We knocked on doors like we were Publishers Clearing House, but with a little toddler instead of a large check. We got some pretty fun and surprising reactions that made me wish I would have thought to film them. If you ever want to know how missed you are just drop in to see your family and their reactions are proof enough. Everyone couldn't have been more excited to see us... CORRECTION: they were more then happy to see Khage and glad that Brad and I could chauffeur him.

You can come to three conclusions while viewing these pictures

1. Grandpa is Khage's favorite person ever. He would ditch anyone of us, including his Daddy, to hang out with Grandpa. Khage loves to just walk around with him and check out new sights and be fed yummy treats. Brad's Dad is the epitome of what a Grandpa should be; so full of love for his grandchildren and willing to play with them and talk with them whenever one gets the inkling. It really warms the heart to see Khage becoming attached to his family.

2. This trip Khage finally realized that his cousins are playmates; getting into mischief together and entertaining each other. He had a few dance offs with Rex, he and Kanon took turns locking each other in the pantry and he demolished everything that Bostyn built with the blocks. I think its safe to say the next trip is gonna be nothing but trouble. 

3. I never take enough pictures. We were there for a week and I come home with ten pictures... this annoys me to the core.

It really was so fun seeing our families. I love just relaxing and hanging out with our peeps. It seems every time we see our family we have a long itinerary, but this time it was simply hanging out time. And the highlight of the trip was Khage didn't get sick! If you know Khage you know he always gets sick on trips... usually three days in and by then we are all ready to pack it up and roll on home. The ride back home he started showing symptoms of a head cold... but he was healthy and happy, eating well and taking his full naps the whole time in Arizona.

Hallelujah.

  

Zoo Day Number 2.

Last week we went to the zoo! And let me tell you it was completely different from the last time we went when Khage was a baby. Zoo day with a four month old is alot easier then zoo day with a fourteen month old. The first time we went Khage was still nursing so I didn't have to bring any snacks to keep him happy, he didn't walk or run so we just plopped him in his stroller for the duration of the trip and if he ever got fussy someone was willing to carry his cute little fifteen pounds of babyself. But this time this guy was all over the place; he refused to wear his monkey leash backpack that we brought in an attempt to keep him close to us, he was way to heavy to be carried so we pulled his lazy rump around in the wagon for four hours, and he would not stop eating all the snacks I packed the whole time we were there.
I think once we passed the entrance gates into the zoo he smelt a whiff of the wild beasts and became this uncontrollable animal, morphing into the exact very things that we were there to visit...
 I didn't say for sure that's what happened... I merely said I think.

Here is a glimpse of our day at the zoo.

 

 

 

  

 

Daddy wrestling the crocodile.

  

I think Khage has a complex about crocs... he is never scared of anything and he was more then a little freaked out by this mondo crocodile statue.
Something tells me Brad watches too much of Swamp People and Khage has caught a glimpse or two of some slightly scary crocodile footage.
But onto fuzzy cuter critters...

 

 

  

And in less then five minutes into the car ride home our wild little animal finally tuckered himself out

 

And if you tap into your memory bank from ten months ago this is what you will see at the end of our last trip. Only this time he didn't make it to the car, he passed out well before we even hit the parking lot.

Until next Zoo day...

Today

this is what Khage wore

 

 

I'm crossing my fingers that as soon as we get him out of diapers and into big boy under-roos he will wear those under-roos over his pants and finish this ensemble. Oooh and maybe top it off with a cowboy hate, tool belt and lightsaber... I'm diggin it.