Alive and Thriving!

I have been absolutely dieing to get on here and share what we've been up to the last few months since Kaden was born! First of all, I have to just lay out some facts about him...

1. He is such an unbelievably happy baby. He's a total smiler!! He also loves to laugh. He laughed for the first time when he was only 3 weeks old. I didn't even know babies that small had the ability to laugh. I looooooooove him!

2. He startles very easily.

3. He's a major puker. Not so much anymore. But when he was a newborn, oh my gosh, ALL the time.

4. He's in size 4 diapers and 6 month clothes.

5. He's NEVER pee'd on me!! I know that seems like, "So what?" But for a boy, that's pretty amazing. Pooping on me, now that's a different story.

6. He's a total blankie baby. He has to be holding on to something all the time. When he nurses, he likes to hold my hand ♥

7. He's teething! He got his first taste of baby oragel today.

8. His umbilical cord fell off in record time. He was only 3 days old! Check it out in his first bath picture, his belly button was already healed and normal looking! I think it took my other kids 5 or 6 days.

Kaden's first bath...

Kaden now....

And Levi being, well...Levi. Anyone who knows him knows what I mean ;)



Another one of Levi being himself. Here we have two wild animals. Hahaha.

Really though, check out that toad! Davey caught him crossing our driveway late one night last week. He saved him for the kids to see. They loved it! We get a ton of wildlife here at our new house. We live right across the street from some serious hills that go on for miles. So far we've caught this toad (which Dakota and I took a hike and released back into the hills), two ground bound baby birds (that died. I cried) and a stray blind chihuahua we found in the ravine in our neighborhood (that I had to turn into the shelter. And I TOTALLY cried). Oh, and how could I almost forget? We've been raising about 200 tadpoles! Davey has a friend who lives on about 30 acres out in wine country. He has a pond FULL of tadpoles and was happy to let davey take a whole bucket of them home. Now we have froglets and a few actual frogs! I figure we'll eventually go release these guys out into the hills too.

We've also had quite the snail obsession around here lately. There's a hole in our front yard where I guess all the cool snails hang out. Dakota goes snail pickin' on a regular basis. It's kind of her passion.

Speaking of passions, I have a new one...gardening!! I never knew I would love it so much. Guess there was no way to know until we moved into a house that actually has a backyard and frontyard! We've laid about 650 sq. ft. of sod in the back, planted 4 five foot tall bougainvillea vines that will eventually grow to cover the entire length of our back fence and seeded our front yard. And now I have three planters out front I'm ready to put some blossoming plants in.

Also, I've gotten to do some sewing lately too. I don't have any pics, but I made Dakota another petal knot shirt. Then I went on a late night spending spree on etsy and drained my paypal account on fabric. So expect to see some new projects up here next time I post!

Speaking of etsy (Gosh I love that site. I'm obsessed with it. I would definitely say that 70% of the time I spend on the computer is on etsy), I'm starting a new shop! Super excited over here people. I love my old shop for the prints, but honestly, packaging actual, physical prints and sending them out has just gotten burdensome. And I hate to say that. I know it's so lazy and unappreciative. I stopped putting my prints in the showcases a long time ago (which is really the only way you make good sales on etsy. It's like advertising). I still sell some here and there once in a while, but I've pretty much put that shop on vacation mode. I haven't even renewed my listings in months.

Anyway, more about the new shop to come; I haven't got a name for it yet. Still just kind of letting the creative flow take it's course, waiting for some inspiration to come my way. I'm sure knowing myself it will probably be something Paris, or feminine, or earthy. Or who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself. As for what I'll be selling....I'm not telling yet! Hahahaha. I just love doing that :D

So anyway, as if life isn't busy enough already, we've got a lot going on and a lot we want to do in the future. But that's what makes life exciting right? Well, exciting sometimes and exhausting others!

As for life with 3 kids, I always wondered what it would be like. When I got pregnant with Kaden I seriously wondered if I was crazy for challenging the balance of a 4 member family!! Well, the final conclusion is in, 3 kids is awesome. Oh please, don't get me wrong, I absolutely have my days. Days when I think, "So this is what the day looks like that I actually have the mental breakdown." Days when the kids are bugging the crap out of me (not Kaden of course because he's perfect. Still on our babymoon as you can tell ;), when all I want is to be alone, when Davey walks in the door and I hand the older ones off and say, "Here" as I sprint to the car with Kaden. Days when the afternoon is punctuated with bouts of me quietly crying in the kitchen while the kids fight in the next room over who gets the toy. BUT, and that's a huge BUT (ahem "That's what she said" Ahahahaha...had to put that in there for all you "Office" fans!) But, I would not give up having 3 kids for anything. It's really true, that with each kid, your love multiplies by about 100. I have no idea how it works, but it does. It has been the single most growing experience of my life. Way easier than I thought it would or could possibly be. Because, really, all those things I mentioned on the negative side, I experienced all that with just 1 kid! So 3 has really been no more stress than just 1 or 2. The saying, "Once you have a couple, you might as well have more" is so true! The first question people always ask us when they see we have a new baby is, "Do you want more?" The answer...YES! Davey and I would love to have more kids. Well, I should say, one more. Four has always been our number. But of course, we're open to just about anything. The thought of another baby makes me happy and excited. Not right away of course, but in the future. I have a very strict "No getting pregnant until I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight" rule anyway. And so far, I've stuck to it like glue! It took 9 months to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight with Dakota and 18 months after Levi. So this one I'm sure will take at least that. But it will happen. And when it does, it is so on!