First Night Ryan Was Gone

I have been really lucky as an air force wife. Ryan has not really left me for a long period of time since we were dating. He had the back surgery and couldn't deploy or TDY so he has been around. When I heard he was going to be leaving me for five weeks I was really sad. Now I am seeing how the other half lives and I don't like it! I have ALWAYS been a scaredy cat for as long as I can remember. I really don't know if I want to share this bit of information but what the heck....I slept with my parents until I was in the seventh grade because I had chronic nightmares or would just scare myself....After that when my sister and I shared a room and I had a nightmare we would share a twin bed...hers or mine! haha! Because I am such a scaredy cat that is how I talked Ryan into us getting our first dog, Lou. He is an American Bulldog and he looks pretty scary (he scared the cable guy the other day and the cable guy asked me to put him up....he does his job). I told Ryan I needed a big dog to protect me while he was away. So he got me Lou. Ryan left on Sunday and it was weird. I decided at about nine I was going to lay in bed and watch a movie to get me tired. The movie ended at about eleven and I just could not fall asleep. At this point I had turned on the bathroom door and cracked it so I had a kind of night light. I then decided to allow both dogs to get on the bed. Winston snuggled close to me and lou laid at the bottom of the bed...so I just pretended Ryan was in bed with me and it made me fall asleep a lot quicker. However, getting used to new house noises takes some time. I heard this noise and both dogs raised their heads. I immediately thought someone was in the house and grabbed my cellphone and typed in 911 and was ready to hit dial if I heard anything else...haha but I didn't...After that it took me about thirty minutes to reassure myself that no one was in the house and to just go to sleep... my body finally listened to me...I have now took a step down I don't keep the bathroom light on all night and don't freak out if I hear the house settling BUT the dogs do sleep with me and the t.v. stays on all night...I think I am doing a little bit better...by the time Ryan gets back I will be a pro! :) I am trying to talk him into us getting a security system :) We shall see!

Getting Settled!!!!

Well Ryan left after we had been here only a week to go to Bic...Bic is a school that he has to attend for five weeks out in Texas to pretty much get familar with the air craft he will be teaching airmen to work on. I was a little upset that he was leaving when we had only been here for a week. First off I am a scaredy cat and HATE being by myself...ESPECIALLY in a new house and new state...It just makes it that much worse!!!! Secondly, that meant I was left with a 18 month old who is at that into everything stage and a whole house to unpack...Not really my cup of tea! But one thing you learn when you are a military wife is the military just doesn't care..You deal with it and you move on!

The week Ryan was here had to go back and forth to work which kind of stunk because I wanted him here to watch Kale so that I could be super woman and get this house unpacked. Well that didn't turn out in my favor. However, I was super woman and minus a few boxes I had this whole house unpacked in three days. I was SUPER proud of myself. I managed to play with my son and keep him occupied while unpacking the whole house by myself in three days! Just call me amazing! hahah jk! It is amazing how much you can get accomplished in one day with no cable and no internet!

Getting back to the house though...I had never seen it in person until we got here. I couldn't come when Ryan came and looked at it because our dog was really sick. So as soon as we pulled up I jumped out of the truck and high tailed it to the door. OH MY I am IN LOVE with it! The colors look so great together. I love the darker carpet color...it is a tan which is perfect for having a kid! Ryan couldn't have done a better job picking everything out! It was pretty much love at first sight. I am actually sad that I will have to leave this house in four years and move on to another one! The neighborhood is WONDERFUL! It is very kid friendly. I swear every evening I don't think there is less than 30 kids riding their bikes all around the neighborhood. However, what is even better are there are boys that are kale's age all around us. There is a girl with a son that is a little older than Kale diagonal from our house and then right next door the couple has a 20 month old little boy...Not to mention they are both mine and ryan's age. We really lucked out with the neighborhood and the house. I could not be more pleased. I promise I will take pictures soon!

Now as for the town....I love it so far...I just need to figure out directions...It did take me like 5 years to find my way around Valdosta so I figure I never will find my way around here...Thank heavens for GPS!!! It is a life saver for me.....the mall is no better than Valdosta...which I was really disappointed about. However, the town does have a Kirklands and a Bed Bath and Beyond and quite a few more stores that Valdosta didn't have and when it comes to going out to eat for dinner.....this town has WAY MORE options which I am stoked about! All I have to say is HELLO OLIVE GARDEN!!!

Everyone seems really friendly here and I have already made a couple friends. I am super stoked and can't wait to see what kind of memories this house and town have in store for us to make!

A taste of the family humor

This is why there is never a dull moment in our family!!!


Saturday morning after cracker barrel nick asked me to get on facebook and delete a picture. He is new to facebook and doesn't know how to do all that. At first I was freaked out because he said you will know which one it is. I kept thinking to myself what can he be doing that is so bad in a picture....well this was it. I would want it off my facebook too if I was him. I took it off his facebook....but not before saving it to my computer so I could show my parents who thought it was hilarious! This was 2 years back when Nick went to a church retreat. HILARIOUS! What is also hilarious is how burnt he is~ His stomach is almost as red as the shirt...that had to hurt!!! BAD!!!

A Weekend With Family

Kale giving nana some sloppy kisses!!!!! my kitchen looks so plain since everything has been taken off the walls and packed!
Kale sitting with papa watching his shows!!!
Nana and Kale!


This whole weekend Kale was just not into the picture taking!!! Boo :(

Saturday morning my parents drove up from Atlanta. My brothers car has been acting up and my dad came to pick it up and take it back to get checked out. It also meant I got to spend a little more time with my parents before the BIG move. Saturday morning when they got here we went to eat at cracker barrel (yummy). I adore breakfast it is my most favorite meal of the day. I love taking Kale out to restaurants because he is so good. I never have had a huge problem with him or had to take him outside. I think he has so much stimulation around him he stays occupied! My mom loved getting to see him and he showered her with kisses as soon as he saw her. After breakfast Ryan and I came home because Kale needed his nap and my parents went to my brothers house to get some stuff done there. That evening they came back over and we grilled out. I love being around my family they are so loving and funny. We always get in some great laughs when we are together. It was so cute because we were all laughing about something my dad probably said and I guess Kale felt left out so he started laughing too! It was too cute. He was all about getting nana and papas attention this weekend. He would "show out". Not in a bad way...you could just tell he was trying to impress them. It was too funny! That night we all just hung out and Sunday we went to lunch at the Smokin pig (yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I love love love love love that place. My mom bought me, her, and my two brothers a shirt. Now I will always remember one of my favorite restaurants in Valdosta. My shirt says gettin piggy with it. Which is pretty much what I do when I am there. I swear I love their food so much. Yesterday I ate so much while I was there that was my only meal of the day. I was not hungry anymore. They give each person enough food to feed a small army! After that we went to Taylor's house for a while since it was my last time hanging out with my brothers and parents for a while. Kale was not so good there. It was way past his nap and you could tell he was just pooped but I wanted my mom to get to hang out with him and I wanted to hang out with her. It was sad when we were leaving Taylor's house. My mom started tearing up. I mean I will be eight hours away from her now, which is not horrible but its double how far we are away now. Also, my parents have no more vacation time so who knows the next time we will get to see them. Not to mention we definitely wont get to see them as much as we do now. I just know that I need to get used to it though because in four years I probably will be even further away from mom. She keeps hoping that we will get orders back to Valdosta but I mean who really knows. Ryan and I kind of would like to get our over seas tour out of the way and go to Europe for four years. I think living in Europe would be so amazing BUT I really don't think I could be that far away from my family for four years. That is the thing I love about my family...how close we are. Everyone I have dated has always freaked out about how many times a day I talk to my mom. I mean its ALOT!!! But she is my best friend and I love her! I love how close my family is and how much my parents love each other. There love and our closeness truly is an inspiration to people around us. I know my friends have always made comments about how close my family is. I just hope that mine and Ryan's love is as much of an inspiration to Kale as my parents have been to me. I also want Kale to call me like 13 times a day when he leaves home....wishful thinking eh?

Shopping Extravaganza!

Yesterday I woke up with pains in my neck and upper back for the second week in a row...not only did have pains but I felt like I had slept a total of five minutes the entire night. I groaned and made my way out of be d and told Ryan this afternoon I HAD to go get a new pillow because I could not take sleeping like that another night! He told me it was fine and he didn't know why I hadn't went and gotten one yet. I tried this weekend but I think everyone in Valdosta and surrounding little areas were at the Valdosta mall and it just was not worth it to me. I asked Ryan if he wanted us all to go as a family and he said that sounded good. Especially since Kale was feeling a lot better yesterday, I thought it would be good to get him out of the house. So we all got ready and went around two. We started off at Harbor Freight :/. Ryan wanted to see if we could get a furniture moving cart..(I don't know the actual word for it) for cheaper than renting it from the moving truck company. They were having a sale on their moving pads and blankets as well. We decided to get some for ourselves since we will be doing a lot of moving in our lives being in the military. The moving blankets were $7.99 a piece and we got twelve. The guy I guess must have read the skew number wrong and rang us up for a 24$ flash light! We spent $100.00 in all when we should have spent $100.00 on the blankets alone. Ryan was tickled needless to say. That was a great start to our shopping. We then ventured off to the mall. I found a pillow and I have to say I slept like a baby last night.....FINALLY! After we left the mall we went to the sprint store because Ryan's phone has been acting up. We ended up getting a new one! Yay for Ryan! We then went to dinner...Kale ate pretty good. We got him some black olives from the salad bar and it was so cute because he was blowing on them because he thought they were hot. It was too funny! While we were at the restaurant I had put bread in the bowl with his black olives. He started taking the bread out of the bowl like he thought it didn't belong in there. I told Ryan that we needed to go get him some puzzles because I thought now was the time. So we ventured off to Toys R Us! We needed to get Jayden a birthday present too since we were going to be missing her birthday party ::::Sigh:::::: ::::Tear:::::: I am so sad about that.! We got her this really cute doll that plays peek a boo....However last night it was really scary every time Ryan and I walked into our kitchen last night it would say I see you. Where's the baby? Here I am. It really creeped us out! We got Kale some wooden sorting puzzles. We then went to Target because my mom said they had some puzzles for a dollar. We racked up on those.

When Kale was going to the baby sitter a while back she had this fridge ABC game that he absolutely loved. Ryan wanted to get it for him so that he would have it at our house. Its the picture above and it is a great game for Kale. It says the alphabet letter and then the sounds it makes and then gives Kale an example of the word. I am glad that we got it so early so hopefully it will help him learn his letters and their sounds!!!!!! I think it was well worth the $19.99.

As we were leaving Target Ryan told me he was never coming shopping with me again because I con him into buying things. I laughed because everything we got besides the pillow and Jayden's present was Ryan's idea. I told him if I was going to con him into buying anything we would have had a lot more stuff for me :) He is such a under-cover shopper :)

Eye and Stomach Teeth

Really? does a little boy get much cuter? He is obsessed with daddy's hats! Especially daddys work hat!!!!
Kale decided he wanted to ride Lou! Poor Lou looks so thrilled!!!
He looks just like the Bucknors in this picture.. He actually looks like a little Taylor in this picture...so much it kind of freaked me out!!!
Doesn't he look just pitiful right here? He snuggled with me all day! I have to say I felt bad for him because his teeth were hurting so bad BUT I LOVED how cuddly he was!
Can you tell his teeth hurt? His hand has permanently in his mouth for 2 days now~! Two days ago Kale woke up at 7 which is SO NOT like him! I mean 8:30 is the earliest this little boy wakes up. When we got him out of his bed he was burning hot! We gave him some tylenol. I knew it was his eye and stomach teeth...not to sound too grosse but I knew these bad boys were coming due to his diapers...These have definitely been the worse coming through! Which I mean is kind of understandable they are like daggers! Sure they don't feel too good when trying to poke through the gums!!! Kale has always been a great teether. I mean he whines more but he still sleeps through the night and really isn't horrible AT ALL! I never really have to give him medicine for teething he just copes with it himself. Well these teeth are totally different. I have a pretty wild child...I mean I guess wild is the wrong word but the kid is always moving always going...I mean he is definitely a job! Well these past two days all the kid has wanted to do is lay in our bed or on the couch and cuddle. He has barely played or anything. I swear someone has switched children with me! He has definitely been whiney and has not been eating at all. I can't even get him to eat his bananas good :( I feel so bad for him and wish I could take his pain away but unfortunately I can't. I can just love on him and try and make him feel as comfortable as I possibly can!!! I have loved the cuddly guy that I have had for the past two days but I am ready to have my wild child my independent guy back! After these teeth that's it! Kale now has a mouth full of teeth! At least I know we won't have to do this teething thing anymore after this. The worst were saved for last and then it is over!!!!

Where's your belly?

I had asked Kale where his belly was in his picture and this is what he did...haha :) I swear I have one smart cookie! He knows a lot of his body parts now...even his belly button which I don't like asking him where that is because after you ask him he plays with it for about 15 minutes!! He can say a lot of the body parts too! My favorites to hear him say are nose and knee! The thing that baffles me is the first body part he learned to point to was his nose and that was a long time ago!!! Now when I ask him where his nose is he points to the side of his head haha and I tell him that's not where your nose is silly and he smiles really big at me..I just don't get how that is the first one he learned and now he is pointing at the side of his head. And when we work on body parts with him we can only do it for so long because he gets bored with it and will start ignoring Ryan and I. I guess that would be his stubbornness coming out!

The Calm Before the Storm

Doesn't the sky look so beautiful? Ryan took this picture from our balcony. Ryan can take some really awesome pictures! Even though we have had our fancy cannon camera since before Kale was born,I still do not know how to work it or take great pictures on it. I still use my Cannon digital camera, where I don't have to worry about shutter speed and all of that high tech stuff! I let Ryan get the awesome pictures and I just snap away with my good old digital camera :)

Veggie Strike!!!!

I know my blogging has been way BEHIND and out of order but I am just getting back into it. I have decided that I for sure want to have something to remember Kale growing up! And something for him to look back on as well!

June was a CRAZY month for the Metty family! We went to the beach for a week with my parents and then the day we got back from the beach Ryan's family came into town to spend a week with us! While we were at the beach Kale had started to eat his veggies better! Him and Jayden would tear up a can of green beans! I was so proud of him! Then towards the end of the trip we went out to eat and he would not touch the green beans!!! My mom had told me that we just needed to lay back on the snacks and when he got hungry enough he would eat the vegetables. So we decided to try this. Ryan is very stubborn and I am very stubborn sometimes it can make our marriage pretty interesting. When we get in tifts it takes a while for us to apologize because each one of us is too stubborn to cave in and admit we were wrong. Well Kale I think got stubborness from me and stubborness from Kale. He is one of the MOST stubborn babies I have ever met! For three days the kid only ate breakfast! I started to freak out. I decided that my kid could not just not eat. I just couldn't take that. Ryan wanted him to start eating his vegetables though. At this point I would have let him eat a chocolate pie (I know I am a horrible mother ;) I just wanted him to eat! I read Emily Parker's blog and had seen her mommy trade tricks. I had seen that she had pureed vegetables and hid them in things so that Kye was getting all his vegetables. I decided to puree the vegetables and put them in something I knew Kale would eat yogurt and see if it worked! It worked like a charm the kid was downing his vegetables in yogurt...which sounds disgusting!!! One day I decided to try him again on the big boy vegetables. I mean I didn't want my kid to be two eating pureed vegetables! I cooked some green beans and put them on his plate...I made a big tadoo about blowing on the vegetables because they were hot. I kept telling Kale that they were yum yum and I guess I was pretty believable because he ate them like a champ! He almost ate an entire can of green beans all by himself!!!!!! I was a proud mama! I took tons of pictures to make sure I documented this day in case it was the last haha~! I decided that I was going to keep feeding him green beans for a couple of days so that he would know what they looked like and know that he liked them! After green beans came mixed vegetables which he likes but not as much as green beans. After mixed vegetables I tried butter beans...yep that is so NOT happening! However the kid is a nut for peas...It is so hilarious to watch him eat them because he shoves handfuls in his mouth!!! Another thing he loves which is so weird humus! The kid is a freak over it! He will eat vegetables dipped in it and will eat it on tortilla chips! As soon as it is in his mouth he is saying "dat, dat" and pointing to the humus container wanting more!!! It is so cute! So as for the vegetable front we are doing a lot better....well that was until his eye and stomach teeth started breaking through the gums...he is not wanting to eat too much because he has been in so much pain...My son is pretty much living off of bananas! I mean again I want him to eat something!!!!! I am such a push over!!! I need to work on this!

Packing Up!

For the past three weeks packing boxes has taken over my life! You really don't realize how much stuff you have accumulated until you have to pack it up to move! I love my husband to death but I like to call him a hoarder..the man can't throw anything away...clothes that don't fit...he will wear them again some day...junk he will use at some point or we don't need to just throw it away...me I love to throw stuff away I HATE clutter! If I don't have a use for it or it doesn't fit I don't think that I might have a use for it in a month or I might lose weight, I think that I will buy another outfit or another thing. I guess both sides have their negative points. We gave my sister our dining room table because the new house like most newer houses has a smaller kitchen so we won't need a dining room table and a kitchen table. Once we get there and get settled in we plan on buying a lot of new furniture which I am super stoked about (I wonder if Ryan will want to keep the old furniture haha jk!) Anyways I think we might need to rent a semi to move. We just have so much stuff! Over half of our dining room is covered in boxes and we still aren't completely finished packing! I am so sick of packing. I have told Ryan the next move we definitely aren't doing a diddy move. The good thing about the military is that when we move we can choose to move ourselves and make a good chunk of money doing it (which is what we chose to do this time) or sit in our garage drink coffee have a company come in and pack all of our house in boxes, load it in a truck, and move it for us (which i think is what we should do next time!!!!!) I have packed the entire house all by myself which I am super proud about! I just hope that nothing breaks...I am not the best packer in the world!!! I guess we will see what happens when we get there!!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed and I ask you do too...As I have been packing Kale has been a "huge help" he likes to pack trash and random toys of his and the spare news paper and magazines I have lying around. He thinks he is helping so I can't be mad at him but it definitely can get super frustrating! I am even more proud of myself for packing our whole house and taking care of him! It has definitely been a job in itself!

Our first military move!

This is our new home...isn't it just so cute? I think so! I LOVE IT! Ryan has been stationed at moody for the whole time he has been in the military (9 years). We knew we would be getting orders soon but we didn't realize how soon! When I was pregnant with Kale we got orders to Davis Mothan (sp?) out in Arizona. I was so not wanting to go there and we had to leave Valdosta when Kale was going to be three weeks old....moving with a three week old...ummm no thanks!!! Well then Ryan had all of those problems with his back and we got out of the orders. Well this spring we got a new set of orders out to Jacksonville, NC. When Ryan called me and told me at first I freaked out...I am not done with school yet having to transfer and everything...NOT FUN!!! But as I thought about it North Carolina sounded nice and I was so ready to get out of Valdosta. North Carolina was still close to my family and not the desert! I was so in...I called Ryan and told him I kind of wanted to take these orders and I didn't want him to try and get out of them. I gave him my reasons and he agreed with me. Well we still were not sure if we were going to be able to take the orders because of Ryan's back. Well long story short he went to the medical board in Texas and they decided he could stay in the military..that sounds horrible but they decided he could still do his job with his back problems. So he came back and we immediately started to do some work to the house. At first we were not sure if we wanted to buy in NC because it is a four year PCS. In four years we will be moving again! I guess this area of NC has a lot of upper class from what I have heard. Well I definitely know that the housing market is super expensive!! When we were looking to rent..rent was RIDICULOUS! I mean it was way over a mortgage payment so we decided to buy. I was super excited because this will be Ryan and my first home together...the first home that we both picked out together. He already had the house we leave in now when we met. So we started looking. We saw some stuff we liked and some stuff we didn't. I was surprised but Ryan and I agreed on pretty much EVERYTHING! I had told Ryan that I wanted to have a house ready by the time we got down there...because Ryan will be leaving two weeks after we get there for six weeks to go to instructor school. I didn't want to be staying in a crappy apartment or anything with him being gone. I am a chicken and don't like being by myself...so I at least wanted to be in our home all situated. Well we found a floor plan that we absolutely ADORED and called our real estate agent. The sucky thing was that this floor plan they did not start building until you go under contract. So that meant I was going to have to stay in a yucky apartment for two months but I was willing to do it. Ryan and I really wanted a bonus room and this floor plan was in our price range. Well the real estate agent called us and told us that they had listed it wrong and what the floor plan was priced at was WAY over our price range. So we decided not to go with that floor plan and to keep looking. We really were not seeing anything we were interested in and we were starting to get REALLY STRESSED and worried!!! Well our real estate agent sent us this house and we fell in love once again...It had everything I wanted...which is not very much and probably kind of stupid but I wanted a garden tub and separate shower in our bathroom, his and her sinks, a huge walk in closet, a bonus room, and the tray ceilings in the master. Ryan told the real estate agent we were really interested in it and he wanted to come down and see it that weekend. I could not go because Winston was sick! :( but I saw pictures on-line. Of course there are things I don't like about the house but I think that goes with any house you buy until you build your own which we plan on doing when Ryan retires from the military and we settle down in our spot! I am really excited though and I think it is our perfect home! I am just ready to be there and all moved in! Which if the appraisal would hurry up and get done I could be there!!!! One of the things I love about the military is I am so excited to get to see a bunch of different places with my little family...I hope we get stationed over seas before Ryan gets out...preferably Europe!!! Pretty sure I would LOVE that!

Outside is more fun!

So not into wearing sunglasses!
Beating the heat and he decided the box needed to cool off too!
He ADORES paint sticks!
Kale does not care how hot it is outside the kid just loves to be outside....He has gotten to the point where he has figured out that he should butter me up before asking to go outside. The other day I was sitting on the couch for a few minutes and he kept coming up to me and giving me his sweet little kisses. I was just eating it up ABSOLUTELY loving it because he is cuddly but not usually that cuddly where he will just give me random kisses. I normally have to ask for them. Well after he had done this about 10 times. He came up and instead of giving me a kiss he grabbed my hand and took me to the door where he pointed outside and said "dat." This is how he tells me he wants something now, which is so AWESOME because I don't have to try and figure it out. He knows and he communicates to me his wants. He also can tell me what hurts now. If he falls he points to what hurts! It is so awesome!

Back on subject since he had buttered me up with all those kisses which I thought was very intelligent and adorable I couldn't not take him outside. So we went. He played around with his harley and sticks and random things. Well I worried about him getting too hot so I got out the hose! The kid goes nuts for the hose! He LOVES it! He also loves soaking me with it! We were all out in the back yard squirting each other having a blast! I so got Ryan so good!!! FIRST!! haha but he definitely got me back! We had a blast...Kale played in a mud pile he made :) Have I mentioned he is all boy? haha We played outside for probably a good hour and a half and came in! It was a great day!

I really reccommend this water mat though. It is awesome and Kale LOVES it! Ryan's grandma got it for Kale at walmart. Kale loves to put things in it...as you can see in the pictures above and he likes to sit on it and run through it! It is a perfect hot day outside toy!

Future

I guess he thought he was dirty!




I hope that as he gets older he likes to help out around the house as much as he does now! He does dishes, "sweeps" the floor, and dusts my tables! I am counting on him to continue to love it and get better and better at it! Wishful thinking huh?

BAD TO THE BONE!

Every night after Kale's bath I put lotion on him. I want him to ALWAYS have soft skin! I put it in his hair too! I love how he smells with the lotion on. Well the other night this is how i fixed his hair when I put the lotion in. I was laughing my butt off and Kale was laughing because I was laughing and Ryan got a pretty good laugh about it too! I think Kale might hate me one day for this picture but I just LOVE it! I think it is so obvious that I eventually need a girl because I love to play with my sons hair. Mohawks, comb overs, spike ups...I just love brushing his hair! Hopefully my next baby will be a girl because I think two is all I want~ However, if a girl does not happen I will not be upset...I like being the queen of the castle!!! It is neat being the only girl!

SMILE!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE KALE'S SMILE! I THINK IT IS GORGEOUS...WHICH OF COURSE I WOULD I AM HIS MOTHER....BUT I THINK EVEN IF I WASN'T I WOULD THINK IT WAS GORGEOUS! SEEING HIM SMILE BRIGHTENS MY DAY!!!!

Hide And Go Seek!

So we just recently got new carpet in the house. For all of you that have seen the carpet we used to have it had been through the ringer a couple of times! It was bad! It was definitely Ryan's bachelor pad carpet and had been through spills and parties and LOTS of stains...IT had been through ALOT! If you get the picture. When Ryan bought this house it was the first house he had ever bought and he didn't know that there was such a thing as a carpet allowance. He didn't know that he could ask the owner of the house to replace the carpet...He said it was bad when he moved in and he just made it worse! Well when we finally got new carpet I am obsessed with it! The house looks BEAUTIFUL and clean...I would scrub and dust and vacuum for hours but my house never looked as clean as I wanted it to be. It frustrated me SO BAD! I could never put my hands on what it was that made our house not feel clean enough...well now that we have new carpet that is what it was. Now we are not allowed to wear shoes in the house, eat on the carpet, or drink on the carpet...I have always been a vacuum freak but now I vacuum if I see a speck of dirt on the carpet..haha a little OCD, I know. Well I was fixing myself a salad to eat and Kale ran off. I could hear him laughing so I went to check up on him. I went through the dining room and didn't see him in there so I walked to the living room and didn't see him. I was thinking to myself where did he go? He is not THAT quick and I could hear him giggling....this is where I found my little man! Smile and all! He thought he was just so funny! I am telling you I have one smart boy...he had even brought his sippy cup up there. I guess he thought I wouldn't be able to find him for a while ;)

Jaxon's Birthday

A couple weekends ago Ryan went to North Carolina to get the ball rolling with our new home. I stayed behind because we had a sick dog that needed to go to the vet. Our friends son was having a birthday party and so I took Kale and went. At first he acted super shy because there were a lot of people and he just wanted me to hold him. Well when he finally warmed up he had an absolute blast. They had a baby pool, slip and slide and a huge water slide. He played in them ALL!!!! The picture above is him in the slip and slide. He was running around having an absolute blast. He was having so much fun I decided to let him stay a little past his bed time. I am not one of those crazy schedule moms. Yes, I like him to go to bed every night by eight but if he doesn't I am not going to lose sleep over it!!! All and all the party was fun and he had a blast! He slept really good that night too~

One good looking family

Not to brag but I have one good looking family!

Happy 25th Anniversary!

I have two good looking parents don't I? For my parents anniversary they decided that they wanted everyone to go out to eat together and celebrate. I thought that they should have went out alone but I am so glad that I was able to be there to celebrate with them! We went out to eat at Olive Garden and I ate way too much! I am in LOVE with pasta! Ryan and I bought a bottle of wine for us to celebrate their anniversary and we just had a great dinner! The kids were great. It is so cute because Jayden always comes over to where Kale sits and plays peek-a-boo with him :) They love each other so much! I am so proud of my parents and am very lucky to have been blessed with such amazing parents who have shown me what true love is!

The Crazy ones!

This picture cracks me up! These three were definitely the life of the trip..a.k.a. the drinkers of the trip! It was funny and they had fun! Especially my mom! She asked me to take this picture of her and her two favorite guys when I showed it to her she looked at me so serious and said "Kecia, where is my head? It looks like I have no head. Ryan come here do you see my head?" She was a trip and she had fun which she so should have. She has put up with the same man for 25 years ;)

The boat

I love this picture...especially my sweet little boys face. My parents bought Jayden this boat to play with in the ocean. Jayden is terrified of the ocean! However, if you get in the boat with her she will float in the ocean. Kale found it the morning after they got it and loved it! He hopped right in and told me "bye." Jayden was trying to pull him around but she wasn't strong enough...She then wanted him to get out so that she could pull the boat around the condo...but he was just not having it!!!!

Beach Vacation

Cooling off in the water with daddy! Isn't the water just beautiful?
Playing in the sand with daddy!
I am a BIG Boy...see!!!
The week of June 25th we went to the beach with my parents for their 25th anniversary! This was Kale's third time at the beach. This time was a lot different than in the past. One thing I can say about my son is he is quick and he is a BUSY BODY!!! He wants to meet everyone and see everything. He loved playing in the sand with his sand toys this time and he LOVED running to the ocean. He didn't like it when WE put him in there. He thought he was Mr. big boy and could get in the ocean all by himself. If we held him in the ocean he would cry; however if we let him do his own thing he had a blast. This was the kind of stuff he did. My mom explained Kale best she said it is like he is a big boy trapped in a little boys body. He acts so old and thinks he can do so much but doesn't realize that his little body just can't do it yet!!!

Fathers Day 2010

Ryan is a wonderful father. One thing I know for sure is that Kale loves Ryan so so so much. Kale is not just a mommy's boy or just a daddy's boy he is both. Depending on what he wants to do. It is so amazing to watch Ryan's relationship with Kale mature and develop. I know that Ryan enjoys Kale so much more now that he can play and interact with him. Today Ryan let Kale color on his back with a marker....such a sweet daddy! Kale LOVED IT~!!!! He went back and fourth from his paper to his dad's back...he could not decide which one to color on! It was really precious! Kale loves for his dad to chase him and it is so cute because anytime Kale and me are playing and Ryan hears Kale laughing he always wants to know what I am doing. haha it is so funny! He will immediately come play with us and want to get Kale to laugh to. I love watching their relationship develop!

For fathers day Kale and I are going to send in Ryan's Maui Jims and get the lens replaced. Kale got his daddy a cookie cake and a card today. The poor little boy did not want to stop coloring on the card. When I put it in the envelope and took him off my lap to go give it to his daddy he got so upset...It was so cute!

I can do it all by myself!!!!

Yesterday Ryan and I went to Ivy's pool with Kale. We figured Kale would enjoy a big pool to play around in. We still have yet to get him a float. We are going to get him one in PCB. Floats in Valdosta are ridiculously priced. When we went to PCB for my brothers spring break I looked everywhere for one. The cheapest one I could find was 20$ umm... NO! I know I can get them much cheaper at the beach. I mean they sell those things at gas stations! When we took Kale to the pool though. He was not that interested. I don't know if it was a mixture of him being in a bad mood or if it was just he wants to do his own thing. Kale is now at the age where he knows he does not need us for everything. I think if he had, had a float at the pool and could have maybe done his own thing he would have been better. He did not like his daddy carrying him around the pool though that was FOR SURE. Luckily the condo we are staying in has a baby pool and we will definitely have a float. My boy is such a water baby I mean the kid sticks his whole face in the bath every night to blow bubbles....I want him to enjoy the beach!!!!

Sleeping

We have pretty much dropped Kale's second nap unless there is a day where he absolutely needs it. There have been some in the last month because of teething. However, this kid has been taking one awesome nap. It normally lasts about 2-21/2 hours!! It is a good time for me to get some things done! Like cleaning my house!! However, for the past week Kale has NOT wanted to go to bed. We got off schedule a little bit at the end of last week and put him to bed a little late. I am not a crazy freak on schedules. I believe that if your child is hungry they should be able to eat. If your child is sleepy they should be able to take a nap when they want to. I am not very into babywise but it works for some moms so that's cool! However, I do have a strict bed time that Kale follows. Every night he is down at eight! I like this because when Kale starts school I wont have to worry about getting him used to a bed time! He will have always had one! My brother-n-law always freaks out because he thinks its so early...but I don't. Jayden just kind of chooses her own bed time and that is great and it works for them but that is not how it works in the Metty household! Kale will have a bed time until he turns a certain age! I think it is very important to put your kids down at a decent time especially once they start school. I am going to school to be a teacher and in practicum I would see kids falling asleep while doing their work because they were so tired! Don't want that to be Kale and at that age they tell on their parents. You ask did you go to bed early? NO mom does not make me go to bed! Then you have kids who act out because they are tired. I just am a firm believer in bed times! Well last week after Kale's dr. appt. he took a forever long nap. I should have woke him up but I just let him sleep. He didn't wake up till 5 ish and I was not going to put him back to bed at eight. So I let him stay up until nine. Well the next night Ryan let him stay up and then my mom came into town and he stayed up...so the past few days he has screamed when we try to lay him down at eight. I HATE hearing my child scream/cry. It is the most horrible thing for a mother...or at least this mother...It rips my heart out! Ryan will always tell me just let him for a little longer...and I will but I have to go somewhere where I can't hear him crying :( I hope we can fix this bed time thing...but I don't see it getting much better especially when we go to the beach in 8 days and then ryan's parents come into town :( Hopefully I can get him back into the swing of things really soon!

15 month check up

I had not been able to take Kale to the doctor in awhile because I had been in school. Ryan had been the one taking him. I was excited that I was going to get to go to his 15 month check up. I had, had to cancel his initial appointment because my youngest brother was graduating high school and I would not miss that for the world! So he was a little late on the appointment. I was a little nervous about this appointment because of the shots that he was going to be getting. I was glad that Emily Parker had gotten some advice on it and was reading the comments people were leaving her every time I got on facebook. I was nervous taking him to the doctor because Kale is sooo active now. The little boy does not like to sit still sometimes. He is definitely bull headed like Ryan and I and if he does not get his way sometimes he has started to pitch fits (we are working on this). He actually did really great. There was an older man who was talking to him and I brought books. One thing I am super proud of that we have instilled in Kale is his love for books. The kid loves you to read to him. He has his favorite books and he knows what they are. He will go to his bookshelf in his room and pull all the books off the shelf (which is not so much fun to clean up he has TONS of books) until he finds Llama Llama Mad at Mama, The Pout Pout Fish, The Very Cranky Bear, or A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe. He knows the covers! He will then bring the book to you, sit in your lap and want you to read him that book over and over and over until he is tired of it haha! Well I made sure that I took ALL his favorite books to the doctor and read them to him in the waiting room and while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. The good thing is Kale NEVER gets sick of you reading his favorite books over and over. Normally we have to wait a long time in the waiting room to get called back or a long time in the actual room for the doctor to come in. This time things went pretty smoothly. We waited in the waiting room for about 10 minutes. Kale only tried to get down twice! I was pretty impressed. I just don't believe in letting your kid run around a doctors office. OR even get down from my lap in the room. I mean sick people come in to see the doctor and they don't exactly clean the rooms before they see the next patient. They put some more paper on the table and that's about it. Do you really want your kid collecting all those germs by playing in the floor? UM NO! I know I don't! Once we got in the room the nurse checked his temperature and all that. After she left, I started reading to Kale again and once he got a bored with me reading which took me reading all the books I had brought twice I then got out a toy for him to play with. We actually got to see Dr. Griner this time which was nice. I love Dr. Griner! I think he is an awesome pediatrician. He asked me how Kale was doing developmentally and I told him he was running around the house into everything. He laughed. He then told me to expect him to get more active in the next few months. More active? I can barely keep up with him now! I hope Kale is just ahead of the game and I am supposed to expect what I already have! If not then this woman is going to have to hit up the gym to get in more shape because I already get tired chasing after my little man. He is a BUNDLE of energy! He then asked me about words Kale was saying and when I said he was saying like 13. He was really impressed! He said that was awesome and that he only wanted him to be saying 3-5! He told me to talk to him like him and I were talking and not use baby talk. The good thing is I have never done that! Of course I use a certain tone with Kale but never baby talk! He told me obviously I was doing a good job of that if Kale was already saying that many words! He then talked to me about Kale's eating. I told him we were trying to transfer to table food but that we were having some trouble. Kale is now eating pasta pick ups. They are made by Gerber and he really likes them but when I try to feed him veggies or something he won't take them. I told Dr. Griner he would eat a banana, toast, dry cereal, yogurt, apples..that sort of thing for breakfast and then the pasta pick ups for lunch and dinner. He kept telling me how great I was doing and said that it would just take time for him to get adjusted to table food. To keep offering it to him and he would eventually take to it. That is my plan! I felt so proud though because he kept telling me how great Kale looked and how awesome I was doing with him...Go me! I mean as a mom I always feel like I could be doing something better. That I am not doing things right so when your child's ped. tells you, you are doing a great job it makes you feel good!!!
The shot part? Yeah, I hate that. Kale is older and our son is anything BUT dumb! He is so smart for his age! As soon as the nurse came in with the shots and we had to lay him down on the table he started whining. I can't watch! I hold his hand and turn the other way and when the nurse was done immediately picked him up! Kale is always so great with his shots though. He really does not get moody. He just takes really long naps!!! On the way out the nurses were saying bye to him and he did not say bye just laid his head on my shoulder. He was flirting with them all on the way in but I think he was mad at the whole office on the way out! Poor guy!!!
All and all the appointment went great. I sure am going to miss Dr. Griner's office!!!

STATS:
Weight: 24.5 lbs 50th percentile
Length 32 1/4 he is tall for his age I can't remember the percentile though :(
HC: 18 3/4!

Words Kale is saying!

Daddy
Dada
Mama
nana
nanny
mimi
Papa
book
ball
thank you
no
light
hi
hey
bye
dora
buddy
bubba
milk
and close to saying book

it has gotten to the point where he learns a new word everyday!!! He is at such a fun age and it so awesome to watch him grow and learn more each day!

If you don't succeed try try again!

So my life has been pretty busy and really I just got bored with blogging so I quit. I was reading this girl Kelly's blog. I don't know much about her except that she is a WONDERFUL role model. She is a wonderful christian woman! I was reading her blog and she was talking about why blog. One of her reasons was to remember your child's life and she had me there. It is so true. There are so many things that I can remember now but I could soon forget and using this I could always have something to look back on.

Update on Kale:
Kale turned one in February and was walking before his first birthday. The kid runs now! He is such a busy little boy. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with his energy. He is into everything barely sits down for a second! However, as tiring as he can be I would not trade it for anything in the world. He is very curious. He says "dat" and points when he wants to know what something is OR when he is trying to be cute and wants to have something that he is not really allowed to have like soda. It is amazing to see how much he learns each day. I have to say that I am pretty sure (knock on wood) that I am going to have a very intelligent child. The kid LOVES books. I wonder if there are other kids out there like him? He will grab a book off his book shelf, or out of his toy box and bring it to you to read him. Today, I pretended to ignore him (to see what he would do) he grabbed my hand, opened it, placed the book in my hand and sat in my lap. The only down fall to his love of reading is he will expect you to read to him until he gets tired of this, that is not the bad part, the bad part is he expects you to read him the same book over and over and over and over. I think I have a few of his books memorized. There have been days lately where he has sat in my lap and I have read him five books. I love that my little boy loves books. I love books; I always have. I just recently finished a danielle steel book a 400 page book in two days. Ryan loves books as well so I think it hopefully will be inevitable for Kale to love to read too! Another cute thing Kale does is dance. The kid loves to dance in his car seat he will dance and at home when certain music comes on. It is the cutest thing EVER! The boy definitely has an attitude though. We are working on it. I feel bad because he has been getting in trouble a lot lately, but I feel like he is testing his limits and I want him to know that Ryan and I don't put up with nonsense. I came from a strict family and I plan to run a tight ship myself. I do not want to be as crazy strict on him as my parents were; but, he will mind! Lately he does this unhhh screaming thing when he gets in trouble. So when he does this he gets popped again. He also has not fully grasped or chooses not to grasp the concept of NO. You tell him no and he looks at you and does it anyway. This is being put to an end too!

I am finally done with school and getting to stay at home and enjoy time with him and I love it! He is such a happy, wonderful baby. Hopefully it is sunny tomorrow and I will be able to take him outside. The kid loves to be outside!