Purdue Graduation

Two weekends ago we drove back to Lafayette so Jess could officially graduate from Purdue! At first we really were just going to visit friends and have fun, but it was a good feeling to sit through that graduation and have Jess honored for all that he has done over the past two years. Mercifully for all of us, some friends watched Caden all morning so that he didn't have to be at the ceremony. After the graduation, we walked around Purdue campus for the last time. It was kind of strange, just because Jess was so rarely on campus, and I've been on campus probably a handful of times since we first came to Lafayette, that we didn't really feel a huge connection to it. To the school and the area, yes, but certainly not to campus. Here is Jess and me on campus. Jess is rather dashing in his cap and gown, while I am rather pregnant in my 36 week belly.

Here's our whole family afterward. All 3 + members happy that Jess is done!

Caden with his best friend Raiden. I'm sad this is the only shot I got of them, but they were really cute hugging. A huge thanks to the friends that let us stay with them! We had a great time getting to see so many friends over that quick weekend and hope we can make it back again.

Now a couple of random shots. Here was Caden Sunday morning walking around in my heels. He was more stable in them than I have been! On our daily "let's get mommy contracting" walks, he recently has begun running or walking a portion of them. This morning he ran nearly a mile! (That's probably why his nap is bordering on 3 1/2 hours right now, huh?)

Caden loves being a big boy and corn on the cob is a definite perk of being one. He eats most things we put in front of him, but often the more difficult it is to eat, the better in his mind.

Congratulations Jess on finishing your Masters' and graduating from Purdue! Wahoo!

Boyd and Allison come to visit

Our friends Boyd and Allison came down from Cleveland to spend the weekend with us, and it was so much fun! Allison took lots of great pictures, which I hopefully will post later. We played games, went to the Museum Center, and went to a Reds game. The game ended up being a lot of fun, despite the heat and the issues we had with tickets. We got there, expecting there to be plenty of tickets. Oh no, all they had were "standing room only" tickets for $5. Standing room only?! I'd never heard of that kind of ticket, and thought it was a pretty silly idea. Jess reasoned that there would be open seats somewhere and it was worth $10 to gamble on finding some seats. I already was sweating buckets and didn't like the idea of scouring a full stadium for some seats only to get kicked out by the seat owners 10 minutes later. Not my idea of fun, I must admit. And standing, 35 weeks pregnant with a toddler, trying to watch a baseball game? Ha! So Jess wins, and we go inside the stadium. There were TONS of seats! All four of us sat together, with extra seats on our row so Caden could roam and have his own space, and there were lots of seats all around us. Normally I would have felt super guilty for seating in seats that I didn't pay for, but we TRIED to buy tickets for the area we sat in and the stadium wouldn't let us. I don't know if they had given away a bunch of tickets (I don't think season ticket holders would be up where we were) or what, but it ended up working out just fine and we enjoyed the game.

Ticket soap box aside, we had a ton of fun with our friends coming down! This weekend we're heading back to Purdue for graduation and are excited to see many friends there. We are just trying to enjoy these mini adventures while it is much more convenient. As much as I may whine to Jess about the discomforts caused by "baby brother", he is MUCH easier to take care of at the moment. No matter how poorly I might sleep at night, it is more sleep than I'm going to get for a while!

Beating the summer heat

It has been HOT and MUGGY here in Cincinnati, so Caden and I have tried to stay busy and beat the heat. If we go outdoors, it is only in the morning for a couple of hours. Even then, it is usually just to drive somewhere that we can play indoors. There are some splash parks and other things that we have done, but even that is too much if you don't do it at 10am (well, at least for pregnant mommy).

Caden on the carousel at the zoo. Mommy and Caden like to go in the morning as soon as it opens. Beats the crowds and the heat.

Caden in front of the camels. When we got to the zoo that morning, they were feeding the camels, so Caden got to hand a couple of "biscuits" to the camels. They pretty much sucked Caden's entire hand into their mouths, which he had mixed feelings about. Unfortunately, no pictures of the feeding (that's what happens when it's just a mommy/son date).

Caden on our back porch chillin' with a popsicle. I'm pretty sure it was only about 90 degrees at the time, so reasonable weather for sitting naked outside with a popsicle.

We also gave Caden a little more drastic haircut than we have in the past and got rid of the mullet in the back. Yes, his curls are adorable and I miss them, but when they are matted to his head from sweating, I just feel so bad for the kid.
Notice how brown his little forearms and legs are compared to his trunk. It's gotten much worse in the past couple of weeks and I just can't do anything to stop him from browning.

The curls are already starting to come back, so that made me feel better about the cut. That boy is like those dolls with the hair that "grows" when you tug on their arm or whatever it is you did to them. He has so much hair and it grows FAST. For his sake, I hope that doesn't end abruptly in his 20-30s!

34 week belly shots

I took my first "belly shot" this evening of this pregnancy. I haven't really cared about recording the progress of my belly this go-around, but I remembered taking the picture below at 34 weeks with Caden. So, I threw on the same orange top (believe me, it is WAY too hot to even think about long sleeves right now) just to take a picture. No question I'm carrying "baby brother" (still no name and taking suggestions) lower, but otherwise I'd say I look pretty much the same.

We made it to Cincinnati

Jess passed his thesis defense (hooray!!) and we packed up and moved ourselves to Cincinnati, with a little help (okay, a LOT of help) from Grandma Watts. We are just about settled in and are happily getting to know the area. We tried to have some fun while Grandma was here, but a lot of our time was spent packing, moving, unpacking, and getting all the little things done that go along with moving. Oh yeah, and spending hours upon hours car shopping. Blah. At least we found one!! Here's a couple of pictures from the last two weeks or so.

Just because Caden is that cute.

Jess took Caden to his lab to play during my last doctor's appt before leaving Lafayette. Caden LOVES getting in the cabs of the different excavators and skid-steer loaders in the workshop of Jess' lab. Look at the joy in that boy's face!

He's a natural!

Our truck all loaded up, ready for the drive to Cincinnati!

At the Cincinnati Zoo in front of the white tiger. Caden is getting pretty good at saying the names of different animals when he sees them, but really good at making whatever noise they make. He spent a lot of time growling that day.

On the carousel with Grandma
Riding the train around the zoo
Our family. Don't be fooled by the jackets- it was plenty warm that day, just raining as well. It is even more humid in Cincinnati than in Indiana. I'm downright scared for August and 9 months pregnant to coincide.
Caden playing in his pool. We have a real pool in our complex, but Caden would rather just sit in a couple inches of water and play with his toys.
In front of the Columbus Temple. Grandma's flight left from Columbus, so Jess and I took the opportunity to go to the temple while we had a very willing babysitter.

Hurry up and wait!

While Jess is very diligently finishing his thesis and preparing for his defense on the 20th, Caden and I are staying busy trying to get ready for our move to Cincinnati. Much of the work we can't do yet, but we just barely got the go-ahead to sign a lease and arrange for moving our belongings (let's sum up a global, 400,000+ employee company with one word: bureaucracy). We had a couple of good laughs yesterday as we were seeking information for our lease and using all sorts of methods to gather that info. I did find through Craigslist that the curtains I hung in our kitchen in an old Provo apt are still up and going strong!

Caden was a trooper for our trip to Cincinnati to find housing, and I can only hope that he continues to be his happy, easy-going self as we pack up and move. Besides the fact that I am hitting the 3rd trimester now and starting to feel uncomfortable, I'm doing just fine. In fact, I have high hopes that this baby will not be a 9 pounder like his brother. I'm just not as big as I was with Caden (I've only gained 6 lbs so far at 28 weeks) so as long as things continue like this, I'm dreaming of high 7's.

The last week of June we will leave what we now consider home in Indiana and head south to Cincinnati. I am the most sad about leaving our ward here. I get to be around so many awesome women and have so many opportunities for fun/socialization/playdates. I will miss my morning aerobics and playgroups and storytime and impromptu playdates! I know we will soon find great opportunities and people in Cincinnati, but it won't be quite the same. I feel as if I'm having to grow up a little bit more and not rely on my friends so much. Sigh. It had to happen one day. At least now Jess should be home in the evenings and on weekends and I won't be working weekends anymore so we will get significantly more family time than we have over the past year or so. Maybe if I ever remember to pull the camera out anymore then I will post some pictures of Caden! Just know that he is as cute as ever as he gets older and becomes much more of a toddler!

Yes, we are still here

...but not for long! We're moving next month and life has been plenty full. However, I did get put on call for work, so here's a quick post with some updated pictures. Caden is 18 months now (whoo hoo for Nursery!) and so much fun. His most recent accomplishment is learning how to do a somersault by himself, which he loves to demonstrate for us whenever we ask.

Earlier this month Caden and I got to go visit family in Utah while we left Jess home to work on his thesis. We had a blast with family but happily returned home to Daddy after two weeks. Caden's talking continues to get more and more understandable and Baby Boy #2 is growing right along with his older brother. No name in sight, so any reasonable suggestions will be considered.
I hope to repent from my blogging hiatus, but no promises! Jess will be defending the middle of next month, then it's packing time and moving to Cincinnati.