Our little adventurer...

Cayle has been a little on the short end of the "fun stick" since Lindy arrived.  He hasn't had all the time he's used to for the bike rides and adventures he was used to enjoying.  It's much easier to get him his fun when we have an extra set of hands, so now that Aunt Anne Marie has arrived, we're making sure to get him some excitement.  Friday while I went grocery shopping, Anne Marie walked Lindy in the chariot along with Nick and Cayle, who was on his bike.  The adventure was all in our subdivision, down to the haystacks so Cayle could see the cows :)

Aunt Anne Marie telling a story :)

excited to be on his bike...showing off his new gloves!

look dad, I found the haystack!

spotting cows?

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Yikes!  Chalk this one up as a rough one :(  It most likely started with last night...
Nick had a race (4th place finish - yay!) and I was home alone with both kids.  I thought I had put them both to bed and was lreaxing, when all of a sudden Cayle started making lots of noise.  He continued making lots of noise (screaming, slamming his closet doors, opening his bedroom door and yelling, etc.) for a long time.  Like two hours long time!  So I got him out of his room and thought I'd rock him, calm him down, and let him say night night to daddy.  Long story short, Cayle went to bed about 945 pm.  He was up before 6 am this morning.  Not good. 

So I figured he would be pretty tired for his nap today.  Wrong, mommy.  Little boys who are almost 2 and don't get much sleep the night before don't really even need naps!  The afternoon was spent listening to Cayle cry and scream and kick and slam doors, intertwined with Lindy screaming, her swing shouting classical music at me, and my pump just pumping away.  It was quite the afternoon.  Nothing was accomplished. 

Well, nothing until we went for a drive :)  We had to run to Eagle to pick up Nick's sister, Anne Marie, who has come to visit us for a few days.  Both kids fell asleep on the drive, stayed sleeping through a few short errands we ran in town, and proceeded to nap in the car (parked in the garage) for about 1.5 hours.

Needless to say, just a few hours of the craziness wore me out!  Nick and I have asked each other numerous times in Lindy's three short weeks...how the heck do single parents do it???  Now that the sun has set, I had better get to bed :)

Home Alone!

Well, kind of at least.  For about 4.5 hours each day!  Now that Nick is back to work, we're working on getting a routine going.  (Which will last for the next four weeks or so, before we start a new routine...) So far, we have Nick taking Cayle to his morning activities (swimming, library, and music), while I stay with Lindy and do some chores around the house (clean floors, do laundry, etc.).  Then Nick and Cayle have some time to hang out (or work in the back yard - hint! hint!) before Nick has to get ready for work.  Once Nick leaves for work, I get lunch ready for Cayle while Lindy sleeps.  After lunch, Cayle heads up to his room for a nap.  Lindy wakes up shortly after this to nurse and hang out with mommy.  She sleeps a bit more, then Cayle gets up, and we start snack time and wait for daddy to get home!     

Rockie's Game

time, time, and more time...

Today was our first real outing with both kids.  Up until now, we've had one or the other go, but not usually both of them and both of us - unless it was just quick errands we were running in town.  Nick and I wanted to stop in Denver to run a couple errands before heading down to Colorado Springs (purpose for the trip explained in a bit).  Our plan was to leave the house at 10, stop at REI in Denver, then hit up a Party City, and get to Ronnie and Michelle's house about 3 or 4.  We must have been off our rockers to think that would ever happen!

We started off a few minutes late, then had to stop by the Thrifty Shoppe to drop off some clothes, and also run by the gas station to get some drinks for the drive.  We finally started off toward Denver, and decided we would have to stop for lunch before hitting Denver.  And then we thought Lindy would nurse and Cayle would like some time out of the car, so we searched for a place to eat outside (Wal-Mart parking lot fit the bill!).  We finally arrived at REI, got Cayle's diaper changed, and made it inside to start shopping...only about 3.5 hours after we left the house.  The drive from our house to this particular REI store would typically be no more than 2 hours 15 minutes...   

By the time we left REI, we had given up on Party City for the time being.  So we finally arrived in Colorado Springs just after 4, which was close to our original goal, but lacked the second stop!  After a little settling, we left Cayle with aunt Michelle and headed off to Party City to get supplies for his upcoming birthday party.  So, by just after 7, we had accomplished our goals for today!

Not sure what took so very long to do our errands today?  It had seemed like a simple enough plan?  Nick and I decided two kids just takes longer.  Planning when they'll eat, and keeping them from getting tired of riding in the car, getting diapers changed, walking slowly through the store, etc. - it just takes more time!  Both kids were so good today, and we did have a lot of fun.  A lesson for mommy and daddy to not expect too much :)

Tomorrow we have a big day planned:  lunch with a guy Ronnie and I grew up with (Chad - he pitches for the Atlanta Braves who are playing the Rockies), then some time in Denver before the night baseball game.  Cayle is staying with a sitter (and so are Ethan and Lexi) and Lindy gets to go with the adults.  We'll head back through Highlands Ranch on Sunday to show off Lindy to Nick's cousin, then be back in the mountains hopefully by early afternoon.  We'll see how things go with our time frame :) 

Busy Day

Took Cayle to music this morning, then to the bike shop to drop bikes off to get a few things worked on, then we headed to Silverthorne to pick up a few things from Target, and buy some new clothes for me! From Target we headed to Wendy's (Cayle's Lunch), Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for an apple for Natalie, and Jimmy Johns for me. Then back to pick up the bikes, and back home. Made for a pretty long day, but Cayle did great!

This afternoon, he rode his bike for a long time. He has been riding to people's houses to drop off birthday invitations. We got a few good videos tonight. He is progressing so fast on his bike. It's so much fun to watch him learn. He loves it!!!

Cousins Ethan and Lexi

 Hmm... This is not working out so well....

 Ok, that's a bit better!!!

 Little Lexi on Cayle's bike with the seat too high for her!

Cronies....

Made plans to go see Cousins Ethan and Lexi this weekend. Cayle is going to spend an entire day with them while Mommy and Daddy and Lindy go to the baseball game on Saturday night, and out for lunch with one of the players on Saturday afternoon. Cayle and Ethan will have plenty of time to be wound up and be mischievous!