Fun fathers day pictures and 1 year pictures

I am so lucky to have 2 amazingly talented women related to med who have done pictures of Mckade. They have captured his personality and everything that I want to remember about this time. Here is a sample of some of these pictures.

These first ones were done my my sister in law Janis who has done many pictures for us and I just love everything that she has done. It helps that McKade is usually cooperative during these photo shoots and we always have so much fun.

I absolutely love his facial expression in this picture, it's hilarious.

He looks like a little boy and not a 1 year old, too sad but so fun.


These pictures were done as a fathers day suprise for Paul by his cousin Amber Goddard, she is super talented also and we had a blast doing these. McKade did get a little distracted with the rocks around and we had a hard time keeping his attention away from the rocks around to play with. He tried several times to eat them.

Seriously can he get any cuter (I know I'm prejudiced but really.....)

There he is with his silly rock, this picture was the one we used for his birthday invitations.

This little guy has the funniest facial expressions and often has the biggest cheeser grin on his face.

Amber and her sister have taken up knitting and have made the most adorable hats that they use in picture shoots. Very talented girls those two.

Saying goodbye to a wonderful man

On June 6th my dad was admitted to the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia that had hit him pretty hard just the day before, 2 weeks later he passed away on June 21st from complications from the pneumonia and AML (acute myelogenous leukemia.) These 2 weeks were such a blur and to tell you the truth I don't know where June even went this year. As anyone who has lost a love one rather suddenly it doesn't sink in for awhile that they are really gone and you just went through what you had. Even now writing this over 1 month later I can't believe how our lives have changed in such a short amount of time. When my dad got sick we didn't know he had leukemia but when he was admitted his labs were all abnormal which led them to do a bone marrow biopsy within 12 hours of admission and that Thursday we found out that he had AML which is a very aggressive form of leukemia. The treatment plan, if he was able to fight the pneumonia would have been for a bone marrow transplant to treat an underlying condition that makes the bone marrow function abnormally and which was what he had that was left untreated and unnoticed that then converted to leukemia. He fought hard and put up with so much in those 2 weeks that I wouldn't wish on my enemy and in the end his pneumonia won because his immune system just couldn't keep up and fight like it could have had he not had the leukemia. The nurses and doctors at both Utah Valley and LDS hospital where he passed away were great, they were so compassionate and caring and I'm so proud to be a nurse after seeing how caring they were to my father as he was dying.

The angering thing about this is that he didn't deserve this, not like anyone does but it just isn't fair to see such a kind and patient man being dealt these cards when there are sooo many bad people in the world that this could have happened to. I guess it's all part of the plan even though we don't understand it right now. I've learned how important it is to make sure those around you know how much they mean to you and how much you love them because you never know when they might be gone. I know my dad knew that he was loved and appreciated and I know that he is in heaven right know playing with the grandkids still waiting to be born and making sure they know all about guns, hunting and fishing. I do regret that McKade won't grow up with my dad in his life because my grandparents have played such an important part in my life and I'm sad he will miss that from my dad.

I know time will heal the pain but it will never completely go away. Our family has been shown so much support and compassion during this all and we are truly grateful for everyones thoughts and prayers during this time.

This was taken last year on fathers day when we came home from the hospital after having McKade, exactly 1 year prior to my fathers passing. All of us kids went to LDS hospital on the 20th (fathers day) and were able to spend time with dad and say our goodbyes when it became evident that he wasn't going to get better and he passed away early in the morning of the 21st. What a more fitting way to spend fathers day.

When we blessed McKade me and Paul had a hard time deciding who to ask to do the honors. Paul wanted to have his brother or brother in law to do it but I was adament that my dad give the blessing, in the end my father was able to bless McKade and I'm so grateful to have this memory and he did such a great job.

If you could say one thing about my dad it is that he loves his family, especially his grandkids. He was always like a big teddy bear around them and would do absolutely anything for any of us. He will be missed so much.

We burried dad in Malad, ID where he was born, it's so pretty there and he's burried by his parents. My mother felt like this was fitting and that he would have wanted to be there instead of in Orem. He also had said a couple times that he wanted to just be burried in a "pine box", I don't think the fancy, beautiful pine box my mother chose was exactly what he had in mind but it was a "pine box" even if a more expensive one than he had visioned. This picture is at the graveside and the man there is his best friend Jim, he and my dad's brother were able to be at the hospital that last day and they were able to give my dad a wonderful blessing, I'm so glad they were able to be there. I know Jim will miss my dad, they had been friends since college.

Kirk played a beautiful song on his guitar that he wrote at the graveside and he did a great job. I know my dad appreciated this.

If you knew my dad you would understand this because of his sense of humor. Another thing he had told us was that when he died that we had to put a bumper sticker that said "I'd rather be breathing" on his coffin. We had this made at the mall before his funeral and when we told the person at the store what it was for he looked at us and said "I don't want to laugh but that is the funniest thing I have heard". It was funny and fitting and I know dad was laughing right along with everyone at the graveside.

This has been hard to blog about but also good, I think I have procrastinated doing this but feel better getting some thoughts down and remembering good times we have all had with our father. He was a wonderful man and we all miss him so much but I am grateful and thankful for the times we did have with him and can't wait to see him again someday.

June 19, 2010: McKade's 1st birthday

I know every mother says it but it's so true, I can't believe that 1 year has past since this little man came into our lives. We have had so much fun this past year and feel so blessed that he is ours, he keeps us laughing every day and is still such a little, mellow boy who goes with the flow. He has always been so good natured so I hope he stays this way when he hits the "terrible twos". In the midst of my father being sick we still planned a birthday party, we missed my parents being there because they had planned on coming down for the weekend and we were going to take them out to eat at the new restaurant that Paul finished remodeling not too long ago. Anyways plans change and they weren't able to make it given the circumstances but we still had a good time. We had a party for friends and family at the park, ate good food (pizza-ok it was the easiest), cake and fun times for all. McKade was a little hesitant at first with the cake like he wasn't sure what to do with it but once we gave him time he went to town. He would get a handfull and drop it off the highchair and finally started to try to eat it without his hands and just his mouth. Such a fun thing to watch and glad we were outside because it made clean up sooo much easier.

"Hmmmmm........what to do, what to do....... I think I'll just eat it like this"

"This icing is pretty good", it ended up pretty much everywhere but that's the fun of the first birthday party and their very own smash cake.

He was spoiled with lots of toys and had plenty of help opening his gifts with cousins and friends there to help out. He was still enthralled with the paper and ribbons, such amazing stuff to little kids, who needs the toys inside of all that paper.

The theme was a puppy party because currently his obsession is dogs and is constantly calling out for da (dogs, Daisy our dog) and will pant. On the fourth of July he was just waking up and was talking in his sleep (we learned this when we shared a room with him recently that he talks in his sleep and must be dreaming about dogs because he will mutter "da!" and pant like a dog), anyways the morning of the fourth he was waking up and heard dogs outside barking and clear as day said "daisy", it was too wierd to hear an actual 2 syllable word come out of such a little mouth and ever since it's been "daisy" everything. We have realized that we must tell Daisy to be quiet too much because now he will say "daisy" or "da" and than hold his finger to his mouth and shush it. He will do this to any animal he sees lately, I need to get it on video because it's pretty funny.

Mckade's 1 year physical went well despite him being a shrimp for his age. He only weighed 16 lbs 13 oz and 29 inches long, doctor said to just continue to feed him like we are and come back in September to have his weight checked and will see how he is then. He isn't walking yet but is walking along anything he can hold on to and will push his little car or train around walking behind it. When we try to get him to stand he will balance pretty good sometimes but will start to laugh and slowly lower himself to the floor, I don't know what is so funny to him about standing up on his own but he's a little stinker. After he does this we will often try again and he won't even straighten his legs to attempt to stand. Oh well, soon enough he will be walking/running and we will really have our hands full so in it's own time. I've decided that he will just talk first, this last month he has really started to imitate anything we say and seems to pick up language rather quickly. In the week he started to say "daisy", he learned "Ashy" for my sister Ashley (first name by the way besided mama and dada), hot and associated this word with the stove and bbq (smart little shit I think), "that" and will point at what he wants and some times "see that" (of course this is in baby talk but it's pretty clear that's what he is saying). The other day he was pointing and saying "that" to Paul's cell phone so Paul gave him the TV remote because he will play like this is a phone sometimes but not this time, he promptly put the remote down et insistently continued saying "that" pointing at the phone. Sometimes it's scary to see how smart he can be at such a young age, absolutely amazing watching his little brain learn. Well that's pretty much all that's new with our wonderful boy up until now. We love him to death and can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Summertime catch up part 1

It has been a crazy couple of months and we have so much that has been going on in our lives, some good times.....some not so good times. Too many pictures to share but have a few fun ones here of some of our good times.

McKade wanted his cousin Holden to wake up and play so he kept crawling over top of him. He has so much fun with his cousins because he usually isn't around a lot of little kids so when he gets time with them he has a blast.

Apparently people down in these parts of Utah eat goat like it's totally normal (wierd to me but that's my opinion), anyways Paul decided it was high time to introduce McKade to goat and gave him one of the bones from his goat chops and I'm sad to report that he loved it. He chewed and sucked on that disgusting thing for 20 minutes. Isn't he such a cheeser.

What can I say, this kid is definately my child and has a ton of hair. Actually me and Paul both have thick hair so this child is lucky to be blessed with a full head of hair. It sticks straight up when I get him out of the tub, it's so funny.

Fun times in Scofield cuddling with our little man.

McKade enjoying his newest cousin Brant, he held still ong enough for a couple pictures than tried to maul him. What handsomed little boys.

11 months old......

Our little man is 11 months old today. He has seemed to grow up so much just in the last month it amazes me. He is climbing up on everything and getting all over the house. He still hasn't decided to crawl conventionally and just does the inch worm crawl it's so funny. He is able to get up on all fours and will go a bit this way but decided that he is much faster in his own way of crawling. He may just end up skipping this and go straight to walking. Also he finally got his first tooth on April 15th and has now had 5 teeth break thru. The last couple were the hard ones for him and he was pretty miserable but overall I think we have gotten off easy compared to the horror stories I have heard with teething kids. His new obsession is dog "da", if he hears a dog bark or finds a dog in a book he gets so excited and yells "da, da" and will pant like a dog. I just love to see this little mind learn and pick up on things. I'm trying to teach him some sign language but usually he just looks at me and laughs like I'm crazy. Oh well it's still entertaining. I can't believe that in 1 month we will be cerebrating his 1st birthday, it doesn't seem like one year has passed. We are still deciding what to do for his birthday but it should be fun. Here are a few fun pictures of this growing little boy.

Daddy dressed him so cute today when I was at work, I usually leave an outfit out for him but today I forgot to so I was presently suprised to find him dressed so handsomely.

Thinking he is just is so cool and big being able to sit up on his knees and get into his toys. Granted he just pulls all them off the shelves but oh well it doesn't matter.

Apparently we are on our phones way too much around the babe because he has started to imitate talking on the phone with anything he gets a hold of. The other day he picked up my curling iron in the bathroom and held it up to his ear like a phone.

He thinks he just so funny sometimes and gets this cheeser grin. Usually he does this when I get the camera out, he knows that he is supposed to smile and pose for the camera.

The first glimpse of his first pearly white, just barely broken thru at this time.

Way too long..... (part deux)

Like I said I have so much to update so this post had to be a 2 parter. Anyways..... Easter was fun with McKade around, even though he didn't know what was going on he still enjoyed his Easter baskets from us and Grandma and Grandpa Metelko. He is funny with "containers" of any sort, he will dump everything out then put the stuff back in and will do this over and over. He liked the easter eggs because some had stuff in them so he liked to shake them and make noise. I have him a marshmellow peeps and he wasn't having anything to do with touching it because it was sticking to his hand. If I held it for him he would taste it but wouldn't touch it himself. It was too funny to watch.

McKade has decided that sitting up in the bath is boring and now insists on getting onto his tummy, I can sit him up and he will immediately get back onto his tummy. He looks like a little frog swimming when he does this it's funny. He will also stick his mouth in the water and lap at it like a dog, every now and then he will put his face in further that he intended and get a suprise nose-full of water. He will learn.

This shows the sense of humor he is getting. I have had a cold for the past couple of weeks and always get this annoying cough that hangs on forever. I have noticed that when I cough McKade will cover his ears, how does a 9 month old know to cover his ears to block out an annoying cough????? Today I was feeding him and was able to cough and get him to do it for a picture. It's soooo funny because he will do it over and over each time I cough. If only he could talk he would tell me to "shut up with the coughing all ready". Other funny things he does is he smile but will scrunch up his face so his eyes close and then will laugh and do it again. He also has started making this funny noise so he will do his scrunchy face smile, make his funny noise and laugh at himself or with us because we are laughing and do it over and over. I have tried to catch it on video but haven't been able to yet. When I do I will be sure to post it because it's good for a laugh.

Also this past week I had a birthday........this one I would like to forget because I turned 30 (gasp!?!?!?!) When did this happen, I still remember being a dumb teenager skipping class in highschool (sorry mom) and now I'm 30. I can't believe it, time really does fly when you are having fun. My mother in law had dinner for us and than me, Paul and McKade went to Orem on Friday for some shopping and dinner. My mom watched McKade so we could go to dinner, I can't remember the last time we went to dinner just by ourselves. It was nice to just be the 2 of us.

Since I was at work on Thursday on my birthday Paul helped Mckade send me flowers. They are absolutely gorgeous and so sweet. The card said "Happy 30th mom, love McKade", very sweet. First time I have gotten flowers sent to me at work, great job babe.

Wow...a marathon post but finally caught up with what has been going on in our lives for the past month or so. Bring on spring and the warm weather, we are getting antsy and need to get outside.

Way too long......(part 1)

It's been way to long since I have uploaded this. When I find a free moment I have 10 other things that needs to get done and this comes last. In the last month we have done a lot and had so much fun. McKade went to his first parade, we celebrated our first Easter as a family, spent a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Ward, went swimming for the first time and had so much fun doing it all. McKade is getting the funniest personality and you can see his sense of humor coming out. It's amazing to me how much he knows and how smart he is. I can't believe how fast the little ones learn how to interact with their world. Oh what a ride....

McKade was "helping" me fold laundry and thought it was pretty funny to have daddy's socks on his hands. He went crazy swinging his arms around and laughing at the socks flapping around.

Cousin Holden turned 5 at the end of March and we went swimming for his party. At first McKade didn't know what to think of the water, nor did I because it was cold for a pool I thought. After he got used to it he thought it was pretty cool and kept squealing and laughing at his cousins and splashing. Lots of fun. His swim trunks are still too big on him even though they are only 6-9 months but I had to roll them down so the waist was a little tighter on him. What a stud huh.

Ashley kept trying to get a picture of him looking at the camera and smiling but either he was whining because he was still getting used to the water or was distracted by the other kids. Either way we still got some fun pictures of him swimming.

Price has a St Patricks day parade every year, it's kind of lame but the kids thought it was cool. I thought McKade would get scared of the fire engine sirens but he was fascinated with the parade. The 2 boys are my friends kids and are just adorable, the older one Cayson (holding on to McKade) looks like a little studly man huh.

This was the same weekend we went to my parents for Holden's birthday. It had been since Christmas since the kids had seen McKade so he has changed a ton since then. They had so fun with him. McKade fell over while sitting up and hit his head and started to cry, Kiya jumped down from the counter where she was eating and washed her hands and ran out to the living room to comfort him. What a big mother huh. Kennedy was fascinated with the other baby and was so funny with McKade. And Holden just loved having another boy around and was too fun to watch him with McKade. I wish we lived closer to them so they got to spend more time together, we always had so much fun growing up with our cousins.

McKade's new tricks...

This little monster is getting so big and I really try to keep up with all of his changes and new things he does so I will remember them since it's just flying by. I've said it before but you really don't understand or have any idea what people mean when they say this time will fly by so fast until it's happening to you. I can't believe it's been 8 months since this little man came into our lives and turned them upside down but we wouldn't change it for anything.

The baby swing has been a lifesaver for when we are getting ready in the mornings..... that is until now. Unless he is "tethered" in he pulls these tricks and sits up, does pull up's on the toy hanger above him, push himself almost out the top of the swing etc. We are going to have to find another solution for our busy mornings because the swing is being phased out I'm afraid. Put away until the next.

McKade started to give us big, slobberly, open mouth kisses the last month. It's so funny, this picture isn't a very good one but I just love thes kisses. He has also started that patting me on the back and plays with my chin/face when he nurses. He's also started thess monkey tricks and will lift his leg up on my arm/shoulder also when he is nursing, it's funny. Can't really get a picture of this without some pornographic images also being caught :)

He isn't crawling yet, is just barely starting to figure out how to scoot on his belly. We will try to get him up on all fours so he can get the jist of the crawling phase but he will crack up and fall right to his belly because his thighs are so ticklish (spelling??) Just because he isn't crawling doesn't mean he stays put by any means, he scoots all over the floor on his back or will roll around and scoot until he gets what he wants. He loves to play peek-a-boo and laughs so hard when we play with him. He starts to anticipate us startling him when we play and will giggle before we have even said boo.

Here's another picture of his slow goodbye with his swing (he was strapped in and not in danger of falling on his head, I know it doesn't look like that). I'm surprised he didn't tip out though because the seat was pushed all the way back because he was leaning forward so much.

He thinks he's pretty hot stuff sitting up here.

Other things about our little guy:

-He's still a thumb sucker, when he's tired in goes the thumb and he's usually out.

-He loves, loves, loves yogurt. He tried this a couple weeks ago and can't get enough of the Yo-baby yogurts. I think they are disgusting but hey, if he likes them great. He will scarf down the whole 6 ounce container with no problem.

-He loves to eat, loves his vegetables and is liking his fruit more. Still haven't pushed plain bananas much but is liking them in mixed fruit.

-Getting to be a social butterfly and loves other little kids. He will squeal and try to get their attention and just hams it up for the other kids.

-He will strike a pose when I get the camera out, he isn't like some kids that immediately look away, instead he will look right at the camera and smile.

-He is still a little stinker on the weekends with his naps. I'm not sure if he's just used to his routine during the week with Grandma Metelko or just wants to stay up with me when I'm home but he just fights me to nap. Oh well he will sleep good that night and I enjoy my days home with him since I don't get all day with him during the week.

-He sleeps great at night. Will usually go down about 7:30-8 until around 6am. I know an early riser but the uninterrupted sleep is great and that makes the early mornings not so bad.
-He is totally into any electronic gadget he can get his hands on. Oh yah and if you take it away he will through a mini tantrum because you took it away. Oh no....it's all ready started.

Well these are just some of the little things that I want to make sure I jot down so I remember them. I only blog about McKade and don't really mention us much. Work is good, busy but good. Paul has been busy finishing his current project. Maybe when this one's done we can actually work on some of our projects. Everytime I mention something that needs to get done around our house Paul will ask if I "put it on the list". I keep telling him that our "list" is bulls**t and it needs to be torn up and restarted because nothing gets done, lol. Oh well, everything in it's time, things will get done...... someday.

Fun at the park!!!!

Today was a beautiful day today, it got all the way up to 45 degrees. Pretty sad that 45 degrees is considered warm, but anyways it was a great day to meet some friends at the park and get out of the house. We are getting a little stir crazy. The last time we went to the park McKade was only a few months old so it was fun to be able to put him in the swing and he had a blast. When he saw the other kids he was squealing and laughing and so excited, he's becoming a social butterfly and it's so fun to watch him interact with other kids. He had so much fun in the swing, check out the cute pictures.

The other little boy is my friend Mandy's little guy, Cal. Cal was so excited to "swing with the baby". It was so funny to watch them.

Little nose started to get a little red from the cold but he didn't care, just happy to get out and have some fun.

This is my friend Amber's little darling girl Kaylie and she just had to push him in the swing. So funny, her mom is expecting a baby boy this summer and Kaylie will be such a cute big sister.

Just some more cute pics of McKade deep in thought on the swing, trying to figure out what to think of the park.

I just love this little guy, it's getting fun to watch him grow up and change even though I'm so sad that he is all ready 8 months old.