Caden Love

Today, Caden is 9 months old! I cannot believe it. He fills our home with such joy and sweet giggles! Love his now tooth-filled grin. Here are a few things I want to remember about this stage...

• Loves to watch his big brother Colton and wants to be wherever he is, playing with whatever he is playing with. This has caused quite a few tears lately. Colton loves Caden but would rather him stay "on his side" of the playroom. What's funny is that Caden's "baby" toys have suddenly become Colton's all time favorite toys.
• Caden began crawling on March 8th! A few days later, he rolled over for the FIRST time, too. It was quite a week. It made for some interesting sleeping positions and he woke up a few times during the night because he got stuck.
• Loves his mum-mums and puffs. Eating all cereals, veggies (except green ones) and fruits (except peaches or citrus). About to try egg yolk, yogurt and meat. He's a pretty good eater, but gets easily distracted and loves to throw things on the ground. Dinner time gets pretty messy!
• Loves his baths. Tonight was declared his last night to bathe in the sink because he got so much water on the floor!
• Napping is still hit or miss - but over spring break he averaged 2 1 1/2 hour naps at home - getting a little sassy because he will now throw his paci out of the crib and just wail until we come and help him. We watch him on the camera and he will look around for a minute after he throws it (without crying) and then decide to start crying about it.
• Loves paper - he's tried to eat two of Colton's stickers and throws a fit when I pick him up each day because his teacher hands me his daily sheet instead of him.
• Likes to cuddle, but getting a little more squirmy when he wants something - especially Daddy's I phone!
• Enjoys his toys, but loves BALLS! He will spot one across the room and not stop until he grabs it.
• Started waving and saying buh-buy (bye-bye). Can say Ma-ma and Da-da.

I could probably go on and on and on but I think I better call it a night! I love this sweet bundle of joy and all the little facets of his personality! Thank you God for entrusting him to us - please be with him as he grows and give us wisdom to raise him into a godly young man!  We love you, Caden-Waden!

SNOW 2010!

Trudging through the deep snow in our very own backyard! So fun!

Licking the snow - he informed me that it tasted like "berries"... oh really?! Because he eats berries so often :)

Don't let these pictures fool you! This poor snowman didn't have a chance. He merely appeased his mom for the picture and then proceeded to fling his body into Mr. Snowman.

It's really coming down!

Caden had to view the snow from his exersaucer. He stayed home with Daddy on Thursday because he had an ear infection.

Our snow-covered house on Thursday. By Friday, all the bushes and sidewalks were completely covered!

Backwards "Snow Angel"... I was trying to teach him how to make a snow angel by telling him to 1. Lay down in the snow and 2. Flap your arms like a bird... Well, my literal two year old did just that. He layed face down in the snow and then stood up and flapped his arms like a bird. Pretty funny :)

Daddy (no gloves) I believe his exact words were, "Daddies don't get cold, so they don't need gloves."

Mommy and Colton getting ready to pelt the camera-weilding, non-glove-wearing Daddy!

Forgot to get a picture of Colton drinking his hot cocoa by the fire... He also found another way to warm his little soul by reading Mommy's Bible :) When I asked him what book that was, he said, "God's book!"

My handsome little Caden!

If you look really closely in the picture above you can see his 2 bottom teeth. He now has his 2 HUGE front teeth, 2 more side upper teeth and 2 more bottom teeth for a grand total of 8 teeth in ONE month! YIKES!!!

Our "little" linebacker!

He is really starting to enjoy his toys!

Snowy Day, Snowy Day, I love you!

What a bonus! We have a 3 day weekend because everything's cancelled tomorrow! I will post pictures tomorrow - but we had a blast playing in the snow... Colton would have stayed out there forever - the only way to get him inside was to entice him with some hot chocolate!

My visions of lovely snowmen vanished when Colton informed us he was a "mighty machine" whose job (apparently) was to knock down every attempt at a snowman that Mom tried. I finally gave up and just enjoyed tromping through the snow with him. His very favorite part was running full steam and flinging himself into the fluffy goodness! I even tried it a few times and it was remarkably soft. The sad thing is that I really didn't know how to make a snowman. I finally got the base rolled but it definitely did not look round.  Oh well - it looks like I may have more time to work on it tomorrow!

We haven't met a lot of our neighbors yet, and we may never meet them after our rather loud snow experience in the front yard :) I had to finally tell Colton he could not run in other people's front yards full of snow because it was their snow...

This morning when I took him outside to see the snow - he looked with wonder at the snow-covered driveway, turned to me and said, "Mommy, WHO did this?! Who covered it with snow?" Who DID this?!" So fun!

Oh, and he was quite willing to be bundled up - which is amazing since just a few short months ago - he would absolutely not put on a coat or jacket to save his life. He is also quite fond of his "glubs" as he calls them :)

Poor Caden had to watch all our fun from the front window as he is suffering from yet another ear infection - (3rd one in 2 months...yikes) poor baby! He has also gotten his two bottom teeth and is currently working on no less than 4 other teeth, including his top two, ALL at the same time! So rough! Can't wait to share pictures, but must go to sleep now.. My little chunk (now up to 22.8 lbs) has taken to waking up often during the night...Momma is tired!!!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post of some fun December pictures...more is coming soon! Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas! We are so thankful for our family and friends!

A cute picture snapped from Grandad's new camera. I got one too, but I haven't had time to upload the pictures to my computer. So excited about finally being able to catch all these sweet expressions from my boys! Thanks for sharing the great pics, Grandad!

"Colton the elf" at his school program. They sang a song about Santa, elves and bells to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus". Colton stayed on stage and chimed in on the Ho, Ho, Ho part but was otherwise non-participatory :) Sure was cute to watch, though!

Santa 2009My boys decking the tree...

Colton enjoys reading books so much. We usally try to wind down in the evening by reading a few. Here he is reading the Polar Express before bed one night. He is also learning the art of stalling and asks for just "two more minutes" several times before nap and bedtime! Sweet Caden sitting up so well on his own. He sat up for the first time just a few weeks ago!

Colton hanging an ornament... We definitely had a few ornament incidents. I guess Colton thought since he helped to decorate the tree that he could also take them off over and over again. I finally brought Santa into the matter and that seemed to work. Caden enjoyed the view of the tree from the Christmas Quilt (another beautiful creation by my Aunt Cindy)...

Braved the bitter cold a few weeks ago to see the Christmas parade downtown with Dad, Karen, Brenda, Brooke, Zach and April. Colton watched the entire parade and sat in my lap completely still! We had a great time! Caden managed to sleep through about 8 marching bands! Thanks for the wonderful seats, cookies and hot chocolate, Dad and Karen!

Thankful Thoughts...

I feel so scattered lately so here are a few things I want to remember about the boys at this age plus a few random thoughts from my head...

• Colton is talking up a storm and some days I realize that we're having "real" conversations. It's amazing that you can converse with someone who just two years ago couldn't do anything for himself!He is getting pretty good about listening and responding instead of just repeating what we say. Lately, he's taken to saying, "Where we going, Mommy?" He also started telling us "Happy Birthday" out of the blue. Jack's birthday was over a month ago so I wonder if someone at school has recently had one. Just today, he said, "Ask me a question, Mommy!"
• He loves to sing - not sure about tune yet but I love his sweet little voice! Loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Jesus Loves Me" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." He's pretty particular about what song we sing and will quickly let me know if he doesn't like a song. He also knows all of the ABC song and has started pointing out letters and numbers - granted they are not the correct letters or numbers, but it's a start!
• At night over the past few months, he's started asking for Mommy to sing. I usually sing a made up song to the tune of "Lullaby and Goodnight". I need to write down the words because he calls it the night night song and Daddy had to sing it tonight. When he's done with that, he tells us to "Go" then we turn on his nighttime music.
• Finally, toothbrushing is not a battle. He actually reminds me now. I used to have to hold him down and brush quickly. Now, he starts brushing and then hands it over to me and says, "Mommy do it. I not cry!"  It helped to get him some little Dixie cups and a stool by the sink. He really enjoys swishing and spitting.
• So I don't think I would necessarily call it the terrible twos around here - but more like EXTREME twos... We are constantly up and down. The 30 minute commute home from daycare has been interesting. The time change threw him off because the sun is in his eyes for a few minutes each way - He DOES NOT LIKE THAT! I have figured out I can put my arm across the passenger seat in just the right spot to block the sun, but if I forget - he will let out the most piercing scream to remind me. He has sunglasses but he has to be in the right mood to wear them.
• Colton had strep a few weeks ago and needed to take an antibiotic. The first two doses were a disaster. He refused to take it and spit it back out. Well, we learned a very important lesson about Colton that day and about child psychology. We made a really big deal about the medicine and practiced giving "medicine" to Daddy and Lovey. Then we talked about being brave and not crying. Lo and behold he took it like a champ.
• Colton has begun shushing us. We are trying to nip this in the bud, but it's hard not to laugh.
• I'm missing the T and #4 keys off my computer. While I was cooking one day, Colton found my open laptop and a plastic spoon. When I walked around the corner, I witnessed him popping the keys off with the spoon. Never a dull moment!
• Loves to watch Baby E------ and calls it the puppet movie. He also was introduced to Nemo and Jungle Book and really enjoys them too. Still loves Praise Baby and Sesame Street.
• Colton has also begun saying, "It was an accident, Mommy!" and he will walk up on a mess that he made and say in his most surprised voice, "Look at that! Who made this mess?" What a trip!
• One day, Colton was getting ready for a nap and he saw that the window shade was up. He told me to "turn the window off, Mommy!"
• Goodness - this boy keeps us on our toes, but we love every ounce of his sweet, dramatic and curious ways!

Caden...

• is pure love and has got to be the happiest, most content baby! He is the bright spot out of my long days and I love picking him up in the afternoon and getting one of his drooly, gummy grins!
• loves to watch Colton's antics. It's almost as they are already cohorts and Caden laughs when Colton gets in trouble.
• is a great sleeper - not so big on naps unless we are at home but I'll take the night sleeping  any day! Of course we haven't started teething yet, so it could all change.
• had a banner weekend two weeks ago. We finally moved him out of our room and into his own room and crib. Poor kid has been in the bassinet forever! He was so quiet that we really didn't mind having him in our room - but had started waking up at 5 am just to talk and we decided it was time to make the move. He did great with the swich. Also that weekend, we started rice cereal and he did great. You would have thought he had always been eating off a spoon.
• Going to try oatmeal this week and then move on to veggies.
• very good  in the car. Loves to watch Brother while we're on the way to school and then usually snoozes all the way home!
• Daddy helps out a ton with Caden in the morning and gives him his bottle while I get ready and then wake up Colton.
• Not rolling over yet, but he will get to his side and then just kind of stops... very like his personality. He is just such a chill baby!
• The ladies at school call him "President Caden" because he is so friendly and will let anyone hold him. I suspect he has several visitors throughout the day - and I barely get him out of the carseat in the mornings before he is scooped up and loved on by Ms. Alice. I'm so thankful they love him so much at his school.
• Caden came with me to my school program this past week and he was a hit! One of the parents there made the comment that "those were some quality cheeks"! Love those chubby jaws!
• Grabbing toys with gusto and gets so proud of himself when he grabs on to something dangling in front of him.
• loves his daddy!
• loves his bath.
• still being swaddled but with one arm out. Bedtime is usally around 7 and he wakes between 6 and 6:30...
• Naps on the weekend between 1.5-2.5 hours at 9 am and 1 pm... School naps are usually only about 45 min to an hour...

Have I mentioned how thankful I am for my boys?!!! Thank you, God for these angel boys and please help us to raise them in your ways! I'm not going to lie - it has been an incredible adjustment going back to work full time and trying to balance family, work, housework, etc. My job has changed a lot and seems much more demanding than I remember it being - but this is where we are for now and I know that we will survive. There have been some really exhausting days and days when I've felt like running back in time and telling myself to really consider if moving AND going back FT were the wisest decisions as we were preparing to add Caden to our family... but we must press on and make the most of it. As Jack says, this is just a season...Thankfully, I really do have light at the end of the tunnel (unlike most regular jobs) and my favorite season of SUMMER is just 6 months away. I have this pep talk with myself regularly and it usally works :) as does just a little peek in on my sleeping angel boys! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mommy's Pumpkins

Caden the scarecrow... I needed to try on his costume, but. I didn't want to undress him so I put it on over his pj's and it was quite snug. Yes, he's pretty chubby already, but the layered effect made him look so "fluffy"! Too cute!

The Saturday before Halloween we took a trip to a local pumpkin patch with our friends, the Carrolls.It was a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed getting a few pictures even though the pumpkins were a little picked over. Here are Colton and I enjoying a "train" ride.

More of Caden the Scarecrow and the layered look :)

Colton kept us entertained on the way to the pumpkin patch. He sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" about 10 times. Love his little singing voice!

Early in October, Colton spent the night with Papaw and Karen while Mom and Dad took a birthday trip to Boston. Colton had a great time and even got to carve some pumpkins.

Sweet brothers enjoying the pumpkin patch.

Fall 2009

Mommy and her pumpkins!

Caden and Mommy.

Daddy and Colton.

My little Pumpkin-eater! Can't imagine life without our sweet, giggly, roly-poly boy!