Who's this guy?

We took Caden for his 10 month pictures tonight.  We're a little bit behind since I was in Nebraska most of last week.  Things worked out well though.  Caden was in an amazingly good mood tonight and we were able to do some family shots.  Hopefully we'll get some Christmas cards out this year since we got our pictures done early.  :)

We are all doing well.  Avoiding the flu and other bugs and keeping busy.  I had a work trip last week that took me to the middle of Nebraska for 4 days.  Dana was a single parent for the week AND helped my mom by a new car.  He's pretty amazing!  I never cease to be amazed at all that Dana accomplishes and he never misses a beat.

We are working on unpacking and getting settled.  I have lots of pictures to share as we have more time.

Dana and I were surprised when we saw this picture of Caden.  He does not look like our 10 month old baby.  This could be his school picture.  I'm not ready for that yet!

Falling Leaves

Hi mom!
We are walking around the neighborhood looking at leaves on the ground. See you soon!
Love,
Caden

Swinging with Friends

Mrs. Catherine has a new swing set at her house. It is pretty amazing. I kind of wish I were smaller so I could try it out. Caden had his first experience swinging today. It appears that he loved it! Christopher (Mrs. Catherine's oldest son) is pushing Caden. He's a cute little guy and all about helping with Caden and his little brother. Today, I had to go back in the house because I had forgotten Caden's food bag. Christopher voluteered to go outside to watch Caden for me while I got my bag. It was really cute. By the way, I didn't leave Caden outside by himself. Dana was in the van since we try to carpool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. :)

Tickles

Mrs. Catherine is tickling me! I'm so cute :-)

Love,

Caden

Packing Time

Caden decided he should help dad pack this afternoon. What a thoughtful boy! With his help, I'm sure things will go smoothly. :)

Mmmmmmm!

Caden loves cheese. In fact, he almost loves it as much as I love cookies and Dana loves Diet Coke. I think he was saving the piece on his nose for later. :)

8 months and on the move

Caden turned 8 months old yesterday. Where has the time gone? I'm pretty sure I will be saying this for the rest of my life. It's amazing how watching a child grow can speed up time. Just this weekend I was going through some clothes and reminiscing about when he was little (I know, I know, he's still little, but anyways...you know what mean).

In honor of turning 8 months old Caden decided to start crawling. We are so proud of him! He has been sooo close the last week or so. I had hoped he would crawl over the weekend and I was a little bummed when he didn't because I didn't want to miss this important moment. It's sometimes hard to be a mom who works outside the home knowing that you are going to miss some of your child's firsts. I'm so glad Dana and I both got to witness this special moment together.

P.S. - Time to childproof. Caden found the birthday presents I bought for his friends. I was hiding them under his slide since it's an out of the way place that he didn't (PAST TENSE) get into. :)

Birthdays and Donkey Rides

Caden went to his first birthday party today. Ellie, the daughter of some friends from church had her 1st birthday party. I wasn't going to be able to go with Caden and Dana, but my amazing boss sent me home early. I'm so glad I didn't miss Caden's first birthday party OR donkey ride. He wasn't his smiley self because it was way past his nap time and he had already been swimming. Ellie had a wonderful party. We're glad we could share in the celebration of Ellie.

Wagon Ride!

Here is the most recent email I received from Caden. I love it!

Hi mom! I got to go for my first ride in ms. Catherine's wagon today!
It started to sprinkle so we had to come back in. Don't I look like a big boy!

Love
Caden

Daddy's Find

Dana has been doing some great garage sale shopping lately. Caden is still a little small for this treasure, but he still likes it. P.S. - You won't believe how much Dana paid for this great play-set....$5.00!

Basketball Star in the Making

Dana found this little basketball goal for Caden. He really likes it when he's not pulling it over on his own head. :)

Can you hear me?

We LOVE listening to Caden talk. He learning all kinds of things he can do with his voice. It's amazing how loud he can be at 4 in the morning. :)

Our Little Artist

Caden sent me this picture this afternoon while he was creating a masterpiece. (Caden's teacher/care provider is great!) How cute is he? I guess he can be an artist if the NBA doesn't work out. :)

Feeding Yourself

It may not have been a good idea, but I let Caden feed himself. He was such a mess he had to go straight into the bathtub. Watching Caden explore his food and have so much fun was totally worth the mess.

Happy Baby!

I have tons of stuff to put on the blog, but have been busy enjoying our little family. However, I decided to make time to share this little video. More proof that we have a ridiculously happy baby.

Bath Time

Caden has graduated to the big bath tub. He really enjoys splashing in the water. Bath toys are next on our list of purchases.

Haircut-Take 2

Since it was time for Caden's 6 month pictures and he had a quite a comb-over going on we decided to take him for a haircut. You'll remember that our last experience was not a positive one. I had sworn off Cookie Cutters (they made my baby look like Vanilla Ice...seriously!), but decided to give them another try. We once again gave very clear instructions and then watched the stylist like hawks ready to attack (is that what hawks do?). We were very pleased with the final result. Caden looks super cute. Where did our little baby go?

Mom's Mess

I wasn't watching Caden's bowl of fruit very well, but he was...this was the result.

Adorable!

I don't think these pictures require many words.

New Discoveries

Caden has recently made another discovery. He has found his tounge. He found it last week and it has recently become his favorite toy. This is the best picture I could get of how he spends most of the day. He's become such a ham that he stops sticking out his tounge so he can smile for pictures.

Don't worry though, he's not neglecting his feet. :)

Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrated Dana's first Father's Day. He was able to come home after dinner so we could have some family time. Caden loves his daddy. He gets so excited when Dana comes in the door at night. It's really sweet! Dana is such a wonderful father. He works so hard to provide for us and he takes such good care of Caden. Caden and I are both blessed to have him in our lives.

Happy Birthday Me!

Today I turned .....................well that doesn't matter. Anyway, it was a wonderful day. I spent quality time with the Sinnokraks and enjoyed some tastey dinner. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers that Dana got me. What a great surprise!

George the Giraffe

Mara and her sister Heather made a trip to Springfield last weekend. We were lucky enough to get to spend a bit of time with them while they were here. Mara was very thoughtful and brought Caden a new friend, George the Giraffe (Dana named him) and some books. Caden is a big fan of George. He has been showing him a lot of affection.

Yuck!

Caden is now up to fruits and vegetables twice a day. He really likes his vegetables and is doing alright with fruits. He eats his sweet potatoes and carrots especially well. When we went to the store on Friday I was excited to get some peaches for him. This was a fruit we hadn't tried yet. Caden was not a fan.

Splish Splash!

Caden is getting bigger everyday and becoming more fun everyday. He has recently begun enjoying water. He's always liked baths, but he's started splashing now and he thinks this is quite fun. We took a walk to the pool today so we could put our feet in. He really enjoyed this. No pictures yet since it was just the two of us. Hopefully soon.

Long time, no blog

It has been a while since I have updated our blog so this is my 3rd posting of the night. We have been busy with family visits and life in general. Dana's parents came to see us the weekend of Mother's day. We had a good visit and it was great seeing them. The weekend after that my mom and sister came for a visit. It was brief, but good. We didn't have any visitors this past weekend, but it was packed with plenty to do. I am looking forward to a nice weekend together this weekend before Dana disappears to his academy. Caden and I will miss him and are already looking forward to seeing him again in July.
Tonight, Caden and I had some fun with the camera. I'm including a ton of pictures because I love them all. I may be biased, but I think he gets cuter every day.

Our first diaper cake

Dana and I made our first diaper cake this weekend. It is for one of my coworkers. Dana was very thoughtful and helped me roll the diapers and get the cake assembled. I have seen better diaper cakes, but I feel good about this first attempt. I am sooooo glad that we had a little boy, but I will admit that it was fun to buy little girl things. :)

Good Morning

I will not pretend to be a morning person. I am far from pleasant when it is time to start the day. Dana can confirm this if you feel I may be exagerating. There is a definate bright spot to my mornings though (besides Dana).....I get to see this precious little face. This guy is much more of a morning person than I am. My mood greatly improves when I go to get him out of bed and he is smiling and talking. He greets us with a smile every morning. That's a great way to start the day.

Yum!!!

We celebrated Mother's Day early. I don't know that there was a specific reason. Perhaps Dana was just excited to give me his gift. I'm glad he was because I got to eat these delicious strawberries. They are from the Candy House. I had heard that they were amazing and they definately are. Pay no attention to the missing strawberry in the corner. :)

I also got gift certificates for Godiva. So much for losing the baby weight. :)

Walking with Daddy

Caden is growing sooo fast. He has great head control and is sitting up with support. He can even walk with Dana's support. :) I think he's trying to get ready for Jeff and Angie's wedding.

Bring on the real food

Caden started eating cereal this week. He's getting better at keeping it in his mouth and we're getting better at getting it there. :) He's been trying to help us with our part. What a thoughtful boy!