1 Year Check Up

On Tuesday, January 23rd I took Caden for his 1 year check up. He did great despite the fact that we had to wait over an hour to see the doctor. It is a lot harder to keep him occupied while we wait then it used to be. He weighed 23 lbs 2 oz., which is in the 52nd %. His head circumference was 19", which is in the 72nd%. He is 30 1/4" long, which is in the 64th %. The doctor joked that he was going to be very smart since his highest percentile is for his head! His percentiles kinda surprised me because to me he seems very chubby, but actually he is quite average.

Some things that he's up to lately:

* Standing Unsupported and clapping for himself

*Giving High 5's

*Exploring anything and everything that is in his reach

*Making "motor boat" noises with his mouth

*Taking his hands across his lips while making sounds

*Learning to drink milk from a sippy cup

*Eating very little baby food

*Loves chicken parm, but will eat ANYTHING. We have yet to find anything that he doesn't like!

Here's an adorable picture that we took of him on the night of his birthday while he was opening gifts from his Daddy and Mommy.

Caden's 1st Birthday Party - VA Version

Caden's party at our place on Fort Eustis was on January 23rd at 3 pm. It wasn't nearly as big of a party, which was good because our place here isn't nearly as big! We still had a lot of fun though. I decided to make him cupcakes this year for this party. I had a blast making them while he was napping. Might me something I could get into one day.

My Cookie Monster Cupcakes

A close up.
Andy said they were very yummy :)

The set up

The Birthday Banner

Our "Diaper Baby" ready to dig into his cupcake.

Attacking the marshmallow eyes with no problem.
We did take the "mouth" (cookie) off his cupcake before giving it to him since it was too hard for him.

Chowing down

After he finished his cupcake we were able to give him a wipe bath.

Then he went back to playing.

Playing with Uncle Nathan

Caden's 1st Birthday Party - PA Version

Caden's First Birthday Party was in Waynesboro on Saturday, January 16th at 7 pm with all of our family and a few friends. We had a great time and Caden had a ball. He loved his cake and enjoyed opening his presents.

The table with his cake, the big cake, and plates.

Caden opening his presents.

For some reason he seemed to really get a kick out of cards. Not sure why.

Another card.

Playing with Aunt Anne and a puppet.

Very excited. Look at his expression :)

Love it!

He's got the sippy cup figured out!

Playing in his sand box/ball pit.

He loves to crawl into it head first.

Singing Happy Birthday to Caden!

Blowing out his candle

I knew he would be a mess eating his cake so I stripped him down to his diaper.

Boy, was I ever glad that I did that. You'll see why :)

Eating his cake

He ate all of the icing first. I think he has a major sweet tooth. Not sure where he got that from :)

He also pounded his cake then he would take a break and take a bite then go back to pounding.
It was quite funny to watch!

Once he was finished, he went straight to the bath tub. Two tubs of water later, he was finally clean!

All in all, the party was a success and he had a blast. Thanks to all of you that attended. I hope you had as much fun as he did!

Christmas 2009

After spending 2 Christmas Season's in Korea, it was GREAT to be in America! It was so much fun being a part of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. It was great seeing all the Christmas lights shining when out and about at night. I just absolutely LOVE Christmas...can you tell? We had a great Christmas. It was great starting to teach about the holiday. I'm sure that by next year he'll be starting to "get" it, but this year was still fun. Now for some pictures....

Christmas Eve

Caden seemed just as interested in (or maybe even more so) Uncle Eric's water bottle as the gifts everyone was exchanging.

Caden opening his first present with the help of Daddy





Christmas Morning


This year we actually had to wake Caden up. We got him up around 8 so that we could feed him breakfast and see what Santa left for him. Unfortunately he woke up with a runny nose. He was still his happy self though.


Opening up one of his presents from Santa with Mommy's help.

Crawling across the room for another present.

Our house Christmas morning :)


Around 9 we headed to my parents house to exchange with my parents and Aunt Courtney and Uncle Eric.

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care....

Thought it looked like a really cool picture!

Caden looking at his stack of presents.

Opening gifts continued past his morning nap.

So he napped in Pap's arms with Kirby & Kylie.

Christmas afternoon we headed out to Andy's parents' house to hang out and exchange gifts with them.

Chillin' with Grandaddy...."Boy, this has been a long day!"

Playing on my new alphabet train

Eating wrapping paper...a very familiar sight on Christmas day!

I hope your Christmas day was as enjoyable and filled with as much joy and thanks as ours was.

Now its off to prepare for my baby's first birthday party....where did the time go????

11 Months

Well as hard as it is to believe Caden is 11 months old. He is full of life! He loves to be with us and follows we were are. If I am in the kitchen cooking, he's in the kitchen investigating what is going on. His first word was Mama, which he said for the first time at about 10 1/2 months. He is babbling constantly, but says Mama all the time. I think he picked a good word for his first word. He also got his 7th tooth (bottom front left). He didn't seem very phased by getting this tooth. That was a nice change :) He weighs approximately 22 pounds and is growing before our very eyes. He continues to be a great baby and is generally very happy. There isn't much that makes him cry! Guess its time to start planning his 1st Birthday Party. Wow...where did that time go??? Without further ado the part you all want to see...

11 Months Old with my bear..the bear is beginning to look small

10 Months Old ...a little late

This post is sooo late. Guess better late than never. Life seems to be quite busy. Caden keeps us very busy. He definitly likes to be constantly moving around and he's very fast as well. At his 10 month birthday he was 21 lbs. 14 oz. Wow! What a big boy. He absolutely loves food :) He is such a good eater. So far he is not seeming picky other than he HATES mashed potatoes. Weird. Right before he turned 10 months he got sick for the first time. Wednesday night he spiked a 103 fever so we took him to the emergency room. They told us that he seemed otherwise healthy so it was probably just a virus. They told us to alternate Tylenol and Motrin every four hours. We did that and the fever broke on Thursday. Then Friday he broke out in a rash. Friday he was also seen by his pediatrician and she confirmed that the rash showed it was viral. A few days later Daddy ran a 103 fever. By Saturday Caden was back to his happy self!

Here are some pictures of our sweet baby boy!

Baby on the move.

While the pictures were being taken Caden thought it would be funny to come crawling to the camera. What a cutie!

He finally stayed put long enough to actually have a picture taken with the bear. He's definitely surpassed the size of the bear.

9 Months Old

Wow...9 months! I believe Caden is growing before our very eyes! He's becoming such a big boy. He is absolutely wonderful too :) Barely cries. Is just a happy baby. What more could we ask for? He went from learning how to crawl to crawling EVERYWHERE! He is also pulling up on EVERYTHING. Before long, I'm sure he'll be cruising along our couch. His bear used to look huge and now he's bigger than him.

At his 9 month appointment he weighed 20 lbs 2 oz and was 28 inches long. He is in the 50% for both height and weight.
He is really starting to "talk." He seems to look talking. I wonder where he got that from???He's got the ba ba ba's down. Daddy thinks he's going to soon be saying da da da.

We are working on eating more green veggies and he's doing better. He has always been a fan of the yellow/orange veggies.

He has such a sweet personality!