Growing Up Too Fast

My baby is now 17 Months Old. He is at such a fun stage. He is struggling to get his last eye tooth in. It has broken the skin and is maybe half way through, but it does not seem to want to come the rest of the way. Its making him not so happy some days and he's been drooling like crazy. Other than that he is a happy, active, lovable, busy little boy. He has really started talking. He says several recognizable words and aside from that babbles continually in what sounds to be a Korean Auctioneer lingo ( I don't even know if there is such a thing). I can't wait until we can understand what he is saying!

On June 1st I had him to the doctor for what should have been a 15 months checkup. However, he was actually 16 months at the time. He weighed 25 lbs 12 oz and was 33 inches long. He had a shot and dealt very well with it.

Later that week we went down to Williamsburg, VA to visit with my friend Sharon, her husband Matt, and her son Caleb.

Caleb and Caden enjoying a bath.

Playing in Caleb's pool in the backyard.

This week we got Caden an outdoor play set. While he can't climb the steps quite yet, he loves it. He loves to sit on the play area, loves to "drive", and LOVES the slide. I think in one day he went down the slide about 50 times.

In action!

Pure Joy! I just love this little boy :)

Our Visit

Wow. This post is way over due. Hope you are ready for a long, picture filled post. Hopefully this will help to catch you up with our lives. As I sit here and type this I reflect on the last 4 months. Yes, 4 months ago today Andy left. Boy, in a lot of respects it has gone fast. But there is still an emptiness in my life. I'm so glad that we've endured more separation then we have left. I'm so glad to be able to say that we are over halfway through our deployment. Its not always been easy, but we are strong! In May we were lucky enough to have Andy home for 2 weeks.

Andy had given me his itinerary (which was that he wasn't going to get to BWI until 5pm), but called me at 8 am to let me know his flight was leaving Atlanta at 9am. I should have know...he is known to do this. He did it when he came home from Iraq, but I only had myself to get ready back then. Yikes. I was still in my pjs. With my mom's help, we were able to get out the door in a flash!

Here Caden is waiting to see his Daddy back by the gate! Thankfully we made it, but not with much time to spare. That was good I suppose....meant I didn't have long that I had to entertain him.
Walking to greet his Daddy. How special; especially since he had just started walking about 1 1/2 weeks prior. Look at the grin on his face---priceless.

What a special moment . I love it! My two guys reunited.

Caden seemed to remember his Daddy, but kept giving him this blank stare for about the first 10 minutes. Almost as to say, "Hmmm I remember you, but where have you been."

By the time we got down to pick up Andy's luggage you wouldn't have been able to tell that it had been a few months since Caden has been with his Daddy. They were best buds (while I was fetching the luggage). I wouldn't have it any other way.

While he was home we did a lot:

Some days we just hung out at home. Actually this morning we had been to the doctor because the night before Caden had spiked a fever of 102. He had double ear infections :( but you would have never been able to tell by his personality.

We went to the Washington DC Zoo

Daddy and Caden watching the Panda. It filled my heart with so much joy to see them spending time together.

Caden's 1st haircut. Yup, at 16 months!

OH NO! She cut my hair off!

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. It was so much fun just spending 2 days playing! Oh to be a kid again :)

Pure excitement in the water!

This boy has no fear. Going down the baby water slide all by himself.

Apparently he had too much fun. He was zonked out the entire way home!

Well all good things must come to an end and that they did. It was so sad watching Andy leave to go back. Much harder than watching him leave in February because we learned how much fun it was to just be a family. We are waiting with great anticipation of what this fall has for us.

Last picture right before he headed onto the plane. Please excuse my puffy eyes...too much crying will do that to you.

Please keep our family in your prayers for the last few months of this deployment. We appreciate the prayers and know that they are what is making this deployment go as smoothly as it has.

It's Been A Long Time....

So much has happened since I've last posted...some good, some bad! Let me bring you up to speed. Andy was suppose to leave on Saturday, February 20th. However, he got a call Saturday afternoon that their flight was being changed until Sunday. With mixed emotions about the change, we enjoyed a date night together. We were glad for additional time together, but ultimately it just gave us long to dread what was coming. We were to the point that we just wanted the deployment to get started so that it could get over. All of you military families out there, I'm sure you understand. You kinda have to go through it to fully understand what I mean. Anyways, I went in with him when he had to report and stayed until he had to load onto the bus. It was an abrupt goodbye (as we weren't exactly sure when loading the buses would occur), but that was best. Once he got on the bus, I left and headed to my good friend Sharon's. I spent the night there before driving to Waynesboro, PA the next day.

He arrived safely in Afghanistan and is making the best of the deployment. If anyone would like his address that has not yet gotten it, please email me :) Caden and I miss him terribly, but at doing well in his absence. We enjoy getting to talk to him frequently, which makes him feel closer.


We are fairly settled into our house. I have a lot of the unpacking done. There is still a lot to unpack, but right now that is all in the basement. I am able to go down there and work at organizing and unpacking things while Caden is napping. I'm hoping in the next month to get a lot of that accomplished. We'll see how that goes....

Caden and I have been battling sickness for almost the entire time Andy has been gone. I started out with Strep and then the next day Caden woke up with a fever. I took him to the pediatrician and found out he had an Ear Infection in his right ear. The day after his medicine was gone, he started running a high fever again. I took him back for his recheck the next day only to find that his ear seemed fine, but he had Strep. I also had bronchitis. Then we both got better from that and this past weekend he started running a high fever again. It would come and go. So yesterday I took him back to the doctor only to find out that he had fluid in his right ear, which (according to the dr) is the beginning of an ear infection. Yikes! So back on antibiotics he goes!

As of yesterday, he weighed 24 lbs. 12 oz. Back in February was the last time he was measured and he was 31 inches long! In a month he had grown 3/4 of an inch!

The funny thing about this is despite fevers and feeling yucky, he is always very pleasant at the drs office.

Even though he's been sick, he's still been full of life! He is an absolute blessing and I cannot imagine life without him. What a cutie!

Hope this finds all of you well and your health has been better than ours. We are hoping for warmer weather and good health soon!

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????