caden's friend

We had gorgeous weather this past Saturday. It's amazing how the sunshine and warmer weather can brighten your mood. I was feeling great on Saturday and couldn't wait to take Caden over to my bestie's house to play with her nephew Sam. He is about 8 months older than Caden and the cutest thing ever! It just amazes me to think that Caden will be talking like Sam in the near future. Well, I hope so anyway.

Surprisingly enough the boys wanted to sit together and I was able to capture one good shot of the two of them drinking their juice and enjoying some goldfish.



We had a little outside time too and Caden got to ride on Sam's "beep" as he likes to call it. Honestly though, Caden was more interested in pushing the "beep" from behind than actually riding on it the right way. That's my boy for ya!



The boys did really good together when they did interact. Caden is still in the stage where he gets stuck in "Caden world" and just plays on his own with toys, books, or whatever else he finds amusing.

: :

I was finally able to get my laptop going wireless, so I don't have to be stuck upstairs if I want to surf the Internet. We recently discovered Dora the Explorer episodes on YouTube and it's Caden's new favorite show.

He looks like such a big boy here at the kitchen table by himself.

Overall my lil man is doing great. He is eating better and sleeping through the night. Yay! His eye teeth are coming in and he has been as sassy as ever, but we are getting through it. He hasn't had any teeth come through in 4 months, and what a nice break that was. I'm looking forward to going through the whole teething process again with Adi. *insert sarcasm here*

Speaking of Adisyn... I need to come up with a new name for my blog. Currently it's named "Mommy's lil man"... I've been pondering this for a while, but cannot think of anything. If you have any ideas, please do share!

Caden's first fever..

My poor lil man came down with his first fever yesterday in his whole 18 month life. I woke him up to get him ready to leave as I had to work and he was burning up. I know that having a fever means that your body is fighting an infection and it's actually a good thing, but man oh man did it scare me at first.

His fever was up and down all day in between Motrin doses with it's high at 101.4. I was not expecting such a happy playful baby, but he surprised me. The only time Caden became fussy was near the time the Motrin was wearing off. All he wanted to do was cuddle with me then and I had no problem whatsoever with doing that!

Thankfully he woke up with no fever this morning and Ryan said he was an absolute angel all day long.

See for yourself - he was feeling just great today!

He even had some fun brushing his teeth!

I received an email today and found everyone of these to be true. It's funny how a child changes so much in your life, and all for the better.

42 things that change after you have a child...

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise.

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person.

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

And from our readers (from BabyCenter)...

1. "You discover how much there is to say about one tooth." — Ashley's mom

2. "You finally realize that true joy doesn't come from material wealth." — Anonymous

3. "You now know where the sun comes from." — Charlotte

4. "You'd rather buy a plastic tricycle than those shoes that you've been dying to have." — Sophie's mom5.

"You realize that although sticky, lollipops have magical powers." — Roxanne

6. "You don't mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night." — Kellye

7. "Silence? What's that?" — Anonymous

8. "You realize that the 15 pounds you can't seem to get rid of are totally worth having." — Brenda

9. "You discover an inner strength you never thought you had." — Ronin and Brookie's mom

10. "You no longer rely on a clock — your baby now sets your schedule." — Thomas' mom

11. "You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?' one." — Jaidyn's mom

12. "Your dog — who used to be your 'baby' — becomes just a dog." — Kara
13. "You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you'll be late." — Tracey

14. "You learn that taking a shower is a luxury." — Jayden's mom

15. "You realize that you can love a complete stranger." — Dezarae's mom
16. You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place. — Arizona
17. If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do! — Ciara
18. You start to appreciate Sesame Street for its intellectual contribution. — Anon.
19. You have to quit watching the news because you see every story from a mother's perspective and it breaks your heart. — Brooke&Boys
20. You just plain love life more - everything comes together and becomes better because of one tiny person and your love for them. — Anon.
21. You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts. — Anon.
22. In response to #2 [above], I'd say that where you were once afraid, you're now fearless. I was always very timid and shy and let myself get walked all over … but now where my kid's concerned, I'll speak my mind and really connect with my inner "b"! — gummismom
23. The support you get from other people surprises you, because the people giving it are not always the ones you'd expect. — japanese_macaque
24. Nothing is just yours any longer. You share EVERYTHING! — DylanLsMom
25. No matter what you've accomplished in life, you look at your child and think, "I've done a GREAT job!" — Anon.
26. You want to take better care of yourself for your child. — Treasor
27. You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like "ahhh" and "oooo." — littlehulk2008

happy halloween and more!

Happy Halloween! Isn't my little turtle just adorable?! It was Caden's first year trick-or-treating. He did so great and we are so proud of him. We took him over to Ryan's brother's house for an evening of fun. We made it all the way around the block and probably would have kept going, but Mommy and Daddy were cold. Caden held his bag and a few times said "tank you" even if it was after we walked down the driveway.

I cannot believe how much our lil man has changed since last Halloween.

6 months old....

1 year later at 18 months old...



Caden's cousins just love him to pieces. It's quite wonderful to watch them together. Although I couldn't manage to get a photo of the three of them, I was able to get Ethan and Christian together.

Off to start trick or treating with Daddy and Mommy trailing behind..

With falling back an hour after Halloween it felt a little out of place going out while it was still light outside. I did enjoy it much better as you could actually see the kids Halloween costumes. We did have a fun filled evening and Mommy and Daddy now have bag of candy to enjoy :)

::

Friday was the start of my 28th week - 7 months and the start of my 3rd trimester. I cannot believe I'm in my last trimester and Adisyn will be here in 12 weeks. It's amazing how fast this pregnancy has gone by. It does make me sad that this will most likely be my last pregnancy. It was a rough go in the beginning with all the morning sickness, but I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of it. I would love to have a third child, but with costs of having a child it is just not in the books for us. Unless of course we win the lottery!

I've been feeling pretty good except for some lower front abdominal pressure that landed me in labor and delivery last Tuesday to get checked out. Everything turned out just fine, thankfully. The doctor believes the baby could have been laying in an awkward spot or most likely that I did not drink enough fluids. I'm keeping water with me at ALL times now.

I'm really looking forward to meeting our little girl in January. She is going to be just perfect.

::

On a final note - Happy birthday to my wonderful and amazing husband! I love him so VERY much and I am so grateful for him. I hope he is enjoying his day of golf out with his buddies. It turned out to be a nicer day - even though it's still a little cool.

a few new words....

Finally! I caught the lil man on video saying a few of his new words. You'll catch a duck, doggy, hot and hurry in this short clip.

A day or two after he turned 18 months old Ryan and I were eating dinner. Caden walked near the oven and we told him it was still hot and to say back. Out of nowhere he starts repeating "hot, hot, hot". It's funny how they just start saying/doing something and it's like they've been doing it there whole life.





I know I typically only post about our weekends, but that is the only time anything eventful really happens. Our week is all routine. Getting up for work, coming home from work, eating dinner and going to bed. It's the same thing Monday through Thursday. I'm so thankful to be at home on Fridays and have the extra day with Caden. It's our day together and we honestly do not do much but hang out in the living room and play with an occasional chore here and there.

Today we took Caden to see Ryan's Grandma. They were having a little Halloween party and Caden wore his cute little turtle costume.

Here he is with Grandma Lori.

He is was actually great about keeping his costume on and didn't even flinch at the head piece. After our visit we went back to my mother in laws, so the boys could burn off some energy.

Seeing Caden run outside makes me very sad we do not have a fenced in backyard for him to run around. This boy LOVES playing outside. I'm praying by next summer we will be in a new home with a backyard.

Happy 1 1/2 birthday!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little boy. He is 18 months old today. I can't believe a year and a half has gone by so quickly. Every day is something new with him these days. Whether it be spinning in circles to make himself dizzy or saying a new word. Which both he did last night. He says "cookie" as clear as day.

Today was pretty much like any Saturday filled with household chores, grocery shopping, eating, sleeping, Mickey Mouse, playing, laughing and just being silly. We are not getting outside as much since it has been so cold. I'm not looking forward to being couped up in the house all winter, but hopefully we can still find some fun things to get into.

Over the last few days Caden has been waking up anytime before 6:30am. I'm missing the 7-7:30am mornings. **yawn** He is still the cutest in the morning no matter what time it is. He usually talks to himself in his crib for 15-20 minutes before I actually go in. It never fails, he always throws his binkie out of his crib EVERY morning.

Here he is trying to tell me where it is....

After his morning diaper change he is off to the garbage can to dispose of it. Mommy's big helper!



Lego time and being cute before breakfast...

Cheesing it up for the camera....

I left the room for two minutes and couldn't find him. He was hiding in the corner with his snack. Sneaking boy!



Yesterday I took Caden to his 18 month well visit. He weighed 24lbs and was 31 1/2 inches long. His head circumference measured 18 3/4 inches. The pediatrician said he was in the 25 percentile for all. She wasn't worried and neither are we. He looks perfect and is very healthy.... well, minus the ear infection she found. I would have never guessed, but she still had to treat it. I'm praying the amoxicillion does not upset his stomach like it did last time. He did have to get one shot (dTap), which he did as expected. Poor baby pretty much cried the entire time we were there and then passed out on the ride home. He was tuckered out.

On another note Caden ate strawberries and macaroni and cheese today. These are two foods he has refused to eat in the last 3 months! I'm hoping I can offer him something "new" each day and he'll start eating more than his selected menu. Wouldn't that be nice?

18 Month Milestones

Most toddlers should be able to . . .
Draw a scribble well - Yes
Run well - Yes
Become picky about certain foods - Ahem, this is a MAJOR understatement
Say at least 15 or 20 words - No, he is only around 10 words and no, I'm not worried
Feed self with spoon - Yes

Some toddlers will probably be able to . . .
String more words together to make phrases or puts together pairs of words - Yes, "bye Daddy"although Daddy is not always that clear and "thank you"
Talk more clearly - Yes
Brush teeth with help - Yes
Take off an article of clothing alone - No
Jump around - No, but he spins in circles

Some toddlers could possibly be able to . . .
Take apart toys and sometimes puts them back together - Yes
Show signs of potty training - Not so much
Climb out of crib and high chair - No
Take off clothes - No
Draw circles - No
Understand two part directions - Yes