puzzles

It's crazy to think our lil man will be turning 2 next month. It feels like we just had his first birthday not too long ago. I want to freeze time to keep him at this age. Since I've been on maternity leave he has learned SO much and his speech has taken off. I love listening to him talk. Whenever I'm talking to him he'll always repeat the last word I say. A new favorite saying of mine that he is says is "da-gone" for all gone. He does the sign for all gone when he says this too.

Caden is really into his puzzles and I love working on them with him. I bought him an alphabet puzzle just before my mom came in and they worked on it a lot while she was here. We were working on it yesterday and I was so impressed how quickly her learned where the 26 pieces went on the board.

He would say the picture of where the letter would go before even looking at the board. I was shocked when he picked up the letter "Q" and said "Quail".

We have a numbers puzzle too, but we are still working on learning it. He will say a number, but it's not always the right one. He will say (letter) O for the number zero and always gets that one right.

We are so proud of Caden. He is turning into such a big boy.

Our next goals coming up in the near future is getting rid of the binkie and potty training. I think I'm more nervous of eliminating the binkie than attempting potty training. Ugh.

visit with grandma

My mom's visit came and went way to fast a usual. I wish she was able to stay longer or lived closer to us for that matter. I really do not like seeing her go one bit.

We did enjoy her visit more than anything and I know she loved it too.

Grandma meeting her first and only granddaughter for the first time.

We were lucky to have some nice weather for the beginning of March too! We took Adisyn for her first walk of her life and Caden's first walk of the year! Caden LOVES to be outside. I had to bribe him with a popsicle to get him to come inside.

My mom caught this special moment on camera the last night she was here. Our evening was filled of the usual - Caden not eating dinner, babies crying, laughter, and love. After Caden was done rough housing with Daddy I asked him if he wanted some juice. I couldn't find his sippy right away, so I offered him my water bottle, in which he replied "NOT DUICE, DATS WAWER!" His first "sentence"! Shortly after Ryan asked Caden for some cuddles and Caden came running over to me to cuddle. Ryan "Who am I supposed to cuddle with now?" Caden points to the dog. Apparently Daddy is for play and Mama is for cuddles.

This is when my mom caught a cute moment of the family. You can see the dog on her red blanket on the couch trying to ignore all the noise. Poor girl.

It's the closest family we have!

Wordless Wednesday

new milestones reached for both babies

All is well in the Wagner home as I enjoy my last week of maternity leave before I return to work. I think I'm going to have a harder time than I thought. My babies need me. I need them. Over the last 10 weeks we have established a structured routine (the same as we followed before Adisyn plus one). I do not want to change this on them so abruptly :( Unfortunately, it appears I have no choice. I know it will get easier and new routines will take place. I need to brace myself for how busy our evenings will be and how exhausted I'll be by bedtime.

I don't want to jinx myself, but Adisyn does really great with her night time sleep - especially for only being 7 weeks old. She has worked herself from a 4 hour stretch to a 6 1/2 hour stretch of sleep. She'll wake up for a diaper change and some milk, and she is back to sleep for another 2-3 hours before she wakes to eat again. Most of the time I can get her to fall back asleep for another hour or so, which at that point I just pull her into bed with me for some morning snuggles.

I cannot believe she'll be 2 months in a week. I am excited for her to get a little older before I want to freeze time and keep her at a certain age forever.

She has reached a few new milestones too.

~she has been socially smiling for a few weeks now.
~cooing (apparently she cooed for my mom and Ryan before I ever heard it)
~holds her head up for a few solid minutes during tummy time
~rolls over from belly to back (Caden did not roll over until he was almost 3 months)

Caden has been his usual comical self around here. He still gets a little jealous of his sister, but not every day and not all day long. He is realizing that Adi is part of our family. In fact, Ryan and I took him out yesterday evening to view a home we were interested in. When we loaded him into the car he looked over at Adi's car seat base saying "baby? baby?".

He continues to talk up a storm repeating almost everything you say. Some of my favorites:

~lovey "bubby"
~soap "shoap"
~popsicle "tacos"
~bird "beard"

He has learned a few colors. orange, purple and red. He can also identify and say (but not very clear) a cirlce, square, and triangle.

Caden has always amazed his daddy and me and still continues to do so. We are so very proud of our (almost 2 year old!) lil man.

bath time with caden...

One of our favorite times of the day is after bath time with Caden. He loves his baths, but not so long ago he would fight them with all his might. I'm so happy he is back to loving them and he even lets his Daddy bathe him. Before he would ONLY let me give him a bath, but thankfully he has grown out of that too.

Why is bath time our favorite time with Caden? Because he is just too darn cute when bath time is over.

*sigh* I know he will grow out of this too and won't say bye to the "shoap", "wawer" or "toys" any longer. I just LOVE this age with Caden and I wish I could freeze time with him. IHowever, I am thankful to do this all over again with Adisyn and can't wait to see her personality develop as she grows.

cupcakes

I took the opportunity this morning (since Ryan was home) to spend some one on one time with my little man. I'm a germophobiac (if that is even a word), so I won't take him to public play areas during the flu/cold season. In Caden's world I'm not the play/rough houser anyway - that's Daddy's job.

I thought we could make cupcakes together. I knew we wouldn't get through it without tears from Caden, but we did it anyway. He had one breakdown (because he wanted the open jar of sprinkles), but after some cuddles and some talking by his Mommy he made a quick recovery.

I did let him help stir the batter, but after one fling of the whisk and cake batter everywhere - I took over and gave him some sprinkles to play with.

preparing our (very) small cupcake pan

final product

and it's time to dig in!

We had fun, but I don't think I'll try this again until he is a little older. Too much mess for me!

caden's sleep arrangements

Ryan and I have been contemplating on whether or not to transition Caden to his toddler bed before our move. If he adapts well to his toddler bed, we can set the crib up in Adisyn's own room when we do eventually move. I just worry he may not like a toddler bed or won't feel a sense of security in it. He does so well in his crib and seems happy to be in there. We have not had to deal with any climbing out of the crib up to this point and would like to avoid that if possible.

I wonder if he would sleep in the right place of his new bed - not like he does in his crib? This is where he ends up EVERY night and after his nap. Gotta love him!

Oh, and Caden - the playmat you are sitting in... I brought that out for your sister to lay in. It's not a seat for you to plant your bum with all your toys and watch cartoons. Since you love it so much, you can keep it until your sister kicks you out.

Happy 22 months my lil man.

Love,

Mama