Pumpkin Patch!

Took Caden to the pumpkin patch today. Cute as ever!

I'm also happy to report that the splat mat that I made is doing it's job:

New video

I posted a new video of Caden and this new sound that he makes - he kinda rolls his tongue? That's that best description of it.

Check it out here.

P.S. sorry for the amateur camera work. =)

Is he cute enough for....

Some recent pictures:

Caden loves to watch the laundry (gets this from his mama!).

Caden also loves to swing.

Ok, well, I have an ulterior reason for the photos - Gap is having a casting call for kid models. =)

STAND in the place where you are...

Caden is all about pulling himself up to standing now. He seems both surprised and indifferent to this new skill he has developed.

He's got his first cold/stuffy nose this week, so he's been a little out of sorts, but doing fine overall. He's adjusting to having Sara as his primary caregiver. He hasn't seen Grammy or Papa for nearly two weeks now, I can only imagine what his reaction will be the next time he sees them; excitement, or dismay.

Some recent photos, including the group first birthday party with the babies from Parent/Baby class at Evergreen. He also loves to play with the tub of toys in the living room.

Can you see what is happening in this photo?

Yesterday, I was working at the computer, Caden was playing in the living room. I looked over and saw this:

oh boy

Baseball

Several weeks ago we got to go to a baseball game to thank mama (and her group) for the work they'd done on the new phone system. We had a nice afternoon. Kirsten snapped a great picture:

Not too shabby when your first two baseball games are in the dugout seats.

1- Visit to Omma & 2 - Weight Check, not in that order

2) On Thursday, Caden had his halfway-between-9-&-12-month weight check. Glad to say that he was 18lbs, 10 oz. Thats up 2 lbs, 10 oz from 6 months (he was 16lbs, 9oz at 9 month check just after we'd all been sick). That's also about 2 pounds in 6 weeks! That's what the Dr. called catch-up growth. Not quite back to the 25 percentile where we was, but back on the right track. I wasn't thinking anything was wrong, but it feels good to know for sure.

1.5) OK, yes, I'm sneaking one in. We hired a live-in nanny. She moves in today. Welcome Sara! We realized that for as much as we were going to pay for a child care center, we could pay a live-in, because they also get room & board. We have a big house, and Mark is a great cook - not a bad place to live. And a pretty cute and happy little guy to take care of.
Wait. I want that job. =\

2) About two weeks ago (technical difficulties with Photoshop Elements and Vista - have I mentioned that I !?$*&#*#!?#! hate Vista?) we went up to Canada to visit Omma, Godmother Heddy and almost all the great aunts & uncles. Caden was his normal charming self, and we ate like kings. There were more dishes on the table then there were people at it!

Some pix:

With Omma:

With Godmother Heddy:

Some other recent shameless cuteness:

The food theme continues....

OK, so you've seen the start of the whole play food thing. I was at Target and guess what I found in the $1 section. A chef hat!!! Couldn't resist!

House Progress

******** I interrupt this baby blog for a house update *********

At 7:36pm this evening Mark finished. installing. the hardwood floor. in my sewing room.

This is HUGE.

It still needs a finish applied to it, so it's not completely done, but we're past the loud pounding and nailing that he couldn't do while Caden was around or sleeping. The rest can be done anytime.

What a lovely 5th anniversary present. Love you hon!

Play food!

A while ago, I mentioned being obsessed with play food, like this and this. If you were paying close attention, you may have seen my friend Gaylen say that we could totally make that food. Well, we totally have. We have a start, at least. I bought some felt, and we had a sew date yesterday (following a yummy meal at her house the night before).

I made the egg, Gaylen made the fortune cookies (complete with fortune!). She took home felt to make a pancake, complete with a pat of butter. Veggies are next!

Various updates

We've had a few ups and downs recently, the big down being the nasty stomach virus/flu that Caden picked up in Parent/Baby class. I think there were ~24 moms with their babies in class, and at last count 12 had gotten it. It got Caden, me, Grammy, Papa, and Daddy, in that order. Not very much fun at all.

Caden turned 9 months old on the 12th, so we had his 9 month appointment last Thurday. I was anxious to see his weigh-in, it had seemed to me he was growing, but not that much. He weighed 16lbs, 9oz. He weighed exactly 16lbs at his 6 month appointment. He was now in the 3rd percentile, down from a consistent presence at the 25th percentile. Somewhat worrisome, but I also knew that he'd probably lost some weight from being sick. I went and checked the chart, and to still be in the 25th percentile, he should weigh 19lbs. I don't think he was up to 19lbs before he got sick. We have a weigh-in scheduled in 6 weeks, so we'll see where he is then.

Dr. also said that I need to up his food intake, and not just to gain some weight. The solid food thing has been going much better, but we'd been feeding him maybe 5x a week. Dr. said 4x a day. Yikes! Well, sorry, that's not realistic. So, Mom feeds him solid food once during the day, and we're feeding him in the evening. it's not four, but four is a little much. He's digging it more than he did, and he's much better at actually eating/swallowing the food. Much less messy than it was.

My stretched-out materinty leave is now over, so I'm at work full time, and I'm also searching for childcare for Caden. Mom offered to watch him for about the first year while I was still breastfeeding him, but now that it's up to four days a week, it's even more of a major committment for her. So sometime in October, he'll be transitioning from Grammy's to a yet-to-be-determined childcare situation. There are alot of options out there, but it's tough to try and find something while I'm working full time. The search continues.....

Caden continues to be his happy, charming self and is a delight everyday. We are a very lucky family.

A few random photos:

The next milestone

Well, not unexpectedly, Caden started crawling this week. Thursday to be exact. He'd been rolling really well, and was doing the lay on the ground and move all four limbs in rhythmic frustration thing. He'd get his torso up, but not his backside. In parent/baby class on Thursday one of the gals had a toy that you pulled the string and it rolls away. Caden got one look at that and went right after it. Here are two cell phone pictures taken about :10 apart, along with a link to a video. I try and keep the videos to 1 minute or less. Yes, I know that not everyone will want to watch hours of video of my little guy, so I try and respect your time.


Here's the video link.

Two firsts!

Yesterday, Caden's first tooth came in! Mark noticed it first, just the tiniest little bit showing. Overall, he's doing really well, maybe a tad more fussy. We did have about :15 minutes of crying, drooling and the running nose Monday night, but that was about it.

Caden also had his first swim lesson tonight. He did really well, maybe even had a fun time. We'll be back in the pool on Thursday. Mama will also have a slightly better plan to handle wet baby & wet mama and no real good place to set him down. It's quite the logistical challenge. As fellow cloth diaper mama Kirsten said, the lesson is only :30 minutes, but it takes four hours.

Since I took him swimming, I wasn't able to get any 'during' photos, but I do have some telling 'after' photos.

Cousin visit, part deux

Cousin Jakob & Erik came for another visit today. Erik was born 8 days after Caden, but just look at the difference!

Cutie patotie!