Caeden's Birthday Party!

Caeden does not actually turn one year old until Thursday of this week (more of that to come...), but we celebrated his 1st Birthday party last Saturday.  We had so much fun!!  I cannot tell you how many years I've thought about planning my kids' birthday parties...and my dream came true last weekend.   (I'm going to post a few short videos as I go along and just so you know, my sister is the one narrating). :)

We had his party at a local city park with a "toddler" playground.  They have a nice pavilion where we had some fun foods, popsicles, and some nice cold drinks (we needed it in the 100 degree weather).  It was so fun seeing Caeden's other one-year-old friends show up for his party, carrying him a present and waving "hi" to him.  It's so cute how they're already friends!  We had several pools and water games set up for them to play in. 

When it came time to open presents, Caeden was getting a drink from his Papa's water bottle.  But as he saw Nana carrying the presents over, he took off walking straight towards her and immediately started pulling on the ribbons!!  HA!  Hilarious how he knew exactly what to do!  He did a great job staying in one spot to open all the presents...However, I don't think he liked the fact that just as he opened a present and started playing with a toy, we took it away to give him another present to open...

Then came the time for the cake!! I made the birthday cake and his own little smash cake.  They each had a small "pool" in the middle to go with the water theme. 

There were mini oreos around the bottom edge of the cake and at first, Caeden would just pick off the oreos and eat those.  Eventually, he dug into the cake and loved it too!  His face was a total mess!!!  So was his swimsuit and high chair...it was everywhere...but so fun!

Then after he finished the cake, he went off to walk around some more and play in the water.  It was such a great 1st Birthday and was absolutely perfect in my eyes!  Now...I know you want to see pictures...but the problem is...we hired a photographer friend to take pictures for us (which I'm SO glad we did)...and we'll get them back sometime next week.  Sooo...I do not have ONE SINGLE picture on my camera!  I can't wait to get the pictures back from her and you can bet I'll have them posted right away.  I can't believe my baby boy is turning ONE!!!!

Walking Around the House

So the day after Caeden turned 10 months old, he started walking short distances.  I remember making a post about this.  He would always take between 8-12 steps and then either fall or hold onto the closest object.

The week or so he fell into a new habit.  We would stand him up and let go and he would either 1) sit down or 2) turn around and grab our legs.  He would walk some each day but it's like he was scared.

Well, yesterday something happened.  Reid stood him up by the back door, let go and Caeden just took off: walking through the kitchen, around the living room, and to the front door.  And ever since then he's been all over the house. :)  So funny how it changed in an instant!!  If he's holding onto an object, it's still hard for him to let go and just start walking.  But if we stand him up and let go, he'll walk wherever.  It's like we just have to get him started!  But it's so great!  We're loving it and it's so fun seeing him "waddle" around the house!!  Here are two short videos for you to enjoy!

Fun at Play Group!!!

Our little play group met at our house today.  Since it's nice and HOT outside, we decided to set up a little splash park. :)  The kids had a great time
PLAYING IN THE POOLS...

SPRAYING THE SPRINKLER...

and climbing on the playset!!!  It didn't surprise us that it was more fun to them when they climbed UP the slide and slid DOWN the climber!   HA! 

They also enjoyed just chilaxin in their chairs...

AND GETTING THEIR PICTURES TAKEN!!!

Great day at playgroup with friends!!  This is why we love summer!!!

Camping Trip #2!!

So we left Friday afternoon for our second camping trip of the summer....this time to Lake Fort Smith.  Caeden did great on the drive down there, had fun playing, and slept great that night.  He actually still slept 7:30pm-6:30am even though he was in a camper! 

Then came Saturday...another successful day!  He ate well all day, took two decent naps, loved playing in the pool, and just had fun crawling in the dirt. :)  Then came bedtime....he ate dinner, took a shower, and was laid down at 7am...his normal bedtime.  We were all down by the campfire and at 7:30 I walk up by the camper and hear him in there playing....hmm...that's not normal (or good).  So I gave him his pacifier and he fell fast asleep. 

We finish our evening and all crawl in bed about 10pm.  At 1:00am, Caeden wakes up crying.  I feel that he is wet...through his outfit.  We go to change him in the car, trying not to wake up the other 4 people in our camper or any of our neighbors sleeping in tents.  BUT once we got him all changed, he doesn't want to sleeep!  In his mind, it's playtime!  We put him in his crib anyway and he just happily plays, talks, and laughs.  After about 30 minutes of playing in the dark by himself and realizing we are not playing with him, he starts fussing and crying.  Now, this is totally not normal for Caeden!  He has been sleeping through the night for several months now!  However, if he were ever to do this at home, we would normally leave him in his crib, knowing he would fall quickly back to sleep.  But in our desperate effort not to wake the entire campground, we are trying everything....a bottle, medicine, letting him sleep with us, Nana rocking him, and finally even just letting him cry!  Nothing was working!!!  Most of the time, he wasn't even crying...He seriously just wanted to play!  (Sigh....)

So after 3 hours, we finally decided to pack up and leave the campground at 4:00am!  We figured he would sleep much better at home.  I think he associates our camper with fun and playtime so when he woke up in the middle of the night, he was ready to play.  Sure enough, we put him in the car, and he was sound asleep within 15 minutes.  We got home at 5:00am, put him in his crib, and all slept until 8:00am.  The rest of the day has been a little off but we've survived.  Mommy and Daddy are VERY tired though!  So needless to say, I'm getting ready to go to sleep right now...and praying that tonight is much better! 

After his double ear infection last camping trip, and his nighttime party this camping trip, we are praying the third time's a charm!

A Busy Weekend!!

So first off, I forgot to tell you last week that Caeden has officially learned how to drink out of a straw! Last week, we offered it to him one day, but he mainly just chewed on it and played with it. The next morning, we pulled it out again and he just started drinking. I think he now likes his straw cups more than his sippy cups. :)




Now to this weekend....we have lots to report!!  Caeden got to stay at his Nonnie & Grandpa's house (Reid's parents) over night for the first time this weekend.  He has stayed at Nana & Papa's (Ashley's parents) before, but this time was new for him.  He did great!  He stayed Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon all by himself and was such a big boy!  Of course, mommy and daddy missed him TONS...but we enjoyed the much-needed break.  Saturday evening we grilled out and ate dinner together without having to rush and make sure it was done by Caeden's dinnertime.  Then we relaxed and ate together whie having an adult conversation...we didn't have to stop every few bites to feed Caeden...so nice!  We finished the evening off by going to Chili's and impressing the waitress by each eating our own dessert (I'm pretty sure most people usually share a dessert!)  Ha!  When she came back to our table a few minutes after bringing us the warm cake & ice cream, her response was something like..."Wow! You must have really liked your dessert!"  That was when we realized that not only did we each order our own, but we also had completely clean plates!!  Ha!  I'm dreading my Weight Watchers weigh-in this week....

The best part is we got to sleep in this morning!!!  And I mean sleep in past 7:00!!  We took our time getting ready, went to the 11:00 service, and then went to eat lunch at MAD Pizza with some great friends!  We never get to do that because normally Caeden has to take a nap! So nice!  We then went shopping for some of Caeden's birthday presents which was so fun!  Now that he's getting older and doing much more, there's much more of a selection when it comes to things we can buy him!!!  It was so fun thinking about his personality and which toys he would really like. :)  After coming home and relaxing for a bit, we met Reid's parents halfway and picked up our greatly-missed son!!!  It was so good to see him again!

Now for the best part!!! After Caeden ate dinner, we got to show him his "big" birthday present! Yes, it's 3.5 weeks early but we wanted him to be able to enjoy it while there was still some summer left. Both grandparents pitched in to help us buy this amazing playset! And Caeden loves it already! He played on it for about 30 minutes and we still had to convince him to come inside for his bath.  We're looking forward to the fun playtimes he will have in his clubhouse over the next few years!!  We really hope he enjoys it!

Gymboree & Cleaning

Since today was a rainy day we did some fun indoor activities!  After Caeden took a morning nap and ate some lunch, we went to a free class at Gymboree Play & Music.  It was so great!  There were 8 other babies there and they were all his age (10-16 mos).  Being a typical active boy...he LOVED it!  Able to bounce, climb, slide, crawl through tunnels, throw balls, anything a mobile baby boy would want to do! 

After having some great fun at Gymboree & taking an afternoon nap, Mommy and Daddy decided to clean because Thursdays are always our "cleaning" day. ;)   And of course Caeden, being the little imitator he is, had to try everything we did.  We're just glad he's already on board and passionate about cleaning....we'll have these pictures to remind him of his first love in about 15 years!  Ha!

Fireworks, Family, & Fun!

I know we're a day early, but we celebrated "July 4th" today!  Reid's parents & Gram came down for lunch this afternoon....we enjoyed ourselves some good southern bbq pulled pork sandwiches....complete with the cole slaw on top. :)  Along with the usual grilled corn on the cob, fruit, deviled eggs, homemade ice cream, and homemade peach cobbler....too bad you couldn't join us!! :)

After Caeden's nap, we went outside to shoot some mild fireworks.  But Caeden definitely did not consider them mild....He even cried at the smoke bombs the first time he saw them. :) 

There is a funny video below of he and I throwing some snappers.  He actually watched me and caught on pretty quick.  But when he decided to give it a shot, he cried when it hit the ground and snapped.  There are two separate videos, but they go together, so watch the first one, then the second one.

Anything that made anything close to a pop or boom made him cry...Reid is hoping he grows out of it soon because he needs a buddy to help him shoot bottle rockets and other loud "toys."  By the end, Caeden's favorite things to watch were the smoke bombs and the snakes (which he liked to step on and try to pick up).

I remember last summer when I was 9 mos pregnant at this time, we went to the Bentonville fireworks show and Caeden was rolling and punching in my stomach the entire time.  I remember saying to Reid, "At least we know he has good hearing..."  And here we are a year later, with him shooting off fireworks with us....crazy!  It was a fun day and we're looking forward to the many more "fourths" we get to spend with him!