Caden's First Christmas

We had a fun and family-filled Christmas this year for Caden's first Christmas! Friday night we got together with Wade's older sister, Angie, and her family for the Tapp-only Christmas. We had THE most delicious dinner of a turkey Wade's dad cooked in the deep fryer, homemade macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, corn & green beans. I ate way way too much!

Here is Caden riding his new toy (it can be a stand-up push toy or this riding toy) with his big cousin Dylan (in 4th grade).

Christmas Eve, we had a low-key day and then went to church with my dad, and my aunt/uncle/cousins (the Steele crew), along with David's fiancee Rebeca & her family.

On Christmas morning, the Tapps came over to our house for present opening. We enjoyed a great breakfast of sausage & egg casserole & fruit that Joli brought.

Getting ready to open some gifts

Caden opening a book from Nana & Grandpa

Caden with Aunt Whitney, who wore a special tacky Christmas sweater with bells glued all over it just for his enjoyment :)

My little cutie

Later in the afternoon we all went to the Steeles' house for Christmas dinner. We had more or less a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner (attendance-wise) with about 21 people! It was a little chaotic, but again had great food with flank steak, twice baked potatoes, mandarin orange salad, some awesome green beans, and a delicious ice cream dessert.

Have you ever seen a face cuter than this? I dare say, you have not :).

Here is Caden taking a spin on his new rocking horse from Aunt Laurie. The happy, open-mouth grin in full effect :).

Today, we celebrated Christmas with the Harts (dad's sister & family) & Uncle Jeff at Hillary's house. I failed to get any pictures of that, but just repeat fun, family, gifts & good food :).

Fall Days

We spent a little time out in the yard today as a family... Wade was raking leaves, I had just gotten back from the store, and Caden had just woken up from a nap. It was beautiful weather - wish it could've lasted longer, but Wade had to get ready to coach his first basketball game of the season, and Caden quickly needed lunch :).

Ho hum, what's a boy to do?

Climb a tree with dad, perhaps?

Get thrown in the air? Most definitely.

Jump in the leaves? Yes please.

Ah, what a great day!

Old things

Ok, so 5 isn't very old, but I can't believe my first "baby" Paisley turned FIVE on Saturday. Poor thing doesn't get quite as much attention with the second baby around, but we still love her! For her birthday she got lots of dog treats, bequeathed to her by her cousin Ally who went on to doggie heaven last week :(.

Caden has gotten to play with Lego-ish toys that Hillary & I had when we were little, and it's just so fun to see him explore different things. He really likes the cars & trains and will drive them around on the floor. So cute!

Aw Shucks Farms

On Saturday, we went on our first real family "outing" to Aw Shucks Farms in Monroe, NC. I had bought a Groupon for it, so admission was half-price, and it was a perfect day for fall activities! I'm sure it would have been more fun for Caden if he was 3 or 4 years old instead of 8 months, but I loved at least giving him a new experience (and taking pictures).

Cutie(s)

They had continuously running hayrides around the corn maze, so we each took him on one (didn't want to leave our stroller & stuff by itself for us all to go together).

Love my family!

They had a (small) pumpkin patch, so I got to live out my dream of taking fall pictures of my kid with a bunch of pumpkins (haha). Caden stood & inspected this pumpkin for a bit, but we decided not to buy one there.

Daddy tickling the Cadester - I love his giggles so much!

They also had a corn maze, which was a little disappointing because the corn was not as tall as Wade, so he could see over it :). There were also some goats, chickens & turkeys, and a random little pony you could buy food to feed, but we didn't get in on that because there were a bunch of little kids in the way. Probably better not to get Caden's hand bitten off this early anyway ;-).

Cuteness abounds

Footie pajamas are here! It's still on the hot side during the day, but Friday's high is supposed to be in the 60's, and it is September after all, so I broke out the footie pajamas for Caden the other night :). Up until now he hasn't had dedicated "pajamas" - he just slept in the same onesies he wore during the day (a fresh one if the day's outfit was dirty, but still, day and night wear were interchangeable).

But, as he gets older and probably starts to have more of a bedtime routine (i.e. I might actually start to read to him before bed, or give him baths more often), having actual pajamas seems to be in order. Plus, there's just nothing cuter than a baby in pajamas, ready for bed!

New toy & new skill

Caden is working on his standing skills, so he's excited about this music & lights play table we borrowed from Aunt Hillary! He also stands at his bookshelf in his room pulling books off the shelves, or at the ottoman or couch in the den, trying to grab the remote, the iPod Touch, or any other electronic device that he's not supposed to have. I swear, the boy is obsessed with everything that is not a baby toy!

First few beach pictures

I'll post some more, but here is a sampler to start you out.

First day, headed to the beach!

Watching the waves with mommy.

Yay!

Riding on daddy's shoulders.

Looking so little compared to my daddy!

Stay tuned for beach pics!

We took a 48-hour trip to the beach this weekend on the heels of Hurricane Irene. Here's a short video of our sweet boy just being silly. More pictures to come!

Caden's first fort

One day this week, I left Caden in the den for a minute to fix my sandwich in the kitchen, and I came back to this scene. I guess he had pulled the play gym over his head from behind, but he was just sitting there happy as a clam, playing in the little fort he had inadvertently made for himself. Funny boy.

Wiggle worm

Diaper changes have become small wrestling matches as our little wiggle worm is not content to lie on his back anymore for any period of time! I usually let him explore the changing pad on his tummy for a little bit in the midst of a diaper change. Although now he wants to pull over the box of extra diapers, wipes & ointments on the dresser, so I'll have to figure out how to distract him from that.

Books!

I've felt a little guilty thus far as a mother for the lack of reading in Caden's life. In theory I wanted to always read to my child and make that a daily part of his life. But, it just didn't happen in the hectic first few months, and then things settled down but logistically it was hard because he wouldn't just relax in my lap for me to read him a book.

Now he can sit up but all he wants to do is grab them and eat them, so I still don't read to him all that much because I can't get anywhere (and I'm a perfectionist who wants to be able to read every word from cover to cover straight through, not stop for munching and drooling and flipping the book over and over).

But, the other day I at least got a couple pictures when he took his Toddler Bible from me so he could "read" it on his own :). Doesn't it look like he is reading to a classroom full of people or something? So funny.

A new pacifier

Caden used to love his pacifiers, which was such a blessing for keeping him quiet at night, at the grocery store, at church, etc. Lately, he would rather play with them than keep them in his mouth, and if he's really upset, those pacifiers are going to do nothing to stop the screaming. But, he has started sucking on his two middle fingers a lot, especially when going to sleep, but really anytime. It's so cute!

On the verge

This was Caden a couple weeks ago. All month he's been on the verge of crawling. He started getting up on hands & knees and just whining. Then he would move his one knee forward, but stop and either whine or sink back down onto his belly.

Now as he's about to be 7 months, he's a definite army-crawler, pulling himself forward on his tummy and inch-worming his way to whatever he wants. I want him to get the whole arm & leg crawling thing so badly, but I know he'll figure it out very soon and then nothing will be safe :).

Catching Up

In the interest of launching this new blog, let me recap the major shift(s) my life has undergone in the last 4 years. In June of 2007, I was a single girl, turning 25, working for the Girl Scouts and sharing my first condo with my puppy, Paisley (and a roommate).

In July, I met a tall, funny, cute, all-around wonderful guy at a country line dancing bar. Within a few weeks, we were dating, I knew he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and I also received the news that my mom's tumor was back and really couldn't be stopped.

In May/June of 2008, I left the Girl Scouts to work at a church, Wade graduated from college & returned to Charlotte, and I spent my mom's final days trying to take in enough of her love, beauty and godly wisdom to sustain me for the next 60 years. She was freed from her earthly body on the 4th of July.

In October of 2008, Wade whisked me away to NYC for a day and asked me to be his wife. We got married on May 30, 2009. Six months later, we decided to try to sell the condo, and ended up moving into our new house in January 2010. Mother's Day weekend brought us the news that our first baby was on the way. Six more months and we finally got rid of the condo, just in time to welcome Caden Mitchell on January 22, 2011.

This blog is the story of our family.