Ring bearer ready!

Caden is all set to be the ring bearer in my cousin David's wedding in July!  We tried on his new suit and shoes the other day and they fit perfectly.  I just hope he can take directions and walk down the aisle when the time comes!  Somehow, he - at 17.5 months - and his cousins, Madelyn (3.5) and Riley (just over a year) - the flower girls - need to all make it down the aisle on July 7th.  It promises to be a little crazy, but hopefully pretty cute too!

3rd trimester!

This pregnancy is flying by - we will have this little girl in our arms before we know it!  I'm in the 3rd trimester now and still feeling great.  Getting a little more tired physically, and often more tired emotionally as Caden enters toddlerhood.  

Some days it seems like the tantrums and fits are non-stop.  Although, then there are days like today...  I had to wake him up out of a dead sleep at 10:45 this morning (after he went to bed at 7 p.m. on the dot last night)!!  And then he was pretty cheerful and played well and ate his food without screaming and ran some errands with me all the way until nap time.  It was great.

Here's the 28-week belly

You'd barely know I was pregnant from the front!  (Haha, this picture is rather deceptive - I really look more pregnant than that in real life, especially when I'm not wearing all black!)

Things are busy the next couple weeks with Wade finishing the school year and me finishing my office hours at the church...  beginning in June I'll be an independent contractor, doing my same job but all from home.  I'm excited about it, and hope it continues to be a good thing after adding another baby to the mix!  Wade's summer is full of basketball camps and graduate school.  Once he finishes those, we'll barely have time to turn around before the baby comes and he starts back to school again!  Crazy.

Trip to Ohio

Last weekend, we all got to drive up to Ohio to see Wade's grandmother, who turns 90 in May.  I had met her just once before, at our wedding, but it was great to get to spend more time with her and introduce her to her great-grandson!  We also spent time with a few more of Wade's aunts & uncles & a cousin, so it was a fun little family reunion.

Unfortunately, I got no pictures of any of that, but did get some cool ones of animals at the Columbus Zoo, which we visited on Friday.  Caden was a little moody after having been in the car 11 hours the previous day, and then he slept in the stroller all afternoon, but the rest of us enjoyed it!

This leopard was absolutely gorgeous - makes you understand why people want to wear leopard print :).

The gorillas were Wade's & my favorite - they were so entertaining and person-like.

Forget what this guy is, but we'll just call him Rafiki, from The Lion King.

And who could pass up a researcher photo op stand?

Beach trip!

This past week, Caden and I got away to the beach for a little bit.  Sadly, Wade had to work & couldn't join us.  We were there with Hillary & family for a couple days, and then dad & Pamela came down for the weekend.  The weather was hit or miss, but we got a little beach time each day and some of it was sunny & warm :).

Me and my handsome date for dinner Thursday night :)

Caden playing beach ball with dad

He loved throwing the ball around, although the wind made it difficult to retrieve with his short little legs!

He thought it was both funny and gross to eat sand.

The basketball goes everywhere with this kid.  It was also better for throwing around on the beach since it didn't blow away like the beach ball.

All done!

A sampling of Easter pictures

Yesterday (the day after Easter), the weather was gorgeous and I had a chance to take Caden outside to actually give him his Easter basket and take some pictures for the baby book :). Here's a little sample of our 14.5 month old cutie.

Just this weekend he started walking a lot more - he's been able to take steps for a month or two now, but hated it and always preferred to crawl. He still mostly prefers to crawl, but he actually voluntarily got up and walked a lot this weekend, so hopefully we're on our way to making it a full-time mode of transportation!

This might be my all-time favorite picture now. I love Caden's mouth open laughing, his hair blowing back, and Wade's face as he runs him around the yard. So cute!

Inspecting the Easter eggs

Happy Easter!

We had a slightly crazy Easter this year - just busy from beginning to end. We rushed to get to the early service at church (20 minutes late), and then had nursery at the second service. Then we got home, fed Caden lunch and got him down for a nap (although he talked in his crib for over an hour before going to sleep).

Wade then had to buy a new post for our mailbox and put it all back together after a crazed Easter bunny (or teenaged girl) ran it over last night. He also mowed the grass, and I did laundry and straightened up. We had Easter dinner with the whole crew at my aunt Laurie's, which is always fun but a zoo.

Caden got his outfit messy at church, and then I took him straight from his nap to dinner in an old onesie and sweatpants, so we may have to fake some cute Easter pictures at a later date. The above is all I got. It's still cute, but it was at the end of the night and we were all a little haggard at that point! I also never got a chance to give Caden his Easter basket, so we'll have to do that tomorrow. I can only imagine how much crazier life will be next Easter!

But, Jesus is still risen, so it is well with our souls :).

Just because...