Caden's New Cousin

Caden's new cousin, Rowan, was born yesterday 8/28/07 at 9:34 PM. He weighed 5 lbs and 14 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. He is doing well.

We can't wait to go up and see him next week. Uncle Jeff called him Ro-ro in the video, so Caden asked if he could hold Baby Ro-Ro. He is adorable, and we love him already. Now we're just ready to meet him!

Allison is doing well and my Mom says that Jeff is really attached to the baby! His family and my parents are up there helping them out.

Soccer, Babies and Life in General

Rob and his soccer team played on Sunday against a team called "Racing." Apparently only five of their players showed up. They were pretty upset about half the team missing. Rob was goalie again, and he even came out to play the field a little bit because they were down some men. They scored 4 points this time. Final Score: 4-17. Poor Rob--but he seems to be taken in stride and like a good sportsman as well which is good.

Today is the 27th, and I worked all day. It was a non-eventful day at work. I called my Mom and my sister Alli. Alli had another ultrasound today, and they will induce tomorrow, the 28th, at 6 AM. Hopefully, I will have a new baby nephew by nightfall tomorrow night!

Kelsey started her first day of work too and seems to enjoy it. I spoke to her a while about how to control a 2 year old. I think I might be investing in some literature on various discipline methods that will work. Lately, I don't think anything works with Caden--but hopefully he will realize eventually that he won't sit in time out if he behaves. We shall see.

I spoke to my Dad tonight too, and he is getting ready to travel up to see Alli and the new little one. We will be dog and cat-sitting and we will probably sneak a few dips in the pool when we're over there too!

This weekend one of my friend's from middle & high school is getting married in Wetumpka. It will be nice to see all of my high school friends again. Plus, I get to meet Stacy's baby Ethan, and I am super excited about that! I can't wait to hold him!!!

My Little Artist

Caden absolutely loves to paint. We have all sorts of paints, all of them washable of course. The other day, we decided to paint and Caden used his paintbrush, but also his hands and his feet. He really had a wonderful time. I helped a little too.

I also had a small paint set with these little figurines to be painted, and Caden loved doing that as well. It is amazing to see what makes him happy and what he likes to do as he gets bigger and bigger every day.

Yesterday,

we also bought a pre-school workbook so that he could learn his numbers and alphabets. Caden already knows all of his colors.

The workbook is great, because he can use crayons, markers and paints to do the activities. His attention span is still a little short to do some of the numbers and letters, but he will grow into doing those. He finished 2 pages of it yesterday on the colors and did a great job!

High Heels, anyone?

Today, Caden and I drove up to Birmingham to see my friend Cecilia. I went to high school with her, and she recently moved to Birmingham after getting a job at Regions, our competitor! I wanted to see her place and also see my friend Marie from high school, who I hadn't seen since I ran into her on the highway our freshman year in college.

She lives in a beautiful apartment building in Birmingham. It is a spacious two bedroom with wood floors. They were still unpacking, and while Cecilia got ready we sat around and talked to Marie and played with their new puppy. Caden also proceeded to dump all the change out of a pink pig piggy bank that Cecilia had completely filled up. I asked him to fill it up, and this was actually a good deversion for him while we were waiting. By the time we left for lunch, he had painstakingly put all the coins back into the piggy bank.

We decided to go to Nabeel's for lunch, a Greek restaurant, in Homewood. After a wonderful lunch of gyros, grape leaves, hummos and chips, and one screaming child, we stopped back by their apartment for a quick diaper change, and then headed on to the Summit for shopping.

Cecilia was looking for a new brown pair of shoes for work, so we went to Parisians. They were having a huge shoe sale, but she didn't see what she wanted. She picked up some fancy red shoes, and here comes Caden saying "I want to try those on!" He loves high heels and he often gets into my closet and walks around our house with them (as you can tell from the picture above). So, he took off his crocs, and put on the bright red high heels. He started walking up and down the aisles of Parisians and everyone was staring and laughing at him. Several people remarked that it was so cute. One couple was amazed at how well he can walk in heels.

Restaurants and 2 Years Old

Sometimes I wonder what possesses Rob and me to go out to eat with Caden.

Tonight, after a long day of work Rob and I did not feel like cooking. We came home, and Caden was in just the best mood. He let me change his diaper, but did not try to go potty, and then we decided to go off to Kabuki, the local Japanese place.

We had Hibachi, because Rob refuses to eat sushi despite the fact that I keep telling him how good it is. He refuses to eat much, and this is one thing that unfortunately Caden has inherited from Rob.

Well we go to the restaurant, and it was already packed at 6:00. They sat us immediately though, next to a couple with a 7 year old girl and a 13 year old girl. Caden sat between Rob and me in the highchair. Things started out well, because we had brought along poptarts to persuade Caden to be good and eat something. Well, he finished the poptarts in a few seconds flat, and then it was downhill from there.

About the time we ordered, another couple came and sat down next to Rob. Perhaps, I feel the worse for this couple, who had left their 2 year old at home so they could enjoy a nice, quiet dinner out on their anniversary.

Caden was extremely scared of the fire, and he kept hiding which was fine. Then, he got interested in the chopsticks. He played with mine and then threw them on the floor. Then he played with his Lightening McQueen and then threw that on the floor. This was all before we had finished our salad.

Things looked up when our hibachi chef came. Caden loved it when he clinked the utensils, and he told the chef that he wanted to try (of course Caden's request was not granted). Then the fire came, and we quickly covered Caden's face. When we took the cover off, the chef squirted water at him, which shocked him and made him scowl, which everyone at the table laughed at.

About this time things went way downhill. The "I want to go home and I want to go outsides," started streaming from Caden's mouth. We felt like we were silently urging the chef to cook faster, as he piled fried rice, veggies, and steaks on our plates; Rob and I were in a race to finish so we could avoid the all embarrassing meltdown.

But, alas, we could not avoid it. About four bites into my steak, Caden started saying he wanted to go outside. When Rob explained that Daddy and Mommy had to finish eating first, Caden began to scream, ear-piercingly on the top of his lungs, and I think the whole restaurant looked at us. Luckily, our table was child-friendly and they all smiled and nodded knowingly.

Rob quickly ducked outside with Caden, while I finished up and paid the bills. At this point, I thought the whole meltdown was done, silly me.

I paid and talked to the couples next to me, then went outside to find Caden doing laps on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and the nearby stores. I believe this child should start cross-country running right now! Anyone want to sign a 2 year old? Well, I was ready to go and I said "Caden, why don't we get ice cream now?" Well he said no, and continued to run. Both Rob and I said it was time to go, and he threw a major fit. Getting him into the car was fun. Ever heard of the "stiff as a board baby," because that was Caden tonight. Plus, he hit me, which made me even more upset than I already was. Then we told him he couldn't have ice cream because he didn't listen, and he cried all the way home. Poor kid.

So, maybe going out in the long run isn't easier than staying in. At least at home, Caden can color or watch TV, or run laps around the living room while we're cooking. The food is good when you go out, but if you can't enjoy it then why go?

Long Time No Post!

Well I haven't posted in a long time, and I felt like updating my blog. Almost everyone who reads this will know that we have moved to Alabama.

Caden is going to be 3 in November! Isn't that crazy? He is in daycare, and he's doing very well. This summer he has reached a lot of new milestones. He is swimming without floaties. He's starting to potty train too! It is great, because at this point I'm really tired of changing dirty diapers.

Caden has adjusted well to being in daycare. He has some great friends, and we've met some great people here too. One of Caden's favorite thing to do after school is to watch Rob play soccer. Rob is on an indoor soccer team with his job. They play on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays. Caden will stand right next to the window and say "Go Daddy Go!!!" It is the cutest thing.

Two year olds are full of energy! I don't think Caden stays still for more than 1 minute of a time. His favorite pastimes are running, playing in the pillows, jumping off our furniture, and painting all of his body parts when we go outside to paint! He thinks that all paints are meant for your hands and feet, but hey, you can only be a toddler once huh?

Things that happened this month:
Beginning of August: My Mom broke her foot, had a cast, and recently had the cast removed. My friend Katherine's son, Danny, was born.

August 16-20th: Grandma came to visit from Rhode Island. We had a great time hanging out, showing her how Caden could swim, looking at houses, and visiting Old Alabama Town.

Mid-August: My sister Allison was put on bed rest. She is due in September with her 1st, a little boy! She is now going to be induced next Tuesday August 28, so we are all looking forward to her new little bundle of joy.

August: My sister Kelsey got a job as a teacher aide. She starts at the end of the month!

Rob and his team, the Colonial Cosmos, ended up losing all 3 of their games. I think they are in the wrong soccer league. This last game they scored 2 points, I just won't mention that the other team scored 13! Yikes! (He'll probably be mad I wrote this!)