Kaden's First Birthday Party

We had a family birthday party for Kaden's first birthday.  Since Kaden's first word was "hat" and he said/says it all the time, we figured that HATS would be a perfect theme for his party.  We asked everyone to wear a hat to the party.  I looked into making a hat cake and found something neat to attempt making/baking.  I never worked with fondant and really I am not a baker, but making the cakes were fun and pretty easy.  I think I could experiment making some other fun cakes in a similar way.  I usually don't like to bake, however, because I would be the only one to eat it all since John doesn't eat much dessert! : (  Deb/Memo made the "Happy Birthday Banner" and cute picture frame.  I also borrowed her hat stand, since she is a big hat collector.  My family helped blow up all the balloons and hang decorations.  Kaden was thrilled about all the balloons!   At the party, we ate dinner, played a few games, ate cake and opened presents.  

Kaden didn't take an afternoon nap the day of his party.  I think he knew something was up.  He saw us putting up decorations and balloons.  He saw my family hanging out downstairs, and I know he just didn't want to miss anything.  Kaden did pretty well at his party for not napping that afternoon, but I think he may have done some things differently had he not been so tired.  It was no surprise that Kaden didn't want to wear his hat.  Even though he loves to say "hat," he still isn't a fan of wearing them.  I sure hope that changes as he gets older.  Kaden didn't get completely messy with his own cake.  I thought for sure that he would have the cake all over his face and clothes.  This is one thing that Kaden does very well at...getting messy! Like I mentioned before, I think he may have been more excited about the cake and interested in it had he napped.  It was fun to see Kaden's cousins right next to him while he ate his cake (and they sneaked in bites too) and opened his presents.  It reminded me of my childhood and what my cousins and I would do at each others birthday parties.

Kaden loves playing with all of his new toys, reading his new books (he can actually find himself in the"Find Kaden" book-  It's amazing!), wearing his new clothes and real shoes (he was seriously RUNNING down our driveway in them-ahh), and hugging his new stuffed animals.    

Kaden just went to the doctor for his One Year Check Up.  He weighs 24 lbs 12 oz and is in the 91st percentile for weight and is 32 inches and in the 98th percentile for height!

5th Anniversary

John and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on August 7th!  The past 5 years went by quickly and so much has happened in 5 years!  John and I wanted to do something special and different for our 5th anniversary, but with Kaden around, it makes it tricky to do anything too elaborate.  We were thankful that the Lindahls offered to watch Kaden!  We, or John, I should say, thought of doing a progressive dinner in Chicago.  We also love to walk, so we decided to go to 5 different restaurants and walk 5 miles for our 5th anniversary!  We went on our actual anniversary, a Thursday night, so we had to plan around times restaurants were open.  We knew we wanted to go to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for sure, so we planned our night around there.

First, we went to Freshii, a quick "sort of like fast food" place for a salad.  We had never been to one before, but the salad we shared was really good.  We chose that place because it was quick, and right next to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, where we went for appetizers (although we really ate the most food here).  This restaurant has Spanish tapas, and we have always loved coming here ever since we discovered it a few years ago.  We ordered a deviled egg, bacon wrapped dates, a cheese platter, green peppers, and a steak with blue cheese and chips to share.  Like I said, this is where we really ate most of our food!  Then from there, we did a longer walk to Bub City.  We picked Bub City because it was opened late and they had live country music.  Neither of us had been there before, and it was a pretty neat place.  It was loud in there, but at least we had our candle lit dinner at Ba Ba Reebas!  We shared a pulled pork sandwich with tatter tots and coleslaw for our main dish. We also listened to a country singer named Doug McCormick. After Bub City, it was a little later than we originally planed to leave, so we had to look for a closer ice-cream place for dessert since most close at midnight.  We stopped a couple blocks away at a place called Froyo.  Next, we walked up part of Michigan Ave. and back to the 24 hour Starbucks, which we knew had to be our last stop because it would be open.  We shared a vanilla latte and then decided to get an Uber back home.  It was a very late night for us parents!  We were exhausted, but it was so much fun and memorable.  It would be fun to try out a new set of restaurants and do something similar to this sometime, but maybe we should cut it down to three.

Kaden's 11th Month

It is crazy that we officially have a one year old!  I can't believe how fast the year has gone by and how much Kaden has done in one year!  It is truly amazing to watch the development of a baby.  I know I say it every month that time just flies by, but it is so true.  I remember the day we went to the hospital like it was yesterday.  Kaden continues to do new things all the time, and it is so exciting to see him learning.  His vocabulary is expanding and now he can also say these words with understanding to John and I; roar, quack, duck, cat, up, block, sock, and truck.  He doesn't enunciate every sound in a few of the words, but we know what he means as he points and is becoming  more independent by showing and telling us what he wants.  He comprehends so much more too.  He doesn't say the first sound in duck and truck so we hope no one thinks he is swearing, ha.  It is cute to hear him saying "up" when he is finished with his nap...Kaden is still taking two naps, but there was a brief period where I thought he may be transitioning to one nap, but that isn't the case yet.   Now he is waking up a little earlier, which I have learned to adjust to, so now I am ready for the earlier wake up call.  No more sleeping in for me, I get to wake up at the same time as John most days.

BIG MILESTONES:  Kaden has been walking all over now!  He has two teeth that have cut through his gums, they are still not completely in yet, but it's big news for us that he has two teeth coming in!  Surprisingly, his first tooth to cut through was a front top one, then the front bottom one, and it feels like his other bottom tooth is going to come soon.

On July 13th Kaden was baptized.  John's sister and brother in-law are the godparents.  Kaden did very well and was smiling, holding our pastor's hand, and saying "hi" while up there.  We are thankful to our family who made the special trip there for it!

John went on a mission trip to Madison for a week with the senior high students at our church.  They helped with a VBS program at a church, and also helped and learned about cultures around the community.  They got to work on a farm one day and also painted and did work projects at a school.
My mom was able to come stay with Kaden and I while John was gone.  It was sooo great to have her with us!  We enjoyed many outings together and she loved spending more time with Kaden.  My mom and I got to test out our new van a lot while John was gone.  We had to get a new "used car" because after going/coming from the cabin in the UP our focus' transmission was not working properly and therefore totaled the car.  We decided to go big, and we got a van.  I am happy that we have a large vehicle to travel in and now it will be easier for me to get Kaden and my nieces in the car.

Kaden has loved going to the pool.  He has fun watching other people in the water and his surroundings. We go all the way in besides his head.  On the other hand, Kaden has recently changed his attitude about baths and, now he hates them!  I don't understand why especially since he loves the pool, but he doesn't want to sit down in the water... John says that he just wants to take a shower already! haha.

This month Kaden went through a rough two-ish weeks of being absolutely crazy during every single diaper change. I'm glad it was just a phase, but it was sooo hard to change him!  The tricks of having his special toys, singing, playing, tickling etc. did not work!  He would scream the second he was put on the table/floor and twist and turn ahhh, I am very glad he's still not doing that, and hopefully he doesn't continually do that again!

PLAY: Kaden loves playing with his toy animals figurines, shape cube, stacking boxes, books, stuffed animals and dolls, blocks, etc.  I can see that he wants to play with toys differently and not everything goes straight into the mouth.  He wants to know how things are supposed to work. Kaden always chooses books with animals  likes to hear us make the animal noises.  I go on a walk pretty much every day with Kaden.  He loves looking at all the birds, squirrels, rabbits, and dogs!  We got him to "walk the dog" at home :)  Kaden loves to play outside with a "truck" as he calls it. Really it's a push car thingy we got from family.  He also likes to play with the watering pail, sticks, pine cones and anything else he can find.  Kaden is so curious and fearless right now!  He doesn't know how to go down the stairs and I have caught him a few times now just before he tumbles down.  Recently, Kaden has decided to stand on the truck without hands.