A Year of Dating - January

So, for Christmas this year I decided to give Michael a year of pre-planned and pre-paid for date nights. We're just such cheapskates sometimes that we can't get over how much a babysitter + the cost of the date amounts to, so we end up taking Caden with us and/or spending the night in (which is great - love it - I just believe it's wise to go away as a couple occasionally). However, this way, the date is already paid for and our date budget for the week gets to go to the babysitter and we/I don't have to feel guilty in the least :)
So for January, Michael and I went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). We had a blast! Four of the five exhibits were open and we got to wander around, exploring science-y stuff and doing experiments. There was even an exhibit on pregnancy/child development that had real babies from 3 weeks all the way up to delivery. (They said they'd all died of natural causes or accidents and were donated.) It was truly amazing to see! (Especially fascinating to see a baby exactly as far along as I am now.) We ended the night with an IMAX film, Hubble, that showed the process of the Hubble telescope as well as all of the amazing pictures it's taken of far away solar systems and galaxies.

OMSI is located just along the river...a cool sight out the window of the museum of the freeway overhead.

What a great time!

A Utah Christmas Story

It was morning, Christmas morning. LOVE that Caden (and therefore Michael and I) were the last to get up :) And boy were there surprises under that tree!

Checkin out what Santa brought - guess we were really good this year!!

Stocking full of many many surprises, date night gift cards, candy and fruit! SOOOO good (and first time I haven't had a headache after Christmas morning because I something other than chocolate for breakfast!) :) Thanks Santa a.k.a. David!

Christmas morning walk on the trails in Grandma and Grandpa Root's backyard. Serenely beautiful.   

Caden on Grandpa's shoulders...and of course, Lucy leading the way!

Christmas evening we snuck away to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Littlefield who were up visiting in Salt Lake. I hadn't seen them in over two years and they'd never met Caden. It was wonderful to see them!

 And last, but not least, we had a token Temple Square Christmas light trip!  

Sorry Michael, had to put this one in because it had the temple.

A better full-family one :)

Caden really probably just wondered the whole time why we had to be out in this white stuff and why it was so dang cold. 

We had tons of fun with friends, cousins, aunts and uncles, Michael's family (of course :D), and I even got to see my brother Ryan (missed the photo opp. there unfortunately) a couple times. We love visiting all of our Utah friends and family  - and wish we lived much closer! Thanks for a wonderful time and a memorable Christmas! 

Odds and Ends

So Caden's recently discovered the fun of "dressing up" with blankie capes and Daddy's clothes. He randomly comes up to us every so often to proudly show off what he's got wrapped around himself this time. 

He also discovered bubble baths (not terribly fond of them...he cried until he figured out he could get rid of the bubbles by throwing cups of water on them - and then he avidly pursued that endeavor!)

And Caden's favorite seat in the house:

Michael and I also spend many a weekend night trying out new pinterest recipes:

Pretzels - they were yummy!

Mint cookie truffles - another success :)

Lastly, I finally finished the Christmas tree skirt I started at the beginning of October! We're gonna pretend like it's not January and be excited, okay? 

(I just wish I didn't have to wait 11 months to see what it looks like under the tree...)

Well, that's a wrap!

Ketchup

Just a few noteworthy things to update here:
Between Caden's birthday and Thanksgiving we took a little pre-Thanksgiving trip to San Diego to celebrate with my side of the family (MUCH cheaper that way!).

 

 

We enjoyed a nice, low-key Thanksgiving with just our little family here at home in Portland. More leftovers for me!

We found out on December 18th that we are welcoming another little BOY into our family - so excited for the rough-housing sessions that will ensue with 3 boys under one roof. :)

We traveled to Salt Lake for Christmas. It was a wonderful trip, full of friends and family - and so much snow!!! Caden still has yet to learn the fun that's to be had with snow - we tried to no avail to acclimate him, but it was just too foreign (my California boy at <3). (Separate post will follow for this!)

Other than that we've had a great start to 2013...doing well with my New Years Resolutions to eat a vegetable once a day and vacuum at least once a week (strange resolution, I know...but oh so needed). We fill our frozen, rainy-winter days running around the house, reading books, and lots of rough-housing. Caden's getting great at helping with chores and is my expert laundry helper.

He's also great with unloading the dishwasher (i.e. he hands me everything plastic on the bottom rack), and throwing away EVERYTHING I hand him (intending him to throw it away or not). We may get rid of all of our clutter at the rate he's going these days!

Overall I'm just enjoying the 2nd trimester of pregnancy (and I know Michael and Caden are glad I'm feeling well too - sick/tired Mommy is NO fun at all)...it's the bliss between the storms...and soaking up moments with my two boys day-by-day!

Trashed

Stuff found in the trash can over the past few days:
- Caden's folded pile of clean clothes
- Blocks
- Clean, unused diapers
- All of the unopened packages of wipes from the box
- Bath toys
- Shoes
- Sippy cup

What I'm worried about - what did I not find?

Update: more things found -
- DVDs
- Unopened packages of tissues
- blankie
- clean dish towels straight from the kitchen drawer

...I've been told if you can't beat them, join them...so Caden is now the designated "trash man" in our house and effectively and efficiently throws away everything I ask him to! (dirty diapers included!) At least this way he still gets his joy of throwing stuff away and seems to look for my approval before he does it. :)

One Down - Infinity to Go!

     Just over two months ago Caden had his first birthday - but between traveling to California, the Thanksgiving  holiday, being called as Primary President (many thoughts on that which may or may not present themselves here), throwing out my back for two weeks and being unable to do much of anything, Christmas, traveling to Utah, pregnancy...well you get the idea. I haven't gotten around to jotting down a bit about his little celebratory landmark until now. However, I have come to the conclusion that one year-olds are just so much dang fun! I'm not being sarcastic, I promise. Caden is such a joy to be around these days. He eats like a champ - so much better to be able to feed him whatever he wants (minus stuff with soy) instead of toting around a bottle and tupperwares of baby-food and him subsisting off of formula, oatmeal, and yogurt only. He sleeps like a champ - 3 or 4 days before his 1st birthday he started sleeping through the night (FINALLY) and ever since then, barring vacation messing up eating habits, he will sleep 11-13 hrs straight, with two 2 hr naps during the day. Plus, he puts himself to sleep now. My heart goes out to all the mommas still dreaming (day-dreaming?) about a schedule like this... 

     As far as other 1 year tidbits about Caden: he pretty much running, not just walking anymore, and it's so fun to chase him around the house shouting about how "I'm gonna get you!"; he climbs everything - which often ends in lots of bumps and bruises and not many lessons learned; he LOVES stairs (hence, his love of climbing) - gotta block them off not because I'm afraid he'll fall, but because he refuses to do them without me and sometimes I have other stuff to do with my time than to go up and down stairs for hours; he loves to babble and has a few choice words he's had for awhile of "ball", "dede" (doggie), "mama", "dada" - although by now at 14 months he's added "tay-too" (thank you), peas, and tees (cheese), to his vocabulary. He loves stacking things, his blankies, Moosey (a 53" moose in his room), balls, and just exploring! 

A few shots from his little birthday:

Made a little Oreo cake

He was a pro - knew right what to do!

                                   

"Thanks Mom - shirts. So fun."

   

"Happy Birthday!"

And the devouring of the cake... 

 

Happy Birthday kiddo kid!! We love you tons and tons. <3